Simulating a network with several VMs

[questioner_123]

Hello people,
I would like to simulate a small network (3-5 hosts) of Linux-hosts on my Mac OS X host in order to test some Linux shell scripts that need a network to work. For such a task I only need a very lightweight Linux distribution, because I don't need any application software and no complex GUI.
How can I setup VirtualBox to make this work, so that I can use commands like rcp, nc and wall without any problems? Thanks for any help.

[mpack]

Use internel networking. Other than that your question suggests its own obvious solution.