Network & SSH Setup

Configure static IPs and passwordless SSH between VM1 and VM2.

VMware Adapter Configuration

In VMware: VM → Settings → Network Adapter. For VM1, add a second adapter via Add → Network Adapter → Host-only.

VM	Adapter 1	Adapter 2
VM1 — Ubuntu	NAT (internet)	Host-only VMnet1
VM2 — REMnux	Host-only VMnet1 only	—
VM3 — SIFT	Host-only VMnet1 only	—
VM4 — Windows 11	Host-only VMnet1 only	—

Static IP — VM1 (Ubuntu)

# Find the host-only interface name
ip a   # look for second adapter, typically ens36

/etc/netplan/01-network-manager-all.yaml:

network:
  version: 2
  ethernets:
    ens33:           # NAT adapter
      dhcp4: true
    ens36:           # Host-only adapter
      dhcp4: no
      addresses: [192.168.56.10/24]

sudo netplan apply

Static IP — VM2 (REMnux)

/etc/netplan/01-network-manager-all.yaml:

network:
  version: 2
  ethernets:
    ens33:
      dhcp4: no
      addresses: [192.168.56.20/24]

sudo netplan apply
ping -c 3 192.168.56.10   # verify connectivity to VM1

Static IP — VM3 (SIFT)

network:
  version: 2
  ethernets:
    ens33:
      dhcp4: no
      addresses: [192.168.56.30/24]

sudo netplan apply
ping -c 3 192.168.56.10   # verify connectivity to VM1

---

SSH Key Setup

REMnux

# On VM1 — generate dedicated key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/remnux_key -N "" -C "vm1-to-remnux"

# Copy to REMnux
ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/remnux_key.pub remnux@192.168.56.20

~/.ssh/config entry:

Host remnux
    HostName 192.168.56.20
    User remnux
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/remnux_key
    StrictHostKeyChecking no

ssh remnux "uname -a && echo SSH OK"

SIFT Workstation

Default credentials: sansforensics / forensics

# On VM1 — generate dedicated key for SIFT
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/sift_key -N "" -C "vm1-to-sift"

# Copy to SIFT
ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/sift_key.pub sansforensics@192.168.56.30

~/.ssh/config entry:

Host sift
    HostName 192.168.56.30
    User sansforensics
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/sift_key
    StrictHostKeyChecking no

ssh sift "uname -a && vol -h 2>/dev/null | head -3"

Windows 11 (VM4)

Generate the key on VM1, then configure authorized_keys on VM4 manually (see VM4 Setup).

# On VM1 — generate key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/windows_key -N "" -C "vm1-to-windows"

# Display the public key to paste into VM4
cat ~/.ssh/windows_key.pub

~/.ssh/config entry:

Host windows
    HostName 192.168.56.40
    User analyst
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/windows_key
    StrictHostKeyChecking no

ssh windows "whoami && hostname && echo Windows OK"