Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    VMware Workstation VMs Web Traffic Being Blocked

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    221 Posts 6 Posters 54.7k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      Can you pcap on the client seeing the issues?

      On the pfSense VLAN interface it looks like all the traffic is present so it would good to see how much of that makes it to the client.

      Given that physical devices on the same VLAN can connect no problem it really looks like the hypervisor is dropping the traffic. Or maybe sending it to the wrong place etc.

      Steve

      D 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • D
        dfinjr @DaddyGo
        last edited by

        @daddygo
        Hello,
        The hosting system for the VMs is on Win10 + VMware workstation 16 pro. I would of suspected something possibly like that if I didn't have the same data flying just fine over a 5506x Cisco ASA before attempting to make the jump over to the netgate appliance.

        For the network adapter I have the VMs using bridged mode so they're seeing straight through to the intel hardline network adapter: (taken from 172.16.0.202)
        d9723bf3-7c23-4b3f-ad23-82caeae6cc3c-image.png

        From vmware workstation for that host:
        5b87f35c-939a-48a8-be3d-1ebc6e935ebc-image.png

        I think the screen shot it shows that the type is vmnet0.

        Thanks!
        David

        DaddyGoD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • D
          dfinjr @stephenw10
          last edited by

          @stephenw10
          I did a short packet capture and want to share it but there is a hard limit on the file size, tried compressing it but still not less than 2mb. Is there another method I could share it with you?

          I would think it was something to do with vmware workstation but can't think of a reason why it would work on a Cisco ASA and not this netgate appliance. Don't believe I did anything special with the Cisco at all.

          Either case, I definitely want to use the new netgate hardware for a few reasons, one being this hardware isn't 7yrs old :).

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • D
            dfinjr @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10
            Think I got it:
            pcap4.pcapng.gz

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • DaddyGoD
              DaddyGo @dfinjr
              last edited by DaddyGo

              @dfinjr said in VMware Workstation VMs Web Traffic Being Blocked:

              I think the screen shot it shows that the type is vmnet0.

              Nope, that would be part of the "custom" option, you are currently using the E1000e driver from VMwareTools as the default driver Intel 82574

              it's definitely the interaction between virtual environment and windows, I wouldn't think pfSense is cool to differentiate between physical machine and VM machine on the same subnet ๐Ÿ˜‰

              try playing around with the virtual machine NIC driver, as a high number of retransmission may indicate a stall....

              +++edit:
              https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2032184

              Cats bury it so they can't see it!
              (You know what I mean if you have a cat)

              D 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • D
                dfinjr @DaddyGo
                last edited by

                @daddygo said in VMware Workstation VMs Web Traffic Being Blocked:

                https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2032184

                I'll give this a shot here in a few and update the post. Thank you!

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • D
                  dfinjr @DaddyGo
                  last edited by

                  @daddygo
                  Looks like the vmware specific drivers do not want to play ball with the host:
                  48369a89-423e-44d2-8aed-595fbc1d48ea-image.png

                  DaddyGoD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • D
                    dfinjr @stephenw10
                    last edited by

                    @stephenw10
                    Hi Steve,
                    Was wondering if you had any other ideas on what you were seeing on the network packet captures?

                    Thanks!
                    David

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • DaddyGoD
                      DaddyGo @dfinjr
                      last edited by DaddyGo

                      @dfinjr said in VMware Workstation VMs Web Traffic Being Blocked:

                      Looks like the vmware specific drivers do not want to play ball with the host:

                      Ouupss...

                      Unfortunately I don't use Windows with workstation16, only on ESXi with vmxnet3 and no problems behind pfSense....

                      just out of curiosity would you try it behind NAT on your workstation16...(?)

                      BTW:
                      windows is a strange beast when it comes to type 2 hypervisors, although I haven't seen this on VirtualBox yet either, I'll install one on workstation16 tomorrow.

