topic My Two Debian Linux VMs Lost their Networks Today in VMware Fusion Discussions

My Two Debian Linux VMs Lost their Networks Today

danallenhtn — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 04:41:51 GMT

I have two Debian VMs I use all the time, with ssh connections using the Terminal app on my MacOS. The problem I am having is now those VMs are unreachable by ssh or any other networlk connection.

With the VM running, this ssh call usually connects right away no problem. Now, nothing happens.

Here is the VM running and looking normal

I have been running two Debian Linux VMs as guests of VMware Fusion for years. I had a problem a few months ago caused by some dis disk drive corruptions and insufficient backup, but I have been past that for about two months no problems whatsoever.

Today I activated some substantial rsync scripts, that make snapshots of my various systems. Those jobs might have been interrupted by system going to sleep, but I used to do that all the time without a problem. I think more likely cause is quirks in how the router for the LAN in my home works. It is an ATT fiber optic internet router. My VMs and macos systems all get their own IPs assigned by router. They all the the same IPs all the time, based in IP assignments in the router assigned by Mac address.. The Mac addresses are all normal

Re: My Two Debian Linux VMs Lost their Networks Today

Technogeezer — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 17:18:12 GMT

First, what macOS version are you running, and what is the version of Debian that you're running in the VM.

Did you check the network status from within the virtual machines and not just rely on ssh.

Do you have your Mac configured never to sleep? It's problematic to allow the Mac to sleep while VMs are running.

From the last time that you used the VMs successfully:

Did any operating system updates get installed?
Did any Debian updates get installed

Have you shut down the VMs, then restarted your Mac.

Re: My Two Debian Linux VMs Lost their Networks Today

danallenhtn — Sun, 05 Nov 2023 22:17:13 GMT

I owe you an enormous apology. I came back and "posted" the fact that I solved the problem with the ol'turn it off/turn it on routine,. My post is not here, so I fumbled that and I am really sorry. The last thing I want to do is waste anyone's time.

To fix the problem I had, I shut down the VMs. Then shutdown the MAC. Power off. I have seen restarts not succeed when power does not go all the way off. Not for this problem, but I never take the chance anymore.

p.s. The sleep with runnng vms might have been the trigger. i did not know that should not be done. There have been many times my machines slept with the VMs on, and the sleeping created not problems, but I am running some relatively busy jobs now, which run between of the VMs and the other machines on network. Previously my sleeping VMs were awake but doing nothing when the host fell asleep.

Then started the Mac. Then started the VMs. Everything worked perfectly. That is all it took. I have had to do that a few times lately. Other than that, no problem whatsoever. I am very sorry to have prompted your attention to this.

VMWare Fusion and this forum are immensely helpful. One of the brightest lights in technology today is VM systems. I never thought I could have my servers. Now they are easy and better than the ones requiring their own hardware box.

@Technogeezer wrote:
First, what macOS version are you running, and what is the version of Debian that you're running in the VM.
Did you check the network status from within the virtual machines and not just rely on ssh.
Do you have your Mac configured never to sleep? It's problematic to allow the Mac to sleep while VMs are running.
From the last time that you used the VMs successfully:
Did any operating system updates get installed?
Did any Debian updates get installed
Have you shut down the VMs, then restarted your Mac.

MAC OS was Catalina. Debian 8 for one VM and VM 9 for the other.

The image I posted does is not clear enough to read. There were messages there coming from the VMs saying they had no network. I don't remember the exact language.

The sleep mode was triggered by time nothing telling the mac that it should stay on for what the VMs were doing.

Nothing new installed in the relevant time frame.

I shut down and restared VMs. No good. Added the mac to the shutdown, problem solved.