I am running my "Nix" machines within MS Virtual Machine. MS Virtual Machine assignes each VM 128MB of RAM. It can be adjusted, but as mentioned earlier, you need as much RAM as you can stuff into your real box. You can send and recieve data from the real (Host) machine and the virtual machines. I have found that your software firewall will treat the virtual machines as if they are real attackers. I am sure you would have the same results with VMWare. I would suggest a minimum of 512 MB and atleast a 2 GB proc. I'm proud of my machines.

I will attach a .jpg image of the console.