[OT] Problem with Centos52 and VMware?

[Joe Tseng-2]

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I've got a machine I'm using as a VMWare Server host running CentOS52.  Every so often I'd lose contact with it and when I go check it out at the console I see the message "eth0: promiscuous mode enabled."  The only thing on there that I've got running on that host is VMWare (w/add'l host only network) and sshd.  I don't recall this behavior occurring with Fedora or the old RHL as often if ever.  Has anyone seen this before and how do I solve this problem?  Thanks!

 - Joe

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[Mark Haney]

Joe Tseng wrote:
> I've got a machine I'm using as a VMWare Server host running CentOS52.  Every so often I'd lose contact with it and when I go check it out at the console I see the message "eth0: promiscuous mode enabled."  The only thing on there that I've got running on that host is VMWare (w/add'l host only network) and sshd.  I don't recall this behavior occurring with Fedora or the old RHL as often if ever.  Has anyone seen this before and how do I solve this problem?  Thanks!
>

Well, this is a Fedora list and not a CentOS or RHEL list, but I'll give
it a shot.  Having promiscuous mode enabled isn't an error per se.  I
keep my eth0 in that mode all the time for Wireshark, et al.
applications.  That shouldn't keep you from getting to the machine.  Is
it possible the eth card hung? What is the status of the card after it
hangs?




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Mark Haney
Sr. Systems Administrator
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Call (866) ERC-7110 for after hours support

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[Joe Tseng-2]

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Nothing unusual appears IIRC when I run ifconfig.  I am unable to ping anything on the network and I also ran "network restart" but to no avail.  So far only a full restart would make the problem go away.

I just realized I haven't looked at my logs; I'll check that out later.

---

> Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 09:11:12 -0400

> From: mhaney@...
> To: fedora-list@...
> Subject: Re: [OT] Problem with Centos52 and VMware?
>
> Joe Tseng wrote:
> > I've got a machine I'm using as a VMWare Server host running CentOS52. Every so often I'd lose contact with it and when I go check it out at the console I see the message "eth0: promiscuous mode enabled." The only thing on there that I've got running on that host is VMWare (w/add'l host only network) and sshd. I don't recall this behavior occurring with Fedora or the old RHL as often if ever. Has anyone seen this before and how do I solve this problem? Thanks!
> >
>
> Well, this is a Fedora list and not a CentOS or RHEL list, but I'll give
> it a shot. Having promiscuous mode enabled isn't an error per se. I
> keep my eth0 in that mode all the time for Wireshark, et al.
> applications. That shouldn't keep you from getting to the machine. Is
> it possible the eth card hung? What is the status of the card after it
> hangs?

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[Mark Haney]

Joe Tseng wrote:
> Nothing unusual appears IIRC when I run ifconfig.  I am unable to ping anything on the network and I also ran "network restart" but to no avail.  So far only a full restart would make the problem go away.
>
> I just realized I haven't looked at my logs; I'll check that out later.
>

Please don't top post.  It makes it hard to keep track of the thread.

Sounds like the NIC driver is bombing.  What NIC is it and what does
lsmod show before and after the failure?  Seems to me the problem is the
NIC module is hanging up and on a restart gets unloaded and loaded up
again fixing the hang.


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Mark Haney
Sr. Systems Administrator
ERC Broadband
[phone]

Call (866) ERC-7110 for after hours support

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[fred smith-5]

On Fri, Aug 08, 2008 at 09:11:12AM -0400, Mark Haney wrote:

> Joe Tseng wrote:
> >I've got a machine I'm using as a VMWare Server host running CentOS52.  
> >Every so often I'd lose contact with it and when I go check it out at the
> >console I see the message "eth0: promiscuous mode enabled."  The only
> >thing on there that I've got running on that host is VMWare (w/add'l host
> >only network) and sshd.  I don't recall this behavior occurring with
> >Fedora or the old RHL as often if ever.  Has anyone seen this before and
> >how do I solve this problem?  Thanks!
> >
>
> Well, this is a Fedora list and not a CentOS or RHEL list, but I'll give
> it a shot.  Having promiscuous mode enabled isn't an error per se.  I
> keep my eth0 in that mode all the time for Wireshark, et al.
> applications.  That shouldn't keep you from getting to the machine.  Is
> it possible the eth card hung? What is the status of the card after it
> hangs?

I think vmware puts the host's network into promiscuous mode, at least
when the guest(s) use "bridged" networking, purposely, to support
having multiple entities using the same physical NIC.

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--------------------------- Proverbs 18:10 (niv) -----------------------------


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[Joe Tseng-2]

Well I think my problem is solved.  Someone else pointed out that sometimes
a guest system's clock stops advancing and causes a problem with the
kernel's network stack:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-server-73/centos52-vmware-host-stops-responding-on-network-661399/

I have always noticed my guest systems' clocks always ran significantly
slower than the host's clock.  I did some searching and found that one
workaround for this was to add the flags "nosmp noapic nolapic" to the boot
kernel's entry in grub:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1420

My guests have been up for almost a week now so far with no ill effects.
*crossfingers*

 - Joe


--------------------------------------------------
From: "Mark Haney" <mhaney@...>
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2008 9:30 AM
To: "For users of Fedora" <fedora-list@...>
Subject: Re: [OT] Problem with Centos52 and VMware?

> Joe Tseng wrote:
>> Nothing unusual appears IIRC when I run ifconfig.  I am unable to ping
>> anything on the network and I also ran "network restart" but to no avail.
>> So far only a full restart would make the problem go away.
>>
>> I just realized I haven't looked at my logs; I'll check that out later.
>>
>
> Please don't top post.  It makes it hard to keep track of the thread.
>
> Sounds like the NIC driver is bombing.  What NIC is it and what does lsmod
> show before and after the failure?  Seems to me the problem is the NIC
> module is hanging up and on a restart gets unloaded and loaded up again
> fixing the hang.
>
>
> --
> Libenter homines id quod volunt credunt -- Caius Julius Caesar
>
>
> Mark Haney
> Sr. Systems Administrator
> ERC Broadband
> [phone]
>
> Call (866) ERC-7110 for after hours support
>
> --
> fedora-list mailing list
> fedora-list@...
> To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
>

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