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lumangoy
Contributor
Contributor

need to restart VMWare NAT service occassionaly

On occassion I've had to restart my VMWare NAT service. My guest cannnot resolve DNS. After I restart, DNS is ok.

All my guest (all XP SP3) using NAT cannot resolve DNS.

VMWare 6.5 workstation on a Windows 2003 server. My Host almost has nothing installed except for Antivirus and the drivers.

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vmroyale
Immortal
Immortal

Hello and welcome to the forums.

Have you configured any DNS entries for NAT in the Virtual Network Editor?

If not, Virtual Network Editor -> NAT tab -> Edit -> DNS - Add

Good Luck!

Brian Atkinson | vExpert | VMTN Moderator | Author of "VCP5-DCV VMware Certified Professional-Data Center Virtualization on vSphere 5.5 Study Guide: VCP-550" | @vmroyale | http://vmroyale.com
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lumangoy
Contributor
Contributor

I don't have anything in there. (why does it work after I restart the nat service)

What IP address do I put in there? (the gateway IP?)

should I be using bridge vs nat instead? so I don't run into this problem?

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vmroyale
Immortal
Immortal

I don't have anything in there. (why does it work after I restart the nat service)

The better question might be "why does it stop working" - not sure.

should I be using bridge vs nat instead? so I don't run into this problem?

Bridge mode is a bit easier to deal with. If you can use bridged, give it a try.

When the three guests experience the DNS issue, does your host experience it as well?

Brian Atkinson | vExpert | VMTN Moderator | Author of "VCP5-DCV VMware Certified Professional-Data Center Virtualization on vSphere 5.5 Study Guide: VCP-550" | @vmroyale | http://vmroyale.com
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lumangoy
Contributor
Contributor

The better question might be "why does it stop working" - not sure.

Bridge mode is a bit easier to deal with. If you can use bridged, give it a try.

When the three guests experience the DNS issue, does your host experience it as well?

The host doesn't experience it. Initially I thought it was a VPN client on one of the guests that was causing it. But now even the other guest that doesn't have the VPN guest is having the DNS problem.

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moobarb
Contributor
Contributor

Hi

I seem to have a similar problem with the VMWare NAT service...

I run a hosted server through 1and1.co.uk - running VMWare Server 2.0. I have to use the VMWare NAT service - because, if I were to use "Bridged" mode, the 1and1 network detects unrecognised MAC addresses (from my Virtual machines) and shuts down my switch port...

I have 3 virtual servers all running Win Srv 2003 R2 running on the VMware server. The host is running Windows Server 2003 R2 x64.

Very randomly, the VMWare NAT service stops passing traffic through in either direction - yet the service says it's running. Restarting the service usually resolves this issue - but if it doesnt, a reboot of the host server tends to...

This problem could happen 2/3 times a day - sometimes it doesnt happen for a few days... Its rather odd - but very very annoying....

Answers on a postcard?

Dave

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WinDBG
Contributor
Contributor

I also have the same problem in VMware Workstation v6.5.1.

HOST: Windows 2008 x64(with Windows update) CLIENT: Windows XP sp3(no any update)

I don't meet this issue before. but these last few days I use BT and eMule in Client, then the issue is proleptic, about servel hours. while the problem come, I can ping success with http:// ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx(ipv4 address), but failed with http:// ping www.google.com , then as you can see, the real problem is VMware NAT's DNS service stop work.

I have google , it seems that this problem is an old issue but don't be fixed for at least 1.5 year. see

then this shoule be one hidden BUG in code.

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lumangoy
Contributor
Contributor

now my host is experiencing the problem. I can ping but I cannot browse. After restarting the VMWare NAT service i can browse. really strange...

When my host is experiencing the problem, my two guests (both XP SP3), one in bride, one in NAT, are fine.

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Ropati
Contributor
Contributor

I have the same problem too. My system: Workstation 6.5.1 running on Vista64 laptop with wireless connectivity. My working VM is WinXP SP3.

If someone in my house uses a certain wireless phone, my host 801.11g connection is lost until the phone call is ended. After the phone is shutdown, my host re-establishes connectivity to the internet, but the vmware nat service is hosed.

I'm thinking the service doesn't rebound well from dropped ip packets.

I want to use NAT rather than bridging, so I only have to worry about firewalling one wireless connection.

Hopefully VMware will fix the issue.

In the meantime, I've written a short WinRM script to stop and restart the vmware NAT service on the host from the VM. WinRM is Microsofts belated response to ssh. It isn't very difficult to set up and works out of the box in a Domain If you get the WinRM service running and authenticated, on and between the host and the VM, the two lines of the script are:

winrs -r:HostMachiineName net stop "vmware nat service"

winrs -r:HostMachineName net start "vmware nat service"

So when I loose network connectivity on the VM, I just run the script and keep on working.

There might be other issues getting the script to run:

  1. I have an internal virtual IP network configure along with the NAT network. I'm not sure what path WinRM is using so if it won't work a single virtual NAT network you might need to add a private virtual network.

  2. My computers are in a workgroup so WinRM needs to have each machine added to the TrustedHosts list on the other.

  3. Name resolution works for me, but if it doesn't, you can use a raw IP address in the WinrRS command (which won't change on the host connection to the Vmnet).

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BillyM2008
Contributor
Contributor

I am running VMWare Workstation 6.5 on Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 (x86) and running into this same frustrating problem. I can fix it by restarting the NAT service once every hour... but this is getting old.

I've seen a lot of posts on this.... but NO solution. Does anyone know if this bug is being addressed or at least taken seriously?

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newbie93
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I guess I should consider myself lucky.

I only have to restart the NAT service after I resume my XP SP3 host. Until I do that, none of my XP guests have network access. But after I restart, everything is good until the next Host suspend, then the cycle starts over again...

This all seemed to start after I applied SP3 to the host. Running 6.5.2

The weird thing is that my Ubuntu guests seem to work just fine after resuming the host from a hibermation before and after I restart vmware's NAT service on the host.

Message was edited by: newbie93 - typos

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patexchange
Contributor
Contributor

Hello,

this is a little bit off topic (because I did not figure out how to create a new post) but I guess for you experts this pretty simple:

I have VMWare Server Console, Version 1.0.6 build-91891, running on Win XP Pro SP3 and I use one WinXP VM inside this VM Host (which I have taken as snapshot and reverting it to snapshot often).

My question: Is it possible to see from outside the VM (e.g. in VM NAT Service Log files of VM Host) which web sites I have opened in the VM? I mean: does the VM NAT service log the DNS requests which the VM passes through it?

Hope any of you guys knows about the DNS/NAT logging behaviour and give me a hint. Thank you very much!

Patrick

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lumangoy
Contributor
Contributor

I've upgraded to WS7 and the problem continues.

when I have a torrent client running on one of my VMs, that when I have to restart the NAT service.

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