NOT SOLVED !! : Open-VM-Tools - NOT WORKING on vSphere

[sburgiel]

@Clouseau:

Yes true - but that does not explain the situation that I have 2 pfSense installations in the same vSphere ESXi - one has Unmanaged and the second one is Not installed status on ESX console. Neither of those are capable to show interface information, dns information etc..

What other packages do you have installed on your virtual pfSense boxes, are the same packages installed on both boxes, and what NICs are your pfSense boxes using?

I have been successfully running a pfSense box on VMware ESXi since ESXi 4.0.0 (currently using ESXi 4.1.0 SP1).  My virtual pfSense box only has the Open-VM-Tools package installed, uses virtual Intel e1000 NICs, and has always shown the correct information on the VMware console.

[regis]

'Unmanaged' status indicates that  VM tools are installed on the guest VM, but do not support  installation/update from the ESX console, afaik the correct status for a pfsense install.

You're right but I have several pfSense 1.2.3-RELEASE virtual machines on the same ESXi host with openVM-tools installed, they also shows as unmanaged but the IP adresses of the interfaces can be read from the vsphere client , along with the hostname. This doesn't work with open-VM-tools on pfSense 2.0-RC1

They all use the same virtualized hardware, e1000 NICs (em driver), open-VM-tools is the only package installed.

[Clouseau]

I tryed 64Bit pfSense 2.0 RC1 Wed Mar 16 2011

!! Open-VM-Tools works !!

==> This is 32bit psSense issue !!

[Sloth]

Yup - have tried a couple of 32bit builds: the one you are using and the 'official' RC-1 build (Feb 26), with E1000 NICs installed, and neither show interface IPs in VSphere console. As mentioned above, I have not had any problems with my pfSense VM installs, but I have only run '1.2.3 release' and '2.0 AMD64' builds.

I also noticed that the Open-VM-Tools package has a different version name to that reported in package manager:

http://files.pfsense.org/packages/8/All/open-vm-tools-nox11-313025_1.tbz http://files.pfsense.org/packages/amd64/8/All/open-vm-tools-nox11-313025_1.tbz
vs
Package manager: Open-VM-Tools 217847

…though that could be a typo.

Jason.

[jimp]

Try updating again shortly, I bumped it up to a newer revision of the package (_2 instead of _1). The new binary was uploaded a while ago but wasn't updated in the xml.

[regis]

I just installed a brand new VM with 2.0-RC1 (i386) built on Thu Mar 17 07:55:22 EDT 2011 and added open-VM-tools :

Downloading http://files.pfsense.org/packages/8/All/open-vm-tools-nox11-313025_2.tbz …  (extracting)
Downloading http://files.pfsense.org/packages/8/All/fusefs-kmod-0.3.9.p1.20080208_7.tbz ...  (extracting)
Downloading http://files.pfsense.org/packages/8/All/pkg-config-0.25_1.tbz ...  (extracting)
Downloading http://files.pfsense.org/packages/8/All/fusefs-libs-2.7.4.tbz ...  (extracting)Loading package configuration... done.
Configuring package components...
Additional files... done.
Loading package instructions...
Custom commands...
Executing custom_php_install_command()...done.
Writing configuration... done.

Installation completed.   Please check to make sure that the package is configured from the respective menu then start the package.

The old version was installing far more dependancies (python26, pear,...) is this OK ?

On the console i see the message "VMware memory control driver initialized"

but in the system logs i see this "root: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/vmware-guestd.sh: WARNING: failed to start vmware_guestd"

In the vsphere client, vmware tools are marked "not installed"

edit : if i try a /usr/local/etc/rc.d/vmware-guestd.sh start from the console it fails :

Starting vmware_guestd.
/libexec/ld-elf.so.1: Shared object "libgmodule-2.0.so.0" not found, required by "vmtoolsd"

/usr/local/etc/rc.d/vmware-guestd.sh: WARNING: failed to start vmware_guestd

edit2 : I tried to install glib20 (which I think brings libgmodule-2.0.so.0) but it needs python26, perl and pcre

so I installed them but I ran into another problem :

pkg_add glib20.tbz
pkg_add: warning: package 'glib-2.24.1_1' requires 'pkg-config-0.23_1', but 'pkg-config-0.25_1' is installed
pkg_add: warning: package 'glib-2.24.1_1' requires 'gettext-0.18_1', but 'gettext-0.18.1.1' is installed

[Clouseau]

So,is there any hope/idea to get working Open-VM-Tools to 32bit pfSense  ? At 64bit pfSense 2.0 RC1 it works.

Just updated to 2.0-RC1 (i386) built on Sun Mar 20 18:27:34 EDT 2011

Now I have this error:
root: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/vmware-guestd.sh: WARNING: failed to start vmware_guestd

So Open-VM-Tools are totally broken!

[focalguy]

I updated mine over the weekend (both the RC1 build and Open-VM tools) and it is now not working at all either. I don't know the exact version I had previously that worked so I know that's not much help.

[photonman]

what is the purpose of vm-tools on this type of VM?

