VMware Communities : Document List - VMware Server™

The server was unable to process your log in request. Please check with your server administrator.

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:33:40 GMT

I am trying to access the VM Ware Server 2.0 UI and when I login this is message I receive. What should I do?

registration page of vmare server has a misstake

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:30:28 GMT

hello,

registration page of vmare server has a misstake. I can not register in order to download the product!!

Ubuntu-Server 9.04 + Desktop und VMWare-Server 2.01

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:43:38 GMT

Guten Tag,

ich habe VMWare Server auf meinem PC installiert. Wenn ich ein vorhandenes Image starte oder versuche eine neue Maschine zu erstellen bekomme ich die Fehlermeldung Failed to initialize monitor device.

Kann mir jemand einen Tip geben, was ich machen muss, damit ich Virtuelle Maschinen laufen lassen kann ?

Meine Hardware ist ein Asus P5Q 45 Board mit Intels E8400 3.0 GHz und 8GB RAM

Als Grafikkarte habe ich eine Club3D 9500GT und zwei HDDs als Stripset mit je160 GB.

Leider sind meine Kenntnisse mit Linux (hier Ubuntu) sehr beschränkt weil neu. (Umsteiger von WinXP).

Deshalb wäre es gut (vielleicht) etwas ausführlicher zu erklären.

Vielen Dank im Voraus.

Gruß Bernd

Using VmWare Whitout connections

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:33:55 GMT

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello, Friends.
If You don´t have an internet connection

Via Dhcp

And get this error:
When the console launches
"An Unexplained Error Occured"

So You are intented to use vmware server whitout router or eiher connection...

The workaround it´s this:

1. install microsoft loopback adapter (windows xp comes with it, add hardware, install manualy)

2. Manage virtual networking

3. On DHCP Page press add and choose one vnet (ex vnet5) then press apply

4. now the trick... on the "host virtual network mapping" page select the vnet5(as ex) and on the dropdown select microsoft loop back adapter

it´ll ask for confirmation (we don´t care about this ms loop adpter),press yes then apply again then ok

5. repair this conection and it´ll have an auto ip on it

6. disable if you need the unconected adapter (the Fisical)

7.Warn: Don´t do it if you have a dhcp server conected on the real network adapter

Ex.: Router, Adsl Modem...

I Hope this works For Everyone...

serverVCB.sh - Backup script for VMware Server on Linux host

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:35:22 GMT

Description

This script performs backups of virtual machines running on Linux hosted VMware Servers using methodology similar to VMware's VCB tool. The script takes snapshots of live virtual machines, backs up the master VMDK(s) and then upon completion, deletes the snapshot until the next backup.

This script was created by taking William Lam's excellent ghettoVCB.sh script for ESX(i) backups and rewriting it for VMware Server. See the original document -> ghettoVCB.sh - Free alternative for backing up VM's for ESX(i) 3.5 and 4.0+

This script was developed on VMware Server 2.0.1 Build 156745 running on Debian Linux 64bit. The script is non-interactive and can be setup to run via crontab. Currently, this script accepts a text file that lists the display names of virtual machine(s) that are to be backed up. Specification of the destination path is done by editing the top portion of the script itself. It is important to note that the backup destination specified in the VM_BACKUP_VOLUME variable must be the absolute path to your backup storage.

In its current configuration, the script will allow up to 3 unique backups of the Virtual Machine before it will overwrite the previous backups; this however, can be modified to fit procedures if need be.

The script is heavily documented, so please refer to the script's source code for futher documentation.

Note: This script serves my needs well and has not caused any problems in my environment. That being said, please follow due dilligence in testing that this script will work for you before relying solely on this for your backup needs

If there are any comments, questions, improvements, etc. please let me know.

Features

Backs up all VMDK(s) present in the VM directory
Ability to archive and compress backups automatically
Online back up of VM(s)
Ability to shutdown guestOS and initiate backup process and power on VM afterwards with the option of hardpower timeout
Allow spaces in VM(s) backup list (not recommended and not a best practice)
Ensure that snapshot removal process completes prior to to continuing onto the next VM backup
VM(s) that intially contain snapshots and RDMs (raw device mapppings) will not be backed up and will be ignored
Ability to specify the number of backup rotations for VM
Do not need to be root to run the backup (as long as the standard file system permissions allow)

Requirements

VMware Server 2 running on a Linux host
The only modification required to get basic functionality is VM_BACKUP_VOLUME
Depending upon authentication settings, you may also need to set VM_USER and VM_PASSWORD

Please do not edit past this line:

# >>> DO NOT MODIFY BELOW THIS LINE <<<

Setup

1) Download serverVCB.sh to your Linux host
2) Change the permissions on the script to ensure it can be executed:

chmod +x serverVCB.sh

Preparation

The serverVCB.sh script reads a simple text file that you create, which lists the Name of each VM you want to back up. For example, let's assume you have three VMs that you want to backup. You would create a simple text file called vmlist (the filename is not important) with the following contents:

Domain Controller
Exchange
SQL Server

Important: Your VM names must match exactly what VMware Server knows them as, including case, spaces, etc. If this script cannot match the name you enter, it will dump out the names VMware Server does know about so you can double check.

Usage

vmware@saidin:~$ ./serverVCB.sh
###########################################################
# VMware Server Backup Script Version: 1.0
###########################################################

Usage: serverVCB.sh [VM_FILE_INPUT]

###########################################################

Sample Execution

vmware@saidin:~$ ./serverVCB.sh vmlist
###########################################################
# VMware Server Backup Script Version: 1.0
###########################################################
++++++++++ Initiating backup process for Dev1
->>>>>>>>> Taking backup snapshot for Dev1 ...
->>>>>>>>> Done: Snapshot creation
->>>>>>>>> GSX: Backing up content of Dev1 ...
sending incremental file list
dev1_root-f001.vmdk
  2147221504 100%   22.92MB/s    0:01:29 (xfer#1, to-check=4/5)
dev1_root-f002.vmdk
      262144 100%    2.12MB/s    0:00:00 (xfer#2, to-check=3/5)
dev1_root-f003.vmdk
  2147221504 100%   20.76MB/s    0:01:38 (xfer#3, to-check=2/5)
dev1_root-f004.vmdk
      262144 100%    1.75MB/s    0:00:00 (xfer#4, to-check=1/5)
dev1_root.vmdk
         490 100%    3.32kB/s    0:00:00 (xfer#5, to-check=0/5)

sent 4295492384 bytes  received 107 bytes  22787758.57 bytes/sec
total size is 4294967786  speedup is 1.00
->>>>>>>>> GSX: Reconfiguring backup of Dev1 ...
->>>>>>>>> Removing snapshot from Dev1 ...
->>>>>>>>> success: Snapshot removal
->>>>>>>>> Waiting for snapshot on Dev1 to be committed...
->>>>>>>>> Done: Snapshot committed
^^^^^^^^^^ Completed backup for Dev1!

Start time: Fri Jul 17 17:25:35 EST 2009
End   time: Fri Jul 17 17:28:59 EST 2009
Duration  : 3.40 Minutes

###########################################################

Change History

Date	Version	Changes
17Jul2009	1.0	Initial Release
17Jul2009	1.1	Fixed copy process where spaces where in physical path
23Jul2009	1.2	Added more friendly/informative message when VM name provided does not match anything within VMware Server
		Added extra summary details to advise how many VM backups succeded and failed
		Added extra logic to ignore empty lines in the input file
		Utilised mktemp to create temporary VM List instead of hard-coded temp file. This should allow simultaneous use by multiple users to backup different VMs at the same time
25Jul2009	1.3	Modified getVimVar function to correctly handle values returned from VMware Server that contains spaces

Making VMWare Server's web server to serve port 80 (in addition to existent ones)

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:31:10 GMT

The https port at 8333 is not easy for people to remember. So I created a sort of portal/home page at normal port (ie 80) to guide my users -- they just need to type http://servername/ without any specific port number. And moreover, in the portal page, I've also written down a lot of informations related to the VMWare Server in that server, so they don't have to search elsewhere.

So I had to install IIS6 (in Windows Server 2003) in order to serve only this page at port 80. It would be nice to make VMWare Server's web server (Tomcat) to serve port 80 too. So for the record, here are the steps for Windows. I suppose for Linux, the steps are similar but users had to change things to adapt to it.

1. Stop (Tomcat) web server services

I found that stopping VMWare Server Web Access and VMWare Host Agent is enough.

2. Modify web server config file to serve one more port

Suppose the VMWare Server is installed in C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server\, then open the following XML file to edit:
C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server\tomcat\conf\server.xml

Add the following new <Service> element to the file:

Normally there's only one <Service> element in the file. So you could insert this new element between </Service> and </Server> at almost the end of the file (while respecting XML syntax rules).

Things to take care in this element:

<Service name=... any name, but must be unique, with respect to those existent "Service" elements
<Connector port=... the new port number (of course!) I use 80 here.
<Engine name=... must be unique wrt to those existent "Engine" elements
<Host appBase=... name of the new directory, web80 here, see below

Then create a new directory in C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server\tomcat

The name of the directory must match what's written in appBase attribute. Here I call the new directory "web80".

In other words, I've a new directory as C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server\tomcat\web80

3. Restart web server services as stated in 1.

Now, create an index.html (default file name for home page) inside this web80 directory and it will be served.

This document was generated from the following thread: Possible to make VMWare Server's web server to serve port 80?

Problemas al actualizar hacia VMware Server 2

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:31:41 GMT

Tengo casi un mes que actualice mi servidor VMware Server 1 hacia VMware Server 2 (el peor error que pude cometer). Desde ese entonces y hasta el día de hoy (16 de junio de 2009) han sido problemas y más problemas.

Lo que he detectado es que si tengo configurado un servidor comp ACPI multiprocessor PC (con dos procesadores) el servidor toma un tiempo muy largo para iniciar (aproximandamente 1 hora). Ademas de que en ciertas ocasiones congela las demas maquinas virtuales que puedan estar instaladas y en ejecucion en el servidor.

Lo que hice, fue actualizar los servidores como ACPI uniprocessor PC, pero la situacion se complico debido a que aunque la maquina virtual se inicia mucho mas rapido, cuando se ingresa se puede ver en el administrador de tareas que el uso del procesador llega al 100%.

No habia tenido ninguno de los problemas anteriores con VMware server 1. En este momento estoy ya cansado y desesperado de lo que sucede con esta nueva version.

Mi servidor anfitrion es un Dell PowerEdge 2950, 24 GB de RAM, dos procesadores Intel Xeon Dual Core 5150 @ 2.66 GHz , Windows Server 2003. Enterprise Ed.

Gracias por su atencion

Backup VMs on Windows Hosts using Suspend and/or Snapshots

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:49:38 GMT

I'm running a server with host OS Windows 2008 64bit. My ISP is providing 100GB of ftp backup space. For backup purposes I wrote a batch file that suspenses a virtual machine, copies the vm files to a backup directory, starts the vm, compresses the vm files and ftps them to a ftp server.

Another method to do a backup without suspending the virtual machine is the use of a snapshot. This method takes a snapshot of a virtual machine. making a previous snapshot permanent, thus writing it to the vmdk-file of the virtual machine. The virtual machine stays online while doing the snapshot. After the snapshot is taken, all files except tht ones now used by the snapshot are backed up. The backup files are then compressed and ftped.

Community member soyerbean made some remarks pointing out the unlimited grow of a snapshot file and the need to edit the VM configuration file *.vmx, if you want to start your vm from a backup.

If one can tolerate a short suspend period of a vm, the third method is the way to go: Create a snapshot, Backup the VM, Suspend the VM, Delete the snapshot, Start the VM. Using this method the offline time of the vm is (depending of the usage) very short. While doing the backup one of my vms created a snapshot file of 25MB, which led to a suspend/deleteSnapshot/start timeout of about 40 sec.

On an Windows 2003/2008 host running 32bit one should consider using VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) as VMWare supports quiesced backups on these OS.

I attached a better readable PDF version of this text.

Prerequisites:
VMWare Server 2.0 on Windows Host

Security:
Make sure that the directories containing the batch files are only accessible from authorized users as they contain plain usernames and passwords!

Method 1: Backup with Suspend/Start of a VM

Usage of batch file with suspending the vm:
backup_suspend_vm.cmd VMNAME

Example commented batch file backup_suspend_vm.cmd:

@echo off
echo Starting Backup of virtual machine %1
echo.
rem Strip "" from vm parameter
set VM=%~1
rem Setting environment params
set HOST=https://YOUR_VMWARE_SERVER_IP_OR_HOSTNAME:8333/sdk
set USER=YOUR_USERNAME_FOR_VMWARE_MANAGEMENT
set PASS=YOUR_PASSWORD
rem Configure the name of the data store containing the VMs you want to backup enclosed by square brackets
set STORAGE=[standard]
rem Configure the path of the data store defined above
set STORAGEPATH=C:\Virtual Machines
rem Target directory for backup files
set TARGET=C:\backup\vms
rem Installation directory of VMWare VIX on a Windows 2008 host
set PROGDIR="C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX"
rem Using WinRAR as a compression program
set COMPRESS="C:\Program Files (x86)\WinRAR\rar.exe"
rem FTP scripts file for automatically ftp the compressed vm archive to an ftp server
set FTPSCRIPT="C:\backup\ftp.script"
rem Batch program - Do not edit after this line
echo Cleaning current backup %TARGET%\%VM% ...
cd "%TARGET%"
rd "%VM%" /S /Q
md "%VM%"
echo.
echo Suspending %VM% for snapshot backup ...
echo.
cd %PROGDIR%
rem The following command assumes that your vm's vmx-file has the same name as your vm's directory
vmrun -T server -h %HOST% -u %USER% -p %PASS% suspend "%STORAGE% %VM%/%VM%.vmx"
echo.
echo Suspended %VM%, copying files for backup ...
echo.
xcopy "%STORAGEPATH%\%VM%" "%TARGET%\%VM%" /y
echo.
echo Backup completed, turning on %VM% ...
echo.
vmrun -T server -h %HOST% -u %USER% -p %PASS% start "%STORAGE% %VM%/%VM%.vmx"
echo.
echo Backup of %VM% completed successfully
echo.
echo Compressing backup files for %VM%
rem Delete old compressed archives before creating new one
del /F /Q "%TARGET%\*.rar"
rem RAR supports password protected archives...
%COMPRESS% a -p%PASS% "%TARGET%\%VM%.rar" "%TARGET%\%VM%\*.*"
echo.
echo Compressing completed, now ftp to backup volume
echo.
rem Execute transfer of vm archive to ftp server
ftp -i -s:%FTPSCRIPT%
echo.
echo Done ftping compressed files
echo.
echo Done backup

Example ftp script file:

open FTPSERVERNAME_OR_IP
FTPUSERNAME
FTPPASSWORD
bin
mput c:\backup\vms\*.rar
bye

The downtime of your suspended vm typically depends on the size of your vmdk file. On my server it's about 10 minutes copying around 11GB vm files on the same disk. There is a lot to do to improve performance here. Compressing takes much longer (around 70 minutes) but reduces size from 11GB to 3GB.

Method 2: Backup with Snapshoting a VM

Usage of batch file with snapshoting the vm:
backup_snapshot_vm.cmd VMNAME

Example commented batch file backup_snapshot_vm.cmd:

@echo off
echo Starting Backup of virtual machine %1
echo.
rem Strip "" from vm parameter
set VM=%~1
rem Setting environment params
set HOST=https://YOUR_VMWARE_SERVER_IP_OR_HOSTNAME:8333/sdk
set USER=YOUR_USERNAME_FOR_VMWARE_MANAGEMENT
set PASS=YOUR_PASSWORD
rem Configure the name of the data store containing the VMs you want to backup enclosed by square brackets
set STORAGE=[standard]
rem Configure the path of the data store defined above
set STORAGEPATH=C:\Virtual Machines
rem Target directory for backup files
set TARGET=C:\backup\vms
rem Installation directory of VMWare VIX on a Windows 2008 host
set PROGDIR="C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX"
rem Using WinRAR as a compression program
set COMPRESS="C:\Program Files (x86)\WinRAR\rar.exe"
rem FTP scripts file for automatically ftp the compressed vm archive to an ftp server
set FTPSCRIPT="C:\backup\ftp.script"
rem Exclude snapshot files from backup because they are kept open
set EXCLUDE_FILE="C:\backup\exclude.txt"
rem Batch program - Do not edit after this line
echo Cleaning current backup %TARGET%\%VM% ...
cd "%TARGET%"
rd "%VM%" /S /Q
md "%VM%"
echo.
echo Taking snapshot of %VM% for backup ...
echo.
cd %PROGDIR%
rem The following command assumes that your vm's vmx-file has the same name as your vm's directory
vmrun -T server -h %HOST% -u %USER% -p %PASS% snapshot "%STORAGE% %VM%/%VM%.vmx"
echo.
echo Snapshot of %VM% taken, copying files for backup ...
echo.
xcopy "%STORAGEPATH%\%VM%" "%TARGET%\%VM%" /y /EXCULDE:..\exclude.txt
echo.
echo Backup of %VM% completed successfully
echo.
echo Compressing backup files for %VM%
rem Delete old compressed archives before creating new one
del /F /Q "%TARGET%\*.rar"
rem RAR supports password protected archives...
%COMPRESS% a -p%PASS% "%TARGET%\%VM%.rar" "%TARGET%\%VM%\*.*"
echo.
echo Compressing completed, now ftp to backup volume
echo.
rem Execute transfer of vm archive to ftp server
ftp -i -s:%FTPSCRIPT%
echo.
echo Done ftping compressed files
echo.
echo Done backup

Example exclude config file C:\Backup\exclude.txt used by xcopy
This file excludes all filenames containing five zeroes, which identify the snapshot vmdk files
Also all files containing Snapshot and all lock files and directories are excluded
Copy the next three lines in a file named exclude.txt and save it to C:\Backup
00000
Snapshot
.lck

There is no downtime of your vm using snapshots, but you should keep an eye on disk I/O on heavly used VMs. Taking snapshots can take some time, especially when a previous snapshot has to be committed before.

If you have the possibility to suspend your vm, the first example might be a more resource saving solution.

If you want to use your backup files to create a new vm, keep in mind that you MUST edit the vm configuration file (*.vmx) to hav it pointing to the original vmdk file. So open the vmx-file using a text editor (notepad) and edit the line

scsi0:0.fileName = "YOURVMNAME-00000X.vmdk"

to

scsi0:0.fileName = "YOURVMNAME.vmdk"

After this change the VM should startup. Anyway, as the backup is done while the vm is running, you might get some messages when booting the vm pointing out that it was not shutdown correctly.

Method 3: Backup using a Snapshot and Suspend of a VM

Usage of batch file with snapshoting/suspend the vm:
backup_snapshotsuspend_vm.cmd VMNAME

Example commented batch file backup_snapshotsuspend_vm.cmd:

@echo off
echo Starting Backup of virtual machine %1
echo.
rem Strip "" from vm parameter
set VM=%~1
rem Setting environment params
set HOST=https://YOUR_VMWARE_SERVER_IP_OR_HOSTNAME:8333/sdk
set USER=YOUR_USERNAME_FOR_VMWARE_MANAGEMENT
set PASS=YOUR_PASSWORD
rem Configure the name of the data store containing the VMs you want to backup enclosed by square brackets
set STORAGE=[standard]
rem Configure the path of the data store defined above
set STORAGEPATH=C:\Virtual Machines
rem Target directory for backup files
set TARGET=C:\backup\vms
rem Installation directory of VMWare VIX on a Windows 2008 host
set PROGDIR="C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX"
rem Using WinRAR as a compression program
set COMPRESS="C:\Program Files (x86)\WinRAR\rar.exe"
rem FTP scripts file for automatically ftp the compressed vm archive to an ftp server
set FTPSCRIPT="C:\backup\ftp.script"
rem Exclude snapshot files from backup because they are kept open
set EXCLUDE_FILE="C:\backup\exclude.txt"
rem Batch program - Do not edit after this line
echo Cleaning current backup %TARGET%\%VM% ...
cd "%TARGET%"
rd "%VM%" /S /Q
md "%VM%"
echo.
echo Taking snapshot of %VM% for backup ...
echo.
cd %PROGDIR%
rem The following command assumes that your vm's vmx-file has the same name as your vm's directory
vmrun -T server -h %HOST% -u %USER% -p %PASS% snapshot "%STORAGE% %VM%/%VM%.vmx"
echo.
echo Snapshot of %VM% taken, copying files for backup ...
echo.
xcopy "%STORAGEPATH%\%VM%" "%TARGET%\%VM%" /y /EXCULDE:..\exclude.txt
echo.
echo Backup of core %VM% files completed successfully. Now deleting snapshot...
echo.
%PROGDIR%\vmrun -T server -h %HOST% -u %USER% -p %PASS% suspend "%STORAGE% %VM%/%VM%.vmx"
%PROGDIR%\vmrun -T server -h %HOST% -u %USER% -p %PASS% deleteSnapshot "%STORAGE% %VM%/%VM%.vmx"
%PROGDIR%\vmrun -T server -h %HOST% -u %USER% -p %PASS% start "%STORAGE% %VM%/%VM%.vmx"
echo.
echo Snapshot deleted. Now copying vm configuration file (*.vmx)
xcopy "%STORAGEPATH%\%VM%\*.vmx" "%TARGET%\%VM%" /y
echo.
echo Backup of %VM% completed successfully
echo.
echo Compressing backup files for %VM%
rem Delete old compressed archives before creating new one
del /F /Q "%TARGET%\*.rar"
rem RAR supports password protected archives...
%COMPRESS% a -p%PASS% "%TARGET%\%VM%.rar" "%TARGET%\%VM%\*.*"
echo.
echo Compressing completed, now ftp to backup volume
echo.
rem Execute transfer of vm archive to ftp server
ftp -i -s:%FTPSCRIPT%
echo.
echo Done ftping compressed files
echo.
echo Done backup

Example exclude config file C:\Backup\exclude.txt used by xcopy
This file excludes all filenames containing five zeroes, which identify the snapshot vmdk files
Also all files containing Snapshot and all lock files and directories are excluded.
The vm configuration file is not backuped in this step, because it points to the snapshot vmdk file.
Copy the next four lines in a file named exclude.txt and save it to C:\Backup
00000
Snapshot
.lck
.vmx

This method is preferred, when one can accept a short offline time of a VM. As the snapshot vmdk files only grow while the backup files are copied, they shouldn't be too big. The suspend/deleteSnapshot/start afterwards is therefore, quite fast. There is no need to edit the vm configuration file (*.vmx) using this method.

Keyboard mapping

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:25:53 GMT

Hi,

I installed VMWare server 2 on an Ubuntu 9.04 server. The VMWare server has a few Windows XP Machines configured.
I only use the firefox console addin to use the machines (I use ubuntu 9.04 as desktop os).

However, the keyboard mappings in Windows XP are not right. I tried adding xkeymap.usekeycodeMap = true to
every imaginable config file on the server without satisfying results.
The alt-gr key keeps acting like an enter, up, down, left and right are
not mapped correctly, ...

Can anybody help out?

Kind regards

Yoeri

VMX4 remote application

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:02:59 GMT

Please click on the link given below to view the PDF document which explains about Configuration and settings for accessing Cams using Vmx4 application.

http://www.videconcctv.net/pdf/products/vxm4/VXM4-16%20Manual_screen.pdf

VMware server virtual disk creation wizard & utility don't know about path-mounted volumes

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 02:38:17 GMT

VMware Server 2.0 running on Vista Ultimate.

I have a small system drive mounted as C:, and many large drives mounted in the same file system: C:\vm\mnt{sg32-a,sg32-b} etc. There is only 160GB free on the system drive, but 1.4TB free on each of the mounted drives.

However, vmware server web interface isn't smart enough to know that it's ok to create a largish (1TB) preallocated disk at e.g. c:\vm\mnt\sg32-a, since it appears to only look at the drive letter to determine free space.

Similarly, vmware-vdiskmanager gives a spurious error:

Creating disk 'c:\vm\mnt\sg32-b\sg32-b-1.vmdk'
Failed to create disk: An error occurred while writing a file; the disk is full. Data has not been saved. Free some space and try again (0xd00000008).

In order to get around this problem, I need to allocate a drive letter, create the virtual disk, then delete the drive letter. However, it would be nice if the bug was fixed:GetDiskFreeSpaceEx takes a directory name, not a drive letter.

Barry

there is no disk sharing on vmware server 2. use other methods to use resouces.

When you install Server 2.0, it creates a single default datastore that points to a folder on your hard drive, the location of which is defined in "C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Server\hostd\datastores.xml". To use the space on your mount points, create datastores that point to these and then create your VMs in these datastores when prompted during the creation of VMs.

---
If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or Correct buttons to award points.

undermine, I wasn't using disk sharing.

guyrleech, it was easier to mount the drives under letters, create drives manually, then unmount the drive letters, than it would be to go through that in vmware. For one thing, multiple drives can be created at a time using the command line, while the web interface appears to be single-threaded and freezes while it spends several hours creating one virtual drive at a time.

The reason I posted this message in these forums is that it was the only way that I could see to submit a bug report. I wasn't looking for extra advice in how to solve my problem (I can do that myself), just to know that the bug has been reported.

This document was generated from the following thread: VMware server virtual disk creation wizard & utility don't know about path-mounted volumes

Sync an iPAQ 910 to a Virtual Machine Running Windows XP

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 23:29:14 GMT

Mouse not working in converted VM

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:32:59 GMT

I have "VMware Server 2.0" installed on a W2K8 SP1 system and seems to be okay. Then I use "Vmware Converter 3.0.3" to convert 3 "Virtual PC"-images (2 W2K8 and 1 XP-Client) and add the VMs to the "VMware Server 2.0" environment.

1) The first problem is I could only boot 1 W2K8 and the XP-client, the other W2K8 could not boot through.

2) The other problem is that I cannot use the mouse in the 2 systems that are booting through. I have upgraded them and even install VMware tools, but now chance.

Any idea how I can go about it, especially the second problem,.

Thanks

Re: NETYK necesita tu ayuda!,.

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:16:10 GMT

Tengo problema al instalar vmware server en suse 11.1

one of the pre-built vmmon modules for VMware Server is suitable for your
running kernel. Do you want this program to try to build the vmmon module for
your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? yes yes

Using compiler "/usr/bin/gcc". Use environment variable CC to override.

Your kernel was built with "gcc" version "4.3.2", while you are trying to use
"/usr/bin/gcc" version "4.3". This configuration is not recommended and VMware
Server may crash if you'll continue. Please try to use exactly same compiler as
one used for building your kernel. Do you want to go with compiler
"/usr/bin/gcc" version "4.3" anyway? no yes

What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running
kernel? [/lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-default/build/include]

Extracting the sources of the vmmon module.

Building the vmmon module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only'
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-default/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9-obj/x86_64/default'
make -C ../../../linux-2.6.27.7-9 O=/usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9-obj/x86_64/default/. modules
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o
In file included from /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/./include/x86.h:20,
from /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/./include/machine.h:24,
from /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.h:15,
from /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:49:
/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/./include/x86apic.h:79:1: warning: "APIC_BASE_MSR" redefined
In file included from include2/asm/numa_64.h:5,
from include2/asm/numa.h:4,
from include2/asm/acpi.h:28,
from include2/asm/fixmap_64.h:15,
from include2/asm/fixmap.h:7,
from include2/asm/apic.h:9,
from include2/asm/smp.h:13,
from /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9/include/linux/smp.h:28,
from /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9/include/linux/topology.h:33,
from /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9/include/linux/mmzone.h:687,
from /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9/include/linux/gfp.h:4,
from /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9/include/linux/kmod.h:22,
from /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9/include/linux/module.h:13,
from /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:12:
include2/asm/apicdef.h:134:1: warning: this is the location of the previous definition
In file included from /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/./include/machine.h:24,
from /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.h:15,
from /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:49:
/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/./include/x86.h:830:1: warning: "PTE_PFN_MASK" redefined
In file included from include2/asm/pda.h:8,
from include2/asm/current.h:19,
from include2/asm/processor.h:15,
from /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9/include/linux/prefetch.h:14,
from /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9/include/linux/list.h:6,
from /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9/include/linux/module.h:9,
from /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:12:
include2/asm/page.h:22:1: warning: this is the location of the previous definition
In file included from /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/vmhost.h:13,
from /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:71:
/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/./include/compat_semaphore.h:5:27: error: asm/semaphore.h: No such file or directory
/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:146: error: unknown field ‘nopage’ specified in initializer
/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:147: warning: initialization from incompatible pointer type
/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:150: error: unknown field ‘nopage’ specified in initializer
/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:151: warning: initialization from incompatible pointer type
/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c: In function ‘LinuxDriver_Ioctl’:
/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:1670: error: too many arguments to function ‘smp_call_function’
make[4]: *** [/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o] Error 1
make[3]: *** ~~_module_/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only~~ Error 2
make[2]: *** sub-make Error 2
make[1]: *** all Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9-obj/x86_64/default'
make: *** http://vmmon.ko Error 2
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only'
Unable to build the vmmon module.

For more information on how to troubleshoot module-related problems, please
visit our Web site at "http://www.vmware.com/download/modules/modules.html" and
"http://www.vmware.com/support/reference/linux/prebuilt_modules_linux.html".

Execution aborted.

Guest on different subnet (VLAN) than host

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:05:00 GMT

I am trying to run a Vmware guest OS (Windows 2003 standard) on a different subnet than the host (window 2003 standard) network. One issue that I run into already is that as soon as I plug in the cable on the second interface of the host machine, it updates its ipaddress on DNS server. I think if I can add another alias to that domain name that should take care of the auto update problem. Can someone confirm that? Second, how can I bind a virtual NIC card on vmware guest to use the physical NIC on a different subnet?

Solution:

I got it working by removing all protocols except VMware Bridge Protocol from the second interface. Then, I used vmnetcfg.exe, which is located under c:\program files\vmware\vmware server to bind second card to VMnet2 by going into Host Virtual Network Mapping tab. Finally, under the hardware setting of the guest machine, bind Network Adapter to VMnet2 and that would do the trick.

Problems and solutions with version 1.x VMs after upgrading to VMware Server 2.0.0 build 122589 on Windows XP

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:38:52 GMT

After upgrading from VMware Server 1.x to VMware Server 2.0.0 build 122589, I encountered some problems with the VMs (Virtual Machines) that were in the 1.x inventory:

A VM removed from the 2.x inventory reappeared after the VMware host was rebooted.
A running VM was not suspended or shut down when the VMware host was shut down even though the VMware Server was configured to do so and the VM was configured to suspend or shut down but not configured to startup with the VMware host.

The solutions were respectively:

Remove or rename the file containing the VMware 1.x inventory after upgrading to VMware 2.x.
- On Windows, this file is located in "%SystemRoot%\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Server\vm-list".
- It seems that the VMware Server 2.0.0 build 122589 keeps reregistering the VMs in that list each time the VMware host is restarted (or the VMware Host Agent service is restarted).
- This is related to the errror messages seen in the Task pane after a restart. Double clicking on one of those messages reveals the following details: Task ID: "Folder.RegisterVm", Target: "vm", Status: "Error", Description: "Add a virtual machine to the folder", Error: "The specified key, name, or identifier already exists".
- What is missing from those messages is an indication of which key, name or identifier already exist so that one has a better idea on how to correct those errors. For example, the Target field could be set to the key, name or identifier like it is set to the name of the VM in the task starting a VM.
- Those messages no longer appear after a reboot of the VMware host once the file vm-listis renamed or deleted.
Configure the VM at least once to start automatically when the VMware host is started and have the VM started automatically once by restarting the VMware host. After this, you can reconfigure the VM to only shut down or suspend when the VMware host is shut down. Here are the steps:
1. Login to Web Access.
2. In the inventory pane, select the VMware host, not one of the VMs.
3. In the Commands pane, click the link "Edit Virtual Machine Startup/Shutdown".
4. Below "System Settings", make sure that "Allow virtual machines to start and stop with the system" is checked. Note: as the help says for this dialog, you must have kept a similar options checked during the installation.
5. Setup the desired "Default Startup ..." and "Default Shutdown ..." section. Note: The "Shutdown Action": "Shut Down Guest" probably requires VMware Tools to be installed on the guest OS, whereas the other actions don't.
6. Select the desired VM in the "Manual Startup" list and click the "Move Up" button until the VM is in the "Specified Order" list.
7. Click OK to save these changes.
8. Select the desired VM, start it and wait for the VM to finish starting.
9. Restart the VMware host. Note: stopping the VMware Host Agent service doesn't seem to stop the running VM.
10. This time, the selected Shutdown Action should execute on the VM, and the VM should automatically start when VMware Server starts.
11. Repeat the above procedure to move the VM back to the "Manual Startup" list
12. From now on, the Shutdown Action will work for the VM.

Georges

VMware Server 2.0 Tips and Tricks

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 23:16:26 GMT

Vmware 2 new user and upgrader : FAQ windows systems

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:58:54 GMT

vmware 2 new user and upgrader faq

vmserver 2 is a web based system. and works good with a internet connection.

FAQ is for the windows systems - xp , vista , etc maybe windows 7

A users manual is located at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmserver2.pdf ( approx 4MB ) includes other o/s setups

The system runs with delays - do not race the system. an error will jump up and delay your work. hit refesh to update the data.

If there is a problem check your network first - this includes network card and drivers, network state, ip addressing etc.

most problems have been solved just search for the solution it may not be in same wording

Startup problems.

Cannot connect to server. - try http://127.0.0.1:8222/ this will connect to the server. ( securtiy warning and certificate box's will pop up )
User name and password - use the same user name and password to login to pc ( password is required on account to login )
problems connecting to remote console -all problems-

the system cannot resolve the dns and ip address when not connected to internet or local network.

a working fix to the problem - also fixes Q1

On the host computer you need to access the network properties for vmnet1.
find Internet protocol tcp/ip (v4) click properties
in the window use following DNS server address enter the static ip address displayed or enter the ip address 127.0.0.1
hit ok
hit ok again
done ! restart the machine to verify working

firefox and other browsers
some problems can be encounted due to certificates and securty warnings.
install the certificates on the browers to access Vmware.-----

Network questions

vmware networks shows only have host , bridge and nat networks.

