Host-Only versus Internal Networking

[bknonix]

This may be a simple question, but trying to make a decision as to which is the right configuration for me and need some advice as to which way to go.

From what I have read, the only "real" difference between Host-Only and Internal networking is that the VMs can talk to the Host and each other in Host-Only, while if Internal, the VMs can only talk to each other.

I find it interesting that with 4.x.x, the Host-Only DHCP server is configurable via the client interface in Preferences, yet Internal networks have to be configured from command line. Leave me to believe that Host-Only might be the recommended approach unless you have a specific reason why you would not want the Host to be able to see the network.

Comments?
Bruce.

[mpack]

Secure communication with the host is a common requirement, for example to access shared folders and printers connected to the host. As you say, this is likely to be a common requirement, internal networking less so. Witness the fact that all of my VMs use one (or sometimes more) of Bridged, NAT or HostOnly network modes, but I have never needed to use Internal. In fact I only ever run one VM at a time, so Internal networking is useless to me.