Is it really necessary to have installed???

[Sloth]

@photonman:

what is the purpose of vm-tools on this type of VM?

Is it really necessary to have installed???

No not necessary but, imho, recommended if you are planning to run pfSense on a 'production' ESX server hosting other VMs. The vm-tools provide: improved ESX host memory management; improved network performance including some hardware offload (if you can get the vmxnet2 driver to work….....); and allow the ESX host to initiate graceful shutdown of the pfSense guest.

Jason.

[Sloth]

32bit open-vm-tools still not working for me. Just tried a package reinstall on a '2.0-RC1 (i386)
built on Thu Mar 17 07:55:22 EDT 2011' VM, and get the following error:
root: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/vmware-guestd.sh: WARNING: failed to start vmware_guestd

open-vm-tools is still showing as version 217847 in package manager.

NB: I also tried adding a vmxnet2 NIC and, even though the driver looks to initialize OK, it does not pass any traffic. I have to say that I have not had any sucess with the VMXNET2 driver in any build of pfSense 2.0 - anyone else managed to get this to work?

Jason.

[Clouseau]

Still broken: 2.0-RC1 (i386) built on Tue Mar 22 05:44:21 EDT 2011

???

Open-VM-Tools package ver: 217847  - Any news about this?

[Clouseau]

Still not working….  >:(

2.0-RC1 (i386) built on Wed Mar 23 20:46:01 EDT 2011

root:/usr/local/etc/rc.d/vmware-guestd.sh: WARNING: run_rc_command: cannot run /usr/local/bin/vmtollsd

Anybody?

[focalguy]

I'm wondering if anyone has filed a bug report. Maybe that would be more useful. I know Jim tried something and posted here but it may not get all the attention it needs unless a report is filed.

I see this activity but I'm not sure if there is a bug listed:
http://redmine.pfsense.org/projects/pfsense-packages/repository/revisions/373289452d017a2287d8b73a825c2f8cd7ddb494

[Clouseau]

@focalguy:

I'm wondering if anyone has filed a bug report. Maybe that would be more useful. I know Jim tried something and posted here but it may not get all the attention it needs unless a report is filed.

I see this activity but I'm not sure if there is a bug listed:
http://redmine.pfsense.org/projects/pfsense-packages/repository/revisions/373289452d017a2287d8b73a825c2f8cd7ddb494

True, I have not reported any bug on this because Jimp has been doing some fixes like that you posted - Anyhow there is no new Open-VM-Tolls package available. Version is still the same 217847. I think that this package is based on version dated 18.12.2009 and the latest available one is 25.2.2011 version 368700 ? Latest stable version is from 3.6.2010 version 261024. (Open-VM-Tools project)

[trendchiller]

I opened up a ticket and will try to have a closer look at this…

[Clouseau]

@trendchiller:

I opened up a ticket and will try to have a closer look at this…

great. Just updated latest firmware. Now the package is updated -BUT installation fails:

Beginning package installation for Open-VM-Tools…
Downloading package configuration file... done.
Saving updated package information... done.
Downloading Open-VM-Tools and its dependencies...
Checking for package installation...
Downloading http://files.pfsense.org/packages/8/All/icu-4.6.1.tbz ...  could not download from there or http://ftp2.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-8.1-release/All/icu-4.6.1.tbz.
of icu-4.6.1 failed!

Installation aborted.Backing up libraries...
Removing package...
Starting package deletion for open-vm-tools-nox11-313025_2...done.
Starting package deletion for fusefs-kmod-0.3.9.p1...done.
Starting package deletion for fusefs-libs-2.7...done.
Starting package deletion for fusefs-kmod-0.3.9.p1.20080208_7...done.
Starting package deletion for fusefs-libs-2.7.4...done.
Starting package deletion for glib-2.26.1_1...done.
Starting package deletion for python26-2.6...done.
Starting package deletion for pcre-8...done.
Starting package deletion for icu-4.6.1...done.
Starting package deletion for libdnet-1.11_3...done.
Skipping package deletion for libiconv-1.13.1_1 because it is a dependency.
Starting package deletion for pcre-8.12...done.
Skipping package deletion for perl-5.10.1_3 because it is a dependency.
Skipping package deletion for pkg-config-0.25_1 because it is a dependency.
Starting package deletion for python27-2.7.1_1...done.
Removing Open-VM-Tools components...
Loading package instructions...
Include file open-vm-tools.inc could not be found for inclusion.
Deinstall commands...
Not executing custom deinstall hook because an include is missing.
Removing package instructions...done.
Auxiliary files... done.
Package XML... done.
Configuration... done.
Cleaning up... Failed to install package.

Installation halted.

[Sloth]

FYI Open ticket for this issue:

http://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/1385

[Sloth]

<pedant>Any chance of getting this back onto one thread, as we seem to have a duplicate popped up:
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,35256.0.html
… which is just confusing.</pedant>

Ta!

Jason.

[Clouseau]

yes - that thread done without any topic search.

Problem still exist !