Networking Multiple VMs on Mac Network

I'm far from being a Windows expert, but can fumble my way around as needed.

We have a small office of approximately 10 Macs networked together over Ethernet. No OSX server. I'm installing Parallels and Windows XP Home on a number of these Macs, as we unfortunately must run some PC-only software.

What I need to do is connect 2 virtual machines to a 3rd virtual machine. The 3rd VM will host the master data file for a database-type program, and the other 2 machines will need to be able to read/write to this master data file.

I have selected "bridged networking" in the 3rd VM, and assigned a unique IP address to that VM (using the guest OS's networking properties settings). I then used the Networking Wizard to enable file sharing on the VM (there now exists a folder called "shared documents"). This seems to be the logical place to store the master data file.

Now the question is, how do I connect the other VMs to this machine? Using another Mac on our network, I have browsed the network (using the "Go>Connect to Server" menu) but the VM does not appear. However, I do have Internet access from the VM, and the VM shows up properly in my router's "attached devices" panel as if it were a free-standing PC on the network.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thx,
GS

 

I think all the Windows VMs need to be in the same workgroup, so check that they are. I believe you can do that by right clicking on My Computer and going to the "Computer Name" tab.

If they are in the same workgroup, you should be able to see them (obviously only if the VMs are running at the time) in "My Network Places".

If you can't, try going to Start -> Run -> then entering \\<ip address> of your file sharing server. You should be able to get to it that way.

If you can't, you will probably want to check the windows firewall settings.

 

As long as you have signed everyone up on the same subnet it should be easy.

Just \\{INSERT IP HERE}\{PATH}\{TO}\{SHARE}\ (or see the available ones with \\{INSERT IP HERE}\ into Windows Explorer, or wherever else you need to give a path to the machine.

Don't waste your time with Workgroups unless you need to have that easy 'click' access to the different computers... I just map network drives, very simple. If the drive doesn't auto-mount drop a 'net use' script into your startup folder.

Considering you will have ~10 windows computers, I would highly recommend getting a domain in place for security policies... It is pretty much essential if you don't use LDAP or another directory service.

Anyways, I'm getting off topic... Just be aware of the security issues, management issues, etc.; and, if you aren't familiar with them, either do some serious research or hire a consultant for set-up.

 

And, if you are running it on 10computers, you might want to look at upgrading to Windows PRO, as Windows home doesnt like many more than 5 computers on a network...

Windows home is made for just that. Home use... So if you want to run on the whole office, you are going to need pro... Though, i havent had much exposer to Home, so i dont know if its going to stop you manually connecting, but i do know you cant see them in the 'Network Places' directory...

Cheers,
Jase

 

I am pretty sure that it has a hard limit for concurrent connections.