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    VmWare ESXi : 4th vmx does not work

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Virtualization
    11 Posts 5 Posters 2.8k Views
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    • H
      heper
      last edited by

      https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=109901.0

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      • A
        alfredo
        last edited by

        So this is a bug with FreeBSD and nothing can be done to make it work?

        Note: We're using vmWare ESXi 6 and not M$.

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        • H
          heper
          last edited by

          no clue … it sounded familiar so i linked the post.

          if i find the time i'll try this on a vm @ work in the next couple of days

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          • A
            alfredo
            last edited by

            Yes; maybe true for all hypervisors. What do the pfSense creators have to say?

            This is really kinda annoying since we deal with 10GB Ethernet speeds. E1000 is a big hindrance.

            Thanks.

            Alfredo

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            • C
              cmb
              last edited by

              That has nothing to do with Hyper-V.

              I'm sure it's working, it's that ESX shifts your NICs when you add beyond a certain number of vmxnet NICs. Network adapter 1 is no longer vmxnet0, etc. It changes how they're presented to the guest, so you have to reassign the NICs and figure out their order.

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              • A
                alfredo
                last edited by

                Could you please explain in terms of this vmx file what to do:

                Changing ethernet3.virtualDev = "e1000" to "vmxnet3" makes it fail.

                .encoding = "UTF-8"
                config.version = "8"
                virtualHW.version = "11"
                vmci0.present = "TRUE"
                floppy0.present = "FALSE"
                numvcpus = "8"
                memSize = "8192"
                bios.bootRetry.delay = "10"
                sched.cpu.units = "mhz"
                sched.cpu.affinity = "all"
                powerType.suspend = "soft"
                tools.upgrade.policy = "manual"
                scsi0.virtualDev = "lsisas1068"
                scsi0.present = "TRUE"
                sata0.present = "TRUE"
                scsi0:0.deviceType = "scsi-hardDisk"
                scsi0:0.fileName = "firewall0.vmdk"
                sched.scsi0:0.shares = "normal"
                scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
                ethernet0.virtualDev = "vmxnet3"
                ethernet0.networkName = "External Network"
                ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
                ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
                ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
                ethernet1.virtualDev = "vmxnet3"
                ethernet1.networkName = "Private Network"
                ethernet1.addressType = "generated"
                ethernet1.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
                ethernet1.present = "TRUE"
                displayName = "firewall"
                guestOS = "freebsd-64"
                toolScripts.afterPowerOn = "TRUE"
                toolScripts.afterResume = "TRUE"
                toolScripts.beforeSuspend = "TRUE"
                toolScripts.beforePowerOff = "TRUE"
                tools.syncTime = "FALSE"
                uuid.bios = "56 4d ba 5f c2 81 83 9f-6d c4 fd 17 bc 06 a8 36"
                uuid.location = "56 4d ba 5f c2 81 83 9f-6d c4 fd 17 bc 06 a8 36"
                vc.uuid = "52 3f 34 02 2c 55 a7 db-3b 2c 08 bc 55 ad 59 c2"
                sched.cpu.min = "0"
                sched.cpu.shares = "normal"
                sched.mem.min = "0"
                sched.mem.minSize = "0"
                sched.mem.shares = "normal"
                ethernet1.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:06:a8:40"
                vmci0.id = "-1140414410"
                cleanShutdown = "FALSE"
                ethernet2.virtualDev = "vmxnet3"
                ethernet2.networkName = "Hosting Network"
                ethernet2.addressType = "generated"
                ethernet2.wakeOnPcktRcv = "false"
                ethernet2.present = "TRUE"
                config.readOnly = "FALSE"
                ethernet2.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:06:a8:4a"
                ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:06:a8:36"
                extendedConfigFile = "firewall.vmxf"
                ethernet3.virtualDev = "e1000"
                ethernet3.networkName = "Customer Network"
                ethernet3.addressType = "generated"
                ethernet3.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
                ethernet3.present = "TRUE"

                tools.guest.desktop.autolock = "false"
                nvram = "firewall.nvram"
                pciBridge0.present = "true"
                svga.present = "true"
                pciBridge4.present = "true"
                pciBridge4.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
                pciBridge4.functions = "8"
                pciBridge5.present = "true"
                pciBridge5.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
                pciBridge5.functions = "8"
                pciBridge6.present = "true"
                pciBridge6.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
                pciBridge6.functions = "8"
                pciBridge7.present = "true"
                pciBridge7.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
                pciBridge7.functions = "8"
                hpet0.present = "true"
                RemoteDisplay.maxConnections = "-1"
                sched.cpu.latencySensitivity = "normal"
                sched.scsi0:0.throughputCap = "off"
                ethernet0.uptCompatibility = "TRUE"
                ethernet1.uptCompatibility = "TRUE"
                ethernet2.uptCompatibility = "TRUE"
                ethernet3.uptCompatibility = "TRUE"
                virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
                sched.swap.derivedName = "/vmfs/volumes/572d1574-e07d8ac8-03f4-0cc47a8e1078/firewall/firewall-1fe91f28.vswp"
                replay.supported = "false"
                pciBridge0.pciSlotNumber = "17"
                pciBridge4.pciSlotNumber = "21"
                pciBridge5.pciSlotNumber = "22"
                pciBridge6.pciSlotNumber = "23"
                pciBridge7.pciSlotNumber = "24"
                scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "160"
                ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "192"
                ethernet1.pciSlotNumber = "224"
                ethernet2.pciSlotNumber = "256"
                ethernet3.pciSlotNumber = "34"
                vmci0.pciSlotNumber = "32"
                sata0.pciSlotNumber = "33"
                scsi0.sasWWID = "50 05 05 6f c2 81 83 90"
                ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"
                ethernet1.generatedAddressOffset = "10"
                ethernet2.generatedAddressOffset = "20"
                ethernet3.generatedAddressOffset = "30"
                monitor.phys_bits_used = "42"
                vmotion.checkpointFBSize = "4194304"
                vmotion.checkpointSVGAPrimarySize = "4194304"
                softPowerOff = "FALSE"
                tools.remindInstall = "FALSE"
                migrate.hostLog = "./firewall-1fe91f28.hlog"
                replay.filename = ""
                scsi0:0.redo = ""
                ethernet3.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:06:a8:54"

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                • johnpozJ
                  johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                  last edited by

                  you can have more than 4 vmx nics - its just sometimes the order gets moved around and you have to tell pfsense which interface is which again is all.

                  Match up your mac addresses of the interfaces in pfsense and assign them where they need to be for your different networks.

                  If lets say vmx0 use to be your wan, and now your wan is vmx1 then yeah nothing going to work - just assign them correctly in your pfsense console.

                  An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                  If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                  Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                  SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                  • A
                    alfredo
                    last edited by

                    Thanks johnpoz and colleagues. That worked out very well.  :)

                    It turns out that VMWare shifts the adaptors around when going from 3rd to 4th "vmxnet3" adapter. The fourth Adaptor becomes vmx0…

                    All the best,

                    Alfredo

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                    • R
                      richtj99
                      last edited by

                      So is this a case where passthrough would work better?

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                      • johnpozJ
                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                        last edited by

                        No ;) i really can not think of use case where it makes sense to passthru unless esxi has no driver for nic and vm does and u dont have time to switch out nic that vmware supports

                        If u did that u should plan on changing to different nic or get with vmware for driver

                        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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