Ubuntu – Can’t Access VMware VM Remotely

I have a VM several layers away that I want to access remotely, but I can't get to it for some reason. I've tried several things to figure it out, and I wonder if I am missing something. I would like to RDP into the machine or access the web application running on port 80 on the VM.

Here's the setup…

• VM in question: VMWare VM, Windows Server 2003, PeopleSoft
• VMWare Host: Virtualbox VM, Xubuntu 15.04 basic installation
• Physical Server: IBM x3455, Ubuntu Server 15.04
• Laptop: Ubuntu Desktop 15.04

The reason for the complicated setup is that it is temporary. I want to be able to make some changes to the "VM in question" and then give it back to the person who gave it to me. I don't want to clutter up my "Physical Server" with VMware when I don't plan to use it on an on-going basis.

Basically, I want to connect to the "VM in question" from the "Laptop".

Here's what I have tried:

Network set to Bridged

"VMware Host" has a network adapter set to bind. I went to Machine Settings > Network > Adapter 1 and set the "Attached to" option to "Bridged Adapter".

"VM in question" also has the network adapter set to bind. I went to Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings > Network Adapter and selected the Bridged radio button.

So, my machines are all on the same subnet/network. Here are the IP addresses:

• VM in question: 192.168.x.103
• VMWare Host: 192.168.x.105
• Physical Server: 192.168.x.15
• Laptop: 192.168.x.110

DNS

I don't think that DNS is a problem. On my laptop, when I try to ping the VM in question it gets the IP address correct:

$ ping VM
PING VM (192.168.x.103) 56(84) bytes of data.
^C
--- VM ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 2014ms

Ping

I tried pinging at the different levels to see where the network traffic was getting stopped.

• On the "VM in question", I can ping it's own IP address.
• On the "VMware Host", I can ping the "VM in question"
• On the "Physical Server", I cannot ping the "VM in question"

Firewall

I think the Xubuntu firewall was turned on in the "VMware Host". I have that off now.

I checked with:

user@VMWareHost:~$ sudo ufw status verbose
[sudo] password for user: 
Status: inactive

I originally turned it off with:

sudo ufw disable

Question

Do you see anything I missed? Is there a way to get network access to that VM from my laptop?