Thanks for the reply.
With the virtual machine connected, I changed the network adapter (eth0) from Bridged to NAT. I then issued the command one the guest:
/etc/init.d.network restart. Here is what was in that console:
Determining IP information for eth0... failed; no link present. Check cable?
[FAILED]
Here it what was in vmware.log:
2013-01-01T21:50:47.273-08:00| vmx| I120: VMXVmdbEditRemDevices: Reconnect of ethernet0 would be delayed.
2013-01-01T21:50:47.273-08:00| vmx| I120: VMXVmdbSetCfgState: reconnect delay = 5 seconds, reconnectEthVector = 0x1, poll cb status = 0.
2013-01-01T21:50:47.273-08:00| vmx| I120: TOOLS received request in VMX to set option 'synctime' -> '1'
2013-01-01T21:50:47.293-08:00| vmx| I120: VMXVmdb_SetCfgState: cfgReqPath=/vm/#_VMX/vmx/cfgState/req/#8/, remDevPath=/vm/#_VMX/vmx/vigor/setCfgStateReq/#d7/in/
2013-01-01T21:50:52.350-08:00| vmx| I120: VNET: ethernet0 enable link state propagation, lsp.state = 5
2013-01-01T21:50:52.351-08:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVnetConnectToNetwork ethernet0 lsp.state = 4
2013-01-01T21:50:52.351-08:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetConnectToNetwork Ethernet0: notify available
2013-01-01T21:50:52.351-08:00| vmx| I120: EthernetDevicesDelayedConnect: Delayed connect of network adapter ethernet0 succeeded.
The VMWare ethernet adapter isn't functioning correctly here. When I switch to NAT, why is it getting a hardware signal that there's no cable plugged in? That's not something I can make happen from my side.
Thinking that there could be something wonky on the Linux side with ethernet settings and whatnot, I added another network adapter to the guest, and the symptoms were identical. It worked fine with the network adapter set to Bridged or Host Only, but trying to use NAT results in "no link present"
Is it possible that somewhere in a hidden vmware settings file that there could be something set to simulate an unplugged cable?