The networks are not setup you need to start up virtual network editor to setup networks.

to create nic to vmnet connections use the host virtual networking mapping > pick a vm net, click on the triangle an pick a nic card thats installed. press apply when done.
to create virtual networks use the host virtual adapters this will install a virtual nic router for the vmnet you chosse. press apply when done.

hit ok when the changes are done. best option is to reboot the machine.
when the restarted - start vm server and the vmnets should show up ready to use .

Internet connection

for bridged and host connections - Use ICS ( internet connection services ) or the internet router for the connection ip address.
No network connection
virtual network editor will show all active network interfaces. if a network interface is not showen the device is turned off or disabled. check you hardware.
file://
*VMnet 0
Vmnet 0 automaticaly connects to the first network interface that is active.

laptop users

network problems will happen on laptops due to power and plug and play devices / usb config.
check if the nic is working before trying to fix network problems.

cable network nics may need to be pluged into a hub/switch to work
wifi connections may be required to have an connection before connecting to vm
wifi nic can be used for private vm useage - not connected to a network.
check power saving options
verifiy connection with virtual network editor.

data stores

data stores are set up to keep the vms etc.
verify the connection of the media before starting of Vmware. Vm machines will be greyed out in the invertory list if not seen.
note : do not use the root of the drive as a data store. this cannot be change one in place.
\\\\
-----

Genral problems

most problem can be traced to the o/s installed. if it works on one vm then is should work on other vms. check you config or read up on the problem.
And if you do have a problem take a break. there is no point fixing more problems.

Cannot open VMWare - Server and Remote Console -

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:09:01 GMT

hi i get the folloing error

Error opening the remote virtual machine <machine-name>:8233\32: An unexplained error occurred.

i have found the problem - the network vmware is using my internet connection for the network. so it works when online.

question how do i change the network the vmware console is using - need to use the network card installed not the wan internet device.

would like a fix to the problem.

have done a forum search - and is still a problem - rollback to ver 1 not an option

can attach to the server etc. from online connections.

just need to known how to change the network device connection - xp software

Exactly the same as my issue reported friday last week, http://communities.vmware.com/thread/173481?tstart=0

Very strange that a big bug like this hasn't been adressed yet, even a dirty hotfix will do fine for me.

You haven't mentioned any steps you have tried already, therefore I'm assuming you haven't tried editing the virtual network adapter. I understand you're running Windows? From the Windows Start menu, select Programs > VMware Server > Manage Virtual Networks. From there, you should be able to change which physical network adapter(s) are used by Vmware's virtual adapters. You could also continue to use automatic bridging (choosing a network adapter automatically), but excluding a specific adapter (by configuring Automatic Bridging on the "Automatic Bridging" tab), but unless you have multiple relevant LAN interfaces, that won't have any real benefits other than saving you reconfiguration in the event that you should replace or reinstall your network adapter in Windows.-----
I dont have any need for any network functions at all, I tried just now to disable/remove both vmnet1 and 8 and setting my real host nic as excluded in the list in "Manage Virtual Networks". Still cant bring up the console .

have done

disabled vmware driver from wan device - vmserver runs { dos box shows up }- still no console connect.

used mangae virtual networks - no dice

reintalled console - no dice

uninstalled vmware and reinstall with wan device off with perferd network active- not dice no console

and the download is ok - loaded on another machine vista and works. also connects to xp machine showing the server working.

just guessing when installing the full vmware server it connectes to the first network gateway interface

undermine, if you checked my post I linked to you can see that installing vmware infrastructure client works, you can connect to your console through that. But its not an optimal solution for me as you cant edit the hw config or stuff like that. So a solution to the problem is very much needed.

yes VMware Infrastructure Web Access works.

and the remote console works only when the wan internet connection is active - connected to the internet.

and the remote console does not work when the wan internet connection is down - not connected to the internet.

just need to change the network interface from one network intreface to another network interface to use the remote console.

i final killed the problem on my machines.

goto network connections , then select vmnet1 >properties >internet protocol (tcp/ip) properties > then copyed the static ip address into the preferred DNS server >click ok > click ok . the problem is fixed

no need for loop back etc the remote console can now find a the vm core system without external connections

Yep! That's fixed it on my Windows 2003 server too.

Hi,

I would just like to thank you for your posts. You have fixed a major problem for me too - I was having exactly the same problem.

Hopefully the heaqaches I got from banging my head against a wall will now subside.

Many Thanks

Thanks for that, this had been killing me for a couple of weeks now.

This document was generated from the following thread: Cannot open VMWare Remote Console - network change

vmware-cmd response

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:27:25 GMT

Whenever I use any vmware-cmd command it seems to execute but I get the following response; "Use of uninitialized value in string eq at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8/x86_64-linux-thread-multi/VMware/VmPerl.pm line 114". What does this mean?

Also, I would like to have a list of response codes for the above utility.

jverhoev

Re: NETYK necesita tu ayuda!,.

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:40:14 GMT

INSTALANDO VMWARE SERVER 1.0.6 EN SUSE 11.1 ME SALE ESTE ERROR

YA INSTALE LOS PAQUETES DE gcc,make,kernel.-defauld, kernel-source

TAMBIEN INTENTE CON make clean.make mrproper,make cloneconfig,make prepare-all

AGRADESCO SU AYUDA

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only'
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-xen/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9-obj/x86_64/xen'
make -C ../../../linux-2.6.27.7-9 O=/usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9-obj/x86_64/xen/. modules
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o
In file included from /tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/./include/machine.h:24,
from /tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/linux/driver.h:15,
from /tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:49:
/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/./include/x86.h:830:1: warning: "PTE_PFN_MASK" redefined
In file included from include2/asm/pda.h:8,
from include2/asm/current.h:19,
from include2/asm/mach-xen/asm/processor.h:15,
from /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9/include/linux/prefetch.h:14,
from /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9/include/linux/list.h:6,
from /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9/include/linux/module.h:9,
from /tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:12:
include2/asm/mach-xen/asm/page.h:32:1: warning: this is the location of the previous definition
In file included from /tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/linux/vmhost.h:13,
from /tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:71:
/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/./include/compat_semaphore.h:5:27: error: asm/semaphore.h: No such fileor directory
/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:146: error: unknown field ‘nopage’ specified in initializer
/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:147: warning: initialization from incompatible pointer type
/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:150: error: unknown field ‘nopage’ specified in initializer
/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:151: warning: initialization from incompatible pointer type
/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c: In function ‘LinuxDriver_Ioctl’:
/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:1670: error: too many arguments to function ‘smp_call_function’
make[4]: *** [/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o] Error 1
make[3]: *** ~~_module_/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only~~ Error 2
make[2]: *** sub-make Error 2
make[1]: *** all Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-9-obj/x86_64/xen'
make: *** http://vmmon.ko Error 2
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only'
Unable to build the vmmon module.

error while installing vmware server in Ubuntu 8.10

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:18:53 GMT

I got an error about a c compiler during installation to the point that it failed the installation. I dowloaded the 1.6 version and the server patch. Is there a patch that I am missing? or a fix that I can use?

Thank you

Edsel B

Shared parallel printer stops working after installing VMware server 1.0.6 on Windows XP

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:29:17 GMT

I have a Windows XP box that has a dm printer attached to its parallel port and is shared on a small network. After doing standard install of VMware server the printer stopped working. Anyone have an idea? I got it working if I go into VMware Network Configuration and disable virtual network config. This happens even before I have installed any guest operating systems.

keymapping fix for vmserver ubuntu 8.10

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:30:16 GMT

Windows Console-1.0.8 [msg.dictionary.load.statFailed] ending in C++ Runtime-Error

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:09:47 GMT

server-1.0.7 runs on 64 bit ubuntu 8.04
Problem running any existing Windows client with Console-1.0.7/8 (on WinXP Pro laptop):
o if open a Linux guest it works well !!
o I select TestVM (below) or any other Windows guest:
- If the Windows guest isn't running I can boot it but not much more BANG..!
- If it was started by the Console running on the server I see the Windows
desktop FOR A SPLIT SECOND and then BANG..!

With the BANG the Console ends/terminates with the message box below.
xinet and ZoneAlarm were checked
why the double backslash in the log?
there is no "..\messages\.." directory (see DIR list)

Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library
====================================

Runtime Error!

Program: C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server Console\vmware.exe

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information.

TestVM (below) is a Win2000 Pro client on 'vm530' (vmserver-1.0.7) on 64 bit ubuntu 8.04

C:\Documents and Settings\Andreas\Local Settings\Temp\vmware-Andreas\vmware-Andreas-2916.log

Dec 14 16:23:01: vmui| Log for VMware Server Console pid=2916 version=1.0.8 build=build-126538 option=Release
Dec 14 16:23:02: vmui| Msg_Reset:
Dec 14 16:23:02: vmui| http://msg.dictionary.load.statFailed Unable to get information about file "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server Console\\messages\en\tip_list.vmsg": The system cannot find the path specified.
Dec 14 16:23:02: vmui|

Dec 14 16:23:02: vmui| Cannot load message dictionary "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server Console\\messages\en\tip_list.vmsg".
Dec 14 16:23:02: vmui| HostDeviceInfo: Failed to enumerate host parallel ports via the registry. Could not open device map parallel port registry key.
Dec 14 16:23:02: vmui| HOSTINFO: Seeing Intel CPU, numCoresPerCPU 1 numThreadsPerCore 1.
Dec 14 16:23:02: vmui| HOSTINFO: This machine has 2 physical CPUS, 2 total cores, and 2 logical CPUs.
Dec 14 16:23:02: vmui| Foundry Init: setting up global state (0 threads)
Dec 14 16:23:02: vmui| Foundry Init: version 1, hostType 1, hostName (null), hostPort 0, options 0x3
Dec 14 16:23:03: vmui| CVMUIApp::OpenHomePage: opened
Dec 14 16:23:03: vmui| CVMUIApp::OnCtxCurrentObj: home
Dec 14 16:23:14: vmui| CVMUIApp::OnCtxCurrentObj: home
Dec 14 16:23:14: vmui| CVMUIApp::OpenObj: opened /vm/#6cf4d686d2ee4395/
Dec 14 16:23:14: vmui| CVMUIApp::OnCtxCurrentObj: /vm/#6cf4d686d2ee4395/
Dec 14 16:23:36: vmui| CVMUIApp::MenuButtonClicked: 40041

C:\Documents and Settings\Andreas\Local Settings\Temp\vmware-Andreas\vmware-Andreas-1032.log

Dec 14 16:48:17: vmui| Log for VMware Server Console pid=1032 version=1.0.8 build=build-126538 option=Release
Dec 14 16:48:17: vmui| Msg_Reset:
Dec 14 16:48:17: vmui| http://msg.dictionary.load.statFailed Unable to get information about file "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server Console\\messages\en\tip_list.vmsg": The system cannot find the path specified.
Dec 14 16:48:17: vmui|

Dec 14 16:48:17: vmui| Cannot load message dictionary "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server Console\\messages\en\tip_list.vmsg".
Dec 14 16:48:17: vmui| HostDeviceInfo: Failed to enumerate host parallel ports via the registry. Could not open device map parallel port registry key.
Dec 14 16:48:18: vmui| HOSTINFO: Seeing Intel CPU, numCoresPerCPU 1 numThreadsPerCore 1.
Dec 14 16:48:18: vmui| HOSTINFO: This machine has 2 physical CPUS, 2 total cores, and 2 logical CPUs.
Dec 14 16:48:18: vmui| Foundry Init: setting up global state (0 threads)
Dec 14 16:48:18: vmui| Foundry Init: version 1, hostType 1, hostName (null), hostPort 0, options 0x3
Dec 14 16:48:18: vmui| CVMUIApp::OpenHomePage: opened
Dec 14 16:48:18: vmui| CVMUIApp::OnCtxCurrentObj: home
Dec 14 16:48:56: vmui| CVMUIApp::OnCtxCurrentObj: home
Dec 14 16:48:56: vmui| CVMUIApp::OpenObj: opened /vm/#6cf4d686d2ee4395/
Dec 14 16:48:56: vmui| CVMUIApp::OnCtxCurrentObj: /vm/#6cf4d686d2ee4395/
Dec 14 16:49:10: vmui| CVMUIApp::OnCtxCurrentObj: home
Dec 14 16:49:13: vmui| CVMUIStatusBase::OnButton 1056
Dec 14 16:49:26: vmui| CVMUIApp::OpenObj: opened /vm/#32542e173f7b64e3/
Dec 14 16:49:26: vmui| CVMUIApp::OnCtxCurrentObj: /vm/#32542e173f7b64e3/
Dec 14 16:50:18: vmui| CVMUIApp::OnCtxCurrentObj: home
Dec 14 16:50:21: vmui| CVMUIStatusBase::OnButton 1056
Dec 14 16:50:37: vmui| CVMUIApp::OpenObj: opened /vm/#c1e042e0423bf7f6/
Dec 14 16:50:37: vmui| CVMUIApp::OnCtxCurrentObj: /vm/#c1e042e0423bf7f6/

current preferences.ini:

pref.eula.0.appName = "VMware Workstation"
pref.eula.0.buildNumber = "44386"
pref.eula.size = "1"
pref.autoFitFullScreen = "fitHostToGuest"
pref.view.navBar.type = "favorites"
pref.mruDest0.present = "TRUE"
pref.mruDest0.destString = "192.168.2.100"
pref.mruDest0.user = "vmuser"
pref.mruDest1.present = "FALSE"
pref.mruDest1.destString = ""
pref.mruDest1.user = ""
pref.mruDest2.present = "FALSE"
pref.mruDest2.destString = ""
pref.mruDest2.user = ""
pref.mruDest3.present = "FALSE"
pref.mruDest3.destString = ""
pref.mruDest3.user = ""
pref.mruDest4.present = "FALSE"
pref.mruDest4.destString = ""
pref.mruDest4.user = ""
pref.mruDest5.present = "FALSE"
pref.mruDest5.destString = ""
pref.mruDest5.user = ""
pref.mruDest6.present = "FALSE"
pref.mruDest6.destString = ""
pref.mruDest6.user = ""
pref.mruDest7.present = "FALSE"
pref.mruDest7.destString = ""
pref.mruDest7.user = ""

pref.view.toolbars.power.items.count = "7"
pref.view.toolbars.power.item0.id = "POWER_OFF"
pref.view.toolbars.power.item1.id = "SUSPEND"
pref.view.toolbars.power.item2.id = "POWER_ON"
pref.view.toolbars.power.item3.id = "RESET"
pref.view.toolbars.power.item4.id = "SEP"
pref.view.toolbars.power.item5.id = "PREVIEW_PLAYER"
pref.view.toolbars.power.item6.id = "PREVIEW_WS"

pref.view.toolbars.view.items.count = "6"
pref.view.toolbars.view.item0.id = "FAVORITES"
pref.view.toolbars.view.item1.id = "FULL_SCREEN"
pref.view.toolbars.view.item2.id = "QUICK_SWITCH"
pref.view.toolbars.view.item3.id = "SEP"
pref.view.toolbars.view.item4.id = "SUMMARY"
pref.view.toolbars.view.item5.id = "CONSOLE"

pref.view.toolbars.proj.items.count = "4"
pref.view.toolbars.proj.item0.id = "ADD_VM"
pref.view.toolbars.proj.item1.id = "POLICIES"
pref.view.toolbars.proj.item2.id = "PKG_NEW"
pref.view.toolbars.proj.item3.id = "EDIT_SETTINGS"

pref.view.toolbars.snapshot.items.count = "3"
pref.view.toolbars.snapshot.item0.id = "SNAPSHOT"
pref.view.toolbars.snapshot.item1.id = "REVERT"
pref.view.toolbars.snapshot.item2.id = "SNAPSHOT_MANAGER"

webUpdate.checkLast = "1229286867"
webUpdate.lastCheck.status = "done_updates"

pref.view.navBar = "FALSE"
pref.view.toolbars.menu.position.ix = "0"
pref.view.toolbars.menu.position.newLine = "TRUE"
pref.view.toolbars.power.position.ix = "1"
pref.view.toolbars.power.position.newLine = "FALSE"
pref.view.toolbars.power.position.length = "136"
pref.view.toolbars.snapshot.position.ix = "2"
pref.view.toolbars.snapshot.position.length = "71"
pref.view.toolbars.view.position.ix = "3"
pref.view.toolbars.view.position.length = "574"

pref.autoFitGuestToWindow = "TRUE"

webUpdate.checkPeriod = "weekly"

pref.console.openedObj0.present = "TRUE"
pref.console.openedObj0.name = "Home"
pref.console.openedObj.maxNum = "1"
pref.cnxType = "remote"
pref.placement.left = "88"
pref.placement.top = "88"
pref.placement.right = "976"
pref.placement.bottom = "670"

Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 8084-2FEF

Directory of C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server Console

14/12/2008 15:43 <DIR> .
14/12/2008 15:43 <DIR> ..
14/12/2008 15:43 <DIR> bin
14/12/2008 15:43 <DIR> bin-debug
01/08/2008 23:14 908,080 libeay32.dll
30/10/2008 18:15 109,744 open_source_licenses.txt
01/08/2008 23:15 134 readme.txt
01/08/2008 23:15 19,456 sigc-2.0.dll
01/08/2008 23:14 166,704 ssleay32.dll
30/10/2008 18:15 1,675,264 vmappcfg.dll
30/10/2008 18:15 2,740,224 vmapplib.dll
30/10/2008 18:15 1,323,008 vmappsdk.dll
30/10/2008 18:15 1,527,808 vmapputil.dll
30/10/2008 18:15 1,310,720 vmcuiutil.dll
30/10/2008 18:15 237,568 vmdbCOM.dll
30/10/2008 18:15 942,080 vmhwcfg.dll
30/10/2008 18:15 19,968 vmnetmgr.dll
30/10/2008 18:15 102,400 vmnetui.dll
30/10/2008 18:15 479,232 vmuiRes.dll
01/08/2008 23:15 94,735 vmware.chm
30/10/2008 18:15 2,351,104 vmware.exe
17 File(s) 14,008,229 bytes

Directory of C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server Console\bin

14/12/2008 15:43 <DIR> .
14/12/2008 15:43 <DIR> ..
01/08/2008 23:14 908,080 libeay32.dll
01/08/2008 23:14 166,704 ssleay32.dll
30/10/2008 18:15 815,196 vmware-remotemks.exe
3 File(s) 1,889,980 bytes

Directory of C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server Console\bin-debug

14/12/2008 15:43 <DIR> .
14/12/2008 15:43 <DIR> ..
01/08/2008 23:14 908,080 libeay32.dll
01/08/2008 23:14 166,704 ssleay32.dll
30/10/2008 18:15 815,196 vmware-remotemks.exe
3 File(s) 1,889,980 bytes

Total Files Listed:
23 File(s) 17,788,189 bytes
8 Dir(s) 1,998,036,992 bytes free

CPU Utilization

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 05:56:22 GMT

Have just built a VMWare Server 2 based on a Dell 2950 with dual quad core Intel CPUs and 16 GB RAM with 3 x 500 GB RAID 5 HDDs.

Host OS is Windows 2003 64 bit Enterprise RC2 with SP2. VM one Guest OS is Windows 2003 32 bit SP2 with dual VProcs and 2 GB RAM. No other VMs yet installed

CPU utilisation sits between 50% at no load increasing up to 100% on load. Immediately after (re)boot and for a period thereafter the VM is <5% CPU utilisation. Host Task Manager show only service showing significant load is the VM.exe

VM Converter was used to copy a Terminal Server for this VM. All normal performance tuning steps have been taken.

Any ideas whether this is normal or what might be happening or what else I should check?

windows 7 in vmware server 2.0

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:38:39 GMT

Hi,

I tried to install windows 7(64 bit) as a client in vmware server 2.0 (my host is windows xp 32bit). The problem is, when I tried to boot from CD, it's starting but not finishing the installation.

Anybody have any idea, Why lake that?? or vmware server 2.0 doesn't support windows 7 (64 bit)

The certificate is not trusted because it is self signed. (Error code: sec_error_ca_cert_invalid)

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:21:59 GMT

This applies to Firefox 304 but the same should work with IE.

To cure this problem in firefox do the following:

Go to Options > Advanced > View certificates > Add Exception

Put in your host address and port e.g. Https://hostcomputer:8333

'Get certificate', This will give an error - then 'confirm security Exception' and accept it .

Viloa! hope it helps.

Web Access

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:48:57 GMT

Web Access

Normally web access is accessible via: https://<fqdn>:8333/ui/
<fqdn> stands for fully qualified domain name is the same as your machine name.
This will give you access to the administration web interface.

There are several ways in which you can connect to your Virtual Machines.
The following lists the currently known ways of doing so:

Via the Virtual Infrastructure Client
Via a browser such as Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox 3
Via the browser plugin directly
Via VMware Player

Please note that Internet explorer 6 has been reported not to work with Web Access, if your findings are different then please sent me a pm about this.

Virtual Infrastructure Client

You can find the viclient here

This is a windows application that you can use for managing your VMware server (and ESX/ESXi) hosts.
Depending on your host OS this is installed in the following locations:

Windows hosts:
\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server\hostd\docroot\client\VMware-viclient.exe

Linux hosts:
/usr/lib/vmware/hostd/docroot/client/VMware-viclient.exe on linux hosts.

Or get it directly from the WebUI:
https://<server>:8333/client/VMware-viclient.exe

NOTE: The VI client download has gone missing in the 2.0.1 version from VMware Server, so in order to get it you'll need to download the 2.0.0 version of VMware Server. Upgrading from 2.0.0 to 2.0.1 leaves the file in place, so that's a way to get it. For the record VMware Server 2.0.2 still doesn't include the VI Client.
If you download the 2.0.0 tar.gz file and want to directly extract it from there then it can be found in the folder:

./vmware-server-distrib/lib/hostd/docroot/client/

To connect the VI client you would enter the following for your host: https://<fqdn>:8333 or to give you an example, if your Hosts IP is 10.10.10.10 then you would type:

https://10.10.10.10:8333

The additional port is required as you are not using port 443 by default.

VI Client cli parameters

Command line parameter for single sign on

viclient -passthroughauth -s <server>:8333

Troubleshooting VI Client access

Are you using a host based firewall on the host? If so did you add an exception?
Are all of the services running?

Linux

Is a vmware service listening?

netstat -tap | grep 8333

This should output a line containing vmware-hostd

One other thing you can try is to restart the webaccess service by:

/etc/init.d/vmware-mgmt restart

which should give the following output:

</code><pre>Stopping VMware management services:
   VMware Virtual Infrastructure Web Access
   VMware Server Host Agent                                [  OK  ]
Starting VMware management services:
   VMware Server Host Agent (background)                   [  OK  ]
   VMware Virtual Infrastructure Web Access
</pre>
</pre>

Windows

Is a vmware service listening?

netstat -an | find ":8333"

This should output a line containing vmware-hostd

Check if the VMware services are running. If they are running then have a look at your eventlog.
It may contain errors, such as:

The VMware Host Agent service terminated with service-specific error 4294967295 (0xFFFFFFFF).

There is a proxy service that takes the content on localhost from:
If the above doesn't work, then you can try this as well:

http://127.0.0.1:8308/ui

Using Web Access

This is the standard interface to administer your Virtual Machines.
In order to use it, open a browser and enter:

http://localhost:8222

or when using SSL:

https://localhost:8333

Instead of localhost, you can also use the hostname or IP number of your host.

Troubleshooting on linux

If your web access isn't working then try:

/etc/init.d/vmware-mgmt restart

and see if restarting the management interface helps

If you are getting a blank login screen or an error like "datetime proxysvc xxxxx warningSSL Handshake on client connection failed: SSL excpetion: error: xxxxx" then do try to connect via http instead of https.
There also have been reports that this problem could be resolved by rerunning the vmware-config.pl script and assigning another user as the root user.

SELinux setup

If you are using a linux distribution such as Red Hat Enterprice Linux or CentOS or Fedora and you want to use VMware Server with SELinux then be aware that you'll need an additional step in your setup.

sudo chcon -t texrel_shlib_t /usr/lib/vmware/vmacore/libvmacore.so.1.0

now VMware Server with the command:

sudo /etc/init.d/vmware restart

Sometimes you'll see that the first chcon command throws an error: "can't apply partial context to unlabeled file". This basically just means that your system hasn't been setup for use with SELinux recently and that you should relabel the file or system. As it makes most sense to make sure your system is properly labeled, I'd suggest to relabel everything using:

sudo touch /.autorelabel

then reboot your system and retry running the chcon command from above again after your system has settled.

Using the remote console directly

It is possible to open the remote console without opening a browser. The option offered by VMware Server is to create a shortcut on your desktop.

On linux it works like this: First login to web access and for the machine that you want to generate a shortcut for, click on the "Generate URL" option. Then change the option to "generate a shortcut" option and then instead of generating a normal URL, have it create an icon to your desktop instead. This will access the remote console in a different way and does not go through the browser.

For example on my linux host it created the following launcher:

home/<user>/.mozilla/firefox/<random>.default/extensions/VMwareVMRC@vmware.com/plugins/vmware-vmrc -h "<hostname>:8333" -M "16"

The values between the brackets are obfuscated by me. The option -M "16" is used to identify the virtual machine number, so that will be different for you normally. If you remove this option, it will present you with a list of all the virtual machines for the host that you are logging in to. If you remove the -h "hostname:8333" option you can enter the hostname as well, otherwise it is prefilled. The login screen mentions that you can use it to login to ESX as well.

I just verified that here and works nicely with an ESX3.5U2 server in the lab here...

Troubleshooting remote console

So your remote console doesn't work :/ Let's see if we can get that bit sorted somehow.
One possible reason for this is a missing dependency of some kind.

What happens if you run the launcher part of it in a terminal console, does it give you an error of some kind?
Usually this will return enough error information for you to find out why.
So far I've seen these 2 issues:

./vmware-vmrc
process 17001: Attempt to remove filter function 0xb532ba45 user data 0x83493b0, but no such filter has been added
D-Bus not built with -rdynamic so unable to print a backtrace

Putting the error msg into google brought up this little important piece of information:
http://linxtrix.com/2008/03/15/vmware-d-bus-not-built-with-rdynamic-so-unable-to-print-a-backtrace/

Which meant that hald was not started.
starting it fixed that error.

Another issue from someone else showed that his remote console had the wrong credentials set on all of his files.
An

ls -alh

on the plugin folder showed that little issue and he could solve it with

chown -Rf user.group VMwareVMRC@vmware.com/

fixed that for him.

Are you using DHCP? Yes then try a fixed IP instead, or if you are testing on the host itself, try using the local loopback address: 127.0.0.1 instead of the normal IP address.

Are you on a wireless network and did your connection drop? Try having a look at: http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Disable-Media-Sense-TCPIP-Windows-XP.html and think about installing the Microsoft Local Loopback adapter instead.

An alternative remote console: VMplayer

VMware player appears to have remote console functionalities built in.

For example you can call vmplayer like this from the command line:

vmplayer -h 10.10.10.10 -u "root" -p "password" "[datastore1] 2k3en/2k3en.vmx"

and it will connect to the host on the IP supplied and open up the remote Virtual Machine.

With the vmplayer on linux it even includes a virtual machine selector and login dialog, so in order to connect to a virtual machine that runs on a VMware Server 2 host you could use this:

vmplayer -h 10.10.10.10:8333

and then enter user id / password, select the VM that you want to take into control.. and use it. (see screenshots below for a better idea on this)
If you are connecting from a remote machine to a VMware Server 2.x host, then you need to open the tcp ports 8333 and 902 in order to use the console.

With the windows version of vmplayer, you'll have to supply all of the parameters.
Although this post here: Re: VMplayer as remote-console ??? appears to suggest that you can get the same functionality as under linux by copying vmware-remotemks.exe from the plugin folder to the directory containing the player.

Here's some screenshots from connecting to an ESXi host, using:

vmplayer -h 10.10.10.10

The :8333 port suffix is only needed for a VMware Server host, you can connect to a ESXi host by just entering the IP/hostname

issue with webcamera on client in VMWARE SERVER 2

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:19:04 GMT

Host running windows server 2003 R2, - installed vmware server 2.0.

In vmware server installed windows xp as client, so far everything is working well except web camera.

I have already installed driver for web camera in host (windows server 2003) as well as client (windows xp).

Host side it's recognizing but client side it's showing no device connected when I click web camera icon.

If you have any suggestion, please help, will really appreciate.

VMware Server 2 Home Page giving error after install in Windows XP SP2.

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:20:07 GMT

After install VMware Server 2.0.0-122956 i can't open the VMware Server Home Page is giving me this error

VMware Infrastructure Web Access will not work unless your browser supports cookies.

Try AgainPlease ensure that you are using a compatible browser and that cookies are enabled.

It's installed in Windows XP SP2 and the default browser is Internet Explorer 7.

What should i do?

After installation get cookies problem

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 06:40:44 GMT

Hi,

I have install the VMware into the Windows Vista and Windows 2008, but I can't startup on IE why?

error message,

VMware Infrastructure Web Access will not work unless your browser supports cookies.Try Again Please ensure that you are using a compatible browser and that cookies are enabled.

What is the hanppen? I already enable the cookies setting.

Thank you

vmware 2

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:16:04 GMT

i m new use vmware wath is my user & passwrod

Problems unziping the file im getting this error

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:09:45 GMT

I went to the site

downloaded the server 2.0 for debian the TAR version
Once this is done i try unzipping it and it give me the following HELP.

! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\WEB-INF\classes\com\vmware\vim\adapter\builder\RollupPagePropertySet$ContainerViewChangeListener.class
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\WEB-INF\classes\com\vmware\vim\adapter\builder\RollupPagePropertySet$QuickStatsUpdateThread.class
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\WEB-INF\classes\com\vmware\vim\adapter\custom\property\CustomPropertyHandlerFactory$CustomPropertyHandlerInfo.class
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\WEB-INF\classes\com\vmware\vim\adapter\custom\property\QuickStatsPropertyHandler$QuickStatsInfo.class
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\com\vmware\webaccess\internal
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\com\vmware\webaccess\internal\app
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\com\vmware\webaccess\internal\app\help.properties
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\cdDvdDriveDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\commands\tree\handle-collapse-arrow.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\commands\tree\handle-expand-arrow.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\floppyDriveDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\networkAdapterDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\parallelPortDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\scsiDeviceDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\serialPortDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\soundAdapterDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\usbDeviceDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\com\vmware\webaccess\internal
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\com\vmware\webaccess\internal\app
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\com\vmware\webaccess\internal\app\help.properties
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\cdDvdDriveDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\cdDvdDriveDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\commands\tree\handle-collapse-arrow.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\commands\tree\handle-expand-arrow.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\floppyDriveDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\floppyDriveDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\networkAdapterDisabled-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\networkAdapterDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\networkAdapterDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\parallelPortDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\parallelPortDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\scsiDeviceDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\scsiDeviceDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\serialPortDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\serialPortDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\soundAdapterDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\soundAdapterDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\usbDeviceDisabledDisconnected-16x16.png
! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.GRAPHIC\Desktop\VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz: Cannot create vmware-server-distrib\lib\webAccess\tomcat\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\webapps\ui\jslib-1.0.122589-debug\modules\com.vmware.webaccess.app_1.0.0\imx\usbDeviceDisconnected-16x16.png

VMWare Server on Opensuse 11

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:38:07 GMT

Hello, I'm about to upgrade my system to opensuse 11. Since I'm working on different platforms I am trying

to have them available using vmware. Now I'm lookinging, whether I will get a VMWare Server release available

for Opensusse 11 on a 32 Bit machine. I did not succeed to find one in the Web. When can I expect to have a virtual

machichine version (even if it is Version 1) available for Opensuse 11. Are there any plans?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

With kind regards,

Klaus Lang

VMWare Server 1.7 Partial Uninstall

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:44:55 GMT

Hello, the VMware Server v. 1.7 partially uninstalled from Windows Server 2003 and I am unable to install an upgrade. I cannot find any documentation on VMWare's support site for manual uninstall. Does anyone know how to manually uninstall the server. Thank you in advance.

dak

Can you re-install the same version, then try the uninstall again?

No. When I try this, it tells me that there is an existing product and then tries to uninstall it, but the process fails right away. Thanks for your reply.

I am attaching screen shots of the issue:

I was finally able to resolve this issue. After cleaning the registry manually, I used the CCleaner to remove remaining entries. It would still not allow me to install VMWare's upgrade. I then used the Add Remove Pro to remove VMWare items still showing in the Add/Remove Menu. That did it.

Hope this will help anyone with the same issue. Please remember to be careful and back it up before making any changes to the registry.

Cheers

This document was generated from the following thread: VMWare Server 1.7 Partial Uninstall

Cloning VMs on Linux Hosts with VMWare Server 2.0

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:16:06 GMT

I think it's a MAJOR pain not having a "clone" feature in VMWare Server without using Virtual Infrastructure, so I made my own Linux shell scripts to do it.

The clone script does a straight clone of a VM. It copies the directory, renames the files and tweaks all the text inside the files by using sed to replace the old name with the new one, then sets all the permissions to what they would be if you created a new VM.

The rename script basically does all but copy it. This is handy for if you tried to rename a directory manually or attempted a manual copy and then found it still shows up under the old name in the web console. Remember this one assumes you have already renamed the directory to the new name and it MUST be the same as what you intend for the new name to be.

Both work the same way... scriptname <old name> <new name>

You can use quotes around the names if there are spaces, I went to great lengths to make sure it would still work with spaces in names (although I personally hate spaces).

Save the scripts to the base directory where your VM's are, "standard" location is "/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines". Make executable with chmod +x <scriptname>.

Once ran, add the new/renamed VM to the web console and choose "I copied it" or "I moved it" as appropriate.

