I'm running VMware Server 1.0.4-56528 on MS Small Biz Server 2003 R2 host and am having a very puzzling problem with the virtual NICs working at times and not working at other times.
The host machine has 2 physical NICs - one connected to the internal network (192.168.16.x) and the other to an external network (192.168.1.x - the NAT'ed side of a Netgear router/firewall that connects to the Internet).
I created a VM guest with Vista Enterprise (but I think I had this same problem with other Microsoft OSes in the past).
Normally, I connect physical workstations to the internal network and they route through the server (which is also VM host) to the Internet. I'd like to do the same with the Vista VM. So I create a virtual NIC that bridges to the internal physical NIC on the server. This results in me being able to access the VM via internal network (good) but no Internet access (bad). I then add a virtual NIC that is bridged to the physical external NIC on the server. I have been able to get this to work to allow access to both internal network and Internet, but after one reboot without changing anything, it no longer works. In this scenario, I can ping 192.168.1.1 (external router to the Internet) and resolve IP address (DNS works) but can't route to Internet. DHCP always works giving me valid IP addresses on the subnet with proper default gateway (verified via ipconfig /all).
After uninstall and install of Virtual Server on the host, I can get it to work 1x again then it fails. I can also do some disconnecting/connecting of virtual NIC on external network along with combination of enabling and disabling of that NIC from within the VM OS and it will start to work again. (I'm not exactly sure what the exact pattern is to get it to work. I just keep doing this in random order unitl it starts to work.) But this solution is also temporary until I reboot the VM (and/or with passage of time - I have to double check on this. I just know it doesn't work the next time I go to try to access the thing.)
I also have been able to use only one virtual NIC configured with internal NAT (shares internal physical NIC IP address) and was able to get it to route to internal network (good), connect to Internet (good, but again only 1x and then it fails), but I am unable to access the VM via Remote Desktop even though I add Port Forwarding for the NAT'ed internal network to allow RDP though to the IP address of the VM.
This has me totally confounded. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I'll post ipconfig info and more if this is a new problem. I'm hoping someone has seen this before though and can easily provide me with a solution.
Regards,
Hollis