Network constantly re-connecting (Ubuntu host, Windows 10 guest)

[Alver]

Good day.

I've got strange problem with virtual machine on Ubuntu host. I have next configuration:

Host: Ubuntu Server 16.04 LTS.

VM: Windows10, network type: NAT, ethernet0.virtualdev = "vmxnet3" or "e1000" (problem the same).

This virtual machine was created on Windows host and then moved to server (packed to vagrant box and launched on server-side with vagrant)

As result - network connection is unpredictable unstable. From vmware.log this looks like:

2016-07-08T13:29:26.553+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:0, adapter:0

2016-07-08T13:29:26.553+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 5 to 7.

2016-07-08T13:29:26.553+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:1, adapter:1

2016-07-08T13:29:26.553+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 7 to 2.

2016-07-08T13:29:31.731+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 2 to 6.

2016-07-08T13:29:31.833+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 6 to 1.

2016-07-08T13:29:37.133+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 1 to 5.

2016-07-08T13:29:52.780+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:0, adapter:0

2016-07-08T13:29:52.780+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 5 to 7.

2016-07-08T13:29:52.780+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:1, adapter:1

2016-07-08T13:29:52.780+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 7 to 2.

2016-07-08T13:29:57.969+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 2 to 6.

2016-07-08T13:29:58.072+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 6 to 1.

2016-07-08T13:30:03.473+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 1 to 5.

2016-07-08T13:31:16.543+02:00| vmx| I125: MemSched: caller 0 numvm 1 locked pages: num 3841868 max 7174144

2016-07-08T13:31:16.543+02:00| vmx| I125: MemSched: locked Page Limit: host 8126664 config 7182336 dynam -1

2016-07-08T13:31:16.543+02:00| vmx| I125: MemSched: minmempct 50  timestamp 3012387

2016-07-08T13:31:16.543+02:00| vmx| I125: MemSched: VM 0 min 2129035 max 4226187 shares 4194304 paged 222534 nonpaged 10678 anonymous 21205 locked 3841868 touchedPct 18 dirtiedPct 16 timestamp 3012387 vmResponsive is 1

2016-07-08T13:31:16.543+02:00| vmx| I125: MemSched: locked 3841868 target 4226187 balloon 0 0 2726297 swapped 10487 0 allocd 439 512 state 0 100

2016-07-08T13:31:16.543+02:00| vmx| I125: MemSched: states: 0 1801 : 1 0 : 2 0 : 3 0

2016-07-08T13:31:16.543+02:00| vmx| I125: MemSched: Balloon enabled 1 guestType 4 maxSize 0

2016-07-08T13:35:02.659+02:00| vmx| I125: DISKLIB-LIB   : numIOs = 250000 numMergedIOs = 88626 numSplitIOs = 69

2016-07-08T13:49:25.390+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:0, adapter:0

2016-07-08T13:49:25.390+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 5 to 7.

2016-07-08T13:49:25.390+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:1, adapter:1

2016-07-08T13:49:25.390+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 7 to 2.

2016-07-08T13:49:39.336+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 2 to 6.

2016-07-08T13:49:39.585+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 6 to 1.

2016-07-08T13:49:57.688+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 1 to 5.

2016-07-08T13:51:23.281+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:0, adapter:0

2016-07-08T13:51:23.281+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 5 to 7.

2016-07-08T13:51:23.281+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:1, adapter:1

2016-07-08T13:51:23.281+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 7 to 2.

2016-07-08T13:51:34.195+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:0, adapter:0

2016-07-08T13:51:34.195+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 2 to 0.

2016-07-08T13:51:34.195+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:1, adapter:1

2016-07-08T13:51:34.195+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 0 to 2.

2016-07-08T13:51:34.638+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 2 to 6.

2016-07-08T13:51:35.273+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 6 to 1.

2016-07-08T13:51:51.076+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 1 to 5.