These scripts are offered free to everyone to use, modify, or do anything else you want with except take credit for the original version. Absolutely no warranty or guarantee of any kind on the part of anyone that they won't hose your VMs or even your whole system.
(I reasonably sure they won't though )

Edit on 2/23/09: If I understand correctly how the split disks work, the 3rd file attached (clone-split-disk.sh) should work for those VM's. I have not tested it myself and will likely not get a chance anytime soon, so I will rely on feedback from the community for any near-future tweaking. This is really just a change to one line (line 34) in the file - in the original we exclude the binary .vmdk file from parsing to find-and-replace since this is how single-disk-file versions are saved; in this version we exclude -f???.vmdk where "?" is a number between 0-9 (i.e. files like -f001.vmdk, -f002.vmdk, etc) while we parse the .vmdk file since with split disks, the .vmdk is a text file describing the -f???.vmdk binary disk files. IF you use a combination of split disks and single-file disks, probably neither one of these will work - maybe in a future version I will be able to merge the two scripts and add logic to tell the disk types apart.

Host OS hangs up

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:05:45 GMT

Hi,

I am having a host OS opensuse 10.2 with vmware server 2.0 installed. I am having XP running virtualized.

After some time the host OS hangs up... This is what I have from the log:

/dev/vmmon1034: VMMON CPUID: Unrecognized CPU

PropertyProvider' 3068623760 verbose] RecordOp ASSIGN: disabledMethod, 16
'ha-license-manager' 3068623760 info] CheckLicenses: skipped on this platform
'PropertyProvider' 3070483344 verbose] RecordOp ASSIGN: info, haTask-16-vim.VirtualMachine.powerOn-129597482
'Libs' 3070217104 info] VMHSVMCbPower: Setting state of VM /vm/#a340d90789e7781c/ to powerOn with option soft
'Libs' 3070217104 info] VMHS: Exec()'ing /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx, /vm/XP/XP.vmx
'Libs' 3068357520 info] readlink /var/run/vmware/53c200a5b1b33188ae7700edc5fa1c56: No such file or directory
'Libs' 3068357520 info] readlink /var/run/vmware/%2fvm%2fXP%2fXP%2evmx: No such file or directory
'PropertyProvider' 3069156240 verbose] RecordOp REMOVE: sessionList, ha-sessionmgr

The processor is a Centaur VIA Eden Processor 500MHz

Any info/help would be very much appreciated.

Peter

Vmware Server 2 install on Suse 11.0

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:20:28 GMT

when i try to run vmware-config.pl i get this error [Your kernel was built with "gcc" version "4.3.1", while you are trying to use
"/usr/bin/gcc" version "4.3". This configuration is not recommended and VMware
Server may crash if you'll continue. Please try to use exactly same compiler as
one used for building your kernel. Do you want to go with compiler
"/usr/bin/gcc" version "4.3" anyway? no] if say to this it cary on install with few more errors. i quite new to linux any help will be good thanks

Hello

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:58:57 GMT

My Laptop can connect wirelessly to the Internet, but cannt connect via Ethernet cable using Vmware...anybody experiencing this issue...

Bridged networking just quit!

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:05:57 GMT

All:

I've found several threads on this with no real resolutions, so I'm posting this in the hopes someone has since found a resolution and can share it...or that VMWare has found the bug and fixed it.

I had been accessing some test VMs on my machine using VMWare Server regularly, then didn't for a couple of weeks. When I tried to do so yesterday, none of the guests can communicate with the host or other guests...and the host can't even ping any of the guests. Guest OSes include Win2003 and CentOS...and they all have the same problem.

Any ideas? I did try to switch to Host-only, as that had been mentioned in one of the threads. No go.

Please advise. I was testing this to provide a go/no-go on deploying VMWare at a client site, and now I feel I must strongly advise against its use in anything resembling a production environment...a shame, as until now, I had no major reservations with it. Ugh.

Thanks in advance...
Mark

fyi...this post has been moved to the VMware Server forum.

Eric Siebert
VMTN User Moderator

i have had the same issue quite often - also if VMs weren`t accessed for some longer time.

what is the type of network card inside the host ?

you could workaround that by installing some scheduled job inside the VM which is pinging another machine from time to time.

Regarding the ping issue this is strange...
Are you sure your guests machine are in the same Ip range than your
host ?

The time you didn't use you VMs, did you change anything on your host ( Service pack, updates, anything ?)

What is your host os ?
I had similar issues for network communications between Host and guests but it was sending / Receiving files ping was working fine.

I have two different network adapters: one wireless, one wired. The wireless is an Intel; the wired one is a Broadcom, I believe. I'll check later and let you know.

One thing I forgot to mention is that the host OS in WinXP, SP2.

I'm nearly certain that Microsoft updates were applied in the weeks between when the VMs worked and when I noticed that they had stopped. But no IP changes occurred during that time, so all ranges were the same as they had been when it worked - I double-checked it!

This sounds like a VMWare bug, and a very serious one. Why would VMWare stop allowing IP traffic between the host and all guests? BTW, I also double-checked a Solaris-x86 VM I have, and it doesn't communicate with anything anymore, either.

Any workarounds? Please? Thanks in advance...

Mark

Did you test to ping one VM with another, and ping one VM with other machine on your network ?

Also can you test to ping any machine on your network from your host ?

The wireless is an Intel; the wired one is a Broadcom,
I believe. I'll check later and let you know.

please post exact model and also post operating system + driver information.
please also post the type of network switch where the system is hooked to.

there are guesses,that this problem is not related to vmware alone.

so - the only way to get deeper into this and systematically trying to catch this error is to collect statistical information to see, if the problem is specific to certain setup constellations.

what about starting to compile such list within this thread ?

OK, here are the specifics on my network cards:

1. Wired card is a Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet card, running driver version 8.27.1.0.
2. Wireless card is an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG with driver version 9.0.2.31.

I've tried pinging across VMs, from host to VM, from VM to host...everything I can think of. I can ping and ssh into other computers on the network from the host...but when it comes to communication to/from a VM, nothing works.

Again, this exact configuration worked previously. I had suspected an OS patch broke it, but several others have reported the same problems, and some of those people indicate no OS patch was applied in the interim.

Someone suggested that this happens a lot when VMs haven't been accessed in quite awhile. But that is also inconsistent, as one post said it had worked one day in the morning and stopped working that same afternoon.

Again, any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe try this ?

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit , and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, click DWORD Value, and then type EnableRSS
4. Double-click EnableRSS, type 0 , and then click OK.
5. Exit Registry Editor.

If you are still experiencing problems (like slow file copying), you should also disable Offloading support:
1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
3. In the right pane, make sure that the DisableTaskOffload registry entry exists. If this entry does not exist, follow these steps to add the entry:
a. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value, and then type DisableTaskOffload .
4. Double-Click DisableTaskOffload, type 1, and then click OK.
5. Exit Registry Editor.

ON your host ...

I'm having the same problem and it appears to have happened in the same timeframe that other people are having similar problems, about 7-10 days ago.

I first thought it was my host OS (Win XP) that had problems and so I did a reinstall (my PC needed it anyway), but this didn't help. I've tried an XP guest and a Knoppix guest and they both exhibit the same behaviour.

The problem is that they are able to get an IP address from the DHCP server, but nothing after that works. From the guest I can ping the IP of the host and from the host I can ping the guest. From the guest I can't get to anything else on the network. My host PC works fine (network wise).

I've read all of the threads and tried changing the EnableRSS & DisableTaskOffload registry keys with no success (yes, I rebooted).

Something that is interesting is that up until I reloaded my PC I was using VMware Server v1.0.0 (don't know the build number), so it's not just the current version of VMWare that has the problem. This makes me believe that it could well be a Windows update that has caused this problem as nothing else changed on my PC when the problem occurred (prior to the reload).

This makes me believe that it could well be a Windows update that has
caused this problem

i don`t think so, since this problem also exists on linux

The reason I'm blaming Windows is that I didn't change anything on my PC and it just sopped working. I was using an old version of VMware, so it wasn't a VMware update that caused it (ie. I hadn't updated VMware). I'm happy to be proven wrong though.

I'm not really worried about what t he problem is, or blaming MS, VMware, Linux or someone else, I just want to find a resolution for it !

Agreed. I've taken an alternate route to "solving" this on some of the VMs to which I need to gain immediate access by switching to NAT on a single virtual adapter, but this is not a real solution. VMWare, are you listening??!?!

Good idea, I hadn't thought to use NAT. This allows me to continue to use my VM as it mostly used for outbound network traffic which NAT is fine for. If I was using it to host a server (inbound connections) I wouldn't be nearly as happy to use NAT.

Hi Mark,

There a million + users of VMware Server that don't have an issue with networking when properly configured.
This include some of the fortune 100 companies.

Post the output from " ipconfig /all from your Windows host

Post the output from "ipconfig /all" from your Windows guest or " ifconfig -a " from your Linux host.

Post the .vmx file from the virtual machine

If using Bridged networking for your VM's, make sure that your are Bridged to the correct physical network adapter, by turning off automatic Bridging(Automatic Bridging tab) and selecting the physical network adapter in the dropdown menu for vmnet0 (Host Virtual Network Mapping tab)

Also check the properties of the physical network adapter and make sure that the VMware Bridge Protocol is installed and that there is a check mark next to it.

Kevin:

Perhaps there are 1 million+ users...but I have a few questions about this:

1. Are they using the free versions?
2. Do they get a resolution if/when this happens to them that we aren't getting?
3. This is not an isolated case. Just search this forum (and Google) to see many other examples of the same faulty behavior. Where does the problem lie, and why isn't it being addressed?

I note that most cases of this occur under a Windoze host, but there are examples of Linux hosts having the same problem. The common thread is that a VMWare product is loaded, works with several guests (VMs), then doesn't. No warnings, in many cases no host OS changes. Why?

I'll upload the information you mentioned when I'm at my desk tomorrow. Thank you (Kevin and all!) for your help in trying to resolve this.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Kevin:

Perhaps there are 1 million+ users...but I have a few
questions about this:

1. Are they using the free versions?

There is only one VMware Server product and it's free to everyone.

2. Do they get a resolution if/when this happens to
them that we aren't getting?

Companies that are using VMware Server in a production environment, typically purchase a support contract so that they can get immediate assistance with configuration issues..etc
The community forum is not VMware Technical Support, it is one of the self help options available (Like the documentation, knowledge base..etc) to users that have decided not to purchase a support contract to deal with their issues on their own without the assistance of VMware Technical Support.

3. This is not an isolated case. Just search this
forum (and Google) to see many other examples of the
same faulty behavior. Where does the problem lie, and
why isn't it being addressed?

I can google any hardware/software product and find users that are having the same issue because they did not configure something correctly.

I note that most cases of this occur under a Windoze
host, but there are examples of Linux hosts having
the same problem. The common thread is that a VMWare
product is loaded, works with several guests (VMs),
then doesn't. No warnings, in many cases no host OS
changes. Why?

Again this means nothing, many users make the same common mistakes.

I'll upload the information you mentioned when I'm at
my desk tomorrow. Thank you (Kevin and all!) for your
help in trying to resolve this.

Yes, please do post the request information so we can troubleshoot your issue.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Kevin:

Perhaps there are 1 million+ users...but I have a

few

questions about this:

1. Are they using the free versions?

There is only one VMware Server product and it's free
to everyone.

My point - which you apparently missed - was that perhaps they are NOT using the free version, i.e. VMWare Server. You mentioned that 100 million+ users were using this product in a production environment with no problems; I responded with this question: are they using a free version? To get right to the point, are they using a product with a different code base...one that might have corrected an internal VMWare bug that exists in Server?

Either way, if this is a VMWare issue, can I trust their production code line if they knowingly leave bugs in their free version? This is just something that weighs on my mind...

2. Do they get a resolution if/when this happens

them that we aren't getting?

Companies that are using VMware Server in a
production environment, typically purchase a support
contract so that they can get immediate assistance
with configuration issues..etc
The community forum is not VMware Technical Support,
it is one of the self help options available (Like
the documentation, knowledge base..etc) to users that
have decided not to purchase a support contract to
deal with their issues on their own without the
assistance of VMware Technical Support.

Yes, I am well aware of that. I guess I didn't speak directly enough to the question earlier. My point here, as in my previous response above, is that IF VMWare realized this was a bug and they provide a fix for the paid versions and IF they withhold that fix from the free versions, can I really trust them for a production environment?

3. This is not an isolated case. Just search this
forum (and Google) to see many other examples of

the

same faulty behavior. Where does the problem lie,

and

why isn't it being addressed?

I can google any hardware/software product and find
users that are having the same issue because they did
not configure something correctly.

So, if several people configure VMWare Server properly "enough" to work flawlessly for weeks, then it QUITS working for no apparent reason - with no changes to configuration or OS - this is due to our ineptitude configuring VMWare? I simply don't follow that thought process.

I note that most cases of this occur under a

Windoze

host, but there are examples of Linux hosts having
the same problem. The common thread is that a

VMWare

product is loaded, works with several guests

(VMs),

then doesn't. No warnings, in many cases no host

changes. Why?

Again this means nothing, many users make the same
common mistakes.

Please see my previous response.

I'll upload the information you mentioned when I'm

my desk tomorrow. Thank you (Kevin and all!) for

your

help in trying to resolve this.

Yes, please do post the request information so we can
troubleshoot your issue.

Mark

It doesn't appear that you are interested in trying to troubleshoot this, as you aren't listening to anything that I or many other contributors have posted. Never mind, but thank you ever so much for your responses.

Hi Mark,

I don't understand why you believe there are two versions of VMware Server.
As I said before, there is only one version of VMware Server and it is free.
There is no paid version and a free version.

The only thing you need to pay for is a service contact if you decide to use VMware Technical support services. This is no different than any other software company.

If there is is bug is our software, we are always willing to know about it.
That why there is VMware Server 1.03, because it was released to address bugs found in the previous versions (1.0,1.0.1,1.0.2).

My point was that there is many users running VMware Server without any networking issue.

Looking at your posting the was no information provided that anyone could really troubleshoot your issue.
So please post the requested information so I can help you troubleshoot your issue or feel free to purchase a support contract to talk with VMware Technical support directly.

If someone is willing to help, then I'm happy to accept. The output from the commands requested is below. This is after I have changed to NAT on the VM so that it works. If you'd like the output from when it's not working, let me know and I'll re-jig the VM and grab the output again. Both host and guest are Win XP SP2. As I mentioned in a previous post I did a reinstall of the host OS last week, but the VM is the same one (I copied it off and back again). Having said that, I created a new VM and ran knoppix in it and it shows the same problems.

I'm running this on my notebook, which is why there are two network connections (wireless and GB eth). I work in IT support, so feel free to ask any questions you like

(on a side topic, I think the "non-free" version of VM Server Mark is referring to is ESX)

===== HOST ipconfig =====
Ethernet adapter VMware Network Adapter VMnet8:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter for
VMnet8
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-50-56-C0-00-08
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.1
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Ethernet adapter VMware Network Adapter VMnet1:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter for
VMnet1
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-50-56-C0-00-01
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.92.1
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Networ
k Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-12-F0-5B-63-99
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.144.64
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.144.10
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.144.17
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.144.17
192.168.144.36
192.168.144.33
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 5 July 2007 11:00:48 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 12 July 2007 11:00:48 AM

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0A-E4-C0-B6-FC

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth LAN Access Server Driver
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-9B-DE-84-29

=====================

===== GUEST ipconfig =====
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0C-29-FD-F7-00

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : localdomain
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0C-29-FD-F7-F6
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.128
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.2
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.254
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.2
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.2
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 5 July 2007 12:43:11 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 5 July 2007 1:13:11 PM
=====================

VMX config file

config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "4"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
memsize = "512"
ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.fileName = "Windows XP Professional.vmdk"
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"
floppy0.fileName = "A:"
Ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
displayName = "Windows XP Professional"
guestOS = "winxppro"
priority.grabbed = "normal"
priority.ungrabbed = "normal"

ide1:0.autodetect = "TRUE"

ide0:0.redo = ""
ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
uuid.location = "56 4d 45 2d f1 5e 09 47-6c d8 6f 3c 62 4a bd 48"
uuid.bios = "56 4d c4 74 04 af fc e8-ad 71 a8 ea d4 fd f7 f6"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:fd:f7:f6"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"
floppy0.autodetect = "TRUE"
Ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"
Ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet4"
Ethernet1.present = "TRUE"
Ethernet1.startConnected = "FALSE"
Ethernet1.connectionType = "custom"
Ethernet1.vnet = "VMnet2"
Ethernet1.addressType = "generated"
Ethernet1.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:fd:f7:00"

ethernet1.generatedAddressOffset = "10"
tools.syncTime = "FALSE"

Fascinating. I also have Intel PRO/Wireless and Broadcom NetXtreme adapters. This seems beyond coincidental that we're both having the same issue with the same network adapters.

BTW, the VMs that were previously communicating - until they simply stopped - included a Solaris x86, multiple CentOS Linux installs, and a couple of Win2003 servers. Considering the commonalities presented, along with the fact that they previously worked with bridged networking, it seems highly improbable that we've just "configured something incorrectly."

As an interesting tie-in, search the VMWare forums (I don't remember which subforum) and you'll see that someone reported identical symptoms with their VMs communicating fine one morning, then failing that afternoon...with no configuration changes or platform updates. As a former software developer, this sounds very much like a bug. Of course, it's impossible to tell from where I sit now...but you have to marvel at the series of coincidences.

Mark

Hi tonyqa,

Not sure why you have NAT configured in your VM with vmnet4, since typically this line should be vmnet8 (Ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet4" ) and not vmnet4

Ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"
Ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet4"

If you like would, please post your configuration with Bridged.

Also how is your host connected to the local network / internet? (Cable modem, DSL, Router, Switch..etc)

Is this a home or business environment?

The line:

Ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet4"

appears to be an obsolete line from when I tried to see if manually bridging the wireless NIC to adapter vmnet4 and then making that ethernet0 in the VM would work. I don't know why it's still in the config file, I'll remove it manually.

OK, below is the output from ipconfig on the VM and the config file. I have manually configured my wireless NIC to be bridged to VMnet4 and my wired NIC to be bridged to VMnet2. These are then set to eth0 & eth1 on the VM.

This is a business environment. The host is connected via Cisco wireless AP and Cisco switches to a Cisco PIX firewall which is connected to two different ISP using load balancing with BGP. I manage the network infrastructure, which is why having a network problem in a VM is so annoying

It is on an IBM R52 notebook (type 1846-4LM).

======== GUEST ipconfig ========

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0C-29-FD-F7-00
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.144.71
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.144.10
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.144.17
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.144.17
192.168.144.36
192.168.144.33
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 5 July 2007 2:17:11 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 12 July 2007 2:17:11 PM

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0C-29-FD-F7-F6
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.144.78
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.144.10
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.144.17
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.144.17
192.168.144.36
192.168.144.33
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 5 July 2007 2:17:12 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 12 July 2007 2:17:12 PM
===========================

config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "4"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
memsize = "512"
ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.fileName = "Windows XP Professional.vmdk"
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"
floppy0.fileName = "A:"
Ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
displayName = "Windows XP Professional"
guestOS = "winxppro"
priority.grabbed = "normal"
priority.ungrabbed = "normal"

ide1:0.autodetect = "TRUE"

ide0:0.redo = ""
ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
uuid.location = "56 4d 45 2d f1 5e 09 47-6c d8 6f 3c 62 4a bd 48"
uuid.bios = "56 4d c4 74 04 af fc e8-ad 71 a8 ea d4 fd f7 f6"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:fd:f7:f6"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"
floppy0.autodetect = "TRUE"
Ethernet0.connectionType = "custom"
Ethernet1.present = "TRUE"
Ethernet1.startConnected = "TRUE"
Ethernet1.connectionType = "custom"
Ethernet1.vnet = "VMnet2"
Ethernet1.addressType = "generated"
Ethernet1.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:fd:f7:00"

ethernet1.generatedAddressOffset = "10"
tools.syncTime = "FALSE"

Ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet4"

After changing back to NAT, it still has that line there, so the config program is being lazy and not removing lines that it doesn't need.

I removed it before I went back to bridging and now that I've changed back to NAT it's back again.

(the line is)
Ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet4"

Message was edited by:
tonyqa

To add some more information.
I am having the same problem with some VM's on Fedora Core 6. All are bridged and cannot be reached by (so far) ssh, httpd and RDP from the hosting server but are reachable from other VM's and other computers. These were working for a while. I believe the problem may have started after upgrading the server to 1.0.2. I cannot be positive because I don't access the VM's very often from the hosting server. I just upgraded to 1.0.3 but the problem is still there.

One of the VM's is a mailserver which is happily still accepting email from the outside world though it is having a problem (timeouts) sending outgoing messages. This may not be related though.

Packet captures show TCP checksum errors. A capture file is available if required.

Message was edited by:
scunningham

so - let`s try to make a list - maybe we can "see" something from that:

-SrMarcos-
VMware:
Server ???
Hardware/Driver:
Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet / 8.27.1.0. <--??
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG / 9.0.2.31 <--which is used for bridging?
Host:
WinXP SP2
Guests:
Solaris x86, multiple CentOS Linux installs, and a couple of Win2003 servers.
Symptoms:
Communication suddenly stopped

-tonyqa-
VMware:
Server ???
Hardware/Driver:
Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG <---??
Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet <--which is used for bridging?
Host:
Win XP
Guests:
XP, Knoppix
Symptoms:
Guests get IP via dhcp, but no communication possible

-scunningham-
VMWare:
Server 1.0.3
Hardware/Driver:

please tell <

Host:
Fedora Core 6
Guests:

please tell <

Symptoms:
One of the VM's is a mailserver which is happily still accepting
email from the outside world though it is having a problem (timeouts)
sending outgoing messages. This may not be related though.
Packet captures show TCP checksum errors.

-devzero-
VMWare:
trhoughout all hosted products, have seen this on workstation for a long time, but on gsx, server too.
Hardware/Driver:

can`t tell for now<

Host:
Mostly SuSE Linux
Guests:
Windows, Linux
Symptoms:
VMs loose network connection and aren`t pingable anymore. Especially if they haven`t been used for some time. It just "looks" that they loose their connection due to lack of useage or absence of communication

In the information you posted below, it looks like both virtual network adapters were able to get a IP from your DHCP server in Bridge mode.

So what can't the VM's do?

This is a business environment. The host is connected
via Cisco wireless AP and Cisco switches to a Cisco
PIX firewall which is connected to two different ISP
using load balancing with BGP. I manage the network
infrastructure, which is why having a network problem
in a VM is so annoying

It is on an IBM R52 notebook (type 1846-4LM).

======== GUEST ipconfig ========

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware
Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . :
00-0C-29-FD-F7-00
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . :
192.168.144.71
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . :
255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
192.168.144.10
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . :
192.168.144.17
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . :
192.168.144.17

92.168.144.36

92.168.144.33
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday,
5 July 2007 2:17:11 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday,
12 July 2007 2:17:11 PM

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware
Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . :
00-0C-29-FD-F7-F6
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . :
192.168.144.78
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . :
255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
192.168.144.10
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . :
192.168.144.17
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . :
192.168.144.17

92.168.144.36

92.168.144.33
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday,
5 July 2007 2:17:12 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday,
12 July 2007 2:17:12 PM
==========================

ide1:0.autodetect = "TRUE"

ide0:0.redo = ""
ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
uuid.location = "56 4d 45 2d f1 5e 09 47-6c d8 6f 3c
62 4a bd 48"
uuid.bios = "56 4d c4 74 04 af fc e8-ad 71 a8 ea d4
fd f7 f6"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:fd:f7:f6"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"
floppy0.autodetect = "TRUE"
Ethernet0.connectionType = "custom"
Ethernet1.present = "TRUE"
Ethernet1.startConnected = "TRUE"
Ethernet1.connectionType = "custom"
Ethernet1.vnet = "VMnet2"
Ethernet1.addressType = "generated"
Ethernet1.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:fd:f7:00"

ethernet1.generatedAddressOffset = "10"
tools.syncTime = "FALSE"

Ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet4"

Correct, the VM is getting an IP address via DHCP on both virtual NIC's. This is what is confusing me so much.

So what can't the VM's do?

Anything after that. They can't ping, can't HTTP, can't RDP, can't pass any traffic at all.

An interesting development. I went back through to reconfigure the networking (once again) and saw that in one of my previous futile reconfiguration attempts, I had set VMNet0 to the loopback adapter. I changed it back to the physical adapter and fired up a Solaris VM...and it worked. I then fired up a CentOS VM, reconfigured the network adapters within...and it worked. I haven't tested the others, but I suspect all will work as it did before.

I really don't know what happened to make this stop working, and I'm not sure what changed that allowed it to work again. I do understand why it didn't work in the middle, though, with VMNet0 set to the loopback adapter. Sigh.

I'll continue to watch this thread and contribute where I can, but until it breaks again, I don't know how much help I'll be. In the interim, here's another question: are all of these failures on laptops with identical network cards? Devzero's list looks like a good thing to complete...

Mark

Hi Mark,

Glad to hear that you were able to get your networking working again.

Eureka !!

I just found what my problem is. It WAS an update, but not a Windows update nor a VMware update. It was an AV update. I've just UN-installed Trend Micro (AV app) and bridged networking is working again.

For those others having problems, give this a go if you're using Trend (or even some other AV app)

It's definitely Trend, as during the uninstall it dropped all of my network connections (open sessions dropped) and then they came back again after the uninstall progam finished. I have no idea what Trend is doing, except that it must be some sort of firewalling service that it run. Grrrr ! BAD Trend, if I wanted to install a firewall I would do that !

moved to the bottom of this thread

I hadn't considered an anti-virus application update as a potential culprit, but that would make perfect sense. And with the frequency of updates (nearly daily) that those get, that could explain the sudden stopping (or even re-starting) of network connections. Sigh. Nothing like a constantly changing configuration to make troubleshooting more difficult...

That said, I'm not using Trend on my machine, but rather Symantec. The most obvious commonality still seems to be the network adapters...

-scunningham-
VMWare:
Server 1.0.3
Hardware/Driver:

please tell <

00:10.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
Driver : 8139too

Host:
Fedora Core 6
Guests:

please tell <

Mixture or Linux Distros and Windows 2000 Server

Symptoms:
One of the VM's is a mailserver which is happily still accepting
email from the outside world though it is having a problem (timeouts)
sending outgoing messages. This may not be related though.
Packet captures show TCP checksum errors.

The timeout problem for outbound mail is not related. My ISP is now blocking these.

moved to the bottom of this thread

I to am having all of my VM's disconnecting after 3-4 hours.

VMserver 1.0.3
HP DL 140 G3 Server
(2) Duo core Xeon 2.2
(2) 146 gig scsi hard drives
(2) broadcom 1gig nic's (No Wireless)
4 gigs ram

Host OS Windows 2000 Terminal Server

VM#1 Windows XP Pro SP2
256 meg ram
8 gig partition

VM#2 Windows 2003 Standard
1 gig ram
(2) 20 gig partitions

VM#3 CentOS 4.5
1 gig ram
8 gig partition

All of the VM's can ping one another as well as ping to & from the host but no other machine on the network can ping a VM. The machines on the network can ping the host.

This was a fresh install of the host and all the VM's, and this problem was there from the start.

The only way I could get these to stay online for more then 3 or 4 hours was to disable one of the network cards in the host OS. I would like to use my second nic for load sharing. I am also curious if it will be crashing after a few days now? Does anyone have any idea's how to fix this?

hello!

(2) broadcom 1gig nic's (No Wireless)

could you add the exact nic model and/or the driver version ?

furthermore, i think about extending the list a little bit and adding the switch model where the server is attached to.
so if you know what switch is used, you can add that, too

regards
roland

Nr. 2
Name: scunningham
VMWare: Server 1.0.3
Hardware/Driver: 00:10.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek
Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev
10), 8139too
Host: Fedora Core 6
Guests: Mixture or Linux Distros and Windows 2000
Server
Symptoms: One of the VM's is a mailserver which is
happily still accepting email from the outside world
though it is having a problem (timeouts) sending
outgoing messages. This may not be related though.
Packet captures show TCP checksum errors.
Comment: The timeout problem for outbound mail is
not related. My ISP is now blocking these.

some things to try on this one would be

-disable any of the offload features on the host physical NIC

-disable any of the offload features on the guest virtual NICs

-make sure you have current driver code for the realtek. I had really bad experiences with these interface types under linux (with both distro built drivers and compiles from vendor source) even without any virtualization running. i ended up installing e1000 cards after getting tired of the flakiness...that was last fall, perhaps since that time the linux driver has improved????

Networking problems, to resolve:

Nr. 1
Name: SrMarcos
VMware: Server ???
Hardware/Driver: Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet
/ 8.27.1.0, Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG / 9.0.2.31
<--which is used for bridging?
Host: WinXP SP2
Guests: Solaris x86, multiple CentOS Linux installs,
and a couple of Win2003 servers.
Symptoms: Communication suddenly stopped
Comment: for now, it started working again again
after re-configuring the network - but no clue, why
it happened.

there are many issues related to the Broadcom gig nics and windows 2003...esp with the recent OS updates.

in short, a combination of a few factors are contributing to the problem....the microsoft "scalable networking" feature additions, the lack of full driver support from the NIC driver vendors, the lack of correct feature support in some earlier generations of the hardware

-update all your NIC drivers (both at the HOST, and at the GUEST) to current versions from your hardware vendors (the current versions may still not correctly support the NDIS 6 features that are ultimately supposed to resolve these issues)

-disable any of the the problematic features (TCP offloading, Recieve Side Scaling, DoS) and retest

some background info/reference here:

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/07/18/446400.aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936594

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=78606&start=30&tstart=0

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/898468

Nr. 3
Name: devzero
VMWare: troughout all hosted products, have seen this
on workstation for a long time, but on gsx, server
too.
Hardware/Driver: can`t tell for now, but i think it
were different brands of nics involved
Host: Mostly SuSE Linux
Guests: Windows, Linux
Symptoms: VMs loose network connection and aren`t
pingable anymore. Especially if they haven`t been
used for some time. It just "looks" that they loose
their connection due to lack of useage or absence of
communication

this sounds like either a power management related problem (most physical nics have power saving enabled by default), or potentially a problem with the arp cache on either the host or the switch...alternatively a NAT configuration would show symptoms like this if the translation tables are getting exhausted or timing out too quickly

you may want to verify that if you force continuous activity to the systems that the connection stays steady and that its only during periods of a lack of use where the issue comes up....you may want to also look at the switch side logs to see if there are any errors getting reported on that end

thanks for your comments!

you may want to verify that if you force continuous activity to the systems that
the connection stays steady and that its only during periods of a lack of use
where the issue comes up....you may want to also look at the switch side logs
to see if there are any errors getting reported on that end

yes, if i configure some cron based periodical ping all is fine. i tested this on some systems and it seems it`s a "workaround".
for now i don`t have access to the switches and don`t know if they offer any logging feature. will ask our network-admin the next time i`m back in business...

The Nic's are

(2) Embedded Broadcom NetExtreme 5721 pci-e gbit
Driver Version 9.52.0.0 (dated 5/15/06, This is the newest version for Windows 2000)

The switch it is attached to is a Cisco 9550 48 port.

I did see that the power save was enabled on the host OS nic's so I disabled it. At this time I do not know if this fixed anything because I just did it. I will post again tomorrow and let everyone know if that fixed it.
Thanks for everyones help.
Dallas

moved to the bottom of this thread

Just read this thread with great interest. I've had similar issues for the past 10 months. We converted a physical server into a VM. (Mainly for performance gain)

Since then we've had the network disconnections. It seems to have come in two forms. One where the machine can still be pinged and those where it can't.

First of we disbaled power management on the physical nic (a broadcom BCM5708C by the way!) but this made no difference. We set up a continual ping this made no difference either. I have now added another card a 3com Gigabit (SX/TX) and the problem is still evident.

We currently run about 12 VM machines, this is our busiest. The disconnection does seem to happen at the servers quieter moments although we have witnessed it during a busy period.

The only difference on this server to our other vm's is the fact that it was created using the tool to convert from a physical server ( i forget the name)

The Nic connection is bridged by the way, when i have a few mins i'll gather some info up and post it here.

Vm Server 1.0.1 Build 29996
HW - Dell PE2900, 4 GB Ram, Dual Xeons 2ghz,
Host - Windows Server 2003 R2 SP1.
Guest - Windows Server 2003 R2 SP1. (Allocated 2.5gb Ram - Created from Physical Server)
Symptoms - Bridge network connection fails during quieter periods, sometimes it can reply to ping requests sometimes not. A Disable / Enable of the VM adapter usualy rectifies the problem. See above for other things tried.

Message was edited by:
elnino9

Hello, I have had a VMWare Server 1.03 running in production for over two months, quite happily I might add. Late last night though, something fell over, and I was looking for advice on how I might go about finding precisely what. However, it is sounding slightly familiar to things mentioned in this thread.

My first stop was /var/log/vmware/ and the serverd log files. These were very minimal however and showed nothing catastrophic. The log files in my /vm store also show no events over the past few days.

I noticed this thread when hunting for a solution, but I'm not sure if my symptoms are precisely the same. In my situation, none of the virtual servers could be contacted in any way, but neither could I log in to the host with the VMWare Server Console - the first time it complained that it could not establish a secure connection (or similar) and then afterwards just claimed a timeout.

I could log into the host with SSH (it is not running X). A quick glance at 'top' showed vmware-rtc was up the top as usual, but the vmx processes were rather far down, not up high as usual, indicating very low or no processing was going on. I noted vmware-serverd was on the list too, but I can't remember if vmnet-bridge was there. I was having a slight panic at the time and didn't think to look for that.

A './vmware stop' in /init.d got stuck on halting the VM's. I then foolishly did a './vmware start' and it promptly hung the server. In hindsight, good old 'shutdown -r now' would have likely been wiser.

The system booted successfully but VMWare did not come up. Now attempting a './vmware start' caused it to complain the virtual networking was not set up properly. I ran through the perl config script like I did when I originally installed VMWare Server, it rebuilt the vmmon module and then off everything went again, just fine. This is my first experience of this issue, but it has made me slightly nervous since I was happy with the setup and moved it to production nearly two months ago now.

