Getting a DHCP address in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat Linux 9.0, or Red Hat Advanced Server virtual machine

Products

• VMware
• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When running Mandrake Linux, SuSE Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat Linux 9.0, or Red Hat Advanced Server and one of these guest operating system tries to get a DHCP address, the attempt might fail and an error message is displayed:

 

Determining IP information for eth0... failed; no link present. Check cable?

Environment

VMware ESX Server 3.5.x VMware Workstation 5.x (Windows) VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable VMware ESX Server 3.0.x VMware GSX Server 3.x (Linux) VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded VMware Workstation 4.x (Windows) VMware ESX 4.1.x VMware ESX 4.0.x

VMware GSX Server 2.x (Linux) VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded VMware ESX Server 2.5.x VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0 VMware Workstation 4.x (Linux) VMware ESX Server 2.1.x VMware Workstation 5.x (Linux) VMware GSX Server 2.x (Windows) VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable VMware ESX Server 2.0.x VMware GSX Server 3.x (Windows) VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1

This article applies to these guest operating systems:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Red Hat Linux
• Red Hat Advanced Server
• SUSE Linux
• Mandrake Linux

Resolution

This problem has been seen on Mandrake Linux, SuSE Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Red Hat Linux guest operating systems, but is most often seen in Red Hat Linux 9.x or Red Hat Advanced Server guests.

To work around this problem:

1. Become root (su -) and use a text editor to edit the following files in the guest operating system:
   
   /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
   /etc/sysconfig/networking/devices/ifcfg-eth0
   
   Also edit the following file, if it exists:
   
   /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/ifcfg-eth0
    
   
   The third file is updated any time you run redhat-config-network and make changes in the Network Configuration panel.

   In all cases, eth0 is the number of the Ethernet adapter.

2. In each of the files, add the following section:

    check_link_down () { return 1; }  

3. Next, run the command ifup eth0 or restart the guest operating system.

Note: If you later run redhat-config-network again, check the file /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/ifcfg-eth0 to make sure the section you added to it remains intact. In some circumstances, the closing curly brace (the } character) might be dropped when you use the Network Configuration panel.