Isolated network for VMs only

I am trying to setup a lab and I want to virtual machines to be on their own isolated network that is not connected to the host at all. How can I do this with Paralells or if anyone knows some other way of achieving this then I would be greatful for that too. Thanks.

 

I'm a Parallels newbie so take this with a grain of salt...

I don't see a way to create new virtual networks. I would try using the host only network for the VM's and then taking down the host only virtual interface on OS X. On my system that would be 'sudo ifconfig vnic1 down' in a terminal session. Replace 'down' with 'up' to re-enable it.

 

The problem with that is that if my mac was to be part of a domain that has DHCP configured then my lab with a DHCP server would start taking over the production environment.

 

I'm not sure that's correct. DHCP for the host only network is served by Parallels, not by the LAN's DHCP server.

See Preferences->Advanced->Network->Change Settings to see the IP range used to serve host only DHCP addresses.

 

I misread your reply, but I still think it could work. The Parallels DHCP server will only serve addresses to systems on the host only (lab) network. I think you'll have the isolation you're looking for.