a question about bridged mode

[aaron_sf]

I have a machine running XP and it's NIC is on a static IP.

I have a VM of RedHat 5 Enterprise server running on that machine.

The VM is set to bridged mode, as I understood that to mean that it would then somehow 'share' the IP of the XP host.

When creating the RedHat VM, I was offered the option of using DHCP or static to configure it's NIC.

Well there's no DHCP server on the host, so I assumed I should replicate the host's IP settings here...

Now I get 'IP conflict' errors on the host .. which kind of doesnt surprise me, but I don't know what else I should do at this point.

Could some networking yoda please educate me.

TIA

[WoodyZ]

Have a look at:

[aaron_sf]

I did actually do quite a bit of RTFM already ...

I'm now wondering if bridged mode only works if the host has a DHCP server available?

ie, i'm out of luck if i'm using static IP's ?

is this right?

[WoodyZ]

I did actually do quite a bit of RTFM already ...

Well you obviously didn't read because it does provide answers to your situation.

[aaron_sf]

I don't see them in there... can you give me a hint... I don't see any mention of static IPs...

[WoodyZ]

I had not read that document in a while however I just re-read it and it explains how each of the three Network types work in how an IP Address is served to a Virtual Machine and I think it would be senseless to try and repeat it. I believe that document provides adequate details and explanation of how it works and should show you that what you though you knew is wrong.

NAT enables a Virtual Machine's Network to share the Host's Network Connectivity and gets its IP Address from the VMware supplied DHCP Server and Bridged requires a DHCP Server beyond the Host or a Static IP Address that is on the same Subnet as the Host but outside the Scope of the DHCP Servers IP Address Pool and one that is not assigned to another device.

Message was edited by: WoodyZ

[aaron_sf]

ok so I didn't see it explicitly stated anywhere that if the host has a static IP and DHCP is clearly not involved, that the guest needs it's own static IP ... different from the host. I'm not completely technically ignorant .. but your documentation kind of lead me to think that bridged mode means 'sharing the host's IP' .. which isn't actually the case is it...