Enable promiscuous mode of vmware on a Linux Host

promiscuous_mode.txt

Ref: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=65508

1/ Method 1
# First, create a new Linux group which has permission to use promiscuous mode, and add yourself to the group.
$ groupadd promiscuous
$ usermod -a -G promiscuous <your_user_id>

# Update the group ownership and access permission of /dev/vmnet*
$ chgrp promiscuous /dev/vmnet*
$ chmod g+rw /dev/vmnet*

2/ Method 2
To allow all users (instead of a specific user) to set the virtual adapter to promiscuous mode, run the following command on host machine.
$ chmod a+rw /dev/vmnet*

Above setting is a temporary solution as the reboot will delete changes.

==To make it permanent at each reboot==

# For Method 1 (assuming that you already created a Linux group called "promiscuous" as described earlier):
Find the line vmwareStartVmnet in /etc/init.d/vmware

vmwareStartVmnet() {
  vmwareLoadModule $vnet
  "$BINDIR"/vmware-networks --start >> $VNETLIB_LOG 2>&1
  chgrp promiscuous /dev/vmnet*
  chmod g+rw /dev/vmnet*
}

# For Method 2 :
Find the line vmwareStartVmnet in /etc/init.d/vmware, and put the chmod as below :

vmwareStartVmnet() 
  vmwareLoadModule $vnet
  "$BINDIR"/vmware-networks --start >> $VNETLIB_LOG 2>&1
  chmod a+rw /dev/vmnet*
}