Are you facing network problem after kernel upgrade? Does system Ethernet cards not visible post kernel upgrade? If your system falls under below categories, then this solution may fix your network issue.

• Server loaded with Linux operating system
• Server is a VMware virtual machine
• VMware-tools version 9 installed

I faced network issue in Redhat Linux 5.5 system when upgrading kernel from version “kernel-2.6.18-186.el5” to version “kernel 2.6.18-348”. Kernel upgrade has been finished without error. When system boots up with new kernel found network drivers has not been loaded. Also during boot time noticed errors under VMware-tools service section.

Fix 1

Reconfigure VMware-tools configuration with same settings. Mostly all uses default settings. This will compile and load compatible drivers. It should immediately resolve network problem and restore network to your server.

#vmware-config-tools.pl

Fix 2

Reinstall the VMware-tools software. Mount the VMware-tools DVD and run installer file. This will gives option to uninstall existing version and reinstall the same version. Post installation network drivers should have been loaded.

Fix 3

Upgrade VMware-tools if the update is available.

System network settings will be restored as it is. The ultimate aim of above three solutions is to compile and load VMXnet drivers to support newly installed kernel. VMware-tools rebuild initrd image. Hence from next boot supported driver will be loaded automatically.

Still your system network connectivity not restored, seems something else wrong. Refer “dmesg” command output which gives useful information. May these commands help you in identifying network issues.

#dmesg |egrep – i ‘eth|net’

#lspci |grep – i  vmnet

#cat /var/log/messages |egrep – i ‘error|warn|kernel|eth|vmxnet’