Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 177
Chapter 7 Networking
Manually Assigning a MAC Address
If!you!want!to!guarantee!that!the!same!MAC!address!is!assigned!to!a!given!virtual!
machine!every!time,!even!if!the!virtual!machine!is!moved,!or!if!you!want!to!guarantee!
a!unique!MAC!address!for!each!virtual!machine!within!a!networked!environment,!you!
can!assign!the!address!manually!instead
!of!letting!VMware!Server!assign!it!
automatically.!
To!assign!the!same,!unique!MAC!address!to!any!virtual!machine!manually,!use!a!text!
editor!to!remove!three!lines!from!the!configuration!file!and!add!one!line.!The!
configuration!file!has!a.vmx!extension!at!the!end!of!the!filename.!On!a!Linux
!host,!a!
virtual!machine!created!with!an!earlier!VMware!product!might!have!a!configuration!
file!with!a!.cfg!extension.!
Remove!the!three!lines!that!begin!with!the!following:
ethernet[n].generatedAddress
ethernet[n].addressType
ethernet[n].generatedAddressOffset
In!these!options,![n]!is!the!number!of!the!virtual!Ethernet!adapter!!for!example!
ethernet0.
Add!the!following!line!to!the
!configuration!file!:
ethernet0.address = 00:50:56:XX:YY:ZZ
In!this!line,!XX!must!be!a!valid!hexadecimal!number!between!00h!and!3Fh,!and!YY!and!
ZZ!must!be!valid!hexadecimal!numbers!between!00h!and!FFh.!Because!VMware!Server!
virtual!machines!do!not!support!arbitrary!MAC!addresses,!you!must!use!the!above!
format.
So!long!as!
you!choose!a!value!for!XX:YY:ZZ!that!is!unique!among!your!hardcoded!
addresses!(where!XX!is!a!valid!hexadecimal!number!between!00h!and!3Fh,!and!YY!and!
ZZ!are!valid!hexadecimal!numbers!between!00h!and!FFh),!conflicts!between!the!
automatically!assigned!MAC!addresses!and!the!manually!assigned!ones!should
!never!
occur.!
Controlling Routing for a Host-Only Network on a Linux Host
A!hostonly!network!is!a!fullfledged!network.!It!has!a!network!interface!associated!
with!it!(VMnet1)!that!is!marked!“up”!at!the!time!the!host!operating!system!is!booted.!
Consequently,!routing!server!processes!that!operate!on!the!host!operating!system,!such!
as!routed!and!gated,!automatically!discover!the!
network!and!propagate!information!on!
how!to!reach!it!unless!you!explicitly!configure!them!not!to!do!so.!