That said, I'd still like an idea of how to find out what went wrong and how to prevent it, so I thought I'd post here. For the record it is 1.0.3 running on Linux 2.6.19.7, e1000 LAN cards (PCIE server adapter version) and an aacraid 2410SA RAID card.

moved to the bottom of this thread --

hi rdthickman,

i`m not sure if your posting really fits into this thread and recommend posting it as a separate one again. this thread is about sporadically loose of VMs network connectivity so you may understand that it`s my intention to keep it "clean" at some degree. if people start to reply to your posting in this thread things get mixed up very quickly. maybe i`m wrong, but i think you have a different kind of problem

regards
roland

there are many issues related to the Broadcom gig nics and windows >2003...esp with the recent OS updates.

i really start thinking Broadcom is crap. We try to setup an unattended windows installation on a HP server-blade and the nic drivers don`t "eat" the ip configuration from unattend.txt....
anyway - it`s weird that we have many people with broadcom here. not sure if this is by chance or because the problem is related to broadcom or nic hardware/driver quality.
so let`s collect more data first......

anybody out there with VMs loosing their network ?

Ive just set up Fedora 6 on VMware Server running on WIndows 2003. I cannot get the Guest Fedora box to ping anything on the network. IM running a Intel(R) PRO/1000 EB Network Connection with I/O Acceleration. Ive had a freenas box running on the same server and the network sometimes worked and sometimes dropped so im keen to find out why its doing it

Sorry all.... Haven't had time to follow up on this.

The problem turned out to be the rtl drivers. Switched from the 8139too driver to 8139cp and problem went away.

Just a little update...

When posting my original message i set up some pings on my servers.

i set up a ping on my guest pinging a machine on our network

i also set up two pings on the host, one pinging the guest and one pinging another machine on the network.

I've not had the issue since.

Now it may be that my problem differs from yours but this seems to have done the trick (fingers crossed) by now i would have expected it to drop out.

I'm having this issue on a Dell PowerEdge 1750 with Broadcom integrated gigabit adapters running Ubuntu 6.06 Server. I'm trying the ping trick to see if it keeps them on the network. I just set this server up so I've only been having this issue for a day, but if I'm going to use this as a development environment I need the VMs to be on the network reliably. Figures, everything else about the setup went sooo smooth, and now this.

The ping trick didn't work, another one failed within 15 minutes. Crap. I guess Ubuntu is out the door since it's not supported by Dell.

I too have this same problem. I have 2 servers running and both lose connection randomly. The 2 vm's and the host are all running CentOS 5. The machine is a PowerEdge 2850. I'll grab the specs for this tomorrow but wondered if anyone has come up with a solid solution yet? I have tried to update to VMWare 1.0.4 and that doesn't seem to have fixed the problem. I lose connection at least 3 times a day.

Nr. 7
Name: curriertech
VMware Server 1.0.4 build-56528
Hardware: Dell PE1750, 8 GB Ram, Dual Xeons 3.06ghz,
Host: Ubuntu 6.06 LTS 2.6.15-26-server
Guests: Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2. (Allocated 2gb Ram - Created from scratch),broadcom NetXtreme NIC
Symptoms:
Bridge network connection fails during quieter periods, all ping requests fail. A timed perpetual ping to the VMs did not stop the problem. Restarting the guest temporarily fixes the problem.
UPDATE: I updated the kernel to 2.6.15-29-server and recompiled/installed VMWare Server. No network issues at all in the last 12 hours, but that may just be a fluke.

Networking problems, to resolve:

Nr. 1
Name: SrMarcos
VMware: Server ???
Hardware/Driver: Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet / 8.27.1.0, Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG / 9.0.2.31 <--which is used for bridging?
Host: WinXP SP2
Guests: Solaris x86, multiple CentOS Linux installs, and a couple of Win2003 servers.
Symptoms: Communication suddenly stopped
Comment: for now, it started working again again after re-configuring the network - but no clue, why it happened.

Nr. 2
Name: scunningham
VMWare: Server 1.0.3
Hardware/Driver: 00:10.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10), 8139too
Host: Fedora Core 6
Guests: Mixture or Linux Distros and Windows 2000 Server
Symptoms: One of the VM's is a mailserver which is happily still accepting email from the outside world though it is having a problem (timeouts) sending outgoing messages. This may not be related though. Packet captures show TCP checksum errors.
Comment: The timeout problem for outbound mail is not related. My ISP is now blocking these.

Nr. 3
Name: devzero
VMWare: troughout all hosted products, have seen this on workstation for a long time, but on gsx, server too.
Hardware/Driver: can`t tell for now, but i think it were different brands of nics involved
Host: Mostly SuSE Linux
Guests: Windows, Linux
Symptoms: VMs loose network connection and aren`t pingable anymore. Especially if they haven`t been used for some time. It just "looks" that they loose their connection due to lack of useage or absence of communication

Nr 4
Name: Dallas
VMware: VMserver 1.0.3
Hardware/Driver: HP DL 140 G3 Server, Duo core Xeon 2.2, 146 gig scsi hard drives,4 gigs ram, 2 Embedded Broadcom NetExtreme 5721 pci-e gbit, Driver Version 9.52.0.0 dated 5/15/06, The switch it is attached to is a Cisco 9550 48 port.
Host: Host OS Windows 2000 Terminal Server
Guests: Windows XP Pro SP2, 256 meg ram, 8 gig partition - Windows 2003 Standard, 1 gig ram, 20 gig partitions - CentOS 4.5, 1 gig ram, 8 gig partition
Symptoms:
I to am having all of my VM's disconnecting after 3-4 hours. All of the VM's can ping one another as well as ping to & from the host but no other machine on the network can ping a VM. The machines on the network can ping the host. This was a fresh install of the host and all the VM's, and this problem was there from the start. The only way I could get these to stay online for more then 3 or 4 hours was to disable one of the network cards in the host OS.

Nr. 5
Name: Solema
VMWare: Server 1.0.3
Hardware: Dell PowerEdge 2950, 2xQuad Core Xeon 1.6GHz
8GB of DDR2 FB-DIMM, 2x73GB 15K RAID1 OS, 4x300GB 15K RAID5 VM and storage drive, 2x Broadcom integrated Gigabit NICs (teamed, assigned to host OS), 2x Dual-Port Intel Pro1000 Gigabit Adapters, running in a load-balance /failover NIC team (no TCP/IP on NIC team, assigned to VMware)
Host: Windows 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition
Guests: VM's, each running 2003 Enterprise x64 , Each VM is set up with two processors, on ethernet. All VM's are bridged to the Intel NIC team.
Symptoms:
The VM's on the machine will periodically, and frequently (once every couple days) lose the ability to communicate with the network. It's frustrating the users since the shipping system is on one of the VM's installed on the server. I had tried enabling diagnostic logging on the shipping VM, but when it went offline the log file was over 1GB in size! I took one NIC out of the team and assigned it exclusively to the shipping VM. Still all VM's lose their connectivity at some point. I really want to be able to use NIC teaming for high-availability failover purposes if possible.

Nr. 6
Name: elnino9
VMWare: Server 1.0.1 Build 29996
Hardware: Dell PE2900, 4 GB Ram, Dual Xeons 2ghz,
Host: Windows Server 2003 R2 SP1
Guests: Windows Server 2003 R2 SP1. (Allocated 2.5gb Ram - Created from Physical Server),broadcom BCM5708C NIC
Symptoms:
VM is a P2V`ed system. Bridge network connection fails during quieter periods, sometimes it can reply to ping requests sometimes not. A Disable / Enable of the VM adapter usualy rectifies the problem. Disabling power management on the nic made no difference. Continual ping made no difference, either. Another NIC (3com Gigabit) was added and problem is still evident. We currently run about 12 VM machines, this is our busiest. The disconnection does seem to happen at the servers quieter moments although we have witnessed it during a busy period.

Nr. 8
Name: dseibert
I too have this same problem. I have 2 servers running and both lose connection randomly. The 2 vm's and the host are all running CentOS 5. The machine is a PowerEdge 2850. I'll grab the specs for this tomorrow but wondered if anyone has come up with a solid solution yet? I have tried to update to VMWare 1.0.4 and that doesn't seem to have fixed the problem. I lose connection at least 3 times a day.

Since upgrading Ubuntu to 2.6.15-29 (from 2.6.15-26) I have not had any further problems with the network connectivity of my VMs.

We are having similar issues with certain VMs on a host losing network connectivity and a reboot of the VM fixes the issue.
Can someoen tell me what details you need form me and I will be more than happy to post them here.

thanks

go back 2 posts and you will see

The problem has returned for me after having no issues for the past week.

I wonder if this issue is getting any attention from VMWare?

I rebuilt my server with RHEL4 and for a week all was working great but as of today one of the VMs fell off the network again.

Hi, my name is Scott and I am have intermittent loss of network connection with a VMware free server. We built our company's sharepoint server on a guest server running windows server 2003 enterprise x64 with SP2. We noticed that many times after the weekend we would come in and not be able to ping the the guest server, now it will happen throughout the week. Everything looked fine when we consoled in and it would start working again after a reboot. Our host machine is a Dell Blade 1955 system running Windows Server 2003 Ent. x64 w/ SP2. The Adapters are Broadcom BCM5708S NetXtreme II GigE (NDIS VBD Client). We had the adapters teamed and I read in one of the threads that the broadcom software can cause network problems with VMs, so I have just upgraded our drivers to version 3.4.10.0 and removed the teaming in an attempt to solve the issue. Our VMware Server is version 1.0.3 build-44356. We have two other VMs on this blade, one is the development server for sharepoint with the same configs, and they do not have these symptoms. What other information will you need to investigate this problem?

Another update, my system hasn't displayed the symptoms since September now. We were getting it 2-3 times a week.

we have a ping on the host pinging out to another machine on the net and the guest machine. I also have another machine on the net pinging the host.

Certainly seems to be working for me. I sugest anyone with the issue tries this.

Having random disconnect problems as well.
VMServer 1.0.4
Server hardware - Dell Power Edge, 8 GB Ram, Dual Xeon 5130 @ 2ghz
Host NIC - Broadcom BCM5708C NeteXtreme II GigE (Driver: 2.6.14.0 Dated 4/3/2006)
Host - Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 64 bit
Guest - Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 64 bit. (2.75gb Ram, 2 CPU, usinge1000 network driver) Running Exchange 2007(Edge transport & Hub roles)
Symptoms - Bridge network connection fails randomly and reboot of guest restores connectivity. Sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes in the middle of the day the guest loses it's network connection and can be restored by a reboot of the guest VM. There are 2 other VMs on this server that are NOT having this problem, both are same OS but are 32bit. Something that I tried and resulted in some odd findings; when it failed, I moved from automatic bridging to a specific net (VMNet6). After moving the bridge over to the connection explicitly, network connectivity returned, then upon reverting back to automatic bridging, it failed again and would not come back. After a reboot of the host, the automatic bridging once again worked fine for the time being.

Are there any workarounds or fixes already known ?
In my case the network timeouts occur so often, so it´s impossible to use it in production !

HOST: Debian 4 (64bit)
GUEST: Windows Server 2003 Standard (32bit)
NETWORK CARD: RealTek 8168

My guest uses briged networking with fix IP !

If you are using it "in production" I suggest that you use one of VMware Server certified host operating systems.

Debian is not even mentioned there.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/server_admin_manual.pdf

Page 7-9

Hi,

currently I do not use it in production ! I´ve just built up a testing environment and ran into this problems !
I know that Debian is not offical supported (yet ?) but I read about many people which run VMWare Server on Debian without
any problems ...

elnino9, what was the fix that you used to solve your problem? It sounds like your symptoms are similar to what we are dealing with.

Hi All,

We've purchased a Dell PowerEdge 1950 and we've been trying for couple of weeks to run 2 Windows 2003 guest OSs. The virtual machines run fine for an undefined period of time and then connectivity is lost (the guest OSes do not respond to pinging), the host OS is still fine. After about 10-15 minutes the guest machines come back to life as nothing ever happened and they did not crash, there is absolutely nothing in the event logs. The guest servers use "bridged networking" and use dynamic IPs, the networks cards in the server are Broadcom BCM5708C NeteXtreme II, and the we use VMware Server 1.0.4. We've tried various versions of the host OS (Windows 2003 32-bit Standard and Enterprise editions and also Windows 64-bit Standard and Enterprise editions) and various versions of the network drivers from Dell and Broadcom. Same issue.

At the same time we were researching the issue on the internet, it seemed that some people point out that this behaviour might be caused by the new TOE (TCP/IP Offload Engine) that's in the Broadcom NICs. So we followed the procedure below supplied by Dell. Same issue.

Now, the identical 2 guest machines work just fine on two different machines and they also run fine on one other machine. So far one common thing that we have noticed when researching this issue is the use of the Broadcom NeteXtreme II NICs. I would say to stay away from those network cards if you're purchasing a new server and using it with VMware. I am tempted to try Microsoft Virtual Server just to narrow down the problem, however due to time constraints and the return policy on the Dell server I will not have time to try it.

At this point, I think I'll return the server and do some more research before buying a new one.
Please let me know if anyone has resolved this issue using a "real" solution, not half-measures (i.e. constant pinging of the guest machines or switching to NAT for VMware network configuration)?

Thanks,
Arthur

======================================================================
For the interested, here is the Dell procedure to disable TOE:

How to disable TOE
1) Uninstall the Broadcom driver from the add-remove programs and power down the server,
2) Remove the TOE Key by following these steps.
Removing the TOE Key
Before removing the TOE key:
a. Disconnect the system from AC power and Remove the top cover.
b. Locate the TOE key.
<<DSC05058[1].jpg>>
c. Press in on the TOE key RJ-11 release latch.
<<DSC05060[1].jpg>>
d. Lift the TOE key out of the chassis.

3) Power on the server and reinstall the latest Broadcom driver.
4) Follow the steps of the article : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927695
5) Follow the steps of the article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/904946
6) Turn off the TCP Chimney
To turn off TCP Chimney by using the Netsh.exe tool, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
b. At the command prompt, type Netsh int ip set chimney DISABLED, and then press ENTER

Hello,

i have the same Problem.

The only difference is, we had NO Network connection, wenn the VMs are startet. They succesfully obtain an IP Adress from our DHCP Server, but they dont get an answer when we trie to ping another PC on Network. Same issue when we ping from Network to the VMs. The only answer of a ping we get is when we ping from the VMServer to the VMs.

The VMware Server 1.0.0.4 is running on a Dell Latitude D820 XP SP2 with one Broadcom Netxtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller and a Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection. The VMs are configured in bridget mode (auto and manual testet). Nat works.

VM1 = Linux Suse 10.x

VM2 = Windows 2000 Pro SP4

The VMs works on another VMware server (also a latitude D820, same type/model) fine. But i cant find a misconfiguration or any difference between.

A few pages bevore i read the reason with Trendmicro. We had also Trendmicro (officescan) at work. I uninstalled it, but no change.

Thanks

Thomas

well, originally we had tried getting a ping request to the vm from another source but this didnt seem to work. in sheer desperation i ended up putting a ping on the host pinging out to another machine on the network
and the guest machine. I also have another machine on the net pinging
the host.

Sry, my english is not very good. Did i understand right? You keep the VMs alive when you make a continuity ping to the VMs?

That dont solve our Problem. Our VMs never get an working network connection in bridging mode. They only obtain an IPadress/DNS Entrys/etc. from our DHCP Server, when they just startet and up, ping or network just wont works.

edit @elnino9: sry i have not seen that your answer was a responce to smuray. So, forget my reply edit

Just FYI. I experienced the same problem over the weekend. We upgraded our corporate Trendmicro Anti-virus to the new 8.0 version. It appears this version does not play well with VMWare. it has something to do with the OfficeScan firewall. I found this article: http://esupport.trendmicro.com/support/viewxml.do?ContentID=EN-1035343&id=EN-1035343

I have not tested the above suggestion as I immediately uninstalled the Officescan client to get throug the day (which seems to resolved the issue for now).

I thought I would pass along my experiences. Hopefully it will be helpful to others.

No one with any Idea?

I guess we're on our own then. Hopefully they fix it in v2.0

Well, my problem is fixed. It's not VMware, it the physical CD-ROM/DVD drive that was causing the machines to stop and only if they drive was connected to a VM machine. Now I just disconnect the CD-ROM/DVD drive from all of my VM machines and connect it only when I need it. Typically after the disconnect happens, I get this error in the Application Event Log on the host server:

Event ID: 9

The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort0, did not respond within the timeout period.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

This issuw sucks, I know. Here's what happened, VMWare for some crazy reason changed your NIC in your guest. If you had DHCP enabled most likely you got a differen't IP. If you have a Static IP my guess is that on your guest you're network connection will be called "Local Area Connection 2" or 3 or however many times this occured. When you try and assign your static IP your guest OS will say "There is already a device assigned this IP..blah blah blah" then it will assign it anyway and it's back online. This is a very very common problem but nobody has admitted to it. Just search for losing network connection, can't ping or whatever the typical symptom.

Personally I think the CD/DVD thing is a bug but again, no one will fess up to it. Having to remove one of the more importatnt devices on your system just for it to work properly means some code needs to be revisited.

I had the same problem just last week when I "ghosted" the primary virtual hard drive of one of my VMs (running Windows Server 2003 Standard) to a larger one. The virtual network card, which used to have a static IP address, was suddenly receiving DHCP addresses. When I put it back to it's regular IP address, a warning appeared telling me that another adapter had the same address and whether I was sure I wanted to proceed.

The same thing happened to me many years ago on an old physical server that was running Win2K Adv. Server. The proper fix, IIRC, was to boot up in safe mode, go into the device mangler, delete all instances of the network card, and reboot normally and let the OS redetect the NIC. Perhaps the same thing will work in the VM.

I would try the fix in the VM I mentioned in the first paragraph, however, it is running normally and my users are not complaining so I'll just go ahead and leave it be.

Hopefully someone found this useful.

try this.

Install VMWare Server on another machine, copy your directory that has the VM you are having connectivity problems to it, register the VM on the new machine and fire up your VM on the new machine. I had a similar issue and it was because of certain CISCO Router/Switch rules that my machine was bound to that gave me problems. Also, try and get a machine that does not have a Broadcom network anything. Run out a buy an Intel Pro1000. VMWare Servers has undocumented tissy fits with Broadcoms that no one will fess up to. Strangely, on any Windows machine it works flawlwssly. It's when VMWare uses it's drivers within the guest that the bug rears it's nasty face.

A few other things to check...

Shut off the Windows Firewall...

Consider connecting your machine to a Gigabit switch. If you are physically linked to a 100Mbit connection, your VM is trying to talk to anymachine via tcp/ip at 1Gbit. If your trying to connect to Windows 2003 Server it will notice that data is geting sent to it faster than the NIC connection. That's when Denial of service protection kicks in.....no more connection. So consider upgrading your Switch to 1Gbit.

This NIC failing has plagued me for as long as I have been using VMWare. Yes these big name companies and million users are using this product, but lets look at how many have a Broadcom NIC and how many of those unfortunate souls are having the same problems. We (users in the Forum) can only see what is posted, VMWare will not disclose how many have incidents/calls on this issue. I bet the majority of those big name companies are users in this forum having the same problem.

I'm not slamming you VMWare but there is an issue here that needs to be addressed. Hopefully you fixed it in version 2.0.

I just downloaded it

COS wrote:
I'm not slamming you VMWare but there is an issue here that needs to be addressed. Hopefully you fixed it in version 2.0.
I just downloaded it

Good luck...
http://communities.vmware.com/community/beta/server2.0

Peter, thanks for the link....
I can't connect to the MUI on my Vista host. I'll post in the beta section.

There is no MUI, no VMware Server Console. There is Web Access UI and misplaced VMware Infrastructure Client.

Peter, I still can't get anything going. I posted my question here...
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/115215?tstart=0

I can not get to any console to build a VM.

I found that three of my VMs had the cd drive connected, so I disconnected them. Within 10 minutes, one of them fell off the network again, so I don't think the cdrom issue is the 'fix'.

Do you have a Broadcom NIC? If so consider getting an Intel Pro 1000 or something other than a Broadcom.

Yep, broadcom. I'll try changing to an Intel card and see if that fixes it.

All:

Here is a new twist. After finding and resolving the problem once before with my VMs stopping all communication with the host via Bridged Networking, all of my VMs (Solaris, multiple flavors of Linux, Windoze running on a WinXP host) STOPPED AGAIN. They were working yesterday, but today...nothing.

I found and resolved the problem again, and this time I am 100% CERTAIN that I did not make the change that caused it. I used to heap ridicule upon people who claimed their computer's (and applications') settings just "changed themselves", but I've reconsidered that now (sheepish grin). I made no changes to the Virtual Networking settings, yet there they were...

The VMNet0 was set to bridge to an automatically-selected network adapter. Apparently, it's now choosing the wrong one, as there are times my wireless adapter is active; other times, it's my wired adapter. Today I tried both with no luck. BUT...setting VMNet0 to a physical adapter restores all communication!

I hope this helps someone. I really, really like VMWare...but I'm beginning to distrust it.

Marcos

I just installed an Intel card and bound the VMs to it. We'll see how it goes.

Great!
Please let us know if it exibits the same. My desktop that has an onboard Intel NIC has never lost connection for my VM's however, my server that has a friggin Broadcom has lost connectio on the VM's at least 4 times.

Now here's some bad info for EVERYONE.....
We just recieved our HP DL380 Servers and the onboard NIC's are Broadcom!

WTF!

Hi All,

Just to contribute our own experience with this issue :-

Our servers are all based on Intel server platform components (ie. Intel Server Chassis, Motherboard, RAID controllers, etc.). The onboard NICs are also Intel GB NICs and the add-on quad port and dual port Gigabit NICs are also Intel ones.

The NICs have always been manually assigned (never automatic bridging) and the Host server runs either Windows 2003 server 64bit Standard or Enterprise Editions.

The problem also occurs with these servers. The frequency of the occurrence appears to be random - one windows server VM ran for months without any issues and then suddenly presented the problem (no network traffic in or out of the VM - host still has network connectivity). Other VMs could run a day or so and then encounter the problem. Often the problem presents itself overnight when the servers are relatively quiet (ie. little or no network activity) and only once or twice during working hours. No errors are logged in the Event logs of either VMs or Host. With Servers hosting multiple VMs, not all VMs are affected at the same time.

As the problem does not affect all VMs at the same time, rebooting the host to fix the problem was out of the question. We have found that when the problem occurs, disabling then re-enabling the network adapter within the Windows VM (not the host) usually fixes the problem (until it reoccurs) without needing to reboot either the VM or the host. We had less success with Linux VMs as disabling and reenabling the network interface does not always work and usually have to resort to rebooting the linux VM to fix the problem. As a workaround, following a suggestion made by another posted on this issue, opening a Command prompt and running a continuous ping from the VMs to another PC / router / print server on the network appears to prevent the network from dropping off. If someone accidentally closes the command prompt which ends the continuous pings, the problem will reoccur.

No windows updates have been performed on either host or VMs (automatic updates are disabled) after the initial setup. All server admins have been briefed on the issue and all know not to install anything or update anything without first checking with us. So far, we know that virtual servers built from scratch (ie. Server Assembled, OS installed, All updates applied, VMWare Server Installed finally VMs created, configured and guest OSes installed, all updates applied), do encounter this issue at all various client sites. Note that similarly built servers (ie.same model boards, CPUs, etc) running Microsoft Virtual Server at different client sites have never encountered this issue.

We are also hanging out for a resolution to this problem.

Don't hold your breath, it doesn't seem like VMWare is giving this issue any attention at all...and with them working on 2.0 now we'll probably just have to wait for it to get out of beta and then upgrade to fix this issue.

Just had the VM guest lose it's network connection again. I noticed something odd this time, it had taken all of the CPUs allocated to it and pegged them out at 100% usage. I went into the guest and it seemed to function fine, but was showing high CPU usage. I disabled the network adapter inside of the guest and re-enabled it and it all came back to life without any other drama and the CPU usage dropped back down to where it should be.

1.0.4 on Windows Server 2003 x64 SP2, the guest is 2003 x64 SP2 as well.

I am thinking this could be fixed with an alternate network adapter driver in the guest.... Anyone loaded up 2.0 in a 64 bit environment and seen what network card / driver version it uses? Curious if that driver is newer, and if it is, can it be used in a 1.0.4 enviornment?

It's been two weeks on the Intel cards, and no issues yet.

up to 3 weeks without incident, now. I wish I'd installed the intel nic's as soon as this issue became apparent!

That's great news!
We are purchasing different NIC's for our HP servers that are running VMWare Server. Darn those Broadcom NIC's.

Darn those Broadcom NIC's.

couldn`t that be a broadcom driver issue, too ?
anyway - nic are cheap and broadcom gave me hassle in other circumstances, too....

What specific Broadcom NIC models are you replacing? We also experienced random VM disconnections and could not get anything usefull off VMware Support.

Ours are the NetXtreme integrated gigabit (x2) cards. Those seem to be on every server we have, but fortunately only two are being used with VMWare Server so only those two have had issues.

According to "Device Manager" our NIC's are "Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet" and there are two of them onboard. We had problems with them losing connection so we now use Intel Pro 1000 PCI-X cards. We have not had an issue with the servers we added the Intel cards 4 months ago yet. With the broadcoms it was once every two weeks or so. It's been 4 months on the older servers.

I find this thread fascinating, but frustrating as well. I am having problems with the bridged network dieing. Things were working fine. I shut down all guest systems, then rebooted the host. When I restarted things, I could not communicate with any of the guests from PC's on the LAN. One of the guest systems is a DC, so I could not get IP addresses for the other systems. I could ping a guest from another guest, but the guest could not ping other PC's on the LAN.

I'm using an Intel Pro/1000 MTW onboard card on the server. It did have the power mgmt set on, so I disabled that. I also forced the VMnet0 adapter to that NIC instead of having it automatically chosen. I am using VMware server 1.0.4 with Windows 2003 Server Enterprise SP1. All guest systems are using Server 2003 Standard. No windows updates have been done, so no changes were made to the O/S. I currently am not running any AV.

In you guest OS right click the "My Network Places" and select "Properties".
You should see your network connection. Does it say "Local Area Connection" or "Local Area Connection 2"?
I am assuming that you have a static IP to your guest. Try reassigning the IP, if my guess is correct, it will say "There is already a device with this IP....." or something like that. It will assign it anyway. Some people just delete the NIC in the guest and rediscover it.

Just had the same intermittent network failure on my laptop (vista). NIC is Realtek, not Broadcom.

Fixed it by running vmware-toolbox and selecting Ethernet as a shared device...

Some people have said they fixed this problem by changing the virtual NIC from an AMD to an Intel NIC.

I am having a similar issue but i'm not sure if the syptoms are exactly the same.

I have a Windows 2003 Enterprise server running VMWare Server 1.0.4. I have a few virtual machines running on it. Most are Windows but some are linux. The virtual machine I am having problems with a Windows 2003 Standard machine. Basically what will happen is that the bridged network card will suddenly stop responding to network requests (both from the guest as well as to the guest). I can restore the connection by disconnecting the virtual card and reconnecting it. Once I disconnect and reconnect the card immediately starts responding to pings. I know the exact time the machine stopped responding and I checked the event logs on both the guest and host machines and there was nothing. I also checked the vmware logs and there was also nothing. I did see a line item stating that the network card had been enabled at the time that I performed the disconnect and reconnect but thats it.

The network configuration

I have checked everything I can think of to rule out windows issues. I have had this problem before with other Windows Vmware images running on Windows Vmware Servers. I never resolved the issue because I ended up abandoning the project I was working on.

I'm hoping someone has some useful insight into what might be causing this issue. Its very annoying to have to get up in the middle of the night to disconnect and reconnect the card.

Also on a side note, I read in an ealier post that someone changed their virtual NIC from AMD to INTEL. Can someone tell me how to do this?

Well I wish I wasn't here to say this right now, but after over 3 flawless weeks on the intel cards, I've had two VMs fall off the network in the last two days.

Unfortunately, I'm not surprised.

As mentioned in my earlier post, my servers have always been using Intel cards and they do encounter the problem so I still think it's a VMWare problem and nothing to do with the hardware. Why ? Because a couple of these server used to be MS Virtual Servers before being converted to VMWare Servers and they never had the problem under MS Virtual Server.

BTW, I forgot to mention in my previous post that the network cards we are using are Intel Pro/1000 EB w/ IO Accelleration cards, not Broadcom. I noticed in an earlier post that someone was using the same card and had the same issue. Is it possible the there are some Intel cards that are having this issue as well? This perticular server has been running fine for years. I moved it to a new host server last weekend and thats when the problem started. Sounds to me like a vmware/hardware incompatibility but then again I did upgrade to 1.0.4 at the same time so who knows.

I was meaning: VMware tends to spuriously suppress my Ethernet device, I dont know why.

It happened again this morning; so I just ran vmware-toolbox, selected "devices" folder and checked again the Ethernet device, and again it's working fine.

Might be because I frequently suspend and restart my virtual machine.

I have been experiencing the same exact thing - and am about to lose my mind.

Have 2k3 host OS running VMware server with 4 physical NICs. Only 1 is accessible on the host, the other 3 are bridged to the 2 VMs.

Each of the 2K3 VMs work perfectly - with all the networking and bridging happeneding as they should. However - then, after a few days or a few hours - POOF. Networking goes away. After a reboot, things are fine. But this thing is like a ticking time bomb.

I have the VMs set for AMD NICs and will change to Intel to see how it goes...

Anywone else with any ideas?

Get paid VMware support and engage them, if you are planning to use VMware Server on a longer term.
If still not satisfied, use other product.

This is pulling at straws but can you confirm the link speed of the physical Ethernet switch the VMWare Host is connected to? Is it 100Mb or 1000Mb?
If it is 100Mb then try and set the virtual NIC's down to match the slowest link. I had some problems in the past with this. My Guests were linked at 1000Mb and my host was linked 100Mb. Theoretically this shouldn't matter because the Virtual Switch is supposed to do the "Dumbing down" of the link speed but it fixed my problems.

Here's the theory of why it may fix the problem. On 2003 Server and XP as well as Vista, when they recieve more data than the link speed, it sees this as a DOS attack and shuts down the network.

Dkitch,

Have you tried disconnecting the virtual network card instead of rebooting the server. When my server goes offline simply disconnecting the card and reconnecting it brings it back. May be alot easier than rebooting the whole box.

Can you tell me how you plan on switch the network card from AMD to Intel? I have heard people say that thats how they fixed it but no one will tell me how to do this.

COS,

I can confirm that my both ends are 1000Mbps. I have an Intel pro/1000 EB card connected to a cisco 1000Mbps switch.

If Windows is shutting down the connection as a deffensive response to a potential attack wouldn't you think it would give something in the Windows event log saying that thats what happened? Both my host and guest machine had nothing in the event logs.

An update -

I have discovered that a simple unplug / re-plugging in of the cat5 cable jumpstarts the connection within seconds and all then is well. I've yet to go down the path of changing the NICs to Intel as opposed to AMD - that process is next.

Our VM's did not show anything in the logs either. It was recomended by KevinG that I need to make the links the same speed and it fixed the problem. Actually he recomended we get a gigabit switch but back then $$ was tight so we just stepped down to 100Mb at the guest.
Our symptoms were as follows....
Connection was stable....
Data transfers were stable...
A medium sized data transfer occured...
NETWORK BLACKOUT at the guest...
Reboot VM and you're back online.

sound familiar?

COS,

After you took KevinG's advise and reset the link speed to 100mb, how long have you been running without problems? Did you do anything about changing the adapter type to AMD, or simply reset the link speed? I join with the other comments in saying if this is a Windows defense mechanism, it is wierd that nothing shows up in the security log. Perhaps some more investigation is needed. Perhaps also the virtual switch is not working properly and IT is the one shutting things down. My vote is for the latter, as Windows is usually pretty good at complaining to the logs about things that are a real problem (BSD's are often the exception).

Oh yes! Here! All of a sudden! At least a similar issue.

I've been running a single XP VM on a single XP host for more than a
year now - sometimes in bridged, sometimes in NAT mode. Host is VMWare
server 1.03. Got a Broadcom "NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller", WLAN
is disabled. Now just today back at office I tried to switch to bridged
mode - and have no LAN contact out of the VM for the first time and for no
reason I can think of. I'm not aware having changed my host installation.

After dedicating the only NIC available as the VMNET0 adapter VMWare
told me my bridged ethernet interface was down. This persists after host reboot and I have no idea how to get back to a functional bridged mode. NAT
works fine.

After reading parts of this thread I updated my NIC driver - didn't
help. There's not much software installed on the host system besides AVG Antivirus and a Cisco VPN Client.

Thanks for any help on that.

Herbert

It has been a little more than 2 years and the guests are all running fine with no incidents.
hmmm.....
I never quite put it together before but these are broadcom NIC's on the host and they exhibited the same problems everyone is having. Could it be that dumbing the guest down to 100Mb may workaround the problem? I think i'll try bringig up a VM on the host with Broadcom NICS and see if they lose net connection if I set the Guest nic to 1000Mb but not send a ton of data.
I'll let you know when I set this up.

Thanks

OK. I'm glad others are on board with my mysery.

Tomorrow AM, I'm going to manually reconfigure each of my 2 bridged NICs in each of my 2 guess system to step down to 100meg. I'll keep the NICs in AMD mode and keep the HOST broadcom NIC at GIG speed.

The first time THAT goes down, I'll step back the HOST link speed to 100.

When THAT goes down, I'll most likely throw in a quad port intel NIC and disable the broadcoms altogether...

More to come...

Same problem as all here. I' ve created a batch that starts with the Guest - OS ( W2k3 Enterprise) and does a "ping - t" to the ADS - Server. After that the NIC ( Broadcom Giga) works without quit.
No solution, but a workaround

Olasan

Below is a post I put on experts exchange that lists my setup and the issues I have. No solution yet, but you can use my hardware to compare to yours. Mine seems to happen during backup of the System State, which is probably pretty intense for the server.

