VMware Communities: can't bridge to wlan0

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9 Replies Last post: Sep 12, 2008 5:40 AM by pHoEnIxFuRy

can't bridge to wlan0

Jun 5, 2008 4:44 PM

brucelondon 6 posts since
Jun 5, 2008

I have an anoying problem where I can't bridge to a wireless (wlan0) interface. I've tried using two different

versions of vmware server on two different boxes....same story.

My setup:

my pc Fedora 8 x64 on AMD with RaLink RT2500 (using kernel module or compiled driver)

my laptop Fedora 8 x64 Intel Core 2 duo with PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (standard built in kernel module)

The wirless works fine on both systems. I can bridge my vmware to the "copper" nics (eth0) and everything

is fine......but for the life of me I am unable to bridge to the wireless interface (wlan0) on either system.

When bridged to the wireless (wlan0) interface, from the guest I can ping the "base" and from the base I can ping and ssh into

the guest .....but from the guest I can't ping my default router(adsl)......the "base" can ping the router and access the internet fine.

I have no firewall no iptables and do not use selinux.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Reply Re: can't bridge to wlan0 Jun 5, 2008 4:47 PM

brucelondon 6 posts since
Jun 5, 2008

forgot to add the versions of vmware server I'm using:

VMware-server-1.0.5-80187

VMware-server-1.0.6-91891

Reply Re: can't bridge to wlan0 Jun 9, 2008 1:56 PM

in response to: brucelondon

AdamJB 41 posts since
Feb 23, 2006

In my experience, the vmware bridge does not work if the interface is not connected to the network during host start up.
This could be your problem. When the system starts and the vmnet-bridge proces starts, wlan0 is not yet connected to the wireless lan.

You can restart the bridge by killing and then relaunching it's process as follows:

# ps -eaf|grep vmnet-bridge
root 4533 1 0 Jun03 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/vmnet-bridge -d /var/run/vmnet-bridge-0.pid /dev/vmnet0 eth0

Note the process ID (4533 in my case). Kill the bridge process and then restart it using the same command line shown in the output from the ps command:

# kill 4533
# /usr/bin/vmnet-bridge -d /var/run/vmnet-bridge-0.pid /dev/vmnet0 eth0

It would take a little work, but I suppose you could write a script to do this.... ping the gateway until it responds (at which point you know wlan0 is connected) and then kill and restart the bridge.

Reply Re: can't bridge to wlan0 Jun 19, 2008 7:23 AM

in response to: AdamJB

kevinlidh 12 posts since
Dec 18, 2005

I have the same issue. I tried restarting the wlan0 bridge but to no avail. My host is Fedora Core 9 (but it hasn't worked even as far back as 7).

kernel: 2.6.25.6-55.fc9.i686 #1 SMP

vmware version: 1.0.6 build-91891

My VM is Oracle Unbreakable Linux 4 which is equivalent to RHEL-4. When the VM boots, it doesn't complain when doing the eth0 work and an ifconfig shows my assigned IP but I can't ping the router or do an nslookup of anything. This same VM works when on a different machine with an eth0. If I find a workaround, I'll post it to this thread.

Reply Re: can't bridge to wlan0 Jun 19, 2008 8:13 AM

in response to: kevinlidh

brucelondon 6 posts since
Jun 5, 2008

I've not yet found a work around.

I believe the issue has something to do with the MAC address and WLAN protocol. After tracing the packets I noticed that the vmware "base"

does not respond to "arp" requests for the "vmware guest" when bridged to a wireless nic. Some people have stated that reducing the MTU

corrects this....but it didn;t work for me. I've also tried restarting vmware after the wireless nic was started.....no joy. I think issue relates to

MAC / WLAN protocol.

Reply Re: can't bridge to wlan0 Aug 30, 2008 10:49 AM

in response to: brucelondon

tav 3 posts since
May 27, 2006

Hi,

After I upgraded from VMware Server 1.0.2 running on Ubuntu 6.10 to VMware Server 1.0.7 I faced that bridging on wireless interface is not working anymore. It seems that I have to downgrade back to the versions I had all this working.

I have rt2500 compiled from latest CVS snapshot (also tried module which came with Ubuntu 8.04 but doesn't work any better). My wireless network inteface ra0 is for vmnet0.

This use to work very well on earlier versions. I can not try VMware Server 1.0.2 with Ubuntu 8.04, since it fails to compile the binaries. I tried workaroundsposted to this thread with no luck.

If any one comes up with anything, I'd be glad to hear.

BR,

Reply Re: can't bridge to wlan0 Aug 30, 2008 2:17 PM

in response to: tav

tav 3 posts since
May 27, 2006

Hi,

I noticed this thread:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/95630

The patch is working! I did following steps as root:

1) Download and apply the patch:

cd /tmp
tar xvf /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmnet.tar
wget http://www.hauke-m.de/fileadmin/vmware/vmware-wireless.patch
patch -p0 < vmware-wireless.patch
tar cvf vmnet.tar vmnet-only
mv /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmnet.tar /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmnet.orig.tar
mv vmnet.tar /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmnet.tar

2) Re-configure networking by running vmware-config.pl

vmware-config.pl

3) Restart the hosts

Everything works now. I wonder when VMware is going to make bridging to work offcially on wireless adapters as it used to work before.

BR,

-T

Reply Re: can't bridge to wlan0 Sep 1, 2008 5:04 AM

in response to: tav

marius 180 posts since
Nov 3, 2004

I am experiencing a similar problem using VMware Server 1.0.6 on Vista host and various Windows guests.
Is there a solution for the Windows based VMware server as well?
Regards
Marius

Reply Re: can't bridge to wlan0 Sep 1, 2008 5:13 AM

in response to: marius

tav 3 posts since
May 27, 2006

The particular patch I was referring to works only for Linux version of VMware Server. I seriously doubt there is similar solution for Windows, since I believe VMware doesn't provide sources for vmnet on Windows.

BR,

-T

Reply Re: can't bridge to wlan0 Sep 12, 2008 5:40 AM

in response to: tav

pHoEnIxFuRy 1 posts since
Sep 12, 2008

Big thx it's working for me on Ubuntu 8.4 with VMWare Server 1.07 AND XP Pro guest !

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