[SOLVED] Imported VM doesn't recognize network adapter

andyn

Active Member
Jan 29, 2020
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Hi all,

New to Proxmox, transitioning from VMware. After a couple of teething issues with the changes of concepts, I'm loving Proxmox.
Performance is better on the same hardware, and oh the joy of having in-built backup that works!

Anyhow, to the point. I'm converting VMware VMs to Proxmox, migrating them by using the import tools and commands as documented on
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Migration_of_servers_to_Proxmox_VE

Note that I'm using the free version of ESXi, with no Vsphere server.

The VM imported fine and starts, but without any network adapters (as mentioned on the above page, you have to configure them yourself).
When I add one in Proxmox then start the vm, it doesn't seem to see the network card at all. ifconfig shows only the loopback address, and /etc/networks/interfaces on the VM is empty.

I've tried using the E1000 and vmxnet3 adapter types (the vmware-hosted vm used vmxnet3) but to no avail.

This vm is Ubuntu server 16.04, the next is a mail server so I might build it from scratch in Proxmox and then just move the mailboxes.

Anyone any ideas?
 
please post the output of `ip link` in the VM
/etc/networks/interfaces
this needs to be configured by you and should not get touched by the conversion process ...
maybe the machine uses a different tool for networking? (systemd-networkd, netplan, networkmanager)?
 
Case closed. All fixed.
Thanks for the pointers.

To confirm for anyone finding this thread with the same issue:

Interface names are different between VMware and Proxmox, so from the above hints, I went digging.
https://wiki.debian.org/NetworkConfiguration is a help.

/etc/networks/interfaces shows the correct configuration carried over from VMware, but references an interface name that doesn't exist.

From https://wiki.debian.org/NetworkConfiguration, the command

> ls /sys/class/net

will list the interfaces that the OS has detected.
I backed up /etc/network/interfaces then edited to reference this name instead of the old one, and rebooted.
 
Glad you resolved your issue - you can mark the thread as 'SOLVED' yourself - by clicking on the 3 dots above the first post -> edit thread -> select 'SOLVED' as prefix (for the next time - I'll mark this one as solved)
 
Case closed. All fixed.
Thanks for the pointers.

To confirm for anyone finding this thread with the same issue:

Interface names are different between VMware and Proxmox, so from the above hints, I went digging.
https://wiki.debian.org/NetworkConfiguration is a help.

/etc/networks/interfaces shows the correct configuration carried over from VMware, but references an interface name that doesn't exist.

From https://wiki.debian.org/NetworkConfiguration, the command

> ls /sys/class/net

will list the interfaces that the OS has detected.
I backed up /etc/network/interfaces then edited to reference this name instead of the old one, and rebooted.
Thank you very much, this saved my day!
 
Solved my issue as well!

In some instances, you may need to edit the /etc/netplan/XX-installer-config.yaml file (replace XX with the numbers actually present in your system). Change the interface name in the YAML file, save it, then sudo netplan apply.

Worked like a champ!
 
Another thumbs up from me :)

I also am a new Proxmox user — VMware 'divorced' me when my ESXi host (for the second time) would not come back from a managed power down. Instead of tying to recover it — especially given where VMware is these days — I overwrote the ESXi boot disk with Proxmox VE.

I was left with the VM directories and their associated files (VMDK etc.) converting them and attaching to a new Proxmox VM was a trial in itself, I got them to boot but the network adapter refused to come up — didn't matter which type I chose in the VM hardware settings.

I found this post and it solved the issue. The old VM was a CentOS machine so the interface was not in /etc/network/interfaces I did the following:

Bash:
ls /sys/class/net
# Showed ens18 not ens192

cd /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/
cp ifcfg-ens192 /backup/ifcfg-ens192
mv ifcfg-ens192 ifcfg-ens18

# Edited both instances of ens192 to ens18
# NAME=ens18
# DEVICE=ens18

# Reboot

Came right up.