I have a rather odd issue relating to VMWare Server, Backup Exec and Windows 2003 R2 EE 64-bit.

Issue:
Guest
server nic stops responding. Can't connect to the server (ping or
shares) and the server can't connect to anything (Ping or shares). To
get the Nic working again I use VMWare Server Console, open the guest
server network connections, disable the nic, re-enable the nic.

Setup:
-I have 3 Dell PowerEdge 2950's all identical (VS1, VS2, VS3). Dual Quad Cores, 6 Nic's on each.
-Running VMWare Server 1.0.3 and 1.0.4
-Symantec Backup Exec 11d
-I
currently have the issue on two guests on two seperate VMWare Servers,
VS2 & VS3. One runs Citrix the other runs WSUS & Certificate
Server.
-All VS Servers and guests are running Win2k3 R2 EE 64-bit.
-Intel 1000PT Dual-Port nic's
-Backup
does not backup raw vmware files, I'm actually connecting to the
BERemote agent on the VMServer backing it up as if it were another
physical server.
-/3GB is not used
-No AV software

What I've Found Thus Far:
-The nic freeze seems to happen during nightly backups
-The nic freeze seems to be a result of VSS creating a snapshot of the volume to be backed up
-This does not happen consistently. We may got 3-4 days with no issues and then it happens again
-Event viewer has no information. Just displays netlogon issues, etc that are a result of the nic loss.

What' I've Done Thus Far:
-I've
setup a mock backup job that runs every 5 min during the day that backs
up the System State and Shadow Copy Components of the server. I can get
it to crash with this job. Same symptoms though, might get 10-15
successes then it the nic will stop responding.
-Bios Updates
-Updated NIC Drivers (Are the same as version as guests that are solid)

Thanks,
Andy

Oh no! This was my own fault! Sorry for that.

Herbert

So far SQL has not restarted since I upgraded the network card however I just received this update to my board post. It's an interesting theory. If the problem returns I will have to start looking at BE and see if there is some type of conflict with BE and the new version of Vmware.

Trevor Your
Operations Manager
ACCURATE TECHNOLOGIES INC.
47199 Cartier Drive
Wixom, Michigan 48393, USA
Phone: (248) 848-9200, Ext 121
http://www.accuratetechnologies.com

OK. Well, I've just about had it with VMWARE.

I added and additional quad port Intel NIC to eliminate the Broadcoms from the equation and had 24 stable hours. About 30 mins ago, even with my pings hitting it from every which direction, it took a dive.

It wakes up fine if i un/re-plug a cable.

Is still really a dead end? i.e. - No Solution out there?

Have you ruled out a posible hardware problem?

NIC hardware should be ruled out, I have it on occuring on seperate servers. For us, it seems to happen after a ms snapshot is done and then there is heavy network traffic. I wonder if it has anything to do with the offloading on the nic? I may try to disable this next.

Do you have packet errors on the physical switch trunk ports?

And if so what are the errors?

No packet errors:

GigabitEthernet1/0/13 is up, line protocol is up (connected)
Hardware is Gigabit Ethernet, address is 001c.5754.a08d (bia 001c.5754.a08d)
Description: VS2 VMNET1
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1000000 Kbit, DLY 10 usec,
reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 12/255
Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set
Keepalive set (10 sec)
Full-duplex, 1000Mb/s, media type is 10/100/1000BaseTX
input flow-control is off, output flow-control is unsupported
ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00
Last input never, output 00:00:01, output hang never
Last clearing of "show interface" counters never
Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0
Queueing strategy: fifo
Output queue: 0/40 (size/max)
5 minute input rate 49623000 bits/sec, 4187 packets/sec
5 minute output rate 853000 bits/sec, 1648 packets/sec
966107898 packets input, 2745091341 bytes, 0 no buffer
Received 891792 broadcasts (0 multicast)
0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles
0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored
0 watchdog, 0 multicast, 0 pause input
0 input packets with dribble condition detected
399706018 packets output, 725775459 bytes, 0 underruns
0 output errors, 0 collisions, 1 interface resets
0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred
0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier, 0 PAUSE output
0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out

Ok,

Are you using network load balancing?

Are you connecting a single host to multiple physical switches?

My logs are clean as well - as far as i know.

My setup is as follows -

Nic 1 bound to Host and then bridged to VM1 and VM2

Nic 2 NOT BOUND to Host and only bridged / bound to VM1

Nic 3 NOT BOUND to Host and only bridged / bound to VM2

Nic 4 NOT BOUND to Host and bridged / bound to VM1 and VM2

All 4 are now on a single Quad port Intel server NIC - i've eliminated the broadcoms from the equation.

Thing is - it seemd to be only NIC 4 that dumps out. A simply un/re-plug always does the trick.

My next plan of attack is to add a Nic 5 which would be Nic 4 split out to feed VM1 and VM2 separately - without a double bridge as this appears to be where the issue is.

Are all the nics are connected to one physical switch?

Mine are connected to a cisco 3750 switch.

I've got:

Intel 2port:
1- Host - Not bridged
2- VMNET0

Intel 2port:
3- VMNET1
4- Disconnected

-I have two different servers causing the issue, see EE post above.
-No NLB

-I'm now testing after disabling TCP Segmentation Offload on both Host & Guest.

This is falling on deaf VMWare ears. I'd call VMWare and get paid suport and post what they think is the solution.
One thing to try is make sure every link is the same as your slowest link.
i.e. If you physical switch is 100Mb and your VM's are linked 1000Mb, step them (or at least the one you know always fails) down to 100Mb. This eliminates the Guest Windows OS DOS (Denial Of Service) protection being the cause.

COS wrote:
i.e. If you physical switch is 100Mb and your VM's are linked 1000Mb, step them (or at least the one you know always fails) down to 100Mb. This eliminates the Guest Windows OS DOS (Denial Of Service) protection being the cause.

That particular one can be easily removed by a simple registry fix.

It may have nothing to do with VMware I had this exact symptom when I used to run GSX and it was W2K3 that was the root cause.

I solved it by using VLAN capable NICs and drivers.

Ok So far we have ruled out the physical switches and nic hardware.

Lets look at VMware Server host OS.

Time lines?

Have the systems run OK from day one and this problem has started relatively recently?

Correlation?

Does it only occur under an increased packet load scenario?

Since SP2?

Peter, can you post the reg file?

DisableDOS
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/898468

Netsh int ip set chimney DISABLED
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945977

I've troubleshot this indepth with all the variables listed. No solution yet.

My latest was disabling TCP Segementation Offload. Server just crashed, didn't work.

See my post on page 8 or 9 to list all the variables that's i've got.

Onward we go with the troubleshooting...

Does everyone that experience this issue use Backup Exec? If so what version? I'm on 11d.

Are you able to turn on a perfmon to see what the peek network usage is when it drops?

We are using BackupExec 11d as well.

That being said I believe I have resolved our issue. My VM was originall running on GSX 3.2. I moved the machine to Vmware Server 1.0.4 recently and right after that is when the problem started. I noticed one day that our new VM that we just created said that it was connected at 1.0Gbps and the server i was having problems with was saying it was connected at 10Mbps. I know that this value is not reflective of the actual speed but it was something to look into non the less. I upgraded the vmware tools so that the new network driver was loaded. Its been a week now and I have had no network dropouts since. I am going to try backing out some of my diagnostic changes and see what happens.

Hope this helps someone else out there.

I've got the issue on both 1.0.4 and 1.0.3. The two vmware tools builds I've had it on are 56528 and 44356.

Are you running the vmxnet drivers in the guest or the intel drivers?

I've also setup a test backup job that runs every 5 min in the day backing up the system state. This lets me fast-forward the troubleshoot.

No Backup Exec here.

My 2 VM boxes only run MSFT ISA Server....

And they don't have the backup exec client loaded? Are the ISA servers heavy loaded?

So the issue must be related to congestion?

Are you able to turn on a perfmon to see what the peek network usage is when it drops?

If the peek usage exceeds the actual network capacity then

I see two possible fixes which are already posted by Peter_vm and COS.

1) Disable the offending DOS patches

2) Throttle the nic speed.

otherwise we can dig further

From a CPU tick POV, neither guest VM ISA is loaded. WIth both VMs doing their thing, the host CPU barely cracks 15%. As far as traffic, I have it in a mostly eval environment. I have a few machine behind both VMs, a bunch of PINGs throwing packets back and forth, and a VPN link that I'm pushing some decent traffic through.

My next thing is to eliminate the doubt VMnet - i.e. my VMnet that appears on both VMs. As through the process of elimination, this needs to be looked at.

More to come....

Network running at ~12% during backup, less on nightly as it goes to tape. Max I see hit is 24%...

12-24% not high enough to be a load issue.

How about a DOS issue, what are the TCP session states doing when the backup occurs

Netstat -s

TCP Statistics for IPv4

Active Opens = 138654

Passive Opens = 2758*
Failed Connection Attempts = 18849*
Reset Connections = 17521*

Current Connections = 37
Segments Received = 1006736405
Segments Sent = 1001887239
Segments Retransmitted = 45615

Do a before and after.

I'm showing 12, 9, 9... Not as high as yours...

We are not running any backup exec products on our guests. In fact, there is no backup anything installed on our guest. We backup each VM by running a vbscript to shut down a VM guest then copy the VM's directory to a nearstore. When the copy is finished the VM is fired back up and it goes to the next VM.

Have we ruled out the chimney feature?

Netsh int ip set chimney DISABLED

I have not ruled out chimney, and actually saw that earlier. I think I will disable it now...

I did find one thing... I'm monitoring from a monitored port using wireshark, and it appears only TCP and ICMP stop responding... UDP continues on...

Will let you know of any further findings... Thanks!

Really?

That's bizarre, this would indicate a TCP receiver failure. Are you sure it is maintaining UDP conversions. Do you see bidirectional UDP activity?

When it fails do a ping from the server outwards and from a node inwards with network monitor running and see if you capture it. If you do this means that VMware is fine and it is a OS TCP stack problem

You could try.

netsh interface tcp set global rss=disabled

Are you sure it is maintaining UDP conversions. Do you see bidirectional UDP activity?

that`s very interesting find.

is this 100% verified or can somebody acknowledge this?

to test for bidir udp connectivity - netcat/socat are very nice tools

Attached are snapshots of wireshark. (Server that fails is 10.10.1.10)

AtFailure.gif = Everything was working fine, then it wasn't.
PostFailure.gif = Data capture after the nic failed. Unable to ping or browse to server, but it seems to still try name queries.

These were captured from a seperate workstation using a port mirror.

What can I use to test UDP on Windows platform?

I was able to crash the server with the TCP Chimney disabled. Is the rss disabled still viable?

Looks like a UDP conversation to me! Confirmed!

andybei wrote:Is the rss disabled still viable?

Absolutely. The Receiver Side State (RSS) is a known issue with Internet Connection Sharing (ICF) which microsoft states is a mutually exclusive function (In other words darn, that doesn't work together correctly.)

ICF is messing with the stack and so is VM network bridging. RSS should be disabled to prevent possible conflicts.

When I run:

netsh interface tcp set global rss=disabled

I receive "command was not found"

Any ideas?

I assume this is how we can disable?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927695/en-us

I have disabled on both host and guest, will try to crash the server with backup job every 5 min.

Lets hope we've got this one figured out...

Yes!

Wish they would stick to the same method from service pack to service pack.

Should I reboot or will the settings take effect? I want to run my backup test all day in an attempt to crash it...

I believe you will have to reboot for this to be functional.

There is some possibility that disconnecting and reconnecting the interface would do it. But this is not usually the case with kernel drivers, their configurations are almost always loaded at system startup from the HKEYLOCALMACHINE hive*. When you see a label of dynamic in the docs then you can trust it to change without rebooting. I did not see it on the RSS.

Thought I'd chime in on this issue. I have had minor success with disabling the TCP offload features on both the host and VM. Also updating drivers did not resolve this problem. I have paid support for this product and have been working the issue with VM support. I just got off of the phone with the technician and he is sending my case to the engineering team. I'll let you know what they come back with. I'm on my last ditch effort before I pull this from production.

Hello,

Thanks for sharing the info.

jblachowski wrote: I have had minor success with disabling the TCP offload features on both the host and VM.

Could you share what you have done so we can determine if it applies here?

Also what TOE card are you using?

Just an fyi to everyone, because of the problems we are having with NIC's dropping connections, we have abandoned using VMWare Server 1.0.4 and have agreed to not even look at version 2.0. We will be using a different virtualization product/platform.

Thanks

COS, with the fix we are proposing version 2 may not help. Our theory is on the Windows side of things. There is a known issue between ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) and RSS (Receive Side Scaling). We believe this is also something that would cause conflicts with VMWare Server.

The proposed fix is to disable RSS on the host machine.

Instructions can be found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927695/en-us

I'm still testing this fix, but thus far it looks good.

You can see my post #831510. Here is a brief summary. I am using an Intel Pro NIC.

The virtual machine looses network connectivity intermittently.

Appears to be linked to when many users connect to the virtual machine for it's services on the network.

We can confirm the following times the incident happend: 8:20am and 10:20am on Wed Dec 12.

The nic on the host was still active on the network during the network loss

so it cant be hardware NIC specifically.

In order to correct the network loss incident when it does occur, the customer needs to bring down the virtual NIC from inside the VM and bring it back.

The host machine is not a Domain Controller

The host does have multiple NICs connected

The virtual machine was not converted. It was built from scratch

About 30-40 users hit this virtual machine to store network files and use as a print server

The Scalable Networking Pack that Microsoft released is enabled by default (installed with SP2 for Windows 2003), and introduces new networking architecture. It adds TCP Chimney Offload, Receive-side Scaling (RSS) and NetDMA. There are many issues that occur if the network drivers/firmware don't support this new architecture (including network connectivity loss, slow network performance, connection issues with Exchange, IIS issues, etc).

update your hosts' NICs with the latest drivers and firmware.

Advised the customer to follow details outlined at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912222 (Microsoft Server 2003 Scalable Networking Pack release)

Customer has to update registry in host and in the virtual machine as they are both win2k3-sp2 64bit

Customer has to update firmware for NIC on host and for the e1000 NIC in virtual machine

Advised the customer to set the 3 values listed below to "0" and execute the command-line command "netsh int ip set chimney DISABLED" (A server reboot is mandatory for the new settings to take effect) "EnableTCPA"=dword:00000000 "EnableRSS"=dword:00000000 "EnableTCPChimney"=dword:00000000

Confirmed that the customer made the following registry changes inside the virtual machine:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

EnableTCPChimney=0

EnableRSS=0

EnableTCPA=0

DisableTaskOffload=1

Confirmed that the customer executed the command:

netsh int ip set chimney DISABLED

The customer stated that the Broadcom NIC totally locked up the virtual machine and as a result switched to the Intel NIC.

The customer updated the drivers for the host's Intel NIC

The customer updated the drivers for the virtual machine's e1000 NIC

The customer started experiencing bluescreens inside the virtual machine after updating the driver for the e1000 NIC inside the virtual machine. As a result, the customer rolled back the update.

The customer was able to update the drivers without bluescreens with the following changes:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters\

"DisableDos"=1

The following changes to the guest VM configuration have been made:

ethernet0.present = "TRUE"

ethernet0.connectionType = "bridged"

ethernet0.addresstype = "static"

ethernet0.address = "00:50:56:00:00:C3"

Vmware Memory Page trimming is disabled.

The current state is, the VM appears to be functioning throughout the day for longer periods of time than before. However, the last time it lost connection was last Friday 1/11/08 somewhere around 10pm.

Server just crashed, RSS disabled and it crashed...

Hello,

That's good info. Thanks.

Is everyone using full duplex? I would try turning it off on the VMware host nics.

Thanks for the info. I feel better now with the decision that was made.

Thanks Again!

On Guests that are having this issue, does anyone notice a TcpWindowSize entry under

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\parameters\

On both of my virtual servers that were having an issue, I see this value. On virtual servers that were fine, I do not see it...

There is a known issue between ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) and RSS (Receive Side Scaling).
We believe this is also something that would cause conflicts with VMWare Server.

but i have seen this issue on linux hosts with linux guests, too

What can I use to test UDP on Windows platform?

there is netcat for windows, too.
main site seems down, but it`s mirrored all over the net:
http://www.google.com/search?q=nc111nt.zip

....do the majority of us think it's a somekind of leak in VMWare or MSFT's court? I'm curious on the 'other virtualization' choices out there. It's clear the Bridged networking is something that has to be ROCK SOLID for the platform to be of any use whatsoever. If not VMWare, then where / who / what product?

There's one more thing I'm going to try, but after that, I give up.

Recently, I have a NIC outtage somewhere in the 20-30 hour window after the un/re-plug the NIC sequence. Unfortunately, the sky's not the limit and I need to VM production servers - - meaning unless I hire a guy to sit behind my racks to swap cables, it's 'out the window' for VMWare...

Thoughts?

Write a workaround script on host to (test, take NIC down, take NIC up again)...

$25 on PayPal to the writer of such a script for me.

Here you go...

'This script will toggle Enable/Disable on a specified NIC

Option Explicit
Dim objCP, objEnable, objDisable, colNetwork
Dim clsConn, clsLANConn, clsVerb
Dim strNetConn, strConn, strEnable, strDisable
Dim bEnabled, bDisabled

Dim objShell: Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")

'strNetConn = "Network Connections" 'WMI Object name in Control Panel For XP Systems
strNetConn = "Network and Dial-up Connections" 'WMI Object name in Control Panel For 2000 Systems
strConn = "Local Area Connection" 'The name of the connection as you would see it in the "Network and Dial-up Connections"

strEnable = "En&able"
strDisable = "Disa&ble"

Set objCP = objShell.Namespace(3) 'Control Panel

Set colNetwork = Nothing
For Each clsConn in objCP.Items
If clsConn.Name = strNetConn Then
Set colNetwork = clsConn.getfolder
Exit For
End If
Next

If colNetwork is Nothing Then
MsgBox "Network folder not found"
WScript.Quit
End If

Set clsLANConn = Nothing
For Each clsConn in colNetwork.Items
'In case the LAN is named “connection 2”, etc.

If Instr(LCase(clsConn.name),LCase(strConn)) Then
Set clsLANConn = clsConn
Exit For
End If
Next

If clsLANConn is Nothing Then
MsgBox "Network Connection not found!"
WScript.Quit
End If

bEnabled = True
Set objEnable = Nothing
Set objDisable = Nothing

For Each clsVerb in clsLANConn.verbs
If clsVerb.name = strEnable Then
Set objEnable = clsVerb
bEnabled = False
End If
If clsVerb.name = strDisable Then Set objDisable = clsVerb
Next

If bEnabled Then
objDisable.DoIt
Else
objEnable.DoIt
End If

'Give the connection time to stop/start
WScript.Sleep 1000

MsgBox "Done"

I'm using VMware Workstation 6, installed on SLES 10 (2.6.16.21-0.8-debug). My guest system is Windows XP.

The hardware is a acer Aspire 5110. I'v selected bridged networking, which worked fine on previus SUSE systems.

When starting the system, the bridge 'bridge -d /var/run/vmnet-bridge-0.pid /dev/vmnet0 eth0' is running.

The module vmmon is loaded.

When starting vmnet-sniffer on /dev/vmnet0 and tcpdump while pinging from the XP instance to the host, arp requests from XP-VM are shown in both shells.

When pinging from the host to the XP-Instance, nothing is happening at both shells.

Seems that communicatio from host system to the bridge is not working.

Hope, somebody can help me.

Kind regards

Jochen

andybei wrote:On Guests that are having this issue, does anyone notice a TcpWindowSize entry under

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\parameters\

On both of my virtual servers that were having an issue, I see this value. On virtual servers that were fine, I do not see it...

What is the value set to. We can check it against the default and change it to that if it is different.

I just realized the script was set for Windows 2000 like this....
'strNetConn = "Network Connections" 'WMI Object name in Control Panel For XP Systems
strNetConn = "Network and Dial-up Connections" 'WMI Object name in Control Panel For 2000 Systems

Please change the two lines by putting the remark statement ' on the second line a remove it from the first line. This will work (I just tested) on Windows 2003 Servers...
strNetConn = "Network Connections" 'WMI Object name in Control Panel For XP Systems
'strNetConn = "Network and Dial-up Connections" 'WMI Object name in Control Panel For 2000 Systems

Running it once will disble the NIC, running it again will enable the NIC.

Sorry about that.

Here's the rub...

When the NIC goes does, windows still reports it as up - -

Could there be an integral PING built in that the second it comes back failed, it runs the script?

BUT, in the end this is all chicken s*it anyways - - it should just work

The NIC does not actually go down.

The TCP stack stops responding to packets in the bridging host.

The VM does not see anything fail it just does not get a responce for the TCP protocol.

This is why I believe it is most likely a host OS or NIC related issue.

Has anyone seen it occur on other that Broadcom or Intel adapters?

I totally agree with you.
I just tested it again.
When it disables my nic it "Greys" it out and says disabled and the IP bound to it stops pinging. I run it again and the NIC gets enabled and the pings reply.

Are you sure you are pinging the IP bound to that NIC/VM?

Can anyone verify the existance of the TcpWindowSize value under HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters on a guest that is experiencing the issue?

I deleted this out of mine...

Thanks,
Andy

Do you need it from a Windows 2003 Server guest or XP? My XP VM just lost connection.

The TcpWindowSize on my affected VM is = 0x0000faf0 (64240). However I'd like to note I have another VM on the same computer using a Broadcom NIC and it has never had these issues. The TcpWindowSize is the same on the good vm as on the bad.

So, you've had bridged networking with VMs hooking into a host's Broadcom controller without issue?

Interesting. Anyone want the $450 quad port Intel NIC I recently purchased?

As an aside, I did a reboot of my host yesterday morning, and the bridged NICs are still stable. 36 hours strong, We'll see what time my blackberry goes off tonight

This is strait from the Microsoft 2003 tuning guide.

TCPWindowSize

This value determines the maximum amount of data (in bytes) that can be outstanding on the network at any given time. It can be set to any value from 1 to 65,535 bytes by using the following registry entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip

\Parameters\TcpWindowSize (REG_DWORD)*

The default for a gigabit interface is set to approximately 65,535 (rounded down to the nearest multiple of full TCP packets), 16,384 for a 100 Mbps link, and 8,192 for all interfaces of lower speeds (for example, modems), again rounded down. Ideally, this value should be set to the product of end-to-end network bandwidth (in bytes/s) and the round-trip delay (in seconds), also referred to as the bandwidth-delay product. This value should be set according to the amount of TCP data expected to be received by the computer.

Has anyone tried tuning the TCPWindowSize values yet?

Just a little update from what I have been seeing:

I have a Dell 2900 Server with Dual GBit Broadcomm Nextreme II NICs, running as a Windows 2003 R2 SP2 x86_64 Host, and my Guest is running Windows 2003 R2 SP2 x86_64 as well.

I started seeing this issue when I tried copying software install files over my gigabit link, in the middle of the copy windows would error out and the VMWare NIC would exhibit the same problems as I have seen here. The only time it has not happened was when I tried to test with sheer FTP copy, that amazingly was fine. Copied 1.2GB over @ 32MB/sec ~360Mbps.

I decided to test disable the EnableRSS & TCPChimney reg hacks, rebooted the Host VMServer, and I tried my network copy again; this time no errors.

I also searched for Dell released updated drivers for my Broadcom NIC. No such luck, recent updates.

Also experiencing the same thing
========================

Gear: Dell PowerEdge 2950 Model III (16GB, dual quad-core 2.66Ghz, Raid 10 SAS, Dual broadcom NetXtremeII Giga nics)
VMWare: Server v1.04
Host: Windows Server 2003 Std x64 (w/SP2) --- NOT R2!
Guest: Windows Server 2003 Std x64 (w/SP2) --- NOT R2!
Guest Application: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 x64 Enterprise (w/SP2)

Same thing, every few days the NIC interface in the SQL Guest goes dead essentially. Only fix is rebooting the guest server. Not an ideal situation for a database!

Interesting detail
============
We have six other guests running on the same host, of which we have an even split between Windows Server 2003 x86 and x64 OS's --- no problems, after months of operation. They are running Exchange 2007 (x64 application), file server (x64), web server (x86), Active Directory (x64), SMTP server (x64), etc.

It seems to me, the NIC hang may be specific to some change incurred by particular application installations?

Again, only happens with SQL 2005 Enterprise x64 for us -- works 100% under x64 guest with all kinds of other applications on *the same host*!

ksDevGuy

Hrm,

I have half the mind to believe if it is a Microsoft App, then it might utilize the newer TCP Stack functions in W2K3 R2 SP2. Hence why SQL dies, and in my Case running FTP (Not in IIS) does not.

I copied another VM and im in the process of testing it to see whether it happens to it with a stock install.

-Israel

FYI, I have this issue as well, but not on the guest server running SQL 2005 Standard x64.

Almost the same server specs though...

Wow - I'm so relieved we found a solution to bridged networking not working.

In our network, we have a single NIC in the host machine connected to a switch with Port Security turned ON.

This means that a MAC address is allowed to use only a finite number of IP numbers. We had exceeded our limit with the symptoms:

bridge networking could only ping the host and the vm IP address

NAT worked fine

No combination of settings and reinstalls made any difference because problem was the switch not VMWare or settings.

We hope this saves you some time (like 3 days of pain)

-Michael

Just had another symptom --

1) Our Exchange 2007 server (Win2003 Std x64 SP2 -- Not R2! guest OS) just lost it's network ... after a 60MB email attachment was sent internally. Server has run for 8 months flawlessly. First time a large attachment was sent & the lost network issue occurred?

Funny thing is our File server is running 64-bit Guest and we have copied hundreds of gigabytes of files, including single files as big as 100GB without issue for 8 months. So it doesn't seem to be file size at issue. However, the two servers running 64-bit Microsoft Application servers (Exchange 2007 & SQL 2005 x64) seem to be at issue.

2) We manage two other mirror image installations (except for 64-bit SQL, they run 32-bit) and after almost a year there has not been a single issue ..... they run VMWare Server v1.03 ... hmmmm (we run v1.04!)

Thoughts?

ksDevGuy

Well, this just happend to me too.

Host: FC6, Client: XP, F8, CentOS5...

All were working and then they were not. Reboots would pickup a DHCP, but no networking.

After fighting it on my own and reading thru several threads I found nothing that gave any insite.

finally after checking everything I could think of I restarted the vmware service, it started working again.

Don't know if this helps, but there it is.

???

Thanks for the feedback, no matter!

FWIW, there is a thread or two in the forums about an issue were all VMWare networking (all guests) stops & can be restarted by simply recycling the VMWare NAT service.

This thread is trying to isolate when one VM guest's networking quits while all others continue to operate perfectly. It appears to happen primarily with Windows 64-bit guests, and via my experience only when particular (Microsoft for me) 64-bit applications are installed as well on that OS. Strangely, I have two VMWare Server v1.03 installs that have yet to exhibit this problem ... but VMWare Server v1.04 does - consistently.

ksDevGuy

EDIT After looking at the vmx output it appears that it thinks this is a 64bit guest. I'm in the process of moving the machine to a new host and will confirm when I get it back online.

I'm seeing this as well. Just found time to start researching it so I don't have a lot of info at the moment.

Server: Dell PoweEdge 2950 (Quad core, Broadcom BCM5708C NetXtreme II nics)
VMWare: Server v1.04
Host: Windows 2003 Std X64 R2
Guest: Windows 2003 Std x86 R2
Guest App: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Std

New install, not conversion. This is a newer guest that has only existed in v1.04.

I have three identical hosts running v1.04 with around 30 guests total. This is the only guest that has ever exhibited these symptoms.

I have tried both dynamic and static ip addresses on the guest with the same result.

VMX

config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "4"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
memsize = "3072"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.fileName = "SPSSQL02.vmdk"
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.fileName = "D:\data\ISO\Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 Standard 32bit\en_win_srv_2003_r2_standard_with_sp2_vl_cd1X13-46600.iso"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
floppy0.present = "FALSE"
Ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
Ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"
displayName = "SPSSQL02"
guestOS = "winnetstandard-64"
autostart = "poweron"
autostop = "softpoweroff"
priority.grabbed = "normal"
priority.ungrabbed = "normal"

workingDir = "."
snapshot.disabled = "TRUE"

scsi0:0.redo = ""
ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
uuid.location = "56 4d 54 49 b3 b9 14 39-54 d6 6c b6 9d 5a 2b cf"
uuid.bios = "56 4d 54 49 b3 b9 14 39-54 d6 6c b6 9d 5a 2b cf"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:5a:2b:cf"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"
tools.syncTime = "FALSE"

scsi0:1.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:1.fileName = "SPSSQL01-DRIVE2.vmdk"

scsi0:1.redo = ""

numvcpus = "2"

checkpoint.vmState = ""

I think you need to try the regarding hacks noted earlier in the thread.

Well this thread is kind of a relief, cause I'm having the exact same issue most people are describing here. I tought my issue was pretty isolated, cause only one quest out of many was having this issue until this morning.

I have 4 Dell PowerEdge 2950 (Quad Core, Broadcom BCM5708C NetXtreme II nics and an Intel QUAD Port NIC, each with 16GB ram) all with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 updates with the lastest service packs, hotfixes and drivers. The hosts are a very fresh clean install with no other software running other then VMware. In total I have 6 network interfaces on each host, all are used exclusivly by only one quest operating system. So as example I use NIC3 on the host only to bridge one guest, then another quest on NIC4 and so on.

Al the four servers are using VMware Server 1.04 with Windows 2003 R2 x64 guests. I've been running the quests for about three months now and every week or two I had one quest ( a simple file server with no other software running and simply sharing files) that suddonly had no network connectivity. No workstation could access or ping that guest, the guest could not ping or access any other workstation, gateway or (host) server. You actually do not have to reboot the quest server, just disable the network interface (under Network Connections right click the "Local Area Connection" or whatever you called it) and then enable it again. You'll see that the network interface will run perfectly from that point on. This softens the pain to fix the issue, but the effect is horrible, cause I always experience this issue over night leaving a particular server without network connectivity.

I also must note that in order to not waste IP resources I excluded "Client for Networks", "TCP/IP protocol" and "File And Print" on the HOST NICs, I testes this extensivly and my bridged NIC interfaces on the clients work perfectly, strictly speaking there is no need for these protocols on the HOST nics if you exclusivly use them for Quests like I do. I dont think the fact that I disable these protocols on the HOST nics have anything to do with the issue at hand cause I read over 20 threads discribing this issue.

Now this morning after three monts of perfectly error free running, my Exchange 2007 server was down, I logged on to the host and guest what, cannot ping to the guest, the guest cannot ping to the host or any other interface. Disabled the network interface in the quest, enable it again, and from that point on the network connectivity is fixed and the server works again.

Has there been any kind of explanations, as in what is causing this issue or are there any workarounds ?

Marc, I have a very similar setup - Dell PE2950 with embedded Broadcom BCM5708C NetXtreme II nics. I think the fix is still to run the "netsh int tcp set chimney DISABLED," and to make the following registry changes on both the host and all guests:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

EnableTCPChimney=0

EnableRSS=0

EnableTCPA=0

DisableTaskOffload=1

In addition to this, I updated the driver on the guest from the Microsoft driver for the Intel Pro/1000 MT (dated from 2002) to the latest Intel driver from Intel's website (http://downloadcenter.intel.com/detail_desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=8719).

Please let us know if these fixes solve your problems.

Thanks!!

Chris Bak

This seems to be a common issue among Dell PE 2950's...

These type of Dell servers are extreemly popular and used a lot, I do not think its a hardware related issue. The host never ever loses network connectivity during my tests.

Its a conclusion one could make, tought about it myself, but after reading this thread I see there are plenty other people using other hardware and even operating system (HP, Linux, ...)

I have not found time or occasion to put these servers down, but I'll the suggestion in the previous post(s).

I'm not entirely positive that the issues on the other brands and linux machines are the same that we experience.

I do know that the PowerEdge 2950 is mentioned a lot and I do know that the issues happens on both Broadcom and Intel NIC's. We should go back and summarize when and were we see the issue.

hi,

I'm very interested in finding a solution for this.
I have also the same issue with my Dell 2950 with Broadcom BCM5708C NetXtreme II GigE, Quad CPU, 16GB ram, 1,6 TB disk.
x64 windows server 2003 R2. i run 3 VMWare servers on it and in the beginning i had the issue with 1 of them but since the website on it is is not much visited anymore i don't get this issue anymore, this website used a webservice to an application on the same server and so generated a lot of send/receive traffic on itself.

But now i have it with another client, there is also high traffic on it. I must say the traffic is also very much between 2 Virtual servers and the host, all of the 3 virtual servers are bridged to the same physical nic - my server is at a hosting company and i have only 1 network cable available. Could it be caused by too much traffic between those clients ? One client accesses another client via webservices to host websites - so much traffic/requests internal and external at the same time. The client with the webservices must access the host where also the SQL server is on it. I saw that the physical broadcom nic was connected to the network with 10mb/sec and the clients virtual nic indicated 1GB/sec, i've changed it now into 10MB/sec until the hosting company allows me a faster connection.

I have an advanced monitoring system which pings all servers every 10 minutes and send me an sms when it's offline. In this monitoring i see every time the client loose connection that the vmware-vmx.exe on the host start running at 100% on 2 CPUs of the 4 (probably those who are dedicated to the vmware). The memory and virtual memory take also a boost at that time. Just before goin down the host logs a peak of TCP retransmissions (5%).
it's not always at the same time, sometimes at night, sometimes during the day and sometimes with more than a week in between and sometimes some days.

hope this helps some of you ...

Well, after over a week of successful bridged networking, the virtual NIC failed again early this morning, during a backup of the virtual machine over the network. Just went away. Windows reported nothing. The virtual was unavailable until I restarted it (over 5 hours), so it didn't come back on its own. And this after I made all the suggested registry hacks, etc. It was happening during every backup before the hacks...so the fact that it ran for 10 days or so means the issue is better, but not resovled. The way I resolved it for now: an automatic reboot twice a week during the early morning hours. That will have to do.

What type of switches does everyone have their Dell 2950's plugged into?

Mines into a Cisco 3750.

Thanks,
Andy

My Dell 2950 is plugged into a Cisco 3750 as well.

It's odd to me that only one of my guests has this problem, and it happens on multiple hosts. If it were a switch problem, I'd think that it would be happening on multiple guests.

I was all set to go to VI3 in Q2, and for some reason, this has me rethinking that. I don't know if I should be concerned that they can't fix this problem, or feel relieved that I'd be moving to a better supported platform. Either way, it does have me taking a closer look at my other options.

Has anyone tried putting a troublesome guest onto a beta2 host and seeing if the problem persists?

i wonder, why there seems nobody from vmware care about this issue - no postings for a long time!

in this thread, KevinG gave this comment a while ago:

If there is is bug is our software, we are always willing to know about it.<

how can we be sure that this isn`t a vmware bug if nobody at vmware cares until the reason for this really serious issue is found?

i think this is one of the most serious issues with vmware server.

please participate here, vmware!

I'm not positive it's a vmware bug or even a microsoft bug for that matter. It seems to happen on the Dell 2950, and now we're looking into if a cisco switch has anything to do with it. So far it's been verified on two cisco 3750's.

Also for me, I have 3 2950's and 11 virtual servers split between them. I've only had the issue on two virtuals. Been running VMWare for close to a year now. We gotta keep digging, I'm going to look into the cisco avenue now.

Thanks,
Andy

As I said once before, we have solved the problem that led me to monitor this tread - it was port security on an HP switch.

What happened to me was that the host, and some older guests worked as expected with bridged networking but bridged networking just did not work for a new guest. I'm sure anyone reading this has also done and re-done every setting they can think of as well. Note, eventually, and older previously working vm ceased to have network connectivity with bridge networking because the switch would no longer allow us to connect to the port with yet another MAC (after all our failing tests...)

The guest with broken bridged networking could ping the host and itself (proving that TCP/IP stacks were functioning) but could not ping or reach the gateway or any other machine on the subnet or network. Note, that a NATted connection for the guest worked because the switch already recognized the MAC address of the host.

Evenutually, we set off sys-log alarms by moving the offending guest vm to one of our desktop machines and the same switch complained that the desktop machine had 2 MAC addresses plugged into a single port of the switch. We had implemented swtich port security to try to counter network attacks, however we ended up locking our selves out of a legitimate vm.

Therefore, our fix was to allow 10 MAC addresses on the single port used by our VM host.

VMWare had nothing to do with our troubles.

I suspect that about half of the postings in this thread could be the same problem: get the network guy to dig into the details of the port on the switch your host is connected to.

I hope this helps somebody - this problem made 4 guys say "it should just work" over and over.

-Michael

Michael,

I was just coming back to the thread to mention the possibility of "port security" and I found your post. I'm going to give this a try, I'm excited about the possibility! Everything seems to fit.

Thanks!
Andy

Interesting....

as previously noted I too have drops on bridged networking.

AND I also have a HP switch. It's box stock never changed a thing.

Can you give us some pointers as to what to change and how to go about dooing it?

**edit HOST is FC6 w/ vmsrv1.04, guest is XP. When first built it worked good for a week or so. Then for a week it's been giving us fits, losing database connections, but still picks up a dhcp address. Then the other day it settled down and has been working fine for the last 3 days.

I saw Michael's comment the first (of about three times) I read through this thread.

My thoughts were that port security would block MACs above X number, meaning that the nth machine, and every machine after that would not function at all.

In such a scenario, moving the guest to a different host with fewer machines should resolve the issue. None of these behaviors resemble what I and some others are seeing. I've double-checked my switch settings and haven't found any blatant issues, although I might have missed something and will look again.

I'm actually wondering though if we aren't seeing multiple issues in this thread, even amongst the windows and Dell users. I am fairly certain that my problems are not being caused by the heavy network utilization described by those who are running things such as backup jobs - and who can trigger failures on-demand. In fact, my server sees almost no usage - in part because it started exibiting these problems shortly after it was built - I've avoided adding additional databases to it.

I'm not convinced that it has something to do with Dell 2950's or any model, Dell servers are very popular and its just a simple fact that a lot of people are using those models.

The port security theory is a possibility, but I'm wondering if those who supposedly fixed the bridging issue are 100% sure its due to those changes, cause I've been running multiple VM quests that did not go down for about 3 months, and suddonly it gets plagued by this bridging issue.

So if certain VM's run for months on end without issues how can anyone of us be very sure that their latest change was in fact the cause...

The fact that I can fix the issue everytime with a simple disable and enable of the network interface on the quests, still makes me believe this is a VMware issue. The host stay intact every single time and I dont see any reason why port security of a switch would suddenly allow traffic cause the network interface of the guest is enabled and disabled.

Tip: spare yourself a reboot everytime, just go to local area network connection on the guest and disable / enable, seconds after that the network will function again

Elaborating on our previous posts in this thread :-

1) We don't run any Dell servers. We have this problem occur on everything from el-cheapo souped up desktop PCs used as servers to Intel "whitebox" servers (ie. OEM servers based on nearly Intel everything CPU, MB, Chassis, Quad Port NICs, etc) to HP servers.

2) We don't use Cisco or HP switches. Again everything from el-cheapo switches to "Business Class" DLink and Netgear switches (Smart / Dumb you name it) so no Port security or anything of the sort on the low end switches.

3) We had couple of sites converted from Microsoft Virtual Server to VMWare on the very same server hardware. There were no problems when running as MS VS but have this problem almost as soon as we converted to VMWare. One site could not tolerate the problems and had us convert back to MS VS (again on the same server) and never encountered the problem again.

4) We had the problem with imported Guests as well as clean loaded Guests.

5) We had the problem with Linux VMs as well as Windows VMs

6) Like others in this thread, we could have a number of guests on the same host but only have the problem on some of the guests and not the others even though they are identically loaded (and no b.s. comments about how identically we loaded them -- we do know how to load Windows !).

7) We found that running a command prompt with a continuous ping to another address on the network appears to keep the issue at bay. Stop the continuous ping and after a random period of time, the network drops out. Without the pings running, we have servers drop off the network regardless of whether it is quiet (at night) or during a production day.

8) We also have had the issue when using a variety of network cards (mostly Intel but have also encountered it with Realtek cards, DLink Cards, Netgear cards, etc.)

So why are we still using VMWare ? Because VMWare still has a slight edge over MS VS that we need in specific circumstances (eg. USB support). Now, if only they could fix this darn issue......

Superb post, QSS. I can confirm all 8 points you made, I have the exact same issue on serveral servers and on several other hardware and switches.

We are thinking of getting gold support, not for a the soil purpose of this issue, but I'm not convinced it'll get fixed.

If there is a fix, its should have been known by now, I mean there are so many people experiencing this issue in this very own thread.

Hi Andy,

It's not a Dell problem, we got 15 Host's on IBM Serves (X345, X346, X3650) and it happens only on 1 Host that the guest looses connection. We use VM 1.01 on most Hosts. On 2 Hosts we use VM 1.04. The Server on which this happens is a X3650 with W2k3 R2 SP2 Standart Edition X64 and the guest is running the same Windows. Often the guest looses connection when we're running a backup ( Brightstor Arcserve 11.5 ) but sometimes the guest looses connection when no backup is running. Since we're running a ping -t from the guest to our ADS Server and from the backup server to the guest, the guest looses the connection not as often as before ( only1 time in the last 14 days). Yesterday I checked the Host Virtual Network Settings and found out that it was the only host with Nat, VMNET01 and VMNET08 enabled. So I changed the settings as they are set on all the other hosts --> stop the sevices, disable NAT and stop and removed the VMNet adapters. Waiting for the next loose of the connetion.....

Regards olasan

I've disabled all forms of NAT and stopped services and such, I don't think it will resolve he issue Olasan.

I think this thread has grown out of control...

The list of solutions thus far are:
1. Disable RSS
2. Disable Offloading
3. Check on Port-Security on your switch port

I'm going to try to put some scenarios together and we can go from there. Keep in mind, you might have more that one of the scenarios below. Please try instituting the above solutions and then evaluate where you are at for responses.

From what I've read here are some general arguements. Let's see what we can rule out or confirm.

A. Windows Host/Linux Guest having a loss of network connectivity. I've read that this can be related to the Offloading and RSS in the host. Disabling this clears up the issue. But this is part of the troubleshoot, you could still be experiencing #3 along with this.

B. Any host/guest, connectivity is lost at random, sometimes often times throughout the day. (Would be interested in seeing a wireshark on this to see if only TCP/IP is lost). I think this can most likely be attributed to Port-Security on switches. Multiple MAC addresses chirping on the same port. You can disable port-security or up the allowed mac count.

C. Windows Host/Guest. I've got this issue and can confirm some things. Issue is, on an irregular basis the network cuts out. ONLY TCP/IP cuts out, I still see some traffic coming from the virtual (WINS name lookups), but TCP/IP is dead. I've disabled RSS, Offloading on both guest and host and I have no port security settings in the switch, although I have not portfast set either, I may try to add this. Mine seems to quit during a nightly backup. But it could go 14 days with no issues and then happen. I setup a test backup that runs every 4 mins, I can make it crash with this. Usually takes 10-30 times and it will crash. I'm going to see if adding in the port security fixes this.

Anyone have any other scenarios?

Well, I will throw my monkey wrench into this. We have been running VMWare Server since it's inception (actual, before that when it was called GSX); but mostly on Dell PE 6850s. At corporate I have 2 6850s attached to an MD1000 with 7.5TB of disk. Each of these 6850s hosts about 100 VMs, of which 30-35 are running all the time. The first 6850 has been running for almost 3 years. I have never had this problem on with any of the virtuals on the 6850s. NEVER!

Our switch backbone is made up of (3) 3Com 3870 SuperStack Gigabit switches. Both 6850s and the new 2950 are plugged in to the same switch and trunked the exact same way. All 3 VM servers are running the Win2003 SP1 with all the updates. The 2950 has had this problem immedately out of the box. To take this a step further, I am going to move the virtual from the 2950 to the 6850 and let it run there for a while. I will bet anyone the virtual that just stops responding to network requests while on the 2950 DOES NOT experience the same outages while running on the 6850.

I for one, am not convinced this is a switch problem with port security because I have 30-35 VMs on the 6850s running through a port trunk on my 3Com switch with no problems; and just 1 VM on a 2950 trunked the same way that doesn't stay up for more than 10 days! The traffic that is passed from the 6850s to the rest of the network is mroe than 20X that of the traffic passed from the 2950 to the network. Go figure! I am not sure what it is, but I am still looking for TCP/IP and TOE features on the 2950 and on those embedded Broadcom cards, and more specifically, completely removing the TOE chip from the board on the 2950. I will post my results.

Happy Friday!

You may want to hold off buying support. I bought support back in December and opened a case up for this. My case has been open for two month now and the engineers are trying to replicate the issue with a 2950. They believe it is a Dell hardware. However, like others, I am very skeptical that this is the case. I've tried all the above solutions and now my VM crashes maybe once or twice a month. So the changes have helped, but they haven't resolved the issue. I'll keep everyone posted if I hear anything from them.

Well maybe it's an issue with how the 2950 is handling those spanning-tree packets... I turned on "spanning-tree bpdufilter enabled" on those ports to block all spanning tree packets from going to the interface. Time will tell, but I think there is definitly an issue with the Dell PE 2950.

Hey chak999, you just brought up a good point that I didn't even realize. We have 3 GSX 3.0 servers running with 5 - 6 guests each and none of them have ever experienced this problem. They run on HP DL380 G4's. I have been plagued with this issue since VMWare server came out for free. We dumped the use of VMWare Server completely because of this issue. It affected our HP DL380 G4 and G5 servers. I think We'll just buy additional licenses for GSX. It is much more stable but now my manager wants to look at ESX.

Has anyone seen this issue on ESX 3.0 or 3.5?

One of my 6850s started with GSX 3, and then was migrated to VMWare Server, first at ver 1.01 and then 1.02 and so on, all the way to the current release.
It's never had a problem....
CB

The real test will be to see whether the guest has issues on the 6850. As I mentioned, I've run vmware server since the name change and the problem didn't arise until the end of '07.

I believe I'm going to track down a non-2950 to host my problem machine, just out of curiosity. Troubleshooting would be so much easier if I could trigger the error on demand...

I can replicate mine on a guest that has the issue by running a backup against it every 4 min. I backup the Shadow Copy Components and the System State.

So odd...

We've had this happen to us of course with Cisco's port security set on.

We've also has this happen more often with it set to off. The common denominator for all our woes is running Windows as the host OS. Changing it to Linux, no problems. Ever.

Dell PE 750, 850, 2650, 2900, etc... all exhibited this issue. We got so sick of it, I decided to learn the vmware method on Linux on the fly. We pulled off the VM's after work, reformatted the OS from Win2003 to SLES 10.0, put all the VM's back on and voila, no more problems. We've since then no longer use VM's in production on a Windows host. Linux to the rescue.

Another wrinkle: DHCP vs statically assigned guest IP's. When all VM's were statically assigned on our really old Compaq ML 2U box running GSX 2, 2.5, 3.1 and VMServer 1.0x, there were no problems. However, when VM's were DHCP-based, the issue reared it's ugly head.

To recap: Move the affected hosts to a Linux OS of your choice. Enjoy.

I can tell you that none of my 100+ guests has ever had a problem on a 6850 or on another dual processor white-box that we run some other guests on. Only the 2950 has this problem.
CB

Now, if only they could fix this darn issue......

oh - maybe it would help if somebody from vmware would jump in here to help analyzing it.

if this is a vmware issue, some programmer may fix it - but someone will need to elaborate first what`s causing it - and doing this without internal knowledge on how vmware networking works is just hopeless....

everybody is telling about their infrastructure and about their setups - but who is looking at the things happen internally? where is the debug option to enable? where is the support engineer ?

you see - vmware server seems to be an very unimportant product.....

Thank you andybei for your concise summary of an issue that is clearly affecting a lot of people. In my case the guest server consistently loses network connectivity after 7 days during some large file copy event (either an automated file copy, or a Backup Exec job connecting to the guest machine). There is often an "out of memory" error on the console. Disabling/re-enabling the NIC restores connectivity. It appears to be scenario C. The host is a Dell PE 2900 with the infamous Broadcom NetExtreme II NIC.

I found the following article...

http://www.it-etc.com/2007/10/10/vmware-host-and-guest-cannot-communicate-over-network-shares-on-dell-poweredge-and-broadcom-toe/
(confirmed by http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2008-January/034518.html)

and confirmed this on the Dell Forums. During my next maintenance window I'm going to unplug this widget and will let you know if disabling TOE by physically removing it does the trick. Feels a little 20th century to me, but I'm willing to try almost anything at this point.

I'll let you know how it goes, and if this is pertinent to your situation, let me know if it works for you.

I've been looking on the support site of dell and there are different posts of issues with Dell PowerEdge (including 2950) servers and Broadcom BCM5708C network cards about poor network performance.
Always they suggest to disable TOE or using the Intel integrated network cards.

http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=netwkint&message.id=10050&c=us&l=en&cs=&s=gen

http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=pes_win2003&message.id=5606&c=us&l=en&cs=&s=gen

http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=pes_other&message.id=17766&c=us&l=en&cs=&s=gen

from : http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?s=gen&c=us&l=en&k=2950+toe&cat=sup&p=2

FWIW, we have a Dell 2950 (Model II) and a Dell 2950 (Model III) connected to a cheapie DLink gigabit smartswitch (nothing even close to a Cisco or HP Procurve) with BroadCom TOE disabled by default from Dell.

Neither had any 64-bit guest network disconnect issues after large data volume under VMWare server v1.03 and earlier .... ever! .... until we upgraded to VMWare Server 1.04.

ksDevGuy

To follow up on my earlier post with scenarios, I'm now testing the effects of the ISA client. I think this may be a piece of the quiting every few days with large file transfers. Will keep you posted.

Thanks,
Andy

Hello,

I have experienced this type of host (and client issue) in several forms.

1) It has occured on GSX in my environment which is now retired. The solution was a windows network driver configuration change. Removed TcpWindowSize Reg entry so that it would return to the default values.

2) It has occured on a Windows 2K3 SP1 VM in my enviroment running on esx 3.0 and 3.5. The solution was to disable windows DOS features added in critical service packs

3) It has occured on linux VM's after a VI Agent install and an unknown VM MAC address change occured. Solution was to rebind the correct Linux interface MAC address.

4) It has occured on multiple VMWare Server 1.04's installed in my enviroment. The solution was to disable windows DOS features added in critical service packs on the host.

5) It as occured when a VLAN modification was performed of the physical switch configurations. Solution was to restart the VMWare ESX host or toggle the physical port link state.

In my experiences it was mostly a Windows network driver issue and VMWare just made it more complex to figure out. But regardless of that we should not pigeon hole to any one root cause. This is a complex world and it requires much more effort to support.

Hi,

Yesterday i've contacted a system engineer of the hosting company where my server is located and he confirmed that there is an issue with the broadcom network adapters and vmware. He talked from his own and his collegues experiences (many over several years), they replaced earlier already some broadcoms with other network cards and the problem was solved. For my dell 2950 no problem since there are onboard 2 intels, so i asked to plug it into one of these. And what I see now in the interface traffic of the network card of the host is very strange, very interesting. There is very very less inbound traffic (almost a fifth) with the intel than with the broadcom for the same usage of the server and for outbound traffic almost a half (see also attached image).
Could it be that broadcom card creates an overload of traffic which causes the brake down of connectivity when there a is high traffic. But the question remains ... why is that?

Further more I see that the clients have a default network card which is also an intel, not the pro/1000 PT like the host, but a pro/1000 MT. Could it be that there is another way of transportation between broadcom - intel which makes them incompatible and when both (host and client) are intel there is no issue ? I see monitoring of the clients that the interface traffic has remained the same (maybe a very very bit less but nothing significant).

rgds,
Peter

If this issue is related to Broadcom how come two of my servers are having this issue with a Intel Quad Port Network Adapter ? Granted there are two onboard broadcoms in that host as well, but they are not used for VMware or VMware Guests. Th farest I can think of that somehow the Broadcom suite is effecting this issue, but then again maybe its simple due to the fact that Broadcom networkcards support TCP/IP Offloading and your intel networkcards dont, hence why many feel (feel cause Im not that easy to be convinced considering the nature of occurence) they resolved the issue. TCP/IP offloading can also run under switch assisted mode, hence why some felt changing the switch gave a solutions. Then there are tons off TCP/IP offloading issues the time Microsoft released the update pack enabling this feature in Windows 2003. So you might think "hey we found it", but what about other people having this exact issue on white assembly servers with different hardware, having this issue with Linux instead of Windows. Sure Dell 2950 are extremly popular, sure Broadcom is the most used internal network interface next to Intel, but alle these users, all these administrators, all these servers have only one true thing in common = Vmware. To me, as it stands, this remains a bug in VMware. The host is never ever effected, all you need to do is enable the network interface in the guests and the issue is fixed. With all that has been said the past 10 pages, this issue awfull smells like a VMware bug..

i certainly agree this must be a vmware issue/bug.
i just wanted to mention with the graphical why some network cards generates much more traffic between the vmware host and its clients for the same usage. Some incomatibility between the virtal cards on the clients and the physical one of the host ? i don't know ...

Hallo,
ich bin heute nicht im Hause. Ihre Mail wird nicht weitergeleitet. In dringenden Fällen bitte 0751/861940 anrufen.
Gruss Olaf Sander

Bug - that would be my vote, if only for the reason that v1.03 does not appear to exhibit this problem like v1.04 does on the exact same hardware & guests. I have posted on this item a few times, anyone else confirm my experience?

Most curious, we have a 17 page post of a potentially serious VMWare limitation .... where is VMWare support, why haven't they even posted once?

ksDevGuy

Hello,

I have to say that we can not look at this as solely a VMWare issue. For example this exact issue occurs on systems that do not run any VMWare code. I know this first hand. I have a system that is physical running XP SP2 and it once exibited exactly this symptom. The network adaptor stopped transmitting TCP and I would need to simply disconnect the cable and reconnect it and it would work for some inconsistant period of time. The solution was to change the switch it was connected to. No software was changed. Just the hardware level I/O activity and network behavior. This is a very complex issue and I do not think VMware completely owns it.

I have experienced this issue on GSX 3.x instances running on 2K3 and VMWare Server 1.00 1.01 1.02 running on 2K3.

Mike,

While its true we can not write every other network issue in the name of VMware, however many people experience the exact same issue on different hardware. If you have a large userbase that experience the same issues you have to maintain certain aspects, like the extreem popularity of Dell 2950 hardware, Broadcom network adapters that are nr2 in most used on board brand, ... A natural phenomena is the occurence of many brands, kind of creation the assumption it has something to do with Dell servers, Broadcam networkcards.. I try to look beyond this perception, they are simply often used brands and do not point to the fact its automatically related to that brand or hardware.

The issue you are describing, Mike, seems a simular issue, afterall a loss of network is a problem that can have 1000 different causes. But one thing remains the same, my hosts are never effected, simply unloading and loading the network interface fixes the issue. I have over 35 servers and many workstations, this issue only occurs within the VMware guest. I even have two seperate Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 servers each running 10 guests, never had this single issue.

Regardless of what is causing the issue, the VMware guests are effeced, hence VMware should pay attention to this thread and the issue at hand...

Well, this is the second morning in a row that my guest on my Dell PE2950 was down. The last 2 nights, it went down during the backup (approx 40GB across the wire to my tape backup server). This morning, I pulled the white TOE plug after having already made all the other changes suggested in this 16-17? page post. I will keep you all updated.

Double-post....sorry.

Hi Marc,

I agree with you. The point I am trying to make is similar to yours. Yes this is a issue for VMware to deal with but it is very complex and not solely VMware code. It can be created a number of ways. An thats my point. We have to examine each case on it own merit and then come to a consensus of what the root cause is. We should not lay blame and walk away, that will not solve the root issues. By combining effort we can help each other see the big pictures and not waist time chasing a dead horse.

We have to examine each case on it own merit and then come to a consensus of what the root cause is.

We ?

mike - this is no opensource project.

it´s not "We" - it`s "them and us"

We simply can`t do it alone !

We need the support/help of those who have made this software!

go back this thread and see for how long we are completely alone with this.

i`m really curious why there is nobody from vmware interested in solving this issue.

I think the fact that this product has evolved to the ugly state of "freeware" (I rather pay for it and see full priority for the product) will have something to do - if not all - with the fact that VMware is not putting resources into this issue.

VMware code or not, when you have an issue that fills a thread to this magnitude, you'll better start doing something, but then again why should they, VMware server is just another jumpboard towards their Infrastructure product.

Marc Desmedt wrote:

But they seem to have the same attitude towards VMware Workstation.

So why they allow "jumpboard" to become rusty and broken, which turns people away from the company?

No idea why, maybe they like the fact that people are starting to look elswhere when it comes to virtualisation.

I've always been a big fan of VMware, but they should have never give their popular duck - for years since the early days of VMware - a move to a l'orange...

I have an interesting find...

Attached are two Gif's showing simultanious capture of the host and guest during the network failure. (At the 144 point, it is still working, below that is where it stops responding)

I marked an unknown packet type 144 in both, follow the packets down from there. It seems, when it quits, it reorders the packets from the interface on the host to the interface in the guest. Can someone make sense of this, is this a normal situation? Mike Lespina, any ideas, you know a lot about this sort of thing.

On the guest you will see a steady stream of packets with source 10.10.1.10, this is where the network interface no longer responds on the guest. But as you can see, outbound traffic from the guest works, and the host interface receives the inbound replies, but they do not make it to the guest.

More to add to the troubleshoot...

Andy

Ethereal/Wireshark will decode and display unreassembled packets when they are retransmitted and have a sequence that was previous observed. The point of failure will actually be before this point in time.

If there is something in the capture that can tell us anything I would need to look at it first hand.

Captures are hard to understand without some background on what is normal behavior so I may have some indepth Q's on what is observed.

I am willing to spend the time on it, but it will not be until after prime.

How big are the files after zipping?

Do to security, I will send you a private message with my email address.

update to my intermittintbridged networking failures

Host is FC6, Guest: XP, F7, F8, Centos5... Yes, I know, lose the FC6, working on it...but

{knock on wood} it's not dumped the network once in the last 7-10 days. I haven't made any changes related to vmware or networking that I know of.

I have no broadcomm nics on my network. In fact, they are all Intel with the exception of one onboard gigabit Marvel on my mythtv backend (another FC6 box that does vmware.) I do have the HP Procurve J4903A switch.

Following this thread closely to see what the resolution is once it's found because I clearly had this issue at one point. Thanks for all the hard work. BTW: is this forum really slow for everyone or is it just me?

what traffic do we see here?

is this a tcp connection to a database (sybase) ?

BTW: is this forum really slow for everyone or is it just me?

slow here, too

Interesting empirical tidbit ...

Setup a 32-bit guest of Windows Server 2003 SP2 & MS SQL 2005 32-bit SP2 -- it has run for a few weeks now servicing a couple high-volume databases without a single network issue. The 64-bit exact duplicate/original config in the other guest continues to go down anywhere from a few days to a week at a time. All under VMWare v1.04 of course.

Maybe a VMWare v1.04 issue with 64-bit Windows guests?

ksDevGuy

My 2950 that has this problem is running 64-bit Win2K3 on the host and guest.....

Although since pulling the TOE chip, it has not gone down....we'll see.

Ditto on the slow.

Sequence field indicates must be TCP. TDS is a database protocol either MSSQL or Sybase.

There may be light at the end of the issue.

Opensoure is experiencing it too.

http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2007-02/msg00863.html

And the likely cause?

http://kbalertz.com/943665/Windows-Server-Service-computer-packets-computer-working-bridge-router.aspx

Mike, thanks for the link to the kbalertz article. I filled out the form for that patch.

We've seen this same issue with XP clients. I wonder if MS will have a fix for them, too...

I applied for the patch...

Host has 0 "Received Packets Discarded"
Guest has 4 "Received Packets Discarded" though I just reset this interface 20 min ago

I also see many

I'll make it crash again then see where we're at...

Thanks Mike!

Do you know if the hot fix needs to be applied to the guest only, host only or both?

Only the VMware Server system would require it. The active bridge is on the host and the VM has no knowledge of it.

Question for you all: What Host OS are you seeing the problem mostly on? For us it was any WindowsXP or Windows 2003 server. We have never seen it on a Linux host.

Win2k3 R2 EE x64 Host and Guests.

Never seeing it on a Linux host still fits the current theory...

Same as andybei.

It has occured on linux but not in the same context. No details on this thread were discussed except for mine.

Applied the patch, will try to crash server and let you know.

Applied patch to server only, guest still crashed, showing a few packet receive errors. Going to apply patch to guest as well and see what happens.

How does your "crash" look like?

Obviously you have applied disableDOS on a host OS side, right?

As Peter has hinted make sure you have applied these known issues:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936594

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/898468

Please don't bother trying the MS bridge. Andy noted that VMware has a bridge driver as well. So I checked and sure enough the MS Bridge is not loaded and is not relevent.

The vnetbridge.sys is the driver that interacts with the local network interfaces.

My appologies for those that waisted time of that idea.

Mike you might be onto something:
"It's almost like one of the VM threads is stray and working on it's own until the app finally stops retrying. This is somewhat evident of Hypervisor CPU thread control failure not network failure but that is not known at this point."

I can confirm this:
When the VM Guest network crashes, the host shows one of the vmware-vmx.exe*32 processes consuming 25% processor. I disable/enable the network adapter on the guest and it decreases back down to 0-2%...

Can anyone else confirm this behaviour?

When I was following the packet trace I could see some conversations were still running but the SYN ACK's were all messed up. Thus the CPU thread idea.

Is hyperthreading on?

You could try bringing the VM down to 2 processors and see if that changes anything. I don't think you can goto one due to the current MP kernel.

Host = Dual Quad cores (Hyperthreading disabled)

Guest = 2 cores (Max allowed by VM Server free version)

I've only got 2 guests running on the host.

Andy you could turn on the "Run with debugging info" on the advanced tab of the VM settings. It may reveal some info.

With debugging enabled I can't seem to crash it...

Really!

This is a good and bad thing.

The debug interaction must be changing the timing enough to flux the failing interrupt. So that narrows the root causes to hardware behavior and VMware code.

I am thinking of two things. Does the debug mode change how the vCPU threads are partitioned or are we slowing the peripheral hardware to the point where the hosted O/S event is obscured?

I hope VMware Support takes notice of this one!

Andy's comment got me thinking. How many processors is everyone using on their "problem" guests?

Andy said his was using two. Mine is as well. This is the only VM I've ever created with more than one processor. I wouldn't think there would be a correlation, but maybe...?

I seem to remember having tried both 1 and 2 procs in the guest machines, but I've since mothballed the whole project. I'd still LOVE to implement this at our company, so I look forward to getting down to the solution.

I am quite surprised that noone from VM has jumped in. I understand the software is free, but it's us users who will most likely be the decision makers to purchase their for-cost software, so their hands-off attitude is beyond me.

Weeks were wasted of both my time and my admins trying to get this thing working - - -

Currently testing adding the following command to the .vmx file:

sched.mem.pshare.enable=FALSE

I'll let you know if I can get it to crash...

sched.mem.pshare.enable=FALSE did not work, was able to crash server still. Anyone have any other suggestions? It seems to be a process based occurance. When in Debug mode I was unable to get the server to crash...

Thanks,
Andy

Seems to be two processors in all my network crashing 64-bit guests.

ksDevGuy

me too 2 processors in guest, when quic network 2 processors are running 100% (see image).

BTW ... anyone installed the hotfix mentioned by Mike Laspina ?
http://kbalertz.com/943665/Windows-Server-Service-computer-packets-computer-working-bridge-router.aspx

Not many run this setup on host (nobody should), so it is not applicable:

Consider the following scenario:
• Multiple network adapters are installed on a Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2-based computer.
• These network adapters are bridged together.
• You edit the registry to enable TCP/IP forwarding on the computer.
• The Windows Firewall service is running.
In this scenario, some packets may be dropped when this Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2-based computer is working both as a bridge and as a router. This problem may cause application functional failure or unexpected behavior.

That bridge is MS bridging, I guess...

I got it to crash in Debug Mode, not easily...

I don't really notice much in the logs, maybe someone can make sense of it for me.

I see a lot of this:

Feb 26 01:25:51: vcpu-1 --- ExitHist: 12 tot 6163618 recent 2446
Feb 26 01:25:51: vcpu-1 --- ExitHist: 14 tot 14040238 recent 175
Feb 26 01:25:51: vcpu-1 --- ExitHist: 16 tot 10700 recent 5
Feb 26 01:25:51: vcpu-1 --- ExitHist: 28 tot 26476448 recent 1431
Feb 26 01:25:51: vcpu-1 --- ExitHist: 29 tot 35386 recent 20
Feb 26 01:25:51: vcpu-1 --- ExitHist: 30 tot 105871 recent 17
Feb 26 01:25:51: vcpu-1 --- ExitHist: 31 tot 5630946 recent 31

Some of these:

Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx VMMEM 1 2 92103 1881384 1895481 2064384 1881384 50
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx COWStats: numHints 107870 unique 420 shared 109790 totalUnique 414804 totalBreaks 3877586
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx COWStats Hot Page: hash 0xdf601b3072e7032e count 5
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx COWStats Hot Page: hash 0xc52fade9e77c9d80 count 6
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx COWStats Hot Page: hash 0x3b5265630713a56f count 7
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx COWStats Hot Page: hash 0xbf7142bb49e776b0 count 8
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx COWStats Hot Page: hash 0x2bd8e6157e6af6d6 count 109134
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx VMMEM VM 0 min 123353 max 213586 share 174080 paged 180465 nonpaged 33121 locked 26796 cowed 40453 usedPct 2
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx VMMEM VM 1 min 201783 max 336049 share 262144 paged 268531 nonpaged 67518 locked 64887 cowed 69337 usedPct 5

And a couple of these:

Feb 26 02:30:50: vmx DISKLIB-LIB :numIOs = 1300000 numMergedIOs = 0 numSplitIOs = 0

Feb 26 02:36:16: vmx DISKLIB-LIB :numIOs = 1350000 numMergedIOs = 0 numSplitIOs = 0

Anyone make sense of it?

I had an issue with BroadCom NICs.

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/99150?tstart=0&start=0

-Tom

Feb 26 01:25:51: vcpu-1 --- ExitHist: 12 tot 6163618 recent 2446

Looks like CPU thread completed events - seems like normal activity

Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx VMMEM 1 2 92103 1881384 1895481 2064384 1881384 50
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx COWStats: numHints 107870 unique 420 shared 109790 totalUnique 414804 totalBreaks 3877586
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx COWStats Hot Page: hash 0xdf601b3072e7032e count 5
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx COWStats Hot Page: hash 0xc52fade9e77c9d80 count 6
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx COWStats Hot Page: hash 0x3b5265630713a56f count 7
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx COWStats Hot Page: hash 0xbf7142bb49e776b0 count 8
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx COWStats Hot Page: hash 0x2bd8e6157e6af6d6 count 109134
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx VMMEM VM 0 min 123353 max 213586 share 174080 paged 180465 nonpaged 33121 locked 26796 cowed 40453 usedPct 2
Feb 26 01:25:56: vmx VMMEM VM 1 min 201783 max 336049 share 262144 paged 268531 nonpaged 67518 locked 64887 cowed 69337 usedPct 5

These are MEM activity events - COW = copy on write, Hot Page = cache hit was in memory, VMMEM VM memory state metrics - Nothing bad here.

Feb 26 02:30:50: vmx DISKLIB-LIB :numIOs = 1300000 numMergedIOs = 0 numSplitIOs = 0

Disk I/O events - normal activity.

Nothing looks abnormal to me here.

Has anyone else notice a correlation between when the machine loses its network connection and the level of network traffic it is experiencing? my guests are also loosing their network connections but it only seems to happen when a large amount of data is being transfered to or form the server. such as a backup running or a large file being copied. just like is explained in this article

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1619&sliceId=1&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&dialogID=49057626&stateId=0%200%2049059050

but none of the solutions work and I don't have any events logged by windows.

