Guest NAT Issue

[aalborz]

I've ran into this communication issue between the host & Guest VMs.

My setup:

Host - XP SP2 - Running WS 6.5, Guest1- Windows Server 2003 Standard, Guest2 - XP SP2

Both guests' network adapaters are set up as NAT. Host has a static IP address. I can ping Guest1 from host and vice versa, and I can ping Guest1 from Guest2 without a problem.

But I CANNOT ping Guest2 from Guest1 or the host. Windows Firewall is not running on Guest2 and I have turned off any other service I can think of that would interfere, but still I had no luck.

I'm thinking about running a network monitoring tool like Wireshark, but in the mean time appreciate any ideas, suggestions.

TIA

[aalborz]

WS gives me Destination not reachable of one Guest1's NIC's addresses when I ping a Guest2 address. The following are the IP addresses:

Host (VM Gateway) - 192.168.8.2

Guest1 - 192.168.8.132 & 133

Guest2 - 192.168.8.134, 135 & 136

So when I do a capture from Host NIC (192.168.8.2), pinging any of Guest2's IP addresses, it shows a Destination not reachable from 192.168.8.133, which is a Guest1 address!

This is really frustrating...I need urgent help, as I'm working against a deadline.

TIA

[Scissor]

Please attach the output of running "ipconfig /all" from the Host, Guest1, and Guest2 and we'll take a look.

[aalborz]

Thanks. Here you go.

[Scissor]

I notice that your Host does not have a Default Gateway set. This typically means that will not have Internet access. Just wanted to bring that to your attention in case it was an oversight.

I am curious why you configured Guest1 with two virtual Ethernet adapters on the same network and why you configured Guest3 with three virtual Ethernet adapters on the same network? As a test can you (temporarily) disconnect/disable all but one virtual Ethernet adapter on each Guest, reboot them, and try your ping tests again?

[aalborz]

No DG is by design. I didn't want any connectivity to the outside.

The reason for multiple adapaters is because both VMs are P2Vd. But I disconnected & disabled them, rebooted, and tried again. Same exact result.

Any other ideas?

[aalborz]

Is there anyone out there who can help me with this? Experts, Virtuosos, Gurus, Gods?!!!:)

[Scissor]

No DG is by design. I didn't want any connectivity to the outside.

OK

The reason for multiple adapaters is because both VMs are P2Vd. But I disconnected & disabled them, rebooted, and tried again. Same exact result.

Any other ideas?

Ok, let's concentrate on communication between Guest1 and Guest2. For each Guest, please attach the output of

- - "ipconfig /all"

- - Trying to ping the other Guest's IP address.

- - running tracert to the other Guest's IP address.

- - running "route print"

Other ideas are:

- - Please verify that you have the latest NIC driver installed for your Host.

- - Since these were P2V machines, you may want to remove orphaned devices that no longer exist. This KB article has instructions on how to display ghosted entries in Device Manager: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315539

- - Did your physical machines have any entries manually added to their route tables or hosts file before your P2Ved them? If so you might need to adjust those entries in your Guests

- - Can you attach the .vmx and vmware.log files from the directories containing your Guests?

[aalborz]

I've attached ipconfig/all, route table, vmware log, and vmx files for both Guests.

As for removing orphaned devices, there are a LOT of them under network adapters, I'm not sure which one I should remove.

However, I know Guest1 (W2k3) physical server has 2 NICs that were teamed, so there are 3 network adapaters showing under My Network Connections. Guest2 (XP) physical machine has 4:

a 1394, WL, BlueTooth and one Intel Gigabit.

As for manual entries in physical machines, no I almost 100% positive that wasn't the case.

[Scissor]

Here is what I would recommend trying:

Guest 1 -

Set number of Virtual Processors to 1

Verify that first virtual Network Adapter is set to NAT

Remove all other virtual Network Adapters

Guest 2 -

Set number of Virtual Processors to 1

Verify that first Network Adapter is set to NAT

Remove all other virtual Network Adapters

Boot Guest 2 -

Uninstall anything releated to "Check Point Virtual Network Adapter For SecureClient".

Reboot Guest 2.

Boot Guest 1/Guest 2

See if you can ping between Guests now. If not, temporarily turn off the Windows Firewall to make sure it isn't blocking pings.