Problem: No IP binding for NIC in VMWare

ENVIRONMENT:
VMware tools is installed
OS: Suse Linux Enterprise Server 9
VMWare: workstation 5, workstation 5.5
Configured two NIC’s for the VM to use. (Both are bridges, but this configuration does not matter)

PROBLEM: Problem: No IP binding for NIC in VMWare.

When you have done one of the following you will have a VM that has one network card (or more), but that it cannot find a configuration for that card. In effect, you wil not get an IP binding to your card.

• Moved a virtual machine to an other VMware host, created new Identifiers
• Deleted network cards in Yast, save, exit, Yast and configure detected card(s) again
• Add network cards to VM, configure with Yast

SOLUTION: Delete all your network cards using Yast, Save & Exit.

Configure all your network cards again using YAST, Save & Exit.

Rename the ifcfg-eth file using the MAC address.

Example:

linux$ cd /ec/sysconfig/network/
linux$ mv ifcfg-eth-bus-pci-0000\:00\:11.0 ifcfg-eth-id-00:0c:29:51:83:cd

You can now reboot, or reload configuration using:

linux$ ifdown eth0
linux$ ifup eth0

Notes:

The mv command is not only to move files, but also to rename.
The semicolom (:) in the file name must be delimited using a backslash (\)

EXAMPLE:

Diagnose:

After you configure your cards in Yast you will have the following files:

“eth0”
/etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth-bus-pci-0000:00:11.0
/etc/sysconfig/hardware/hwcfg-bus-pci-0000:00:11.0
“eth1”
/etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth-bus-pci-0000:00:12.0
/etc/sysconfig/hardware/hwcfg-bus-pci-0000:00:12.0

The content of the ifcfg-ethxxxx files is ok, but the relation to the hwcfg-busxxxx is lost.

The command: ip address show will show the 2 eth devices and their MAC address, but no ip address.

Example:

linux$ eth0: <BROADCAST, MULTICAST,NOTRAILERS,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast qlen 1000
link/ether 00:0c:29:51:83:cd brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff