Locking up when connecting to host

Okay, I'm realtively new to this so go easy on me if I say "newbie" things:

I am dealing with all-linux (Gentoo) host machines.

I have installed vmware-server beta 22088 successfully on two different Linux machines. On each one, I am able to start the console and connect to localhost. I am able to use my VMs just fine. No complaints.

But if I start a vmware console on one machine, and enter the ip address and root credentials for the other (running) linux host, the console appears to lock up and the other host slows down to a crawl.

The server service is running, nmap shows:

902/tcp open  iss-realsecure-sensor

on the other host.

What am I missing here? Any ideas?

Thanks!!