[solved] Multiple VMware machines for a virtual network?

Souperman · Last edited by Souperman on Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:58 pm; edited 1 time in total

OK, what I'd like to do is have 3 or 4 virtual machines running Windows 2000 server & pro. So far I've gotten Windows 2000 pro to work ok, including networking with my (Gentoo) host PC, but only by using DHCP for the Windows guest. Obviously for the servers, I'd want to use static IPs. Can this be done and if so, any pointers? Also, would all the Windows machines be able to talk to each other and act as if they were on a real network? Basically I'm going to use this setup as MCSE practice, so I'd need to be able to do just about anything I could do if I had 4 physical PCs attached to a switch.

MCSE-related flames will be sent to /dev/null.

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moo

steveb · Advocate Joined: 18 Sep 2002 Posts: 4564

yes. you can set up each of the vmware systems to have their own address. just use static ip address instead of dhcp.

if i remember right, you need to have the full version of vmware to be able to run serval virtual machines. i think you can go up to 8 vm if you want.

cheers

SteveB

Souperman · Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 4:17 am Post subject:

Anything special to do to get static to work? I could only get dhcp (on guest OS) to work.
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moo

steveb · Advocate Joined: 18 Sep 2002 Posts: 4564

what network setup do you have for vmware? (bridged, nat, host only, etc)

cheers

SteveB

Souperman · Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:13 pm Post subject:

Never mind, I got it working 100% with static IP using bridged for Pro & Server. Now to figure out why Server hangs at the "Preparing network connections" stage. :roll:

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moo

steveb · Advocate Joined: 18 Sep 2002 Posts: 4564

Souperman · Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:21 pm Post subject:

Wasn't really a question, but seeing that you're offering...

I installed 2000 server, ran through the configuration wizard option "this is the only server on my network" which basically sets up AD, DNS and DHCP. It then reboots and when it gets to the stage which says "preparing network connections" it just stops. I realise Windows questions are slightly out of place, hence I will not take offence at an answer like "Oh FFS, die!", etc.

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moo

steveb · Advocate Joined: 18 Sep 2002 Posts: 4564

Souperman · Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:31 pm Post subject:

Hmmm I think you may have hit the nail on the head. I did put it on the same subnet as the host, which is running dnsmasq and I'm pretty sure VMware provides a DHCP service. Do you reckon putting the virtual Windows machines on their own subnet is the way to go?
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moo

steveb · Advocate Joined: 18 Sep 2002 Posts: 4564

using another subnet in vmware is no big deal. even if this is not the solution, it would only need 5 minutes to reconfigure the network. i think it is a good way to get closer to the final solution.

cheers

SteveB

Souperman · Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:41 pm Post subject:

Hmmm seems I was just too impatient the first time around. 2000 Server did eventually boot and I managed to join a 2000 Pro machine to the domain. Thanks for the quick replies.

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moo

Headrush · Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:47 pm Post subject:

I do this all the time for my MSCE courses usuing VMware and it works perfectly.

You need one Windows System that has two network interfaces. Set one as NAT and the other as host-only. For all other machines use host-only. You then set the host-only interfaces with the static IP addresses you want or use a DHCP server you have on one of the Windows machines.

(The NAT on the first network card has nothing to do with Windows, it is between Linux and the Windows environment.)

You can then setup, Windows NAT, Remote Access & Routing, AD, DNS, DHCP, and it should all work as if normal Windows machines.

Souperman · Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:51 pm Post subject:

I was thinking I'll probably need something along those lines. Thanks for saving me some trial & error.

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moo

steveb · Advocate Joined: 18 Sep 2002 Posts: 4564

okay... then only one question is left open: what is FFS?

cheers

SteveB

Souperman · Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:57 pm Post subject:

hehehe

"for f@#$'s sake"

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moo

steveb · Advocate Joined: 18 Sep 2002 Posts: 4564