Scripts to manage Fusion network settings

[DaveP]

VM@Work Tokamak 1.0.0

Well I have finally found time to finish the scripts to manage the virtual network settings for VMware Fusion. Real world work got in the way of me finishing it for a few weeks. I have been using this for about a month now, and have not seen any ill effects from it. There is a preliminary document describing the functionality of the script, called VM@Work Tokamak. (Yes cheesy pun on Fusion!). The scripts bring the functionality of the VMware Workstation 6 for Linux product to Mac OS X. It allows you to define new networks, modify existing settings, change bridged etc. In this version I have limited the number of configurable vmnets to 10, but if more is needed it can be quickly altered.

The work has been released after VMware gave me permission to re-distribute their code. I would ask that you respect this and don't repost. It will be available here using the new document feature and at my web site, once I have had time to update it. In the meantime, please feel free to post comments here, PM me or use my private email address. All feedback gladly accepted.

My thanks to Pat Lee, Product Manger for VMware Fusion for helping get permission to modify the code and re-distribute.

Dave

Message was edited by: DaveP

There is an issue with the scripts when adding new vmnets. Unfortunately as I am on vacation I can't fix it as no access to Mac. Will fix and upload next week.

[paul549]

Hi, not sure if I'm posting in the correct section; I'm trying to install the networking scripts (tokamak) but my install appears to be failing. I'm running Snow Leopard 10.6.3:

sudo ./tokamak.sh --install

Unable to copy the source file /Library/Application Support/VMware

Fusion/vmnet-dhcpd.conf to the destination file /Library/Application

Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet1/dhcpd.conf.

Execution aborted.

VM@Work Tokamak 2.1.0: Display settings

The following virtual networks have been defined:

. vmnet1 is a host-only network on private subnet 192.168.180.0.

VM@Work Tokamak 2.1.0: Extended network scripting - Dave Parsons

Host-only networking on vmnet1 using 192.168.180.1/255.255.255.0 is not running

DHCP server on vmnet1 is not running

NAT router on vmnet1 is disabled

Can anyone assist me please (also tried using the root account-same output)

Thank you in advance.

[rcardona2k]

From the output you've supplied you're running outdated version of Tokamac (v2.1). Try scrolling up this thread until you find the 3.0.0 version, there are numerous download links and references to the posting where DaveP released Tokamac 3.0.

[paul549]

Hi, thanks. All installed OK now.

[paul549]

Hello again, should any newly created vmnets be listed in ifconfig? I've created a vmnet10 but this isn't listed when I run ifconfig, it is listed when I run the --display option in the scripts though.

I'm trying to bridge to a tap interface I have created but not having much luck!

Any help appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Paul

[bummibrumm]

I don´t know why but in VMware Fusion 3.1.1 there is no vmnet-apps.sh in /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/.

[n0p]

I've updated to Fusion 3.1.1 (282344) on two computers. Ever since the upgrade on each, my custom vmnets no longer work. I've tried deleting/re-creating/modifying the vmnet using tokamak but it still doesn't work. Both VMs on the custom network (one Windows and one CentOS) report no link on that interface. My NAT interface on the CentOS VM works fine. Installing VMware tools, deleting/re-adding the NIC in device manager, and creating a new interface on a newly created custom vmnet have not worked.

Is there an updated tokamak script that I should be using - currently using tokamak300-20091029? I've attached the output of tokamak.sh --display, contents of Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/networking, ifconfig of the vmnet interfaces, and the ethernet configuration from the Windows vmx file.

Thanks in advance

[WoodyZ]

The last update to this was a beta release over a year ago and there have been changes to VMware Fusion since so tokamak300-20091029.zip may not work properly with VMware Fusion 3.1.1 however I'm saying that without having tried it since it's just as easy for me to manually edit the necessary files to meet my needs.

I've reviewed the info in the vmware.txt file and see the following and it did say "Some/All of the configured services are not running" and in the networking file is says "answer VNET_2_DHCP no" and ifconfig doesn't show vmnet2 as UP. So unless you've properly assigned static IP Address to the Virtual Machines configured to use VMnet2 then they will not be able to communicate with each other.

[n0p]

Both machines assigned to the custom vmnet have static IP addresses on the same subnet (their IP configurations haven't changed since the upgrade) and I've tried bringing the vmnet adaptor on the host up temporarily and it didn't make any difference. Each VM reports no link on the network adaptor. I am more than willing to make whatever manual changes I need to in order to get this functioning again. What other files are in play?

