Can't Enable Network Adapter on 2nd VM

[HalV]

I've been using Desktop Parallels before, on a different computer (also using OS X) than this one. On the old system, I had a WinXP VM and a Linux one. I don't recall if I ever had both running at the same time, but I never had a problem reaching my LAN or the Internet through either one.

On my new MacMini, using the Server version of OS X, I created a Linux VM from Debian 5.0 and configured everything as I'll need it on several VMs. I set it up for bridged networking because I need to be able to reach it from other computers on my LAN through ssh while I'm working on it. I copied the MAC address from this VM and entered it int PFSense (which provides my DHCP and DNS on the LAN) and it assigned it the address I expected. Everything was working great.

Then I cloned it and started the clone. I ran ifconfig on the clone VM and got the local loopback connection only. I ran "ifconfig -a" and got the MAC address for eth1, since that was the only one specified, and entered that into PFSense for the DHCP and DNS. I tried "/etc/init.d/networking restart", thinking that the VM would restart networking and would send out a DHCP request and get the IP address.

But then I find there is no networking connection. In /etc/network/interfaces, eth0 is set up, but no eth1 is visible. I check the preferences for the VM and the networking interface is disabled. I shut down the system and open preferences and, magically, the ethernet adapter is enabled. I restart the machine and no connection -- the adapter is no longer enabled.

I've done this with the first VM working and with it shut down. I wasn't sure if the reason the adapter in the clone is disabled is because there are limits to the number of bridged interfaces at any one time. (Are there limits?)

I tried switching to different types of networking, but still could not enable my network adaptor when the cloned VM is working.

How can I get this to work? And, along with that, can I get it to work so it communicates with the outside world? In the long run, I'll be running 3-4 VMs at once and I need them to have different IP addresses and be reachable from my LAN so I can ssh to them and test them.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[joevt]

There aren't any limits on the number of virtual machines you can have running or how many bridged network adapters they can have.

With the virtual machine not running, remove the network adapter (select Network Adapter and press the [-] button in the Virtual Machine -> Configure -> Hardware window), then add a new bridged network adapter and point it to the Mac network adapter that you want it to bridge too. Note the MAC address and add it to PFSense. Then start your virtual machine.

I know in Ubuntu I can change network adapters in the virtual machine while the virtual machine is running by first selecting the disconnect option, then wait for the "Wired network Disconnected" message in Ubuntu, then change the configuration, then reconnect which should cause the "Connection Established" message. This can all be done using the Network Adapter button at the bottom of the virtual machine window.

 

[HalV]

Okay, I got it to work, but I had to add extra Ethernet connections on my Mac. I did that through Preferences->Network and it created the aliases for me. So do I need to have a separate interface for each VM that is going to us a bridged interface? That's what I ended up having to do. I have 4 VMs running now and with 4 Ethernet adapters, it works fine. I couldn't even get a 2nd one working until I added extra interfaces on the Mac.

 

[joevt]

No. All bridged virtual machine network adapters should be able to go through the one Mac interface that you have an ethernet cable connected to. You should not need to create interfaces in the Mac's network preferences.

My Mac Pro has 2 ethernet interfaces. I have the network cable connected to the one named "Ethernet 2" in the Mac's network preferences. I set all my bridged virtual machine network adapters to go through "Ethernet 2". My router sees my Mac and all the virtual machine MAC addresses and assigns IP addresses.

I'm using Parallels Desktop 5.

 

[HalV]

Okay, then something's different in my system (using Parallels 4), since I can choose "default adapter" or "ethernet" or "Air Port," but I can't choose Ethernet, Ethernet 1, Ethernet 2, and so on.

 

[joevt]

What are the names shown in the virtual machine Network Adapter configuration and what are the names shown in the Mac's Network System Preferences panel? They should match. If they don't then it means that maybe Parallels Desktop 4 gets the interface names differently than Parallels Desktop 5.

You shouldn't need to make a service for each virtual machine. If "default adapter", "ethernet", and "Air Port" are your only choices then I think you need to choose "ethernet" for all you bridged network adapters.

Also, it's possible to rename the services in the Mac's Network System Preferences panel. There's a distinction between service name and interface name in the Mac's Network System Preferences panel. Multiple services can use the same interface. In the screen shot, I renamed "Ethernet 2" to "MyEthernet" and added a service "My Ethernet 2". Adding or renaming services doesn't seem to affect the Parallels Desktop 5 bridged network interface list or the interface list returned by the ifconfig command (the ifconfig command will show the extra IP addresses created by multiple services assigned to an interface). Is the Parallels Desktop 4 bridged network interface list affected when you add services? How did you add extra interfaces to your Mac?