CentOS - Jun 2009 - Slow CentOS VM when running off the network

I have a CentOS 5.3 VM running under VMware on a WIndows XP laptop.   
Everything works fine when connected to the network.  However,  
removed from the network, most everything in the CentOS VM takes  
minutes to complete.  For instance, starting a new Terminal window  
takes over 3 minutes.  I did an strace, and there are a couple of  
long waits when trying to open a socket (/tmp/.ICE-unix/XXXXX for  
instance).

The host and the VM can ping each other fine, but any access to the  
VM (either external or from within) eventually succeeds, but it takes  
a long time.  First, I thought I'd reduce the default socket timeout  
(which I believe is set to around 90 seconds), but I can't find where  
to do that on a system wide level.  But I really need to figure out  
what is causing the problem in the first place.  I'm assuming the  
network is somehow misconfigured, but I don't know how.

Alfred

Alfred von Campe wrote:
> I have a CentOS 5.3 VM running under VMware on a WIndows XP laptop.   
> Everything works fine when connected to the network.  However,  
> removed from the network, most everything in the CentOS VM takes  
> minutes to complete.  For instance, starting a new Terminal window  
> takes over 3 minutes.  I did an strace, and there are a couple of  
> long waits when trying to open a socket (/tmp/.ICE-unix/XXXXX for  
> instance).
> 
> The host and the VM can ping each other fine, but any access to the  
> VM (either external or from within) eventually succeeds, but it takes  
> a long time.  First, I thought I'd reduce the default socket timeout  
> (which I believe is set to around 90 seconds), but I can't find where  
> to do that on a system wide level.  But I really need to figure out  
> what is causing the problem in the first place.  I'm assuming the  
> network is somehow misconfigured, but I don't know how.
You could do "service network stop" on the CentOS VM when not on the 
network, or if you need networking between the VM and the hosts, 
configure for hostonly networking.

Phil

On Tue, 2009-06-16 at 13:50 -0400, Alfred von Campe
wrote:
> I have a CentOS 5.3 VM running under VMware on a WIndows XP laptop.   
> Everything works fine when connected to the network.  However,  
> removed from the network, most everything in the CentOS VM takes  
> minutes to complete.  For instance, starting a new Terminal window  
> takes over 3 minutes.  I did an strace, and there are a couple of  
> long waits when trying to open a socket (/tmp/.ICE-unix/XXXXX for  
> instance).
---
cat /etc/hosts
# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
::1     localhost.localdomain   localhost


john

Are you running VMWare Workstation or Server?  I am running VMWare
Workstation under MS Vista with a bunch of Centos guest VMs.  I noticed that
when my Vista host network connection changes state (becomes unavailable or
becomes available for any reason) that the VMWare software switch has real
trouble.  I often lose my ability to DHCP, for example.  Or perhaps DNS is
impacted. It is my feeling that their networking code is just not very
robust.

Would using shared folders be a viable alternative?

-geoff

---------------------------------
Geoff Galitz
Blankenheim NRW, Germany
http://www.galitz.org/
http://german-way.com/blog/

On Tue, 2009-06-16 at 13:50 -0400, Alfred von Campe
wrote:
> For instance, starting a new Terminal window  
> takes over 3 minutes.  
---
Open a terminal window and type cat /etc/hosts and post it.

On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 1:50 PM, Alfred von Campe<alfred at von-campe.com>
wrote:
> I have a CentOS 5.3 VM running under VMware on a WIndows XP laptop.
> Everything works fine when connected to the network. ?However,
> removed from the network, most everything in the CentOS VM takes
> minutes to complete. ?For instance, starting a new Terminal window
> takes over 3 minutes. ?I did an strace, and there are a couple of
> long waits when trying to open a socket (/tmp/.ICE-unix/XXXXX for
> instance).
>
> The host and the VM can ping each other fine, but any access to the
> VM (either external or from within) eventually succeeds, but it takes
> a long time. ?First, I thought I'd reduce the default socket timeout
> (which I believe is set to around 90 seconds), but I can't find where
> to do that on a system wide level. ?But I really need to figure out
> what is causing the problem in the first place. ?I'm assuming the
> network is somehow misconfigured, but I don't know how.
>
> Alfred
This is a classic sign of DNS query timeouts.  When you are connected
to the network the system is making DNS queries which respond quickly.
 When you are not connected, the host makes DNS queries and waits for
a response.  The timeout is a minute or so, so you will see a long
delay in any program that tries to resolve DNS.  Many programs use DNS
even if it's not entirely obvious why.

You didn't say which virtual network this machine is connected to, but
you probably want to use the NAT network and allow the VM to receive
the DNS server configuration via DHCP.