2016-07-08T13:52:17.893+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:0, adapter:0

2016-07-08T13:52:17.893+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 5 to 7.

2016-07-08T13:52:17.893+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:1, adapter:1

2016-07-08T13:52:17.893+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 7 to 2.

2016-07-08T13:52:23.049+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 2 to 6.

2016-07-08T13:52:23.151+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 6 to 1.

2016-07-08T13:52:28.354+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 1 to 5.

2016-07-08T13:52:59.988+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:0, adapter:0

2016-07-08T13:52:59.988+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 5 to 7.

2016-07-08T13:52:59.988+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:1, adapter:1

2016-07-08T13:52:59.988+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 7 to 2.

2016-07-08T13:53:05.143+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 2 to 6.

2016-07-08T13:53:05.245+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 6 to 1.

2016-07-08T13:53:10.827+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 1 to 5.

2016-07-08T13:53:50.952+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:0, adapter:0

2016-07-08T13:53:50.952+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 5 to 7.

2016-07-08T13:53:50.952+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:1, adapter:1

2016-07-08T13:53:50.952+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 7 to 2.

2016-07-08T13:53:56.117+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 2 to 6.

2016-07-08T13:53:56.218+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 6 to 1.

2016-07-08T13:54:01.736+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 1 to 5.

2016-07-08T13:58:29.690+02:00| vmx| I125: DISKLIB-LIB   : numIOs = 300000 numMergedIOs = 101645 numSplitIOs = 76

2016-07-08T13:59:21.009+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:0, adapter:0

2016-07-08T13:59:21.009+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 5 to 7.

2016-07-08T13:59:21.009+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:1, adapter:1

2016-07-08T13:59:21.009+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 7 to 2.

2016-07-08T13:59:33.779+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 2 to 6.

2016-07-08T13:59:34.282+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 6 to 1.

2016-07-08T13:59:48.782+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 1 to 5.

2016-07-08T14:00:06.625+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:0, adapter:0

2016-07-08T14:00:06.625+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 5 to 7.

2016-07-08T14:00:06.625+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:1, adapter:1

2016-07-08T14:00:06.625+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 7 to 2.

2016-07-08T14:00:11.781+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 2 to 6.

2016-07-08T14:00:11.882+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 6 to 1.

2016-07-08T14:00:17.227+02:00| vmx| I125: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: 'ethernet0' state from 1 to 5.

In virtual machine itself (on server-side, connect to it with VNC) I saw that network disconnected and connected back again in 1-2 second. In Windows event log I found only Warning events (one for each re-connect), DNS Client Event 1014. Tried method 1 and 2 from this article Event ID 1014: Microsoft Windows DNS Client - TechNet Articles - United States (English) - TechNet W...‌ - doesn't help.

Re-connections are unpredictable in time. Sometimes it doesn't happened for hour, sometimes happened each 10 second.

I don't know exactly where from this problem came, from host machine or from guest (whom of them are initiate re-connection).

So, what i did and what doesn't help:

1. Replace network adapter type from default "e1000" to "vmxnet3"

2. Follow suggestion in article on Microsoft website

3. Try some more wierd thing with network configuration on guest machine (like turn off unused protocol, etc.)

4. Replace DNS on guest machine from automatically assigned to pre-defined (8.8.8.8). DNS problem disappear from Windows Event log, but re-connections still happened time-to-time.

So, how to fix this network problem? Please, help.

[Yogesh_Nags]

Hello Alver,

As Ubuntu 16.04 is not a supported host to run Workstation 12 Pro, could you please confirm the kernel version of Ubuntu you are running. Also, please try booting into the previous kernel module and check if the issue persists.

[Alver]

Hi, Yogesh_Nags.

Thanks for reply.

Yes, you are right, on host machine I used Ubuntu 15.10. As I see in compatibility page (VMware Compatibility Guide - Guest/Host Search) - last supported version is 15.04.

Could this cause such kind of problem? What Ubuntu server version I must use on host machine?