VMWare ESX 2.x 上的虛擬機器無MAC Address的限制
但是VMWare VI 3.x 上的虛擬機器有MAC Address的限制，需注意
MAC Address的範圍需為00:50:56:00:00:00~00:50:56:3F:FF:FF
參考資料如下
VMTN Discussion Forums: How the Mac is getting generated for ...引述
VMware has stated that any MAC address within the VI3 environment MUST have the following format: 00:50:56:xx:xx:xx. This format allows an administrator to change the last three pairs of the MAC address, but the first three pairs are forced and indicate that this is a VM within the VI3 environment. Any deviation from this format with result in an error when trying to power on a VM and render the VM inoperable.
With VI3 DRS and migrating VMs from host to host, VMware cannot guarantee the MAC address will remain the same unless you force it to 'static' within the VMs configuration file (vmx file). The procedure to force the MAC address to 'static' is described at the following website:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/server_config.pdf See the section 'Setting Up MAC Address' on page 72.
As stated in the document above, any MAC address that is to be set to 'static' MUST be created within the following range: 00:50:56:00:00:00 to 00:50:56:3F:FF:FF.
Any MAC created outside of this range and set to 'static' will result in an error when powering up the VM and rendering the VM inoperable. Any physical server that needs its MAC transferred into the new P2V VM cannot be done. A new MAC must be created within the above range and assigned to the VM's NIC, then the application or licenses for applications attached to the hard-coded MAC address be renewed with the application vender to use the new MAC address, if applicable. As a note, someone should track all assigned MAC address assigned within the VI3 environment to guarantee no duplicate MAC address on the network similar to how IP addresses are tracked so there is only a single place that is authoritative for this data.
In conclusion, no P2V's of physical servers or V2V's or virtual servers with hard-coded MAC address' can be performed nor a new VM created that has a requirement to use a hard coded MAC, until a MAC address in the VMware approved range, see above, has been assigned to the new VM and the VMs configuration file modified to use the new MAC address. The configuration file MUST also be set to 'static' as described in the website link above to guarantee the MAC address will not change due to migrating the VM from one ESX host to another ESX host, which is done manually by an administrator or automatically by VI3 DRS.
Virtual Infrastructure Server Configuration Guide詳72頁
Changing Your MAC Address In Window XP/Vista, Linux And Mac OS X