I can however cause my servers to disconnect. If I attempt to copy a zip file that is 4GB my guest always loses its network connection. disabling the network card and re-enabling it restores the connection. I have not had any drop randomly, only during large data transfers

Does this happen for anyone else when you copy a large file? or are your servers disconnected randomly only?

I should also note that I gave one of my guest servers 2 virtual network adapters, both attached to the same physical adapter. when it lost connection to the network the problem only effected one virtual adapter. the other one remained connected and working?

any thoughts on this?

Try doing the following ( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/898468 ) to both your HOST system and your Windows GUEST system.

Method 1: Increase the MaxMpxCt value

Increase the MaxMpxCt value for the Server Service. MaxMpxCt is the maximum number of concurrent outstanding network requests that are allowed. By default, this value is set to 50 in Windows Server 2003. To avoid this issue, increase the MaxMpxCt value.

To do this, follow these steps: |1.|Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.|

2.	Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters
3.	On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4.	Type MaxMpxCt for the name of the DWORD value, and then press ENTER.
5.	Right-click MaxMpxCt, and then click Modify.
6.	In the Value data box, type a value from the range of 50 through 65535, and then click OK. Note By following these steps, you increase the upper limit on the number of concurrent commands that can be outstanding between a client and a server. However, make sure that you do not set this value too high. The larger the number of outstanding connections, the more memory that will be used by the server. If you set this value too high, the server may run out of resources such as paged pool memory. Therefore, do not significantly increase this value unless you know that there will be a limited number of clients that are connected to the server at the same time.
7.	Quit Registry Editor.

Back to the top

Method 2: Disable denial of service attack detection

Important These steps may increase your security risk. These steps may also make your computer or your network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. We recommend the process that this article describes to enable programs to operate as they are designed to, or to implement specific program capabilities. Before you make these changes, we recommend that you evaluate the risks that are associated with implementing this process in your particular environment. If you choose to implement this process, take any appropriate additional steps to help protect your system. We recommend that you use this process only if you really require this process. You can disable denial of service attack detection at the operating system level. By doing this, you prevent errors from being logged. To do this, follow these steps:

1.	Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2.	Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Parameters
3.	On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4.	Type DisableDos for the name of the DWORD value, and then press ENTER.
5.	Right-click DisableDos, and then click Modify.
6.	In the Value data box, type 1 to disable denial of service attack detection, and then click OK. Note To enable denial of service attack detection, type 0 in the Value data box.
7.	Quit Registry Editor.

Yes, it's almost (90%) always during large network traffic times. I have followed every suggestion here, and it's not fixed. I am going back to 1.0.3 this weekend as a matter of fact. See if works better. If so, I will say with the last release of the software.
CB

I wouldn't bother downgrading to 1.0.3. I am on that version and am having the same issues.

I spoke with VMware the other day, of course they can't reproduce it. However they did receive a copy of another customers VM experiencing the issue. I'll let you know if I hear anything from it.

Oh OK. Thanks. I thought the issue was only no 1.0.4. I guess I am moving my machine to my Dell 6850 then. We have never had this problem with any of the guests on our 6850 - only the PowerEdge 2950.
CB

I have been testing this further and so far have been unable to disconnect the second virtual network adapter. only the first virtual adapter seems to be affected by the problem. I can copy 12 gb files to it repeatedly and it doesn't drop the connection!

We are also experiencing this exact same issue with loss of bridged connections on two seperate 1.0.4 Servers.

Both hosts with the issue are running Windows 2003 ENT x64 w/SP2. Host server has two onboard Broadcom BCM5708S NetXtreme II GbE network adapters, both are running driver v3.7.19.0 (04/10/2007). The servers are IBM Blades which connect to an internal Blade Switch (Nortel), both cards speed and duplex settings are set to "Hardware Default"

On the Hosts I have two guests, one is Windows 2003 STD 32bit and the other is Windows 2003 ENT 64bit. The 32 bit server has been running for about 4 months without a single problem (mainly light work doing DNS and SMTP). The x64 guest is running Exchange 2007 (HUB and CAS Roles Only) and this server gives up about twice a week. In all cases only one of the adapters stops working, and it is always during network load. For example if I try and transfer large mailboxes between this guest and another standalone server, I usually get 3 or 4 done before I lose the LAN connection I am transferring over. The other connection continues to function without error during this time, and the only fix is to stop start the adapter from the console or reboot the server. Once I do either of these options, the server will start working again until the next large transfer.

Both the host and the guest are completely up to date with all service packs and windows updates. I believe the network card driver is also the windows certified driver for the card as well. I have not made any modifications to the registry, but as one previous poster did mention I find the server will stay up a little longer on average if I leave a ping windows running that simply pings the gateway address. Before this I was only getting a day or so between reboots, where now it can go for 3 or 4 days before it falls over again. In every case the server (both host and guest) are totally fine. There is nothing in any of the logs for either windows events of vmware. It is just like the cable gets unplugged and nothing is logged.

Another installation of v1.0.3 also just had this issue (first time in a year of uptime) -- 64-bit Windows Guest running Exchange 2007 ... had a higher-volume traffic moment and the NIC went offline in the guest .... usual pattern.

Where the heck is VMWare support in this 21 page and growing post about a bug covering two releases of their software? Amazing lack of care for their customers & prspective cutsomers it would seem.

ksDevGuy

Hi all,

i have the same problem.

Host:
Vmware Server 1.0.3
4 Gig Memory/2 Xeon DualCore
Windows Server 2003 SP1 x86 (WITHOUT SP2)
NIC1 (Host): Realtek RTL8139
NIC2 (Vmware): Intel Pro/1000MT

1 Guest:
Windows Server 2003 x86 SP2
2 virt. CPU / 1,5 Gig Memory
running Exchange Server 2003 and AD

Error occurs about 2 till 10 times per day.
Running Backup Exec 10/Client network hangs every night, but it occurs additionally sometimes every day
(on heavy network traffic AND low network traffic)

Do you have DisableDOS registry set in your host OS?
Did you try to remove Backup Exec client to see if that resolves network disconnect issue?

guys - without vendor support you will make fewer progress then any completely unmaintained and outdated open source software....

go and reprogram from scratch and you will be faster fixing this problem.

i think seven pages of discussion without someone from vmware jumping at least TRYING to help really tells a LOT.....

devzero wrote:
guys - without vendor support you will make fewer progress then any completely unmaintained and outdated open source software....

go and reprogram from scratch and you will be faster fixing this problem.

i think seven pages of discussion without someone from vmware jumping at least TRYING to help really tells a LOT.....

You can record your valuable remarks in Suggestions section of the forum:
http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/suggest/product

peter - i have spent quite some time with this thread. go back to the first pages and you can see.

but i`m done with it for some time.

this comment wasn`t meant to offend you or the others in any way, it was just meant as some good advice to better put energy into making vmware helping here instead trying to fix it on your own.

Thought everyone here in the VMWare Server community might find VMWare Support's response to a request from our company's management about the official direction and intentions of VMWare Support in terms of the GSX/Server products (free & paid support):

"The forums are mainly community supported - and VMware provides best effort support on it on an ad hoc basis. There is VMware participation in this thread; we just don't advertise our participation."
"... Having said that, mileage varies of 64-bit OS - this will get better over time (true for VMware and other software companies) since we still primarily live in a 32-bit world. For example, VMware Server 2.0 (which is in beta 1 now) has much better support for 64-bit OS compared to Server 1."

Our mgmt is trying to make some final calls as to what to continue recommending to customers (we have several affected with this 64-bit guest OS bug) & select a possibly new direction for the data centers we manage in terms of the alternatives to VMWare. So far I have not heard of any useful feedback from mgmt re:VMWare's response yet. We may very well be migrating all our IT stacks away from Infrastructure & Server towards Microsoft 2008 Virtualization at this rate ... I guess we'll see what happens.

ksDevGuy

ksDevGuy, are you seeing this 64-bit issue using a 64-bit version of Linux on the host?

This issue is NOT a 64 bit issue. I've been able to reproduce it on XP SP2 on 2 PC's and one server.

Moving all our hosts from Windows to Linux solved this problem.

Before jumping ship to another vendor, let's get all the facts on the table.

No, Windows Server 2003 SP2 x64.

On page 14 of the thread we posted our & our customers most common configurations -- all Windows Server 2003 SP2 64-bit hosts.

FWIW, VMWare Support was pretty adamant that Server is not supported under XP anyway in your case. Reality is, we & customers do not ideally want to move-to/mange Linux boxes for these applications. We use Infrastructure in those cases - although that may all change soon pending our mgmt's decision about VMWare's Support dedication/intent.

Thanks for the thought/feedback though! Good to know some scenario where 64-bit guests don't drop the NIC.

ksDevGuy

kev, thanks for posting that. From a solution-provider point of view, I'm curious to why you wouldn't want to support Linux as the host OS. There are several flavors out there that work A-OK. CentOS comes to mind as a distro that is surprisingly popular and adheres to every RHEL standard so there's no surprises. Plus licensing costs...no more licenensing cost on the host OS for the customer. With a little extra elbow-grease, it's a win-win for the customer.

Linux is definitely the way to go. After hearing some of others having some luck with Linux VM Hosts, and Windows 2k3 x86_64 guests, I'm planning on moving my VMS'es over in anticipation of higher traffic VMs.

-IL

Actually we are a commercial software company, and provide CIO/IT Director services to key customers only on request as a value-add based on the staff/experience we happen to have. In our customers cases, they all have their own data centers (designed by us in many cases) and their own basic business IT requirements. In most all cases they, the customer, do not want the issues associated with admining Linux in their otherwise preferred all Windows business environments. Even Infrastructure is typically a hard sell for this very reason (regardless of the benefits otherwise). Although we control purchasing decisions for many, ultimately we need adhere to the customer's need/comfort level as it is their business at the end of the day.

ksDevGuy

may i tell you a story?

i haven`t seen the bridged network issue for a long time now - but today i got a call by a colleague who was reporting about weird network problem.

i had taken a look and really was sure:
yes, this is the bridged networking problem we`re after for so long.

the guest was always pingable from the host itself, but it sporadically lost it`s connectivity to the corporate network.

i did pings from a windows workstation to the guest and i couldn`t even see packets passing the network interface of the host.

disconnecting the network interface of the guest cured the problem.
for some time.
then it re-appeared.

i had a call with our network-admin (female, very skilled btw)

i told about this thread and we spoke about arp, tcpdump , what to do, how to analyze and so on......
we tested this and we tested that - and had no clue.

then she gave the essential hint:
if it`s not an ip conflict (which is easy to detect) - what about a mac conflict (which is hard to detect) ?

BINGO!

DIRECT HIT!

She searched trough the corporate routers (she has a tool/frontend for this to make it easier to know which mac was seen when on what port...) and she found a duplicate of the VMs mac on a switch in a different part of the building.

So - apparently it was the colleague himself who had cloned a vm to a different server in a different part of the building and he accidentally must have pressed "keep" instead of "create".

Those two VMs were active for some weeks, but since those never had much traffic, it seemed that nobody yet came across the issue.
Now the VMs were used more often and so the problem happend more often.....

I guess that more then 50% of the reported problems here are MAC adress conflicts.

now folks - prove that black is white !

i`d recommend:
if you have problems with a guest connected via bridged network, the first thing to do is:
change the guest`s MAC adress!

I've checked the MAC's on the guest (which are unique) and also logged into the switches to look for duplicate MAC's in the table, of which there are none.

I agree the dupe MAC can be an issue (especially when cloning) but it is not the issue that is being discussed in this thread. There are other threads on that problem and most of the posts I have read in this thread indicate they have already tried this....

There is no doubt that VMware 1.0.4 (and probably 1.0.3) have an issue with bridged networking and total loss of connection with 64bit guests... I would have installed the 2.0beta but that has some major flaw with bridged networking that I just can't remember now (I think it was that you can't have 2 adapters and bridge both of them in the new Web GUI, and if you try and force it in the config it doesn't work either)

I think eventually VMWare will dump the free version anyway as Microsoft now bundles Hyper-V for free with Windows 2008.... we are testing a Windows 2008 core server running Hyper-V at the moment and even the RC version is giving us better performance than we get with our ESX servers... The Microsoft rep told us that before it goes live it will be improved even more, so once people start to transition to 2008, the life of VMWare server will be reduced as in my opinion there will be no need to download it... You can also manage all your ESX servers via the System Centre Hyper-V interface as well, so you can run both MS and VMWare and manage all of them with the one interface....

We have setup the MS software on the exact same hardware as the failing VMware Server and also installed the 64bit guests and the network never quits.. I can transfer 100Gb of data over the link every hour or so on a batch job and it's always still working when I get in the next day. I have even converted the exact image that fails and run that with a different IP address only, and it also continues to work where I can fail it at will on the VMServer platform.

I'll be dumping the free version as soon as Hyper-V goes gold, and depending on our performance and reliability testing, we may move our ESX over as well (especially to reduce ongoing licence and maint costs as you can run 4 VM's on Windows Enterprise with the one license)

anybody with networking issues?

If the interface on the host OS that is being bridged has no cable or is connected to a hub/router/bridge etc that is not powered on then, at least on Linux Fedora 6 with XP as the guest, the vm bridge fails to work with the symptoms that the traffic only appears to flow in one direction from the guest to the host. If using DHCP, with the server running on the host, then there are repeated DHCPDISCOVER and DHCPOFFER entries in the host's system log, but no DHCPREQUEST or DHCPACK entries.

In particular, one symptom of the network not fully running is that the output from running ifconfig on the host does not include 'RUNNING' alongside 'UP'. Powering on eg the hub/router/bridge fixes everything.

Whether this addresses any of the posts on this thread is unclear, but hopefully this will prove helpful to somebody.

has anyone installed the new vmserver 1.0.5? that was released this weekend?

any luck with it fixing this issue?

Here is some positive news, I went ahead and installed version 1.0.5 and have been trying to get my connection to drop, and so far I have not been able to! I am copying large files around between x64 servers with no issues yet. This same set of files was causing my connection to drop everytime I copied them under version 1.0.4!

I am keeping my fingers crossed that this version actually may be the fix we need. Will post back if I run into issues, but so far so good

Microsoft also released a high priority update via Windows Update on March 11th that disables the Scalable Networking Pack features on Windows 2003. More information here: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2008/03/12/448421.aspx

So hopefully the recent MS and/or VMware updates will resolve many bridged networking issues.

I'm having the same issue, my bridge networking runs works fine for about 3 days, then it's dead. I'm running VMware server 1.0.4 on Ubuntu Gutsy x64. My guest are 2 windowXP 32 bit guests, 2 ubuntu gutsy x64 guests. I've disabled all the CD-Roms in all the guest. I have a E6400 CPU and a Gigabyte 965P DS3 motherboard. Also running a software raid 5. This is getting really frustrating, Should i try to upgrade 1.0.5 or switch over to KVM or virtualbox?

I would give it a try, the intall is relatively painless and its not going to make things any worse for you. I is still working correctly for myself, I haven't had a disconnect yet

Ok, i got 1.0.5 installed and running, we'll see how things go...

There is certainly a connection to the "big traffic" part of this issue. I have over 16 fully fledged VMware 1.04 guest running and in 5 months only two server have this issue. One server is our Exchange 2007 server only had this issue once in 5 months, the other server, a file server, about once every 14 days.

When their is a heavy load on the file server I see the issue is occuring more frequent.

Having 16 Vmware guests running in production over 5 months gave me a positive feeling about this software that moved to the ugly state of "freeware" (read = take it as it comes, period).

Though seing the response of VMware on this issue (they should have atleast made some input on this issue) makes me plan on forward to Windows 2008's offerings in terms of virtualization.

I'm awaiting eagerly on the 1.05 feedback, as in general I've had a pretty stable 5 months in terms of VMware Server and excluding this extreemly painful bridging issue (having particular server down somewhere mid weekend is far from pleasant).

Here, here. As my earlier posts & amazement at VMWare Support's complete lack of care in existing customers use of the "free" product, or first impressions of new customers. Have the exact same plan/intent with Win2k8 Virtualization (highly hesitant to use Win2k8 for anything else given it's Vista core and all the lovely Vista core problems that persist in it as well, even some after SP1 sadly/expectedly).

ksDevGuy

You know, a support contract for VMware Server is only $350/yr. If you are running into issues that the community is not able to help you with and it is affecting your end users, then $350 is chump change for an entire year of support. For comparision, Microsoft charges $250 per incident for phone support of business critical software.

VMware needs to be able to afford to pay their support staff too.

http://store.vmware.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayPage&Env=BASE&Locale=en_US&SiteID=vmware&id=ProductDetailsPage&productID=82470000

Comeon Scissors, this is not a support issue, it is a bug in their software, look how many people it is affecting. Most of us using the free software do this for a hobby and don't have money to blow.

If you have to pay them 350$ for them to give you the patch for their free software, then they have more issues than this bug.

If bug was fixed in 1.0.5, they should at least communicate with the community that this bug was addressed without having to pay 350$.

So Scissors, if 350$ is cheap for you, can you please pay it and let the rest of us know what the solution is?

Really, if $350 is all the cost would be, then why are we ALL being so cheap? We don't hesitate to purchase $10K+ servers only to use free software, then complain that the free software doesn't work? GSX used to cost money, we, like many, used to pay for it. It's really hard to complain about such a glitch (even though it's a big one) when the software is free.

Sure thats the usual road people start walking when, hey its free, don't complain. Im no freeloader, I only wish VMware server was purchable again and not having the ugly "take as is" status that freeware gets. I would not hesitate a second to purchase or pay money for a well supported product.

I allready have quotes on VMware server support, even gold support, we were planning on taking it. But after experiencing ths bug and seing that so many have this issue not seing even one official VMware statement have changed our minds. I'm 99% that - even with a support contract - we will get results, as this is NOT a support issue but a DESIGN one or BUG. And last time I checked, Bugs are not fixed by support contracts, not with an official thread right at their noses on their own forum describing the exact feature.

Not what about 1.05, anyone experienced this issue with that version ?

I hate to say this guys, but I do have a support contract for this product and I have had a case open for 5 months now with vmware. I would say I have received better input on this issue from the forums then vmware has given me. Vmware doesn't seem interested when I point out this forum link to them. Basically at this point they can't reproduce the issue in their lab so they can't fix it. They've been quick to put the finger at Microsoft, Dell hardware, anything besides their product. The do have a copy of the faulty VM and say they can't reproduce the issue. I even made the suggestion to them...well should I try to update to 1.0.5 and they said there is nothing in that product release that would address this issue. And were quick to send me the link of the new scalable network patch Microsoft released.

I would say don't waste your money on support. I will certainly provide feedback to this forum if vmware provides any solution.

That about sums it up when it comes to their desire to fix this problem/bug. You know, when they want to sell you something they'll come to your site and do a dog and pony show but when something like this happens.......NOTHING. You would at least think that they would send someone to one of the many thousands of customers sites that are having this problem, but nooooooo. Even if you do purchase support they'll do exactly as you stated. I have experienced this problem on HP hardware, Supermicro, ASUS, TYAN and IBM. The versions were 1.00, 1.01, 1.02 and 1.04. All versions had the same issue. What did we do to fix this? We purchased ESX 3.5 for our few x86 servers and went to HP Integrity Virtual Server for HP UX 11iv2 for 64 bit support on SQL virtual servers.
Personally I don't think they're really trying to duplicate the problem. Most likely they're copying a 1GB .vob file from one place to another and say it's fine. We've seen it during heavy backups and copying many large files simultaneously even without having Veritas installed.

I have version 1.0.5 installed, I installed it as soon as it came out.

So far I have not had a single disconnect. with version 1.0.4 I could force a disconnect almost at will by copying a pair of 4GB zip files containing randon data to a vm simultaneously.

I should however warn everyone that I had an unexplained system crash on my vmware server host machine this week. nothing logged, it just powered off and rebooted. Everything resumed normal operation after the reboot.

Hopefully this isn't becase of the vmware software. Host machine is an HP DL580 G5 and is only 2 months old

Well, let's not be too hasty in moving to MS Virtual Server. Checkout the topic at Microsoft's newsgroup, microsoft.public.virtualserver, from two days ago titled "VS 2005 Dropping Network Connections Randomly"

Well, i upgraded to 1.0.5 in hopes of it fixing the problem. Unfortunately the problem still exists. Time to move on. Thanks for the good times vmware, unfortunatley i cannot run a small personal webserver without a working network adapter.

Just to make this more interesting, I am using Windows 2003 x64, R2, SP2 as the host, I have two guests on this machine, both Windows 2003 x64 R2 SP2 and only one is having this problem. However, I did not have this problem until I went to 1.0.5!!!!

Everything has been humming along just wonderfully until I upgraded and then all of the sudden this one VM just loses all network connection....though it believes it's still connected because I never see any errors in the event logs (besides w32 not being able to reach a server).

Does ANYONE have any idea what can be causing this? I am not looking forward to opening a ticket to resolve this issue since a few people have had their tickets open for 5+ months with VMware on this isssue. It figures, when EMC buys a company they completely destroy it.

Hi,

I have same problem with VMware Server 1.0.5. However, I have something which I haven't seen mentioned in this forum so far.

Initially I built my Dell PowerEdge 2950 (2 x quad core etc.) with Windows Server 2003 x64 and installed VMware 2 Beta 1. I had some fun with Beta 1 of VMware Server and since Beta 2 was due soon I waited and upgraded this last weekend. The problem I had with Beta 1 and Beta 2 are the same, and they relate to this issue being discussed, but I got slightly different results. With VMware Server 2 Beta 1 and 2, when the guest decides to stop networking, it does so for only a minute or two and then networking is restored to the guest, then the guest runs for a few more minutes and then it might stop networking again for a short while, and then run for many minutes before it happens again, etc. etc. Anyway, today I decided to uninstall Beta 2 and try 1.0.5 instead. Now, my guest works for a few minutes, and then networking stops and networking does not return until my system is restarted.

I wondered if anybody was able to install VMware Server Beta 2 and see if they get any results like mine ?

Thanks,

Tim

I had this problem on my Dell PowerEdge 2950, and I noticed in vmware.log file for some of the guest systems that there were messages/errors related to CDROM. I disabled the CDROM on the VM guest config, and the problem has not occured since. I think there must be some sort of issue with CDROM on a Dell PowerEdge 2950 that is causing some sort of I/O issue. I spent ages thinking it was due to network card drivers, but it seems it was caused by something different. I hope others are able to fix this problem the same way ?

I also had same problem on VMware Server 2 Beta 2, but it didn't occur as often, so maybe VMware Server 2 Beta 2 has some CDROM driver improvements, but not quite enough

Good luck.

Tim

Hi Tim,

I have removed CDROM's from my guests and still experience the issue.

We're on page 23 now, I think it's a good time for a recap of solutions to various issues discussed in this thread:

1. Disable RSS
2. Disable Offloading
3. Check on Port-Security on your switch port

If after applying the above you still experience network loss, then unfortunatly you are in the same boat as the rest of us.

Good luck!

Andy

I can't remember if that has been said or not in the 27 pages....but since going back to a single proc on my 64-bit guest, the networking has not bombed since....it's been about 30 days. It used to fail almost nightly during across-the-wire backup.
CB

hmm, I have not tried using only one processor, instead of two cpu cors per Guest VMware machine.

Anyone else tried that with good results ? Basically I can reproduce this dreaded error quite easely, just perform a heavy file transfer via network en boom!

I do not have CDROM's in my Guest machines, though I can confirm that on some servers leaving the CDROM in place on your VM will cause severe VMware issues.

Before I disabled CDROM's, I had massive freezes, I/O instability, etc. Though the "network bridge error" remains dispite trying every single (good) suggestion on this thread.

About time we see some sort of official response, I don's see how VMware can not reproduce this thing when thousands of people have this very issue...

Marc,

It is good to know that CDROM was causing similar issues for you.

Regarding the single CPU. I was told a few years ago that VMware products don't support more than one CPU very well, so it is better to have multiple CPU's in host and configure the guest to use one CPU than to make the guest think it has access to more than one CPU. I have therefore always configured guest systems with one CPU, even though there is an option for more.

It looks as though the issues described in this thread are caused by more than one issue - e.g. cdrom, number of cpu's.

One thing I also did recently, but not sure if it helped, was to upgrade the network card driver using latest download from Dell website. Even though I only received the server a couple of weeks ago and it came with drivers installed there were more uptodate drivers on the Dell website ...

Thanks,

Tim

What dell machine was this for and can you provide a link?

-IL

A Dell PowerEdge Energy Smart 2950 III

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&kc=305&l=en&oc=SV12952&s=bsd&sbc=pedge_2950_green_config

Thanks,

Tim

Hello All,

This might be a tad long, so pelase bear with me.
We have been experiencing the same Bridged network problem as the comments in this post have suggested and yesterday we seemed to have solved this problem. Your mileage may vary, so this might not work for everyone, but I havent seen anyone cover this in the post, so it might be worth a go.

Just to clarify this is what was happening...

We have an IBM Blade Center (E series) running several HS20 and HS21 blades. We recently decided to trial Virtualisation and selected VMWare Server for this trial. We installed VMWare Server (1.0.5) onto our Blade HS20 running W2k3 and installed a W2k3 Guest and later a W2k Pro guest. Once we started trying to use the network we experienced problems. When first powering up a guest OS we would get brief network connectivity then after about two minutes the network connection would drop out.
We could ping between the guest and host, but not from the guest to the rest of our network or vice-versa.
We tried a number of solutions; all mentioend here (altering the registry on both the host and guest, updating drivers, trying all manner of stuff)

After much agro we determined that it might be best to setup another machine under Linux and try this. We had a new Blade just delivered and installed SUSE 10.3 as the host and installed the VMWare Server 1.0.5 again. We installed the same guest OS's and this time we had no problems what-so-ever. At this stage we purchase paid support from VmWare and logged out Windows Host problem with them.
After a day with no problem we believed the problem to be with Windows and after really liking SUSE and not hearing anythign from VMWare, inspite of logging the call as a Severity One, we took the decision to format the server and reinstall.
We installed SUSE 10.3 again and followed the same procedure to install VmWare Server 1.0.5 as before, this time, moving the working Guest installations to this new Guest server.
To our supprise the network problem reappeared. After about five minutes of head scratch we thought we had it figured.
The blades were all using Broadcom NetXtreme II cards, and at first I thought the new blade might have something different in it, but it was the same card. However what was different was the firmware version.
We checked our versios of the Blades we currently have against the latest downloads at IBM and found some new versions which seemed to match the new HS21.

After flashing the firmware of the Broadcom the problem appears to have been resolved. I've been runnign the server overnight and we have had 100% uptime throughout the night.

I'd though it's share this as I hadnt seen this mentioned and we saw that IBM was releasing a new firmware updater only a few days ago. I woudl encourage everyone to check their vendors download page for a new firmware revision of their Broadcom Network cards and indeed, while you're at it, the BIOS as well.

Hope this resolves the issue for everyone, again I fully expect that this wont solve everyones problem,but hopefully it might solve a few.

Regards,

Cai & Gav

Cai and Gav,

Thankyou for this information. Although I have a Dell PowerEdge 2950, the same network cards are used. I suspect that Broadcom Gigabit adapters are common on modern servers, and this might be why so many people are getting the problem.

Would it be possible for you to mention the exact firmware version which you are using now, and what you were using before when you experienced the problem ?

Thanks,

Tim

This issue is certainly not directly firmware related or broadcom related, I have Intel Network Adapters in my servers and experience the same issues.

Also I do not believe that neccesarily all "disconnect" issues are directly the same issue we are experiencing here, though most have this identical issue. Though some have a very simular issue and resolve it via some means, after all disconnects and network issues do exist with drivers, firmware, ... Often though to make out what is this bug or what is a random issue.

NM

Message was edited by: vladpick

I've been experiencing the same problem for several weeks now, same story, x64 Guest OS, Dell 2950 server and Broadcom NetXtreme II NIC. I'm suprised that no one else has not seen (or at least not mentioned) delayed write errors which are reported in the event log on my Guest OS every time the problem surfaces, see below. Unforunately, the information revealed by this error has not gotten me any closer to a solution.

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: MRxSmb
Event Category: None
Event ID: 50
Date: 4/11/2008
Time: 12:09:22 AM
User: N/A
Computer: EXCHANGE
Description:
{Delayed Write Failed} Windows was unable to save all the data for the file \Device\LanmanRedirector. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 00040004 00560002 00000000 80040032
0010: 00000000 c000020c 00000000 00000000
0020: 00000000 00000000 c000020c

Hi Tim,

Sorry for the delay, I've been bogged down with production issues.

As for the driver version information. We started with v8.x.x drivers and after a firmware re-flash, we ended up with v10.x.x
I don't have the specifics to hand right now, but I can confirm I have another blade in exactly the same situation. When it comes to installing VMWare on that server I'll dump a complete firmware and BIOS version to this board and confirm that the same course of action worked again (or not!)

I agree with what's been said by others; I'm not convinced we're all suffering from the same issue but rather the same symptoms.

All I can do is post what happened to us and what go us back up and running.

If only it were that simple for everyone else.

In any case, good luck to those who are still experiencing problems.

Regards,

--CAi

Well, there's a core group of people that are clearly experiencing the exact same problem. Ignore the obvious differences and it's pretty clear.

The core as I see it:

windows 64-bit host
broadcom NIC
usually a 64-bit guest, but not always
typically a multiprocessor guest

As a side-note, I switched my problem guest from dual processor to single a couple weeks ago. During that time, I didn't have a single network drop. I switched it back to dual processor and had two drops in four days. This is not conclusive though, since my load level was also low during that time. I'm slammed at work and don't have time to mess with it anymore.

This server role is becoming more critical to production, so I moved it to a physical server. I had $20K in the budget this quarter to start the VI3 transition. I'm not really happy about giving that money to vmware at this point, but there's nothing comparable at the moment.

I'm also having this issue....

My post is here

www going down when there is no activity on the web server. When I do ssh
into it and ping the router, it comes back up.
I posted this issue to the vmware community blog here:
http://communities.vmware.com/message/913371#913371

funny thing is...the other 3 server dont have this issue. Could vmware tools have someting to do with this, as I didnt have this issue for the one week after migration to vmware before installing tools on this server.

P

i didn`t see the network issue for a long time, but a customer had it today and i had a chance to analyze.

one VM he was using for admin purpose (cisco tools) lost it`s BRIDGED network connection.

i could not make it work again, reboot of VM didn`t help.

i switched vm from bridged network to host-only-network and set a different IP inside VM, but that didn`t help either.
i also changed the VMs nic from AMD PCNet to e1000 , but that also didn`t help.

here are some more details:

ping
from host (192.168.109.1)
to VM (192.168.109.10)
connected via vmnet1

ping request times out

C:\Programme\VMware\VMware Server>vnetsniffer /e vmnet1
len 74 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 IP src 192.168.109.1 dst 192.168.109.10 ICMP ping request
len 74 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 IP src 192.168.109.1 dst 192.168.109.10 ICMP ping request
len 74 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 IP src 192.168.109.1 dst 192.168.109.10 ICMP ping request

as we can see, the packets from the host appear on vmnet1 - but no response from VM.

now - vice versa

ping
from VM (192.168.109.10)
to host (192.168.109.1)
but ping in VM tells that "destination host unreachable"

let`s take a look:

C:\Programme\VMware\VMware Server>vnetsniffer /e vmnet1
len 42 src 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 dst ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff ARP sender 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 target 00:00:00:00:00:00 192.168.109.1 ARP request
len 42 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 ARP sender 00:50:56:c0:00:01 192.168.109.1 target 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 ARP reply
len 42 src 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 dst ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff ARP sender 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 target 00:00:00:00:00:00 192.168.109.1 ARP request
len 42 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 ARP sender 00:50:56:c0:00:01 192.168.109.1 target 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 ARP reply
len 42 src 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 dst ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff ARP sender 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 target 00:00:00:00:00:00 192.168.109.1 ARP request
len 42 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 ARP sender 00:50:56:c0:00:01 192.168.109.1 target 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 ARP reply
len 42 src 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 dst ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff ARP sender 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 target 00:00:00:00:00:00 192.168.109.1 ARP request
len 42 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 ARP sender 00:50:56:c0:00:01 192.168.109.1 target 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 ARP reply

as we can see, VM sends ARP to vmnet1, packets pass vmnet1, reaching vmnet1 virtual host interface and host is giving arp reply.

i can see, that host has learned correct MAC/IP of VM (arp -a) , but it seems that VM never receives those arp replies.

VM doesn`t receive ANY packet, as the interface statistics tell.

that may explain, why VM is sending arp request again and again.

now comes the best:

If i assign the VM`s network identity (ethernet0.generatedAddress) to a different VM on same host (e.g. linux vm instead of windows), the problem remains and the VM inherits the network issue - the linux vm has now the same symptom as the windows VM.

BUT - if i change the VMs mac adress to a different one, the problem goes away.

If i revert the mac, the problem re-appears.

it seems, that the vmware virtual networking/switch has got "stuck" with that specific mac adress and doesn`t forward any packets into a VM anymore.

so we have:

packet from guest-os -> vmnic -> vmnet1 -> vmnet1-host-nic -> host-os --->OK!
packet from host-os -> vmnet1-host-nic -> vmnet1 --|here must be a problem| -> vmnic ->guest-os --->NotOK!!!

this really looks like an issue with vmware virtual networking, i.e. the virtual hub/switch implementation.

vmware, will you start help finding the root cause of this this serious problem, please ?

regards
roland

Hi devzero,

Great fault trap by the way.

I think the fault could lie in the VMware Bridge Driver. I believe this is where the MAC table is maintained.

You could try stopping and starting the bridge driver to see if that changes/clears the MAC table state.

It is in located within Device Manager -> Show hidden

OK, so we took the following steps and the server has not had delayed write errors nor the bridged networking failed:

Recap:

We are using Dell 1950s & 2950s with dual onboard Broadcomm Nic's.

