SYMPTOMS: 1) The Quote: "The network bridge on device /dev/vmnet0 is temporarily down because the bridged Ethernet interface is down. The virtual machine may not be able to communicate with the host or with other machines on your network." appears when you start your virtual machine. 2) No Connectivity in the Virtual Machine (Guest) PC 3) You probably have a dev number like the output below --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [root@mikebeaver ~]# ifconfig; netstat -r dev4299 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr MAC_ADDRESS_HERE inet addr:192.168.1.XX Bcast:192.168.X.XX Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: ANOTHER_ADDRESS_HERE Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:2017 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:2257 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:1340043 (1.2 MiB) TX bytes:204020 (199.2 KiB) Interrupt:18 Base address:0xa000 eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr MAC_ADDRESS_HERE UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b) Interrupt:20 lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1 RX packets:2452 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:2452 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:2816844 (2.6 MiB) TX bytes:2816844 (2.6 MiB) Kernel IP routing table Destination Gateway Genmask Flags MSS Window irtt Iface 192.168.X.X * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 dev4299 169.254.0.0 * 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo default 192.168.X.X 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 dev4299 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the above output, you can see that there is a dev4299 port; but no eth1 port. Eth1 and eth0 are the normal first and second designations for physical network connections on a system. In my case, I have 2 Gigabit RJ45 data connections built into my motherboard. I have not added a daughter network interface card (NIC). I looked in my BIOS, during the course of my troubleshooting, to see if I could disable one of the data/network connections. I couldn't find an option to do this. During the troubleshooting of this event, I also found out that there are two files that tell your computer to use one physical connection or the other. Using the command below, I am examining one of these files. In the output below you will see what is in these two files. If you play around with renaming and editing whichever 2 files exist (they will be identical in nature, in 2 different locations), then rebooting, you will come to understand which ethernet port is being utilized by your PC. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [root@mikebeaver ~]# cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 # Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller DEVICE=eth0 BOOTPROTO=dhcp HWADDR=MAC_ADDRESS_HERE ONBOOT=yes NETMASK=255.255.255.0 IPADDR=192.168.X.XX USERCTL=no IPV6INIT=no PEERDNS=yes GATEWAY=192.168.X.X TYPE=Ethernet --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Use the command below, as su, to edit the file. [root@mikebeaver ~]# gedit /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The above command brings up the graphical linux editor to edit ifcfg-eth0. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You will want to find both files and make them identical, as far as which port that they are using, eth0 or eth1; and renaming them to the port that you want to try first; generally the port that's not being used presently. In changing their name, and content, to reflect the opposite port, to the one that's presently listed, you will then reboot and watch the startup to see what symptoms arise. In doing this, you will see if you have the proper port set. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (as root/su) Use: [root@mikebeaver ~]#find / -name ifcfg*.* -print to find the two ifcfg-eth1 or ifcfg-eth0 files. You may wish to edit both of these duplicate configuration files, changing them to 0 from 1 or 1 from 0, both in name and content (of the file), to see how this effects your connectivity. After making the change, reboot and check your data ports again with: [root@mikebeaver ~]# ifconfig; netstat -r like before. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After having done the above, you will now know which ethernet port, eth0 or eth1, is the one being utilized. This information will come in very handy in the work below. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In order to fix the above problem, you must solve several problems. If you have been brave enough to play around with editing the above 2 configuration files, going back and forth from eth0 to eth1, or vice versa, you should have a good idea, at this point, which port is being utilized, to move data in and out of your PC. This knowledge is the FIRST preliminary step to do BEFORE venturing into fixing the problem in the steps below. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Get rid of the devxxxx entry. click on: a) system b) administration c) network d) enter the root password e) next you have two options. You can be brave and delete both ethernet ports showing and then reboot. The PC should recreate the one that's correct. Another option is to highlight the ethernet port that you KNOW, from the above work, is NOT being used; and delete it only; then reboot. Either way, after you've rebooted, and fixed this issue, you should only be showing one ethernet port; the one that the machine is using to move data (that has a physical cable connected). If you are utilizing both of these onboard GBIT connections, then you will have to come up with some other fix for this issue. NOTE: It doesn't matter that the NETWORK INTERFACE shows that the connectiion is inactive. It will look this way even after all is working correctly. The only difference will be that there will be only one port showing in that GUI interface; not two; which is what you will see BEFORE you fix the problem. 2) You will need to make sure that vmnet0 is bridged to whichever ethernet port, eth0 or eth1, your machine is using. Knowing which port is the one being used, is the reason for the preliminary steps above number one above. If may not be possible to change this directly. And you will understand more of what I'm talking about by reading further. After playing with the ifcfg-eth0 and ifcfg-eth1 files, and running the: [root@mikebeaver ~]# ifconfig; netstat -r command, you should have some idea of which ethernet port, eth0 or eth1, is being utilized. You may end up editing those files, and then changing them back to their original configuration; as I did. But this will at least teach you which port is being utilized, for sure; and how to change that if necessary. 3) Once you have gotten rid of your dev#### entry, by reconfiguring VMServer, with the above .pl script, vmnet0 will PROBABLY still be bridged to the dev#### virtual port entry (even after it no longer exists); which isn't good. To fix this last part, Re-run the above .pl perl script, and tell it (after you've successfully removed the dev#### entry) that you want to create another bridge. It will probably choose something like vmnet2 to bridge to one of your available eth0 or eth1 ports. At this point you should have an excellent idea of which port, eth0, or eth1, is the appropriate port. When creating that 2nd bridge, just pick whichever of these ports, eth0 or eth1 is being used by your operating system. Make sure that you choose the proper eth port to bridge to. 4) Now that your dev#### is gone, and you have created a second bridge to the CORRECT eth0 or eth1 port, you have one last step to do, to completely fix your connectivity in VMWare Server. Open the virtual machine GUI interface. Don't go into the actual guest operating system. Outside of that, click around until you find the virtual port graphical object. Highlight and delete it. Then choose add and add another one. Choose custom as the one you're going to add. Then choose whichever vmnet port, like vmnet2, is the 2nd bridge that you added (which is now correctly bridged to the proper eth0 or eth1 port). 5) If you haven't done them already, there may be a couple more things for you to do. If you're not getting an ip address through DHCP (automatically), you will want to hard code it; type it in as a static ip address. The ip address of the guest VM PC, should be in the same subnet, but different from the host PC. Just make the 4th octet (number) one or two digits away from that of the host PC. All other settings on the guest VM, aside from the ip address itself, should be identical to that of the host PC. YOU SHOULD HAVE CONNECTIVITY NOW!!!