VMWare: guest machine internet working randomly - vmware-fusion

Question

I have an issue with the internet in my VMWare guest machine working very randomly (mostly not working) and I am not sure what the issue might be.
Sometimes the internet works (this also includes possibility to ssh to the host), but most of the time it doesn't.
Restarting networking doesn't help, nor any ifdown/ifup's. The only situation when it might start working is restarting the whole VM. And even then it starts working perhaps one time in 10.
The only potential issue I have noticed so far is that when it doesn't work, VM network adapters' MAC addresses are swapped - while if it works, they are as configured.
Details:
host: OS X El Capitan 10.11.4 running VMWare Fusion 8.0.1
guest: Linux debian 3.2.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.2.65-1+deb7u2 x86_64 GNU/Linux
VMWare virtual machine network settings:
Network Adapter 1 - NAT - static MAC address 00:50:56:38:CC:21
Network Adapter 2 - Host only - static MAC address 00:50:56:38:CC:22
In my virtual machine .vmx configuration file I have this (related to the interfaces):
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"
ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
ethernet0.addressType = "static"
ethernet0.linkStatePropagation.enable = "FALSE"
ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "33"
ethernet0.address = "00:50:56:38:CC:21"
ethernet0.startConnected = "TRUE"
ethernet0.vnet = "vmnet2"
ethernet0.bsdName = "en0"
ethernet0.displayName = "Wi-Fi"
...
ethernet1.present = "TRUE"
ethernet1.connectionType = "hostonly"
ethernet1.virtualDev = "e1000"
ethernet1.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
ethernet1.addressType = "static"
ethernet1.linkStatePropagation.enable = "FALSE"
ethernet1.pciSlotNumber = "37"
ethernet1.address = "00:50:56:38:CC:22"
ethernet1.startConnected = "TRUE"
Host ifconfig:
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
options=3<RXCSUM,TXCSUM>
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280
en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether a0:99:9b:0b:bf:c5
inet6 fe80::a299:9bff:fe0b:bfc5%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
inet 10.230.82.42 netmask 0xffffc000 broadcast 10.230.127.255
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
media: autoselect
status: active
en1: flags=963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX> mtu 1500
options=60<TSO4,TSO6>
ether 6a:00:01:ba:d6:30
media: autoselect <full-duplex>
status: inactive
en2: flags=963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX> mtu 1500
options=60<TSO4,TSO6>
ether 6a:00:01:ba:d6:31
media: autoselect <full-duplex>
status: inactive
bridge0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
options=63<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,TSO4,TSO6>
ether a2:99:9b:b0:3e:00
Configuration:
id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 hellotime 0 fwddelay 0
maxage 0 holdcnt 0 proto stp maxaddr 100 timeout 1200
root id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 ifcost 0 port 0
ipfilter disabled flags 0x2
member: en1 flags=3<LEARNING,DISCOVER>
ifmaxaddr 0 port 5 priority 0 path cost 0
member: en2 flags=3<LEARNING,DISCOVER>
ifmaxaddr 0 port 6 priority 0 path cost 0
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
media: <unknown type>
status: inactive
p2p0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 2304
ether 02:99:9b:0b:bf:c5
media: autoselect
status: inactive
awdl0: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1484
ether 7a:81:75:a1:0f:87
inet6 fe80::7881:75ff:fea1:f87%awdl0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x9
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
media: autoselect
status: active
vmnet1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether 00:50:56:c0:00:01
inet 192.168.247.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.247.255
vmnet8: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether 00:50:56:c0:00:08
inet 192.168.195.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.195.255
Guest /etc/network/interfaces:
# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.195.200
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.195.2
auto eth1
iface eth1 inet static
address 192.168.247.200
netmask 255.255.255.0
Guest ifconfig (when internet works):
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:56:38:cc:21
inet addr:192.168.195.200 Bcast:192.168.195.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::250:56ff:fe38:cc21/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:470 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:461 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:74106 (72.3 KiB) TX bytes:53650 (52.3 KiB)
Interrupt:19 Base address:0x2000
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:56:38:cc:22
inet addr:172.16.121.132 Bcast:172.16.121.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::250:56ff:fe38:cc22/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:7 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1648 (1.6 KiB) TX bytes:578 (578.0 B)
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:61 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:61 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:24465 (23.8 KiB) TX bytes:24465 (23.8 KiB)
Guest ifconfig (when internet doesn't work):
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:56:38:cc:22
inet addr:192.168.195.200 Bcast:192.168.195.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::250:56ff:fe38:cc22/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:217 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:2472 (2.4 KiB) TX bytes:9398 (9.1 KiB)
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:56:38:cc:21
inet addr:192.168.247.200 Bcast:192.168.247.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::250:56ff:fe38:cc21/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:26 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:3498 (3.4 KiB) TX bytes:620 (620.0 B)
Interrupt:19 Base address:0x2000
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:219 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:219 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:42755 (41.7 KiB) TX bytes:42755 (41.7 KiB)
Here I can see the only difference - the MAC addresses are the other way round, compared to how they are configured.
When internet works:
from the guest, pinging all 192.168.195.* works fine (.200, .2 and .1)
from the host, I can ping myself (.1) and the guest (.200), pinging .2 gives me 'Request timeout' error
When it doesn't work:
from the guest I can ping myself (192.168.195.200), but pinging any other 192.168.195.* (.2 or .1) gives me 'Destinaton Host Unreachable' error. Same when pinging the internet (for example 8.8.4.4)
from the host I can ping myself (192.168.195.1), but pinging any other 192.168.195.* (.2 or .200) gives me 'Request timeout' error.
Any idea why this might be happening, and what else I could try?
Thanks!

Answer 1

The issue is solved now.
I tried the workaround described at https://communities.vmware.com/message/2350978#2350978 - generally creating a new VM using the existing VMDK virtual disk (which re-created all the external VM settings) - it worked flawlessly, even though being a little overkill.
Just in case I have kept the copy of the original problematic VM, and then, after getting help from the VMWare employee - which suggested removing the NAT adapter settings (all ethernet0. entries) from the VM's .vmx configuration file, then removing the network adapter itself, and then re-adding it - everything started working perfectly.
Guess I just had some old settings in the .vmx file, from previous versions of VMWare, or old VM configurations...