Question : I can't get my VM's to use bridged networking in VMWare Server

I'm trying to get VM's to work in vmware server 2, I used to be able to, but this time I just can't get it to work. Here's the setup.

Host:
Debian 5.0.5 Lenny 32bit
/etc/network/interfaces contains the following interfaces:
eth0 xx.xx.xxx.26
eth0:0 xx.xx.xxx.27
eth0:1 xx.xx.xxx.28
eth0:2 xx.xx.xxx.29
eth0:3 xx.xx.xxx.30 (5 static IP's assigned by the ISP to the dedicated )

They are all assigned netmask 255.255.255.248 and a gateway of xx.xx.xxx.25.

When I set up vmware server 2, I had it bridge with eth0:0. So when I created my VM (Debian 5.0.5) I set it up with the IP of eth0:0, my gateway, and my ISP's name server. VMware Server 2 however constantly says the bridge is disconnected, and the VM can't connect. If I go to the NIC set up for the VM on the VMWare Infrastructure page, and select Connect, it automatically goes back to Disconnected. I've been working on this for days and it's really getting to the point of giving up, I've tried so many things, I don't know what piece I'm missing. I used the patch to allow vssock to build, I wonder if that's the cause. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

Thanks!

Answer : I can't get my VM's to use bridged networking in VMWare Server

It sounds like you have all of your IPs assigned to the host, whereas you wish to assign one to the VM. Correct me if I misunderstood: you said you set up your VMware server to bridge to 0:0 that has an ip of  xx.xx.xxx.27. Then you created a VM and also assigned it to xx.xx.xxx.27. If that is the case you can't do that - the VMs NIC will never see traffic because the VMware host alread has it in use.

what you need to do is.
1. remove one of your sub interfaces and its associated IP address
2. run the vmware-config.pl script to create the bridging to eth0 instead of a sub interface
3. assign whatever ip address you made available in step 1 above to your virtual machine
4. See if it works

If you intend to use 4 of the IPs in virtual machines you can go ahead and delete all of the subinterfaces and there associated iPs.

Also it may work if you just remove the xx.xx.xxx.27 address from eth0:0 - but I am not sure because I have never tried bridging to a sub interface before.

Good Luck