Networking fails after cloning an Ubuntu virtual machine

Products

• VMware
• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• After cloning an Ubuntu virtual machine, networking no longer functions.
• The ifconfig command does not show the network interface (for example, eth0), but may show a new one (for example, eth1).
• Restarting networking within the GuestOS with the command sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart shows the error:
  
  SIOCSIFADDR: no such device
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Bind socket to interface: no such device
Failed to bring up ethX
  
  
• Reviewing the dmesg log with the command dmesg | grep eth may show a message similar to:
  
  udev: renamed network interfaces ethX to ethY

Environment

VMware Workstation 8.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation Pro 12.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 7.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 3.x (Linux)
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware Workstation 6.x (Windows)
VMware Fusion 8.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Linux)
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware Workstation 3.x (Windows)
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware Fusion 5.x
VMware Workstation 8.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 12.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Windows)
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware Fusion 4.x
VMware Fusion 2.x
VMware Workstation 10.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Linux)
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware Workstation 10.x (Linux)
VMware Fusion 7.x
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware Fusion 6.x
VMware Fusion Pro 8.x
VMware Workstation 5.x (Windows)
VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware Workstation 6.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 5.x (Linux)
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware Workstation 4.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 7.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Windows)
VMware Workstation 4.x (Windows)
VMware Fusion 3.x

Cause

This occurs because cloning a virtual machine creates a new MAC address for each network adapter. The guest operating system detects this is a new network adapter that has been inserted, but retains configuration for the previous network adapter.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in Ubuntu 10.10. For more information, see the Ubuntu bug 341006.

Note: The preceding link was correct as of July 17, 2013. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

To work around this issue, change the persistent udev rules for the network interfaces:

1. In the Ubuntu guest, open a command prompt. For more information, see Opening a command or shell prompt (1003892).
2. As root, open the file /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules in a text editor:
   
   sudo vim /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
   
   
3. The file consists of a line for each udev rule, associating MAC addresses with ethN interface names. For example:
   
   SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth1"
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xy", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"
   
   
4. Identify the old and new interfaces by their MAC address in the ATTR{address}= field. For example:
   
   ATTR{address}=="xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xw" ... NAME="eth0" # old
ATTR{address}=="xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xz" ... NAME="eth1" # new
   
   
5. Copy the ethN name from the old interface to the new interface line. For example:
   
   ATTR{address}=="xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:x1" ... NAME="eth0" # old
ATTR{address}=="xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:x2" ... NAME="eth0" # new

   
6. Delete the line for the old ethN interface. For example:
   
   ATTR{address}=="xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:x3" ... NAME="eth0" # new

   
7. Save the udev configuration file.
8. Reboot the Ubuntu virtual machine.

When the system is rebooted, the network configuration for the previous network interface is applied to the new interface.

Note: If you are unable to reboot the virtual machine, you can manually restart the networking service using this command:

service networking restart

If this command fails with an unknown instance error, run this command:

/etc/init.d/networking restart

For more information on Ubuntu networking service restart issues, see the Ubuntu bug 440179.

Note: The preceding link was correct as of July 17, 2013. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

Additional Information

Opening a command or shell prompt
Ubuntu 仮想マシンのクローン作成後にネットワーク障害が発生する
在克隆 Ubuntu 虚拟机后网络失败