                      I'm getting more and more excited, but I can definitely feel that it's not a pfSense question ๐Ÿ˜‰

                      edit:
                      Ubuntu behaves perfectly well in this setting, so I suspect to MS

                      dcaa7a3e-1a35-4b8e-a20e-2b44d1b7ca91-image.png

                      Cats bury it so they can't see it!
                      (You know what I mean if you have a cat)

                      D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        Mmm, I would not think either pfSense or the Cisco router would have any idea which traffic comes from a VM. And it shouldn't matter.
                        Things I could imagine happening are the Cisco doing some fragmentation or reassembly pfSense is not.

                        DaddyGoD D 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • DaddyGoD
                          DaddyGo @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10 said in VMware Workstation VMs Web Traffic Being Blocked:

                          Cisco doing some fragmentation or reassembly pfSense is not.

                          Yuppp,... This is also possible, but the problem is that it is transferred to the VM environment in different ways, ergo one of the device drivers (VM) is messing with us (maybe) ๐Ÿ˜‰

                          BTW:
                          ens33 has nothing wrong with this on Ubuntu

                          Cats bury it so they can't see it!
                          (You know what I mean if you have a cat)

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            In the pcap there are some jumbo frames shown between internal hosts. So possibly something is trying to use them externally. I don't see that in the capture though.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • D
                              dfinjr @DaddyGo
                              last edited by

                              @daddygo
                              Ok so interestingly enough, switching it to NAT and then allowing it to get an "IP" from the VMware hosting pieces with its little internal DHCP server it does restore internet functionality. However, I think with the solutions that I'm hosting (Endpoint management with BigFix) that this may very well stop it from service providing for the rest of the infrastructure. Haven't tested that out yet or anything but wanted to drop the note that it is allowing for browsing under nat settings.

                              I'll test out the other functionality to see if I am getting roadblocks for its other services. Clients external to that system register to the management area so I am worried that if it was buried behind the hosting laptops identity on the network.

                              DaddyGoD D 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • DaddyGoD
                                DaddyGo @dfinjr
                                last edited by

                                @dfinjr said in VMware Workstation VMs Web Traffic Being Blocked:

                                it does restore internet functionality.

                                I felt it was going to be ๐Ÿ˜‰
                                which is why I don't use a windows on type two hypervisor, hihihihi

                                but still I understand your concern and I'm sure it can be made to work, now I'm going to watch CNN (damn war , ): ), but tomorrow I'll install a win10 (on ws16) and test it, because it's interesting

                                I'll let you know what I find

                                Cats bury it so they can't see it!
                                (You know what I mean if you have a cat)

                                D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • D
                                  dfinjr @dfinjr
                                  last edited by

                                  @dfinjr
                                  It makes sense to me why going NAT would work but I did just verify that it makes the hosting services invisible on the network. So it does fix browsing but does break the availability of listening services.

                                  DaddyGoD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • D
                                    dfinjr @DaddyGo
                                    last edited by

                                    @daddygo
                                    Thank you for all the help today! I am going to keep going but you've shed some light on things to say the least!

                                    DaddyGoD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • DaddyGoD
                                      DaddyGo @dfinjr
                                      last edited by

                                      @dfinjr said in VMware Workstation VMs Web Traffic Being Blocked:

                                      but does break the availability of listening services.

                                      Well this is how I hide my Ubuntu machine on WS16, yes indeed not a "bridge" type connection

                                      Cats bury it so they can't see it!
                                      (You know what I mean if you have a cat)

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • DaddyGoD
                                        DaddyGo @dfinjr
                                        last edited by

                                        @dfinjr said in VMware Workstation VMs Web Traffic Being Blocked:

                                        but you've shed some light on things to say the least!

                                        you're welcome,
                                        if you keep testing, post it here so I can see it tomorrow ๐Ÿ˜‰

                                        Cats bury it so they can't see it!
                                        (You know what I mean if you have a cat)

                                        D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • D
                                          dfinjr @stephenw10
                                          last edited by

                                          @stephenw10 said in VMware Workstation VMs Web Traffic Being Blocked:

                                          I could imagine happening are the Cisco doing some fragmentation or reassembly pfSense is not.

                                          Is there a way for me to enable something like this in pfsense?

                                          stephenw10S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • D
                                            dfinjr @DaddyGo
                                            last edited by

                                            @daddygo
                                            Will do!

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.