[WoodyZ]

FWIW When I had problems with VM@Work Tokamak I had to uninstall VM@Work Tokamak and then uninstall/reinstall VMware Fusion in order to get the VMware Virtual Network Infrastructure functioning properly again and that coupled with ongoing changes that VMware has made to Networking in VMware Fusion I've stopped using VM@Work Tokamak all together and only do it manually so my suggestion to you is to uninstall VM@Work Tokamak and then uninstall/reinstall VMware Fusion and then reboot the Mac. Then check and see that the VMware Virtual Network Infrastructure is up and functioning properly using the Defaults and then to make modifications use information in with my reply to you a year ago as well as information in my reply . Information in the last link is not complete however it does covers the basics for creating additional NAT and or Host Only VMnets but does not cover Bridging to specific Host Network Adapters as I haven't had time to document it yet and don't have intentions to do it anytime soon either.

[n0p]

Unfortunately, doing it manually didn't fix the problem. It seems that the problem gets introduced with v3.1.0 (v3.0.2 works fine). It also appears that v3.1.0 introduced a universal (i386/x64) binary for the vmnet kext. I'm not sure if new configuration flags/options are needed for the same functionality or what. The custom vmnet doesn't work with v3.1.0 (or later) on either Leopard or Snow Leopard.

I've rolled back to 3.0.2 for the time being as having an isolated vmnet is a requirement for me. I'm not sure if I can/should submit a bug report for it since it isn't a supported feature? Is there any roadmap for officially providing and/or supporting this functionality?

[WoodyZ]

n0p I have no problems creating custom configurations manually under VMware Fusion 3.1.1 and if you really want to troubleshoot this then please start your own discussion thread as this one has become far to long and takes considerable time to load and discussing manual configurations takes this off topic which was about the VM@Work Tokamak scripts.

[fricker]

Dave (others),

I'm trying to modify the option domain-name in the vmnet-dhcpd.conf, but every time the vmnet-cli runs it overwrites my edits and replaces it back with localdomain again.

I've also tried editing individual vmnet1/dhcpd.conf files with the same effect once the boot.sh script executes.

Suggestions?

[WoodyZ]

With VMware Fusion 3.1.2  closed then in a Terminal use the following commands:

cd "/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion"
sudo ./boot.sh --stop
sudo nano ./vmnet1/dhcpd.conf
sudo ./boot.sh --start

I just tested changing option domain-name and it held the change when using the above commands as is.

[bruzzf]

Hi all,

Just bought Fusion 4 and gave a try at the scripts with it

and i'm getting the following:

./tokamak.sh: line 23: /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet-cli: No such file or directory

Is there any possibility yet to create VMnet 2 - 7 in Fusion 4 ?

[WoodyZ]

VM@Work Tokamak is no longer maintained and was abandoned by its creator, was never fully compatible with VMware Fusion 3 and certainly is in no way whatsoever compatible or usable with VMware Fusion 4.

Frankly, VMware not providing a Virtual Network Editor GUI in VMware Fusion 4, after all the years Fusion have been under development, is totally inexcusable!

Anyway with VMware Fusion 4 closed you should be able to manually edit the "/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/networking" file to add/modify/remove VMnets.

[bruzzf]

Did not know about the project being abandoned

i had a trial of the version 3 and the script worked fine with it

i tried to edit the networking file before posting

the catch was, when i installed Fusion 4,

i still had the folder /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion

and i was trying to edit the networking file over there, but i guess it was just a remain of my trial version

I now edited the correct networking file and looks good

vmnet2: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

ether 00:50:56:c0:00:02

inet 192.168.1.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255

vmnet3: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

ether 00:50:56:c0:00:03

inet 192.168.2.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255

Thanks

[WoodyZ]

Did not know about the project being abandoned

There has been no development activity posted in almost two years, I call that abandoned.

i had a trial of the version 3 and the script worked fine with it

Note that I said "was never fully compatible with VMware Fusion 3" and did not say it didn't work however it didn't with some releases of VMware Fusion 3.x as there were changes made in VMware Fusion Networking between its various maintenance releases and was problematic depending on just which release was being used.  The last update was a beta release tokamak300-20091029.zip and as you can see by it's date nearly two years ago.  Beta software is often incomplete, buggy and does not work in all normal use case scenarios and as usual YMMV.

JSYK I'm by no means trying to diminish the great effort and contribution that DaveP made to this community with VM@Work Tokamak and it was certainly more effort then VMware itself made in this particular area as evident by the lack of a Virtual Network Editor GUI that still does not exist in the VMware Fusion product in over 5 years of development and it 4th major release.

When one can download the free VMware Player and have a Virtual Network Editor GUI yet not in a product one has to pay for, something isn't right!