Perl based Guest Customization could fail to set DNS settings on Debian 11.x/12.x/13.x

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

DNS server and search domain can be overwritten by NetworkManager mistakenly when customizing Debian 11.x/12.x/13.x

Environment

vCenter Server 7.0

vCenter Server 8.0

vCenter Server 9.0

Cause

The network interface is managed by NetworkManager.

NetworkManager will detect that an interface is re-connected which does happen during guest customization between finishing perl script execution and triggering reboot.

Because of this, /etc/resolv.conf gets updated with DHCP configuration according to the configuration file located at /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Wired connection 1, the content written by perl script during customization is overwritten.

Resolution

This issue will be resolved in a future release.

To workaround this issue:

1.  Modify your VM or VM template by creating a new file as follows:

touch /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/workaround.conf

2.  Modify this file with vi or other text editor:

vi /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/workaround.conf

3.  Add the following lines to the file and save:

[main]
dns=none