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1 Replies Last post: Mar 2, 2009 4:22 PM by Scissor
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VMWare, WinPcap and Packet Loss

Mar 1, 2009 1:03 PM

Click to view grandmaster's profile Lurker grandmaster 1 posts since
Mar 1, 2009
Hi everybody!

I have recently stumbled upon a problem, which renders my project nearly useless....

I have 2 VMs, each one runs Win2k3 Server. My server side program sends packets using WinPcap, the client side gets them using WinPcap.
Up till now i worked without VMs - Win2k3 Server was installed on the physical hard disk. My project worked like it should - without losses during packet transfer from server to client.

Now, as i started using VMs (Virtual NIC is BRIDGED to physical), i get packet loss ~2-3% in case the Server AND Client side of my project are installed on VMs.
If i install only one side (server OR client) on VM and the other one on physical disk, packet loss is still present, but is 2 times less.

Based on these tests I assume that somehow there is a packet loss when the data is transfered from the physical NIC to the virtual one (and vice versa).
Please, if someone has a clue of why this happens, share your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

p.s. Server and Client sides are on separate computers.
Reply Re: VMWare, WinPcap and Packet Loss Mar 2, 2009 4:22 PM
Click to view Scissor's profile Master Scissor 1,221 posts since
Oct 8, 2007
Well, some packet loss could be considered normal behavior, especially if your Project heavily taxes the virtual machine.

Does 2% packet loss cause your Project to stop working?

If you attach the vmware.log and the .vmx file from the directory containing one of your Guest VMs I can take a look to see if anything obvious jumps out at me.
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