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TheToolWiz
Contributor
Contributor

problem connecting to server running in Fusion machine

I installed the Fusion beta recently, and just downloaded an installed a vm called "TWikiVMDebianStable24". It's a Debian 3.1 configured with TWiki, along with Apache 2 and stuff to make these work. It runs ok in the VM.

The instructions say you're supposed to set your ethernet connection for NATting rather than Bridged operation. By default, it configured itself as Bridged. You cannot apparently change this while a machine is live, so I rebooted and then selected NAT before the OS actually restarted.

With NAT selected, ifconfig displays an IP like 192.168.60.xx, which is what the docs say it should be. However, I can't see it from my browser when I enter that IP.

If I open the Terminal and type 'ping ', I get an error like:

\----


ping 192.168.60.128

PING 192.168.60.128 (192.168.60.128): 56 data bytes

36 bytes from 10.97.192.1: Communication prohibited by filter

Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst

4 5 00 5400 6077 0 0000 3f 01 5d2d 192.168.0.52 192.168.60.128

\----


Now, I happen to have my router's DHCP address range set to 10.x.x.x rather than 192.168.x.x. Could this be the problem? Or is it something else?

-David

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Bridged mode means that your VM is a peer of all the other machines on the local LAN. NAT mode means that the host OS is to function as a firewall for your VM.

If you plan to run server processes in a VM, certainly bridged mode is the easiest way to achieve that. You can also poke inbound holes in the NAT firewall by editing nat.conf, just like in Workstation.

In Fusion, this file lives at "/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/nat.conf". Here's an article about nat.conf; never mind its specific references to Workstation 5.5 and Linux hosts; it's perfectly applicable to Fusion.

http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/ws_net_nat_advanced.html#wp1051839

Changing nat.conf requires sudo, as well as restarting networking (which also requires sudo). On a Mac, you might do the latter as "sudo '/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/boot.sh' --restart".

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TheToolWiz
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Thanks for the info. Please clarify something for me.

Are you saying that I need to update nat.conf on my Mac, or inside the VM? Or both?

(This is my first exposure to VMWare. As I mentioned in another post, I get the feeling that a lot of the info written about Fusion is targeted at experienced VMWare users.)

Note that I picked this particular VM to play with because it uses a version of Debian that I've got running on another server, and I'm more familiar with it than other *nix distros. To get it working as a server, I just set up something in an 'interfaces' file to either use a static IP address, or configured to use DHCP to obtain an IP address. In this case, it's configured for DHCP, but it's not getting anything from the Fusion host -- which makes me wonder if it's got a DHCP server running. I couldn't tell.

-David

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Immortal
Immortal

Are you saying that I need to update nat.conf on my

Mac, or inside the VM? Or both?

Only on the Mac. The VM is oblivious to the fact that it is behind a NAT firewall.

Of course, you only need to take this action if your VM is in NAT mode, and you want to poke firewall holes. nat.conf does not affect VMs in bridged mode, because no firewall protects such VMs from your physical LAN.

(This is my first exposure to VMWare. As I mentioned

in another post, I get the feeling that a lot of the

info written about Fusion is targeted at experienced

VMWare users.)

Agreed; experienced users are typically the most vigorous beta participants.

To get \[Debian] working as a

server, I just set up something in an 'interfaces'

file to either use a static IP address, or configured

to use DHCP to obtain an IP address. In this case,

it's configured for DHCP, but it's not getting

anything from the Fusion host -- which makes me

wonder if it's got a DHCP server running. I couldn't tell.

A VM in NAT mode will get a DHCP-assigned IP address from the host, on a private LAN that's behind the host's software firewall. A VM in bridged mode will talk to whatever physical DHCP server that your physical LAN is served by.

Caution: If your Mac uses wireless networking for its LAN, be aware that bridged mode won't work for VMs in the current build of Fusion. You'll have to change the VMs to NAT mode, or else turn off your Mac's WiFi and plug in an Ethernet cable.

If you get this far, and your VM still can't get an IP address, even in NAT mode, you may need to update the Ethernet driver in your Debian VM. It will have a device driver for previous versions of VMware virtual-machine software. You can replace it by installing, from Fusion, the VMware Tools package into the VM.

Now things get a little bumpier. Debian is not an officially supported guest OS, which means that VMware does not provide a custom version of VMware Tools just for it. But nice folks on the Internet have figured how to get VMware Tools in; here's a link:

http://www.vmug.nl/downloads/Howto_install_VMTools_in_Debian_V2.pdf

Note that this document is aimed at the version of VMware software before Fusion. In those versions, the "Virtual Machine" menu is called the "VM" menu. Other than that, you should find that document followable.

Good luck!

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TheToolWiz
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Contributor

>Caution: If your Mac uses wireless networking for its LAN, be aware that bridged mode won't work for VMs in the current build of Fusion. You'll have to change the VMs to NAT mode, or else turn off your Mac's WiFi and plug in an Ethernet cable.

Aha! This is the culprit for Bridged mode! I've got the iMac set up in a temporary location, and it's working great over WiFi. But it would be a rather long cable run. Smiley Happy

Since I'm mainly interested in talking to this VM's server just from within the iMac itself, I'll follow your instructions to get the NAT working on the Mac's side. I'll update this message thread when I've tackled that.

BTW, I find it amusing that so few vendors seem to officially support Debian, although by most accounts it's the most widely used Linux distro in the world. But I notice that VMWare DOES support a number of Debian-based distros. Anyway, I found this on the VMTN site for pre-packaged VMs, so I assume that it's working at least for the guy who built it and posted it. Smiley Wink

Thanks!

-David

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TheToolWiz

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