Using the server app, but this appears to be a basic problem in the core.  Using VMWare player, I get an issue I don't in VirtualBox running the exact same VM.  Prefer to use VMWare because I have some other machines in it that need real floppy drive access I don't seem to be able to get in VirtualBox. 

Hosting on XP Pro 32 bit and using bridged network connection.

When I run the appliance for the first time after a host boot, the configuration console tells me my IP address and the appropriate ports acquired via DHCP.  Before it gets to that point, I see something fly by saying it obtained that IP lease.  Router confirms the IP address is assigned to the VM.  But the network really doesn't work.  Can't ping in or out from/to host IP or another on the network.  If I try to re-configure the network via DHCP, it will sometimes work and others it will say it failed.  If I re-configure using a static IP and the IP previously determined via DHCP, it works every time.  So, in a nutshell, it's getting a valid IP but somehow not properly applying it.

Tried on both corporate (intended location, but no network admin rights to see what's going on) and home with same results.

Saw some other messages, but none seem to apply.  One concerned edits to etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules and seemed promising, but that's a zero-length file and the messages seemed to indocate it was mostly applicable to install via .iso (which I did not).
 

So, maybe it's a VMWare issue and I need to try asking over there.  But maybe it's not.  Or even if it is, maybe someone else here already has a solution.