vWLC on VMware Fusion

[Huan NG]

Hi all,

I got an issue on accessing Virtual WLC's GUI in my home LAB network and I have been trying to figure out why for a few days.

vWLC is installed on ESXi which is a apart of my VMware fusion on windows 10. vWLC's management interface is assigned an IP 172.16.10.5 (with default getway 172.16.10.1/24) which on VLan 10. I have set these up during vWLC installation process via Console interface.

On ESXi switch, I created a Trunk & assigned VM vWLC into it. The uplink of the switch is attached VMnic2 which is bridged to my physical network 172.16.10.0/24 via a USB to Ethernet adapter. The adapter is set an IP 172.16.10.100/24.

My question is why I'm not able to access vWLC's GUI via its IP 172.16.10.5 from another computer which I directly connect to the USB to Ethernet adapter on the same network???

Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[pieterh]

My question is why I'm not able to access vWLC's GUI via its IP 172.16.10.5 from another computer which I directly connect to the USB to Ethernet adapter on the same network???

you do not tell what config this PC has?

is it DHCP, is it fixed IP?

can it ping 172.16.10.100/24?

[Huan NG]

Hi,

I actually found out the reason.

It is just because VMWare Workstation doesn't let VLan tagged frames pass through it. 

I didn't know this and spent a few days wrapping my head around until received a reply from one member in VMWare Community.

Thank for your attention anyway.

[pieterh]

if you want to experiment further:

it is not VMWare that blocks the vlan tags, it is the PC network driver that does not recognize vlan tags
most pc-network drivers do not, server drivers for same hardware do!
you need to install another NIC driver or maybe you can enable vlan tagging in the NIC settings.
worst case install another NIC with correct driver.

[Huan NG]

Hi there,

I've tested ping between my 2 laptops that I did set VLAN 10 tag on both NIC adapters (USB to Ethernet adapter on the laptop that has VMWare Workstation installed & the other is on my 2nd laptop which I intended to access vWLC's GUI from) and the ping was successful.

It means they do understand & accept VLAN tagged frames transferred between them. Do you agree with me on this point? 

The link below is to the post that I've posted on VMWare Community for help & got replied. Could you verify if the answer is correct or not? 

https://communities.vmware.com/message/2978911#2978911

If VMWare Workstation actually doesn't support VLAN tag through it, it won't be good for me. Because I've got to purchase a real WLC for my home Lab :)

[Scott Fella]

Well my option is an appliance. That is what I’ve been using for the longest time for my home/production lab. I do have Workstation that have ESXi 6.7 & 7.0 on them and another one with hyper-v. You should find some devices where you can use ESXi or hyper- as ESXi has free license and hyper-v is available on server and or certain Windows platforms.