64x 2003 SP2 R2 with all patches as the host

64x 2003 SP2 R2 with all the patches as the guests

I have edited both guest servers with the following settings:

Changed all of them from two processors to one

Removed the CD-ROM device

This seems to have solved the problem (knock on wood) I have been running our coprorate servers (SQL) with these settings and they have not dropped off yet (it used to happen once every 3-4 days),

hi mike,

thanks for the hint.

i`m think this won`t help, because the bridge driver is only needed for bridged connection.
but the problem remains if i switch from bridged to host-only connection, and host-only interface has no binding to vmware bridging protocol, so i assume it isn`t related to vmware bridge driver.
if the problem re-appears, i will mind your hint and try disable/re-enable - but i don`t give much hope that this resolves the issue.

thanks again

roland

Question: has any turned off VM Bridge Protocol from the server's primary interface and still had this problem?

While this may be re-hashing old suggestions, our workaround (other than install Linux like we did) was to turn off the VMBridge Protocol from the Windows server's interface, then turn off any MS file sharing & MS Client bindings on the remaining interfaces and leave the VMBridge Protocol on those same remaining interfaces.

This means, of course, that you'll have to change your default VM bridge, but it seems to work nicely w/o any problems in our environment which is mostly Dell boxes.

That sounds like an interesting possiblility.

Remove the MS bindings from any secondary interface and use it.

This would rule out layer 3 interaction from the MS host instance and stop any false DOS prevention activity etc. from the MS host side.

The issue appears to be centered around layer 2 MAC/arp so I am not sure that's the answer but it's worth a try.

This is what I did. My guest server network card was failing EVERY night during the backup. Since going to 1 proc, has not failed yet - it's been over 55 days! I think that's the proof in the pudding right there! However, the real test would be to go back to 2 procs and retest. Haven't done that since I don't want my Exchange server going down again!

I thought I'd posted something to this effect, but going back, I can't find it.

I switched my problem server to one processor back in February and it stopped failing. Ran a month or so with no issues. I switched it back to two processors and it failed twice that week. I've since moved it to a physical machine.

I'd gotten a little motivated to start looking at this again, but when the 1.05 "upgrade" trashed things even more than normal I got fed-up and dropped it again.

Glad to see some activity on this thread again although it's a shame that VMware remains silent on the matter... I recently put new Intel PRO 1000/PT Dual Port adapter in one of my servers that was experiencing this problem and it's been running stable for the past 48 hours or so, that isn't enough time to get excited though. The 1 processor solution seems to be promising but I can't afford to lose processing power on my guest OS's.

I was having this problem on an Ubuntu x64 host. I got fed up with no support, so i switched everything to KVM. I started experiencing the same issue with KVM. After alot of research and pulling out hair, i figured out it was the sky2 driver installed by default in ubuntu. I updated the network driver with the one on Marvell's official website and no problems since. Network is slow, but it doesn't quit. Not positive if this will solve the vmware problem since i'm on kvm now, but it's worth a shot.

Also after seeing the amount of support we received in this thread, i think i'm going to stick with KVM.

1) this thread isn't even about your problem
2) You're trying to run an OS vmware only has experimental support for
3) It wasn't even a vmware problem in the end

Why are you in here complaining again?

jsnavely wrote:
1) this thread isn't even about your problem
2) You're trying to run an OS vmware only has experimental support for
3) It wasn't even a vmware problem in the end

Why are you in here complaining again?

1) Isn't this thread about vmware networking bridges dying? Did i post in this in the wrong thread? My network bridge was dying, then i switched to KVM.

2) VMWare doesn't support Linux? Are you joking? Why can i download the linux vmware tarballs off their website then?

3) No S-H-I-T dumbass, neither are most of the solutions in this thread. I posted my solution in hopes that it might help someone else.

Was i really complaining? I'm so glad i don't have to deal with VMWare support and dumbasses like yourself anymore.

Why do you post here if you don't have anything of value to add?

Pardon my ignorance but what is KVM? I know it as Keyboard, Video, Mouse.
I think this thread has enough info for VMWare to fix this problem and that everyone involved should get a T-Shirt or something for all their input.

Pardon my ignorance but what is KVM?

http://kvm.qumranet.com/kvmwiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel-based_Virtual_Machine

I know it as Keyboard, Video, Mouse.

yes, same abbreviation

I think this thread has enough info for VMWare to fix this problem and that everyone involved should get a T-Shirt or something for all their input.

it`s more a matter of "when will they start listening and make some qualified person to join this thread to get into the issue"

there is silence for months now from vmware , and that`s the main problem.
they don`t have interest in fixing this one.

fixing it is a differnt story, because i think this thread may not be about a single problem.
maybe different issues/bugs meet here.... (related to host os, related to user error.....or perhaps related to a vmware bug...)

quoting my own thread:

it seems, that the vmware virtual networking/switch has got "stuck" with that specific mac adress and doesn`t forward any packets into a VM anymore.

so we have:

packet from guest-os -> vmnic -> vmnet1 -> vmnet1-host-nic -> host-os --->OK!
packet from host-os -> vmnet1-host-nic -> vmnet1 --|here must be a problem| -> vmnic ->guest-os --->NotOK!!!

this really looks like an issue with vmware virtual networking, i.e. the virtual hub/switch implementation.

can someone with networking issues check for this behaviour and confirm the same behaviour ?

I installed several waves of Microsoft updates to our server last night (SBS 2003). All four of the VMs stopped responding on the network, but could talk to each other. They all used bridged networking and static IPs, running Ubuntu 7.10. A quick Google landed me here. After reading this thread and trying various solutions I found that nothing seemed to work.

Then I read devzero's post about the ARP issue (http://communities.vmware.com/message/920916#920916). Running "vnetsniffer /e vmnet0" showed me the VMs sending out ARP requests but never getting anything back. So I was able to confirm his findings with my system. But what to do about it? Cycling the bridge device didn't help, nor did changing the MAC addresses of the VMs.

Just for a lark, I shut down all the VMs and (at random,) added a second bridged NIC to one of them. After firing it up - everything worked. I powered it off, removed the NIC, and tried again - still working. I then fired up all the VMs, and they are all working. Since I've been under pressure to get these back up I haven't tried a full reboot of the host server.

I hope this helps some other people out. I guess something in the VMNet arp table/cache got flushed or reset when the new NIC was installed - whatever it was I'm glad for a sudden flash of "whatthehelli'lltryit-ness"

Greetings everyone, it's been more than two weeks since switching out my Broadcom NetXtreme II NIC's with Intel PRO 1000/PT NIC's and my server backups have been working flawlessly! Before switching NIC's, server backups between my Guest OS (W2K3 x64) and Host OS (W2K3 x64) would fail almost every 2-3 days with Delayed Write Failed errors on the Guest OS. The backup file size might not be as large as others (4-5GB) but the failures were consistent even at that file size. I would be more than glad to provide more information/compare configuration with others who have attempted NIC swaps with no success.

hi,

I've just stumbled into this discussion, since we are having the exact same problem (still), but only on a linux host and guest system.
see my details: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/141700

Hello all,

I was having the exact same issues as everyone describing here. I did everything I could possibly imagine to try and fix it. From upgrading my broadcom netXtreme driver to making registry changes.

Here is what I came up with that solved the issue for me. I apologize if this has already been addressed but I couldn't reader 25 pages of this thread.

In my situation it was installed on my work laptop which has the cisco vpn client installed on it. Apparently that is a no no. I went to my services on my host machine and stopped the Cisco Systems, Inc. VPN Service service. Bridge mode just started to work.

Hope this helps someone.

-cheers

What driver is everyone using for their VM's. I've been using the e1000 driver. I've been working with support on this issue and now have become their test subject since they can't reproduce in their lab. Is anyone running the vmxnet driver or has anyone tried?

Basically these are the changes VMware wants me to make:

ethernet0.allow64bitvmxnet = "TRUE"
ethernet0.virtualDev = "vmxnet"

Thoughts?

disabling the cisco vpn service fixed the bridge networking issue for me. I was banging my head against my desk. thanks!

I attempted changing from the e1000 to the vmxnet driver for my VMs. The problem I had with this was that the Windows 2003 x64 guests were not able to recognize the device and install drivers for it. I tried reinstalling the vmware tools in hopes that it would install the right driver for the vmxnet interfaces, but this did not work. I also mounted the vmware tools iso and copied the vmxnet drivers over to the windows server and tried to manually install them for the vmxnet devices. This did not work for me.

I am at a loss at where to go next with this issue and have tried all of the relevant suggestions in this thread. We purchased a support contract with vmware and they have not been able to help me with this yet either. After being bounced from technician to technician I finally got a call from the support manager saying that they would like me to run the vm-support.vbs script while the VM is experiencing the drop in network connectivity. Has anyone else with a support contract been asked to provide the same information? and if so what was vmware's response/finding? They say that they cannot recreate the issue in their test environment.

Another question: Has anyone that has been experiencing this problem tried moving their VMs over to an ESX server? Or to another virtualization platform? If so what platform have you moved to?

This issue pissed us off to no end so we opted to use ESX 3.5 and have not seen this issue as of yet. KNOCK ON WOOD!
For kicks I did a VMWare COnvert of a guest exhibiting this bug to an ESX host and we did not see any problems. I loaded it down with 8 simultaneous file copies each at 2GB and SQL 2005 backups through Veritas and it did not fault.

Good to know, thank you. We have been working with VMsupport since the beginning of February this year trying to correct this problem. I am not optimistic that vmware support is going to be able to fix this anytime soon and so we are considering changing virtualization platforms.

How long have you been on the ESX platform now without any drops?

5 Months.

LOL... you really showed them -- I guess that's their strategy. Leave bugs in free product so people will be forced to pay.

Yea, they're quick to say they can't repeat the issue, but that means they just don't give a ****.

1) Buy server with broadcom NICs
2) Load Win 2003 R2 x64 on host
3) Load Win 2003 R2 x64 on guest with two processors
4) generate heavy network load on guest - repeat until failure

It's not difficult to recreate. Oh, and if you want to "fix it", either switch the guest to a single processor, or buy some Intel NICs for your server. Done

Kind of like the "Drug Dealer" effect. Give out free free stuff and if you want better stuff pay for it. The MS solution just was not robust enoug. Believe me, we looked at it heavily. The new 2008 MS Virt Srv sems to be pretty good now. However, 5 months ago it was not available. ESX was not too expensice, $995 for an ES lic and more $$$ for premium support for 24x7.

I know what you mean. I actually have about 15K in the budget this quarter that is earmarked for vmware. I'm not happy about it, but they'll probably get it. There's just noone else out there with similar HA capabilities.

I liked the company much better before I ran 30+ vmware server upgrades (~5 upgrades across multiple servers), having to recreate my rather complex network configuration each and every time. It's actually the simple things, like poor installers, that have bugged me more than the big ones, like the bridged networking.

We purchased a support contract with vmware and they have not been able to help me with this yet either.
After being bounced from technician to technician I finally got a call from the support manager saying that they
would like me to run the vm-support.vbs script while the VM is experiencing the drop in network connectivity

can you perhaps go back some postings and read into my findings? (posting from 21.04.2008 17:51)

maybe it`s worth checking if your VMs show the same symphtoms when they have that network issue....

NEWS: PROMISCUOUS MODE ON VIRTUAL NIC CURES THE NETWORKING PROBLEM !

hi !

i repost my last report since i have new information.

the customer was hit by that problem again, and i found some more interesting details by chance.

I didn`t see the network issue for a long time, but a customer had it today and i had a chance to analyze.

one VM he was using for admin purpose (cisco tools) lost it`s BRIDGED network connection.

i could not make it work again, reboot of VM didn`t help.

i switched vm from bridged network to host-only-network and set a different IP inside VM, but that didn`t help either.
i also changed the VMs nic from AMD PCNet to e1000 , but that also didn`t help.

here are some more details:

ping
from host (192.168.109.1)
to VM (192.168.109.10)
connected via vmnet1

ping request times out

C:\Programme\VMware\VMware Server>vnetsniffer /e vmnet1
len 74 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 IP src 192.168.109.1 dst 192.168.109.10 ICMP ping request
len 74 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 IP src 192.168.109.1 dst 192.168.109.10 ICMP ping request
len 74 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 IP src 192.168.109.1 dst 192.168.109.10 ICMP ping request

as we can see, the packets from the host appear on vmnet1 - but no response from VM.

now - vice versa

ping
from VM (192.168.109.10)
to host (192.168.109.1)
but ping in VM tells that "destination host unreachable"

let`s take a look:

C:\Programme\VMware\VMware Server>vnetsniffer /e vmnet1
len 42 src 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 dst ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff ARP sender 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 target 00:00:00:00:00:00 192.168.109.1 ARP request
len 42 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 ARP sender 00:50:56:c0:00:01 192.168.109.1 target 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 ARP reply
len 42 src 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 dst ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff ARP sender 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 target 00:00:00:00:00:00 192.168.109.1 ARP request
len 42 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 ARP sender 00:50:56:c0:00:01 192.168.109.1 target 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 ARP reply
len 42 src 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 dst ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff ARP sender 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 target 00:00:00:00:00:00 192.168.109.1 ARP request
len 42 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 ARP sender 00:50:56:c0:00:01 192.168.109.1 target 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 ARP reply
len 42 src 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 dst ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff ARP sender 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 target 00:00:00:00:00:00 192.168.109.1 ARP request
len 42 src 00:50:56:c0:00:01 dst 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 ARP sender 00:50:56:c0:00:01 192.168.109.1 target 00:0c:29:07:db:b4 192.168.109.10 ARP reply

as we can see, VM sends ARP to vmnet1, packets pass vmnet1, reaching vmnet1 virtual host interface and host is giving arp reply.

i can see, that host has learned correct MAC/IP of VM (arp -a) , but it seems that VM never receives those arp replies.

VM doesn`t receive ANY packet, as the interface statistics tell.

that may explain, why VM is sending arp request again and again.

now comes the best:

>If i assign the VM`s network identity (ethernet0.generatedAddress) to a different VM on same host (e.g. linux vm instead of windows), the problem remains and the VM inherits the network issue - the >linux vm has now the same symptom as the windows VM.

>BUT - if i change the VMs mac adress to a different one, the problem goes away.

>If i revert the mac, the problem re-appears.

>it seems, that the vmware virtual networking/switch has got "stuck" with that specific mac adress and doesn`t forward any packets into a VM anymore.

>so we have:

>packet from guest-os -> vmnic -> vmnet1 -> vmnet1-host-nic -> host-os --->OK!
>packet from host-os -> vmnet1-host-nic -> vmnet1 --|here must be a problem| -> vmnic ->guest-os --->NotOK!!!

>this really looks like an issue with vmware virtual networking, i.e. the virtual hub/switch implementation.

NEWS:
UPDATE

since i could relocate the problem from a windows vm to a linux vm (by assiging the same mac adress to that vm) and reproduce it there immediately, now the crazy observation:

if i put the virtual ethernet interface inside the guest into promiscuous mode ("tcpdump -i eth0" or "ifconfig eth0 promisc up"), the problem is gone immediately !

vmware, will you start help finding the root cause of this this serious problem, please ?

here some more:

ping from host to vm (which doesn`t work:)

C:\Programme\VMware\VMware Server>vnetstats /lines:1 /interval:1000 vmnet1
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22278 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22278 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22278 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22278 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22279 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22279 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22279 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22279 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22279 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

as we can see vmnet1 is receiving packet, but doesn`t transmit any.

now i put eth0 in VM into promiscuous mode:

C:\Programme\VMware\VMware Server>vnetstats /lines:1 /interval:1000 vmnet1
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22302 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22303 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22303 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22303 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22303 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22303 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22303 26104 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22305 26106 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22307 26108 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22309 26110 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22311 26112 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22313 26114 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22317 26118 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ports Rcv Xmt BrRcv BrXmt Err Dr NoP NoB Err Dr NoP NoB
4 3 22319 26120 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

as we can see, packets being received and transmitted - and all is well.

So it seems the virtual switch implementation has a problem sending packets
with specific mac adress to specific virtual switch ports.

how can this NOT be a vmware bug ?

Maybe. But VMware is not going to admit it or fix it.

so - if i hear that there are people on this thread with such problem and with a service contract - and vmware couldn`t help - what about closing this thread because of vendor inactivity ?

let`s close this and open a new one.....

wouldn`t that raise chances to get some help ?

if i was a support engineer, i wouldn`t dare touching this thread - there are too much postings from too many people with too many different problems and too many "solutions".

That's awesome news and looks like it works great in ESX however, this topic is for the Free Windows version of VMWare Server. If someone can enlighten the rest of us on how to "Set Virtual Ethernet Adapters in Promiscuous Mode" for VMWare Server 1.04 it would be greatly appreciated by all. I had no idea that this affected ESX as well.

Thanks

fyi, I found a good write up on how to do this at the guest level but then goes into ESX stuff here...
http://communities.vmware.com/message/371562

If someone can enlighten the rest of us on how to "Set Virtual Ethernet Adapters in Promiscuous Mode" for
VMWare Server 1.04 it would be greatly appreciated by all.

read the "NEWS: UPDATE" section inside my posting before my last posting.
i don`t know if this works for windows guests, i tried one sniffer in windows, but it didn`t work - but i wasn`t sure if it set the interface into promiscuous mode. on linux tcpdump or ifconfig are your friend.....

+Greetings everyone, it's been more than two weeks since switching out
my Broadcom NetXtreme II NIC's with Intel PRO 1000/PT NIC's and my
server backups have been working flawlessly!+

Just a quick note. I saw this a few weeks ago and figured for cheap money, I'd give it a try. Swapped the the Broadcom for Intels. Since then, knock on wood, everything has been fine.

klbrewster.... Mine has the issue with Intel nics... Sorry to say.

Andy

I will be out of the office returning May 22, If this is Urgent please contact Colin or Dawn for assistances

Hi. I'm running

Windows Vista host x64 Host
Windows 2008 x64 Guest

Intel Quad Core 6600 2.4 Ghz
6gb of RAM

NIC is NVidia nForce on board Gb NIC

Since using x64 I've had nothing but problems with the NIC's. Connectivity to the guest (even on the host) is removed after maybe 1-2 days - nothing logged in event log on either machine.

What I have noticed is that actively disabling the WAN miniport IPV6 in device manager (view -> show hidden) seems to increase the gap between outages...

Next step for me is try changing the NIC's ... feel a bit disappointed that VMware haven't cracked this - it's obviously affecting a lot of people running x64 platforms and I won't go near a production environment with x64 and VM until things are improved...

Hello there...

HP DL380G5, 16 gig, dual HP gig NICs (1 NIC for private backup network) running VMWare server 1.0.4.

4 VM guests all running fine for months. This morning, bang, none of the VMs were contactable - couldn't ping them.

Tried various things in this thread, no joy.

Finally, I just created a new bridged switch on VMNet4, then I changed each VM guest from bridged to custom and chose VMNet4. Bingo - without a restart of host or guest, they all worked.

This doesn't fix the underlying problem whatever it is, but it does have my live servers running again.

Worth trying if you get the dead bridge problem, as it is so quick & easy to do.

Cheers, John

Finally, I just created a new bridged switch on VMNet4, then I changed each VM guest from bridged to custom and chose
VMNet4. Bingo - without a restart of host or guest, they all worked.

if you switch the VMs back to vmnet0 - does the problem re-appear ?

Hiya

Good idea, I'll give it a go in a quiet moment

Cheers, John

Hiya again

Yes, I switched 1 VM back to VMNet0 and instantly I couldn't ping in or out.

Switched back to VMnet4 and instantly ping worked again in both directions.

Is there a way to remove VMNet0 and re-create it? I guess if the problem re-occurs I'll move everything onto VMNet5, but that will only leave me 6 and 7.....

Cheers, John

interesting. i will mind that when i come across that problem next time.

that also supports my theory that this is more likely a vmware problem than a problem with the host/nic/drivers.

do you have linux VMs on that system ?

if not, could you setup a linux vm and attach that to vmnet0 ?
what happens if you set the linux VM`s virtual nic into promiscuous mode? (run tcpdump -i eth0).
does that cure the VM´s networking issue ?
(please take a look at my previous posts - i`d be interested if your problem shows the same symphtoms)

Hello there...

certainly looks like a vmware problem to me.

No, I don't have any Linux servers - I'm afraid i know nothing at all about Linux so i won't be able to create any , either.

I will have a look to see if there is a way to re-create vmnet0 though.

I'll get back here later.

Cheers, John

I'm not using VMWare server at all and i've been seeing this problem for many months. I'm using an 8core Mac Pro, 24Gb ram, Intel PRO NIC .. and I have about 30 different VMs, of which I like to have about 3-6 running at any one time. I have them all set up in bridged mode. I can usually get 3 or 4 running simultaneously... but often after that, vm's that I fire up will just not work (browsers cant display web page etc) ..

Occasionally I am able to get a new vm running, maybe by closing old ones, rebooting, repairing net connections.. I really don't know if what I do helps or its just luck that I get it working... once I even uninstalled the NIC adapter in the vm.. rebooted.. and it worked! Usually though I give up after messing with it for half an hour...

Sometimes, i'll come back to it later without touching anything and lo! it's working..!

I have no idea wha is going on.

it's a real problem...

Hiya

When you say they 'don't work', are they behaving normally other than that they can't access the network? EG are programs responsive etc? Or are there other symptoms?

Cheers, John

... oh, and I should have said, if you aren't running VMWare server, what are you running?

Hello there...

OK it looks like the problem was that for some reason the last time the host (and guests) were re-booted, VMnet0 attached itself to the NIC for our private backup network, rather than the NIC for the main network.

Creating VMnet4 fixed the problem, since I had to specify which NIC to use, whereas VMNet0 defaults to allowing VMWare to choose which NIC to use.

Temporarily disabling the backup NIC on the host and re-booting fixed it - VMnet0 is connected to the right NIC again (it had no choice). Then re-enabled backup NIC on host.

No idea why the backup NIC was chosen on that re-boot - it had always used the correct NIC before.

Cheers, John

Maybe you should disable Automatic Bridging in VMware Virtual Network Settings...

everything else works fine - but when i go to the browser, it cant load 'www.google.com' for example...

where is this setting? I don't see it anywhere... i'm running Fusion

why do I have to be running a server?

I have a Mac Pro 8-core, 24 GB ram, Fusion, and a collection of about 30 VMs ... I just want to be able to run as many of them locally as my resources allow

I don't see how to do this on Fusion...?

Hiya

I didn't say you had to be running VMWare server - I was asking which virtualisation product you were running.

It seems you are running Fusion, which i've never heard of, maybe this is the equivalent of VMWare Player for the Mac. Anyway I'm not familiar with it so sorry I can't help.

Cheers, John

aaron_sf wrote:
I don't see how to do this on Fusion...?

What "Fusion"? This a "Vmware Server" forum.
Post your comments regarding VMware Fusion in their forum.

I've been experiencing this problem with the latest VMware server 1.0.6 build-91891 on WinXP Pro SP2 host with Debian 40r3 and WinXP Pro SP2 as guests. I didn't have this problem before I upgraded to that version. I also have this same install on a Vista Home Premium SP1 host without any problems.

In my case the network just cuts out - "no route to host" when I ping the host system from the guest though ifconfig and ipconfig show the IP I should have. There's no error messages in the XP guest event viewer that are relevant, and rebooting the guests, or shutting down and switching to host only or Nat networking doesn't offer any solution. Only rebooting the host brings networking back up.

When I get around to it, I think I'll downgrade to the last version and see if this helps.

I have - doesn't matter if you are running vmware server or not - from the descriptions here it looks like a general networking issue with vmware, server or fusion (mac)

I think I may have solved my problem.

Kit - Intel quad core / 4 Gb RAM / Asus P5N SLI

OS - Host = Vista x64, VM = Windows 2008 x64

Problem - weird slow connectivity, network connections (RDP / IMAP etc) are all slow, jittery and stall. RDP sessions seem to get "stuck" and freeze. Ultimately some Windows services crash / terminate unexpectedly. Worst affected is Exchange 2008 - the Hub Transport service freezes - I believe due to the network transport problems.

Solution - removing IPv6 helped reduce jitter, but problem persisted. Finally, I managed to obtain new drivers for the onboard ASUS NIC which seems to have provided 24 hours of jitter free operation. The new drivers are Microsoft produced and signed and offer more options (VLAN tagging etc). If the crashing starts again I will post - otherwise I'm hoping for the best

Jumping in on page 28.

Running vmware server on hp 585 four procs 32GB ram.

Host Ubuntu 7.10 amd64 bit.

Same problem as everyone else. When the network stops responding the host windows or ubuntu 32 bit guests freeze up and do not respond to mouse/keyboard inputs. Wait 5 minutes (approx.) and the input gets realized and networking comes back. I also have the same problem only worse on a Ubuntu guest webserver that looses it's brains on the date/time and completely freezes up requiring a hard reset.

It does not appear to be a hardware (host) issue or host OS problem. The issue is vmware server and it is a bug! The guest ubuntu webserver was created and was running fine on a windows xp 32 bit host.

Due to uptime issues, I'm currently running one ubuntu based svn guest server in virtualbox (vmware disk) on an identical host -- without this issue. I too am looking for alternatives. VirtualBox was a pain in the @ss to set up, however it's currently been running for 5 days without issue. I'm looking at KVM too.

We were vmware early adopters. GSX was a better product. We loved (of course!) when it went free. There hasn't been a completely stable version since. The windows host service sometimes won't start by itself. The linux version has issues on linux guests.

Since there is not a reasonably priced alternative we stayed with virtual server as the recommended upgrade path for this data center. This issue has gone too long without resolve. If it's not taken care of soon, we will go somewhere else. If we move on, our workstation licences will not be renewed and I will scrap our plans for the upcoming esx dc project.

What say you vmware?

ronnieredd wrote:
Since there is not a reasonably priced alternative we stayed with virtual server as the recommended upgrade path for this data center. This issue has gone too long without resolve. If it's not taken care of soon, we will go somewhere else. If we move on, our workstation licences will not be renewed and I will scrap our plans for the upcoming esx dc project.

What say you vmware?

I do not work for VMware but extrapolating problems of one application (VMware Server 1.0.x) and your hardware, to other (ESX), does not seem logical.

I will be out of the office returning July 2, If this is Urgent please contact Colin or Dawn for assistances

Disconnect ALL of the CD/DVD's from EVERY Guest OS. Then reboot the whole thing.

I will be out of the office returning July 2, If this is Urgent please contact Colin or Dawn for assistances

Hi, further to my previous post below of the 1/6/8.

This did NOT solve my problem - it re-occured a few days later. Following this I tried:

A new NIC with signed drivers (no joy!)
Various disabling and faffing with IPv6 (which VM Ware Server Beta 2 really doesn't seem to like)
Reinstalling the beta etc.

However, I've now had over a weeks uptime and a completely different league of performance with the NIC... my resolution - downloading and installing VM Ware workstation. Bizzarely the Beta Server images don't work natively with workstation and the NIC appears disabled and you need to manually edit the VMX file removing 2 lines referencing bridge mode to get them working (found this in another community). Bit shabby that you have to manually edit the VMX file, worse that the NIC just stops workign and you don't get a version mismatch error.

Anyhow, workstation works like a dream, has a usable interface (unlike the server beta) and works with snapshots. The only pain in the ass is the lack of support for running workstation as a service. (Never understood this limitation on the superior paid for product!?)

Anyhoo, hope this helps someone!

Old post below----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi. I'm running

Windows Vista host x64 Host
Windows 2008 x64 Guest

Intel Quad Core 6600 2.4 Ghz
6gb of RAM

NIC is NVidia nForce on board Gb NIC

Since using x64 I've had nothing but problems with the NIC's. Connectivity to the guest (even on the host) is removed after maybe 1-2 days - nothing logged in event log on either machine.

What I have noticed is that actively disabling the WAN miniport IPV6 in device manager (view -> show hidden) seems to increase the gap between outages...

I will be out of the office returning July 2, If this is Urgent please contact Colin or Dawn for assistances

It's been a while, just wondering if others have had good success with the trick that seemed to work for us...

Using multiple NIC's, unbind the VMWare Bridge Protocol from the 'main' NIC
for the computer/server. Leave the VMWare Bridge Protocol bound to
other interfaces where you want guests to connect to the LAN. In the
"Manage Virtual Networks" program, uncheck the Automatically Configure
option, then bind the VMnet's manually.

I've found this to work quite well. Dunno if this is solution per se, but I haven't had a single issue since using this method.

Anyone else try this...did it work? did it fail?

The hosts we've tried this with are Server 1.05 & 1.06 Win2003 x64 R2 SP1 & SP2, Vista x64 with & w/o SP1 with Workstation 6.0x. So far, not a single issue on any of these systems.

This document was generated from the following thread: Bridged networking just quit!

vmware net working with Firewall and IP froward

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:16:37 GMT

Server 2 RC1 Firefox 3.01VMRC Plugin Incompatability - EASY FIX

r.webber@sus-it.co.uk — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 02:19:06 GMT

In Firefox there is an very easy way to overcome the incompatability issue with the VRMC Plug-in that fails to install on Firefox 3.0.1.

If you have tried and failed, as I have, to get the various hacks published in Ubuntu support and elsewhere on the web to work, this fix will take seconds.

The following proceedure is conducted on your Host PC

Open Firefox Browser and in the address bar type About:Config

When the page has opened you will be presented with a warning page, click on the I promise button to continue.

Once the configuration preferences page is open right click on any blank area and a menu will pop up.

From the menu select NEW then Boolean then Enter the preference name checkCompatibility then select False

When you have completed the above steps close all browsers.

Now you will find the the VRMC Plug-in will install.

Upgrade to 2.0 RC1 - Remote Console Plug-in

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:02:45 GMT

I am upgrading from VMware Server 2.0 beta 2 to RC1 on Vista x64 and when I click to install the Remote Console Plug-in I get the message "Browser restart required" even after restarting I.E. several times, and also restarting the computer.

On the Known Issues page it mentions that on I.E. 7 you have to delete the VmwareRemoteconsole activex control. The only way I could do this was to locate the file named quickMksax.dll and delete it through Explorer, but I still get the same message. As a result I cannot open the previously installed VM's.

Can someone please tell me how to work-around this problem?

Many thanks

Linux Host - Compile vsock ERROR

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:16:34 GMT

_In
run vmware-config.pl the task module vsock accuses a message:_

make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only'
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.21-1.3194.fc7/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.21-1.3194.fc7-i686'
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/linux/af_vsock.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/linux/driverLog.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/linux/util.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/linux/vsockAddr.o
LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.o
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST 1 modules
WARNING: "VMCIDatagram_CreateHnd" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
WARNING: "VMCIDatagram_DestroyHnd" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
WARNING: "VMCI_GetContextID" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
WARNING: "VMCIDatagram_Send" [/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko] undefined!
CC /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.mod.o
LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only/vsock.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.21-1.3194.fc7-i686'
cp -f vsock.ko ./../vsock.o
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vsock-only'
The vsock module loads perfectly into the running kernel.

The product appears to be working normally, this error can cause a problem?

Thanks,

Marcos Estival

estival@mgconline.com.br

Can't automatic power on /off VM

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:27:00 GMT

This script must first check status of vm , if vm is off else power on this vm

Web service not available

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:16:31 GMT

I'm not logging in the web access of Vmware server 2.0 Beta the error is: Web service not available. How to solve this problem?

VLAN Interfaces on Linux 2.6 Host

Fri, 23 May 2008 05:58:31 GMT

Hi, I am Vikrant, doing training in embedded Techonology.

So my question is ,
1: What the difference between a layer 2 switch which is supporting only port-based vlan or it support tag (Q) based vlan.
2: If a layer 2 switch is using only port based vlan then is it not supporting IEEE 802.1q compatibility.
3: Please tell me in detalis about a single instance Spanning Tree Protocol with multiple vlans.

In waiting of u;r reply...
Thanks....

Vikrant

VMWare Server 1.04 and virtual networks

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:12:16 GMT

I have upgraded from vmware 1.03, to vmware 1.04 and I can no longer update the network settings. The issue is even though I can edit, and update I cannot save the settings. The 'OK' button is always greyed out.

Very Configurable BASH Backup Script

darwin@virtualmachinetraining.com — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:27:08 GMT

VMWare Management Interface - Service Unavailable or Does not display Username and Password

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:02:06 GMT

For anyone experiencing the above titled problem, I tried many things, none of which worked.

I read this article, and the suggestion at the very end worked. It seemed a bit Draconian, but it worked:

http://communities.vmware.com/message/242870

My one additional note would be that you don't have to completely uninstall VMWare Server, just the VMWare Management Interface (for IIS). Use the original Installation Program for VMWare Server, and select Modify, and then uninstall the VMWare Management Interface.

I would have added it to the end of the above noted discussion, but apparently, since it is in an ARCHIVE section, nothing else can be added.

Additional Observations: Between two 64 bit Windows Server 2003 Systems, one had the above mentioned issue, and the other didn't, was the fact that on the one that had the issue, the .NET 2.0 Framework was installed AFTER IIS was installed. For the system that worked just fine .NET Framework 2.0 was installed before IIS was installed. A side observation is the fact that in the ".NET 2.0 Framework installed first case", under Web Server Extensions in the IIS Manager, no mention of Allow or Prohibit is present for any version of ASP.NET. And for anyone thinking that the VMWare Management Interface was running under the wrong version of ASP.NET, like 1.1, that wasn't the issue...

It fixed the problem for me. No restarts, and no interruption to Virtual Machines. Done.

Bridging unavailable

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:21:46 GMT

I've installed VMware Server 1.0.5 on SLES10.1 host and worked through all the reported issues to get a clean and running installation. Launched a VM running Win 2003 Server SE guest OS and it won't bridge. This VM previously ran fine on a Win 2003 Server SE host under VMware Server 1.0.5 and bridged OK. The Hosts>Network Configuration option is now greyed out. I see other posts pointing to problems with bridging on Linux hosts with 1.0.5. Have I missed something?

Any pointers welcomed.