VC 2.5 and manual setting MAC address

[pearlyshells]

We have a few servers that require a specific MAC address. We want to virtualize these servers. I have P2v'd them and they are currently powered off to allow me to change the vNIC MAC address.

I notice that when I select "manual" that I get 00:50:56:

I think this is the preceeding virtual MAC address for the vNIC but don't know if I should keep it and then enter the MAC address we need or remove it and enter the MAC address I need.

Can anyone tell me ?

[weinstein5]

00:50:56 is one of the vendor ranges assigned to vmware - you will need to replace that - if you can not remove it there than you will need to edit the VMX file and place the MAC address in there -

[Chris_Howard]

I had a similar problem a couple of years ago - I had an application with a license that was tied to the mac address.

When I P2V'd it, unsurprisingly the app stopped working.

I hacked the .vmx file to replace the mac address with that of the source Compaq server.

It didn't work, - ESX would only allow it to have a mac address in VMware's registered range.

This would have been on ESX 2.5.x, so things may have changed since then.

If you found this helpful please consider the use of the Helpful /Correct buttons to award points. Thanks !!

[ctfoster]

If this is a Windows client have you tried setting the MAC address in the Advanced Setting of the vNic driver. You can set it to what you like and it'll override the settings the vmx file.

[pearlyshells]

have addressed with VMWare. It appears that even in 3.5, setting the MAC address is only reserved for VMWare specified addressing. I was looking to set the hard MAC address of the server I was virtualizing so that the app licensing would still be good. Can't be done, per VMware.

[ctfoster]

Far from me to raise a question on this but I've tested this out and it works exactly as described.

Windows 2003 host - AMD Advanced VMNet driver settings - Advanced. Network Address = DEADDEADFF

This MAC address is then returned by an arp request from a remote host.

[pearlyshells]

interesting. I've tried it on my Windows 2003 Guest O/S... powered off......went to properties of the vNIC and tried to manually set the MAC address of the original server which was P2V'd to a VM. As I selected "manual" on the vNIC property, the vmware address of 00:50:56 appeared. I removed the address and manually entered the MAC address taken from the original server. Got this message: "The MAC address is invalid. Enter a different MAC address or choose a different assignment method". VMWare sent me this:

Thank you for your Support Request.

It appears that the MAC addresses able to be used for Virtual Machines are required to use the manufacturer code delegated to VMware’s software, which would be 00:50:56:XX:YY:ZZ, or 00:0C:29:XX:YY:ZZ, where XX:YY:ZZ can be any sequence of hexadecimal numbers.

During my testing of this scenario, any virtual machine manually configured to use MAC addresses external to our :00:50:56, and 00:0C:29, failed to start, from within virtualcenter/VIC, with an error message stating that the static MAC address is invalid, and needs to be replaced with one starting in 00:50:56.

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What steps did you take to get the MAC address to work for you?

[ctfoster]

You don't make these changes on the VIC. These are properties that you can set WITHIN the VM itself - thats why I asked you what OS you were running. Go and look in the Advanced Properties on the vNIC driver within the Windows Network Connections. Look for Network Address.

[pearlyshells]

my apologies. I see where you are going now. I just returned from the VMWare ESX 3.5 class and I was told that I could change the MAC address simply by editing the Network Adapter MAC setting in VIC. That is what I have been trying to accomplish. I have powered up my VM and gone to Network Connections/Properties of Local Area Connection/Configure button of VMware NIC/Advanced and finally to Network Address where it is currently a blank entry. I will enter the MAC address here. Thanks very much.

[ctfoster]

Let me know if it works for you - I'm intrigued now.

[wgardiner · Accepted solution]

Yeh I'm keen to see if this resolved your problem

[TomHowarth]

What OS is the Guest you are running.

Tom Howarth

VMware Communities User Moderator

[TomHowarth]

ignore my previous, that setting you have just found it what I was going to point you too. you should be able enter a MAC address here that is external to the default VMware addresses

Tom Howarth

VMware Communities User Moderator

[pearlyshells]

the Guest is on Windows 2003 Standard.

[pearlyshells]

awarded you Correct to make up for the other question I failed to award you credit for. Thanks for guiding me correctly on the "root element missing" question.