Network configuration issues - WinXP client as webserver

Hi

I am having some issues configuring the network with parallels

I have a Mac OS Lion 10.7.5 host running on a MBP, with a single WinXP VM on Parallels 8.0.18354

I have internet sharing setup on the Mac and want to connect 2 iPads to this to access a webservice running on the XP VM.

Whatever Parallels network config I try, I can connect to this webservice both on the XP client (localhost) and from the MacOS client. But connectivity from the iPads is variable.

In all configs, the iPads can connect to the internet sharing wifi node without difficulty. If I set the XP client to use bridging mode, the iPads can 'see' across the bridge to the XP webservice. But in that config the XP machine is grabbing an IP address from our local DHCP server. But I am heading into an environment ( a tradeshow exhibition hosted in a hotel ) where the internet connection provided is limited to a single IP address per booth. In which case I will need to set the XP VM to use a shared network config.

When using a shared network for the VM, the MacOS client can still 'see' the XP webservice, but the iPads cannot 'see' the XP machine no matter how address it - hostname, dot notation, etc.

As I understand it, in shared internet mode, parallels serves a DHCP IP range to the VMs, whilst standard MacOS internet sharing serves a different range to the wifi clients. But there is no route in the routing table on the Mac to route traffic from one of these networks to the other.

So my question is, is it possible to make a webservice on the XP machine available to iPad clients using the mac host as a router?
TIA

 

Bump.

Anyone got any suggestions on this?