Bhyve connection works for one connection, then never works again until VM reboot.

[jstore]

I have a couple of VM's working just fine.

Bhyve works just fine at boot up but if I disconnect or the machine I am using to connect goes to sleep (guess that's a disconnect) I am unable to reconnect. I have to shutdown the VM and restart it. Then it connects fine. Is there a way to restart/refresh the Bhyve session when it timesout or disconnects?

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

What do you mean by "bhyve connection"? The VM stops being reachable over the network? What is the guest operating system?

 

[jstore]

Bhyve - NoVNC browser based connection. (http://10.x.x.x:17850/vnc.html?autoconnect=1)

When I first start the VM the VNC link works just fine (or the first time I connect to it regardless if it's immediately upon boot or not) Once I disconnect or the session is interrupted, it never works again until a fresh reboot of the VM. Even if I disconnect via the noVMC connection panel on the side.

The guest VM is Ubuntu 22.04.

 

[jstore]

And the VM it's self stays running just fine. I can SSH to it, etc. It's just the VNC connection that wont reconnect.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

I would recommend deleting the VNC device and configuring a serial console for a Linux VM. The browser based VNC is very limited in multiple ways. I use it for installation only, then delete it. There's SSH for Linux and RDP for Windows.

 

[jstore]

Will the serial connection allow for X11? You mention SSH and I can SSH fine via the network, but I am guessing you are talking about being able to access even if there is a network issue. In that case SSH would be okay for troubleshooting/fixing.

I would like to have more than command line for normal use. I can always install RealVNC or the like but wanted to go as minimal as possible.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Use X11 forwarding if possible or install x11vnc in the VM and talk VNC directly to it.

The TrueNAS VNC is not a VNC server in the VM but an emulated graphics card served via VNC protocol. Which is one reason why keyboard layouts, copy&paste, etc. don't work.

For access in case of a problem you can set up a serial console, which available even in the UI. Or via SSH to the NAS host and using cu.

 

[jstore]

Thanks for the help. I am installing X11vnc now.

It makes perfect sense that's it's iffy...since it's emulated. I still wonder why it only works once per boot?