The set up was this.

VMNet0 bridged to the NIC that faces the LAN. This is auto-connected to all VMs (connet to physical network) - which is why I chose it for the green/LAN side.

VMNet2 bridged to the NIC that faces the Internet/Cable modem. This is connected to the Firewalling VM only. (I use m0n0wall as the firewall).

The firewall does DHCP for all the LAN, except the host and VMs that boot on startup, which each need fixed internal IPs.

On the host, I removed all drivers and protocols from the network connected to the Internet side, except for the VMNet Driver. This means the host is invisible to the internet. (Do this before going on-line:)) How, or even if, you need to do something similar on a Linux host, I can't say.

Finally, I had to tell Zone Alarm on the host, that the Internet IP that the firewall VM picked up from my ISP, was in the trusted zone, or ZA blocked all attempts to get out! (Although the host does not need a firewall to stop intruders, I prefer to use one that warns me if something unexpected wants to get out).

I am about to move my setup to a linux host (I am fed up with Win2K crashing taking all VMs with it).So I will know more in a few days.

A problem you might be having is that most cable modems will only talk to the first MAC address they see after power on. If you have swapped cabling from another card or another operating system it could be that the Cable modem won't talk to you. Cycle the power to the modem.

Hope this info helps.

Regards

Ian