RHEL6 - eth0 not getting dhcp address with VMware Workstation using bridged adapter

6

I am working with RHEL6 inside VMware Workstation. I have already looked here and here, but am still running into a very annoying wall.

I want to have the network adapter on my VM get a DHCP address from my router on my home network (ie, using Bridged networking). The router is set to hand out plenty of addresses:

dhcp settings

and has only issued 5 so far:

client listing

However, I am still seeing the following when I boot into the VM:

eth0 failure

My /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 file:

enter image description here

What am I missing? It can't be this hard to get a VM to work. Setting the network adapter to NAT instead of Bridged works fine.

VMware's network settings:

bridging settings

warren

Posted 2011-03-15T18:01:16.253

Reputation: 8 599

If you set a static IP address does it work? – Majenko – 2011-03-15T18:24:31.677

Are you using the latest kernel release for RHEL6? – John T – 2011-03-15T18:25:45.187

@Matt Jenkins - static IPs do not work either; @John T I did a fresh install off the latest DVD media from Red Hat – warren – 2011-03-15T19:36:31.333

1If static doesn't work then it is most likely the configuration of VMWare's bridging. Check you have VMWare set up to bridge to the right interface on the host OS. (what is the host OS anyway?) – Majenko – 2011-03-15T19:54:23.473

@Matt Jenkins - that's where I'm leaning as well. However, last week on a different network, bridging worked perfectly (also over wireless) - and I have made 0 changes to the host OS (Windows 7) in the intervening days that I know :-\ – warren – 2011-03-15T20:09:37.500

1@warren in the dropdown for VMWare's network settings, where it says bridged to:, set it to your wired ethernet adapter and plug a physical cable into the machine. Does that make a difference? – John T – 2011-03-15T22:13:51.543

@John T - please note the answer I have been able to discover with your assistance: thanks! – warren – 2011-03-16T15:56:20.753

1@warren you're most welcome :) – John T – 2011-03-18T00:11:00.893

Answers

9

Problem found, thanks to @John T's comments.

I also have VirtualBox installed, and the auto-bridging feature of VMware Workstation won't pick one of my built-in adapters because they're now labeled "VirtualBox Bridged Networking Driver Miniport" at the end instead of just the built-in names.

automatic settings

If I manually select one of the physical adapters to use for bridging, it works just fine. However, apparently because VirtualBox is doing some form of processing on the connection, it is more sluggish running bridged than NAT-ed.

I am going to remove VirtaulBox from this machine as soon as I do not need one specific VM I have running in it to accelerate VMware's network performance.

warren

Posted 2011-03-15T18:01:16.253

Reputation: 8 599

Asked: 2011-03-15T18:01:16.253

Viewed: 16 534 times

Active: 2012-11-14T15:53:45.940