What is the difference between automatic and manual networks?

Skytap supports two types of networks: automatic networks and manual networks.

	Automatic network	Manual network
Description	Provides a virtual gateway that supports inbound and outbound public Internet access for attached VMs. The network can be configured to route traffic between your Skytap VPN or other networks in your account. Skytap provides DNS and DHCP services to automatically generate a unique hostname and IP address for each VM attached to the network. The network subnet, gateway, and other network properties can be customized in the network settings.	Provides a virtual gateway that supports outbound public Internet access for attached VMs. The network can be configured to route traffic between your Skytap VPN or other networks in your account. You provide DNS and DHCP services to generate unique hostnames and IP addresses for each virtual machine on the private network.
How IP addresses and hostnames are assigned	Skytap provides DHCP services that automatically assign unique IP addresses for VMs attached to the network. The network subnet can be edited in the network settings. Skytap also automatically provides unique hostnames for VMs attached to the network. Each VM IP address and hostname can be edited in the network adapter settings.	You provide DHCP services or manually manage the IP addresses and hostnames for each VM on the network. The VM IP address and hostname isn't visible in the Skytap web interface. Skytap doesn't validate that VMs have unique IP addresses or IP address in the correct subnet range; outbound public Internet access and other network services may not work properly if VMs are misconfigured.
How DNS is managed	By default, Skytap provides DNS services for VMs attached to the network. You can override the automatic network settings to provide custom DNS services on the private network. The network domain name can be edited in the network settings.	You provide your own DNS services on the private network. The network domain name isn't displayed in Skytap.
Can connect to other networks in the same environment?	Yes	Yes
Can connect to networks in other environments?	Yes	Yes
Can connect to a Skytap VPN?	Yes	Yes
Supports inbound public Internet access? (via published services and public IP addresses)	Yes	No
Supports Skytap secondary IP addresses (IP aliasing)?	Yes	No
Supports Skytap Network Address Translation (NAT)?	Yes	No
Supports metadata service?	Yes	No
Instructions	To create an automatic network, see Creating an automatic network.	To create a manual network, see Creating a manual network.

See also