Accepted Solutions
I'd suggest that before proceeding that you read the entire post first so you have an overview of what I'm asking you to do...
Since I'm not sitting at your computer and in order to assist you in troubleshoot this I'm going to ask that you follow the directions contained herein as explicitly and specifically as possible and as documented in order to provide some constants that should help facilitate the troubleshooting process.
My Host is a MacBook Pro running Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.4 fully updated and VMware Fusion 3.1.1 (282344) and for the test preformed I used the same IP Address (10.20.30.0) and VMnet (vmnet2) shown in your example and have used that information as I've outlined the steps below.
I've attached a .zip archive file named "Custom_Host_Only_Test_Virtual_Machines.zip" that contains two .vmx configuration files named, "Virtual Machine 1.vmx" and "Virtual Machine 2.vmx" that you will use for the test and the only configuration you'll need to do is to point the CDs & DVDs settings to the "[dsl-4.4.10.iso|http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/current/dsl-4.4.10.iso]" disc image file that you'll need to download from http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ and place in the parent level folder containing the folders that contain the .vmx configuration files and both Virtual Machines can use a single copy of the "[dsl-4.4.10.iso|http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/current/dsl-4.4.10.iso]" disc image file. Note that this is different the then normal file based Virtual Machine Package that VMware Fusion creates and is fine for this test and was easier then creating two separate Virtual Machine Packages as all I had to do was create one folder and.vmx file and copy it renaming it and a few lines in the second folder and .vmx file. The Virtual Machines will be running the Live Linux ISO Image file and have no need for a virtual hard drive as well as other default settings have been disabled or removed for this test.
The .zip archive file also contains the bash script that I used to modify the VMware Virtual Network Infrastructure to the extent of adding/modifying/removing VMnets in the "/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/networking" file and want you to use it in order to maintain another constant in this process. The bash script is named "editvmnets" and can be placed in a folder that is in your {$PATH} or just drag and drop it onto a Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal) from the folder the other files are in.
Note: The contents of the bash script are just some lines of code taken from a more complex bash script that I use however it's all that's necessary to maintain a constant for this purpose and I've used this instead of my normal bash script for this testing.
Note: The bash script changes to the target folder, stops the virtual network, loads the networking file in nano to edit it, then starts the virtual network and then displays the contents of the networking file to verify the changes exist and have not been replaced by VMware Fusion which it does under certain circumstances.
The first and up coming block of code is what I added to the bottom of the networking file. Note that I normally just copy and paste these lines from a plain text file directly into nano in the Terminal after using the arrow keys to move to the insertion point which I always do at the bottom of the file. Also note that if I subsequently change any value of these parameters I remove the target VNET_(n) block again placing it at the bottom of the file. I also never include the "answer VNET_(n)_DHCP_CFG_HASH" line as this line is regenerated with different values automatically as needed.
Note: When manually editing any of the VMware Fusion application files and or manually editing any Virtual Machine files the target Virtual Machine should be shutdown from within the Guest OS, not suspended and the VMware Fusion application closed.
Now use the editvmnets bash script to add the following block of code to the networking file and if it already exists then remove the existing block and place this one at the bottom of the file. Note: When using nano to edit files use the arrow keys to move around and then Ctrl-O (O) to WriteOut the changes and then Ctrl-X (X) to Exit.
The following block of code creates a Host Only VMnet without a DHCP Server on the VMnet and without a virtual network adapter for the Host and will also require manually configuring the IP Address in each test Virtual Machine.
answer VNET_2_DHCP no answer VNET_2_HOSTONLY_NETMASK 255.255.255.0 answer VNET_2_HOSTONLY_SUBNET 10.20.30.0 answer VNET_2_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER no
The following are the changes made for ethernet0 in the .vmx configuration files and only presented here for clarity and you do not need to edit the included .vmx configuration files as this information already exists within them.
ethernet0.connectionType = "custom" ethernet0.vnet = "vmnet2" ethernet0.bsdName = "vmnet2" ethernet0.displayName = "Custom Host Only VMnet2"
Save the attached "Custom_Host_Only_Test_Virtual_Machines.zip" archive file to your Desktop and then double-click it to extract the contents and a folder named "Custom Host Only Test Virtual Machines" will be on your Desktop. (This is assuming normal Mac OS X default behavior.)
Download the "[dsl-4.4.10.iso|http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/current/dsl-4.4.10.iso]" disc image file and place it in the "Custom Host Only Test Virtual Machines" folder on your Desktop.
Open VMware Fusion and then either use the File > Open... command or drag and drop each .vmx configuration file onto the Virtual Machine Library's left side above Home.
For each Virtual Machine edit its CDs & DVDs settings to point to the downloaded dsl-4.4.10.iso disc image file and this is the only edit to be made for each test Virtual Machine. Do not change anything else and do not click on the list box under Network as this will break the customized network settings and it is normal for the status light on the Custom Host Onl... entry in the list box to be grayed out and is active nonetheless if the corresponding entries exist in the networking file.
The following will be done on each Virtual Machine in turn so just follow the steps on one and then the other and the only difference in the configuration to preform on each will be the last octet of the IP Address will be different then the one assigned on the other.
Start the first Virtual Machine and note that because VMware Tools are not nor will be installed you'll have to press Control+Command to ungrab the Mouse from the Virtual Machine's Display as you move back and forth between them.
At the DSL Splash Screen you can mouse-click into the Virtual Machine's Display and press Enter to accelerate the start of the boot process or it will time out and automatically start the boot process.
At the DSL Desktop close the Getting Started with DSL window.
On the Panel (bar at bottom of DSL Desktop) click the button labeled Panel to bring up the DSL Control Panel.
On the DSL Control Panel click the DHCP client button to turn it off.
On the DSL Control Panel click the Netcardconfig button.
On the DSL - Netcard Config window click into the Address IP text box and type 10.20.30.x where 'x' is a number between 1 and 253 and will be different then the last octet on Virtual Machine 2. Note: For this test I used 1 as the last octet on Virtual Machine 1 and 2 as the last octet on Virtual Machine 2.
On the DSL - Netcard Config window click into the Nameserver(s) text box to highlight and delete the default IP Address.
Note: You will notice that the Broadcast and Gateway text boxes automatically populate themselves and do not modify these values.
Click the Apply button.
Click the Exit button.
Close the DSL Control Panel
On the Panel (bar at bottom of DSL Desktop) click the button labeled Term.
In the bash Terminal type ifconfig then press Enter and verify the properties of eth0.
Leave the bash Terminal open as you'll use it to ping Virtual Machine 2 in a few minutes.
Now start Virtual Machine 2 and repeat the above steps taken in Virtual Machine 1 except to use a different number on the last octet of the IP Address. Note: For this test I used 1 as the last octet on Virtual Machine 1 and 2 as the last octet on Virtual Machine 2.
Once Virtual Machine 2 has been configured and you've completed the steps through ifconfig in the bash Terminal you can now use the following command in each Virtual Machine to ping the other.
In in the bash Terminal in Virtual Machine 2:
sudo ping -c 4 10.20.30.1
In in the bash Terminal in Virtual Machine 1:
sudo ping -c 4 10.20.30.2
The results should be as shown in the images below and if not then we'll have to start troubleshooting from here.
File Attached: Custom_Host_Only_Test_Virtual_Machines.zip