LinuxQuestions.org - Vmware and dhcp on vmnet8 ?

Hi guys.
I'm running Vmware Workstation on my Fedora 8 and I was wondering whether there is a way of turning off DHCP on the vmnet8 in Vmware while keeping NAT at the same time? I need this cause I want to install a real dhcp server on one of my virtual servers (to do some experiments and stuff) and also keep the connection to the Internet at the same time.

Second question concerns the actual DHCP server running on the vmnet8 that I'm currently experimenting with while waiting a response whether what I asked above is possible to do.

I've noticed a strange thing. If I create a range of addresses, let's say 172.168.80.5 to .8, isn't that supposed to give me 4 addresses for the lease, (.5 to .8 )? What happens is that only the first 3 can be leased to the hosts, while the 4th host, when started, cannot obtain the address through its dhcp-client. As soon as I edit the range to .9 - then another host can get an address (.8) but it's always this same reaction - the dhcp server refuses to give away the last address. What's the deal? Is this some odd limitation in the vmnet implementation of the dhcp or what?

Bellow is my dhcp.conf for vmnet8.

Code:

allow unknown-clients;

default-lease-time 1800;                # 30 minutes

max-lease-time 7200;                    # 2 hours



subnet 172.16.80.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {

    range 172.16.80.5 172.16.80.8;

    option broadcast-address 172.16.80.255;

    option domain-name-servers 172.16.80.4;

    option domain-name "mydomain-here";

    option routers 172.16.80.2;

}

So, with the configuration above, addresses from .5 to .7 can be assigned to any virtual host that I start, but not the last one - (.8). I would need to make range bigger (.9) to be able to assign .8, but .9 cant be then assigned either...well...you get the picture - always the last IP is "reserved" for something.

I'm running a virtual DNS server, inside of the virtual network, everything's fine there, all hosts configured properly in the zone. The router/gateway is the vmnet8 standard NAT device at the address stated in the config.

Thanks in advance!