Poor performance on Workstation VM's NIC when set to bridged mode
Article ID: 388244
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
When using a VMware Workstation VM with the NIC set to bridged mode, running speed tests to the public internet show that speeds are significantly worse compared to when the NIC is set to NAT.
Environment
- VMware Workstation 17.6.2
- Zscaler Client Connector 4.4.x
Cause
This is a known problem when Zscaler is used in the public internet speed test path. This problem is observed in VMware Workstation VMs that have their NICs set to bridged mode, and when the host PC running Workstation is using an older version of Zscaler Client Connector (e.g. 4.4.0389).
Resolution
Update the Zscaler Client Connector to the latest 4.5.x build.
If the ZScaler Client Connect is not found, check the network path/route between the VM and the public destination. Running a traceroute or network path analysis tool, verify if the hops' IP addresses belong to Zscaler's public service edges. If any of the hops' IP addresses belong to Zscaler, it indicates that traffic is being routed through Zscaler's cloud service, and a client connector is being used.
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