VMWare network Modes

What operating system is the VM running ?

All three machines are 2003 Server.

Bringing VMs running Windows having identical system names and IP Addresses will definitely cause conflict since Windows have SIDs or Security Identifiers which distinctly differentiate them from one another.

Please update the primary reason as to why you want to do this.

i need to get the most up to date file from Server 1 to copy of server 1.

What file are we taking about here and what role is the VM running (File Server, DNS Server, etc) ?

They are SQL Backup files from the night before. The server is a file and database server

I suggest an alternative.

Create a new VM instance by installing Windows Server 2003 and use the backup utility in your Source VM to backup your files.

Restore the backed up data to the newly created VM Instance.

Thats really not the goal I am trying to achieve. My goal is to get the most current data onto the copy (the DR server) automatically nightly. My goal would be to copy by bat file from server 1 to base,  then from base to copy of Server 1

In that context, I suggest that you take a look at this tool - http://www.trilead.com/Products/VM_Explorer/Compare/

i dont think thats gonna cut it... is there anyway the vm will talk to server 1 if I set up in host mode. I might just change ip and name, but its not the ideal solution

Just for info, which VMware product are you using ? Workstation or Server 2.0 ?

Server 2.0

You could do this in a two step process which I came with with a bit of lateral thinking!
Configure your DR VM (Server 1)  on the Base Server to have two network cards.
NIC 1  will be connected to your production network (bridged), but you will always leave it in a disconnected state. You will only activate it when you need to switch to your DR server. So no problem with conflicts, duplicate names, etc.
NIC 2 will be connected to your Host Only network defined in VMWare on your BASE server. So it has a different IP address which allows it to talk to it's host server. So far so good I think.
Now to get your file from your live Server 1 to your DR Server 1, you can then use a 'two-step' copy process.
1) Create a scheduled job on the live Server 1 to copy the SQL.BAK file from your live Server 1 to a folder on your BASE Server. Schedule it to run say at 10PM.
2) Then Create another scheduled job on the BASE server to copy the bak file to your DR VM using the network IP address assigned to NIC 2 on your VM? Get this to run say at 11PM...
There I think your problem is solved! Or so it says so in my head!!

what about naming though. WIll the base have issues seeing that both machines, even though different IP Ranges, have same names?

Probably not, since you will be referring to your DR VM Server 1 via the secondary address. When you copy the file from the BASE to the DRVM Server 1 use the secondary IP address to connect to it and not the name to prevent 'confusion' from the Base Server's in trying to work out which one two connect to.