Tag Archives: no connectivity

EVE-NG on VMware ESX Strange ARP Problems?

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6

KB ID 0001601

Problem

I use EVE-NG a lot, it’s an awesome tool. Also I’m lucky enough to have my own ESX servers, so that’s where it lives. I’ve noticed this problem before, but I’ve either given up, and done something else, or it’s manifested itself in an ‘odd’ way that I can work around.

If you’re new to connecting EVE-NG to a live network you might want to read the following post first;

EVE-NG (VMware) Connecting to the Internet

When setting up a new lab, I connected a Ciso IOL router to my cloud object, and it successfully got an IP from DHCP, but could not communicate with the outside world. So I replaced it with a Cisco (Dynamips) router, same thing! So I replaced with with a Cisco ASAv, same thing!

I moved the EVE-NG machine onto its own standard vSwitch, (no difference).


I hadn’t committed the ‘schoolboy error‘ of forgetting to allow promiscuous mode on the port group.

I could also see from my physical network, that there was layer 2 connectivity happening, as it was in in the ARP cache of my core switch.

I did notice that if I waited for a long time, it would start working, so (on the Core Switch) I flushed the ARP cache, and pinged the EVE-NG device and got a response, then it worked fine from EVE-NG, (for a while, in a manner of speaking!) If I tried to NAT any other traffic, or do anything else, then the problem returned. I could keep flushing the ARP cache on the switch, but that’s a bit annoying?

Solution

Well, (in my case) the problem turned out to be a problem with the fact I have ‘teamed‘ physical NICs on the vSwitch, which you can see above (vmnic0, and vmnic7). AS SOON as I removed one, and only had one physical uplink it worked faultlessly?

Everything works now.

Note: I tried changing the load balancing algorithms to ‘Route based on IP hash‘, ‘Route based on source MAC hash, and even ‘Use Explicit failover order‘, none of these worked.

I did see other people in forums that were saying, ‘I only have one physical uplink‘, I’m suspecting that in their case, it’s promiscuous mode was missing, but feel free to comment below, if any one manages a better work-around / fix / explanation.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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GNS3 Cannot Connect Network Interfaces when running on VMware vSphere

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KB ID 0000671 

Problem

I have plenty of real ASA firewalls to play with, but it’s getting round to re-certification time, so for ease I thought I’d run up a Virtual ASA on my vSphere 5 box just for testing and breaking.

However no matter what type of Virtual Network adaptor I used (vmxnet3, e1000, etc) I could not connect to the virtual firewall.

Solution

1. Firstly make sure you actually have an IP address in the correct range set on the ASA, and the interface is up.

Note: To connect a virtual ASA to the outside world you need to have a ‘Cloud’, then assign your machines NIC to the cloud. Finally you join the cloud to the ASA with a switch.

2. From my laptop (out on the network), I could not connect to, or ping the ASA 🙁

3. However if you log into your ESX/vCenter Server and change the settings on the virtual switch that the parent VM is attached to. Configuration > Networking > Switch > Properties > vSwitch > Edit > Security Tab > Change Promiscuous Mode to Accept > OK.

4. Now it works!

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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