Preparing a VmWare Fusion Host

The vmxnet3 driver is required on a GigE Network Adapter used by VPP. On VmWare Fusion, the default Network Adapter driver is an Intel 82545EM (e1000), and there is no GUI to change it to vmxnet3. The change must be done manually in the VM’s configuration file as follows:

  • Bring up the VM library window: Window -> Virtual Machine Library

  • Right click on the VM where you want to change the driver: <VM-Name> -> Show in Finder. This pops up a new Finder window with a line for each VM that Fusion knows about.

  • Right click on the VM where you want to change the driver: <VM-Name> -> Show package contents. This brings up a window with the contents of the package.

  • Open the file <VM-Name> .vmx with your favorite text editor.

  • For each Network Adapter that you want used by VPP, look for the Network Adapter’s driver configuration. For example, for the VM’s first Network Adapter look for:

    ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"
    

    Replace e1000 with vmxnet3:

    ethernet0.virtualDev = "vmxnet3"
    

and restart the VM.

If you replaced the driver on your VM’s primary Network Adapter, you will have to change the primary network interface configuration in Linux.

First, get the new primary network interface name:

sudo lshw -class network -businfo

Bus info          Device      Class          Description
========================================================
pci@0000:03:00.0  ens160      network        VMXNET3 Ethernet Controller

Replace the existing primary network interface name in /etc/network/interfaces with the above device name (ens160):

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system,
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto ens160
iface ens160 inet dhcp