Open-VM-Tools don't work well any more on pfsense 2.2+

mephisto

Hi there,

I've noticed a few problems with teh new version of pfsense 2.2 and 2.2.1 with openvmtools. I can't shutdown the guest OS anymore, which means if you trigger a reboot on a host it doesn't shutdown the pfsense VM gracefully, which can lead to corruption.

It used to work perfectly well before on 2.1.

Sometimes if you try many times to shutdown teh guest it may work, but most of the times you get the error in vSphere client "Call "VirtualMachine.ShutdownGuest" for object "pfSense" on vCenter Server "vCenter" failed.

Anyone having the same issue of able to reproduce this problem?

I'm seeing it across many different ESXi build versions, so it seems more related to teh version of openvmtools and pfsense than the host itself

EMWEE

In the VM run the following commands;

vmware-toolbox-cmd script power disable
vmware-toolbox-cmd script resume disable
vmware-toolbox-cmd script suspend disable
vmware-toolbox-cmd script shutdown disable

This will create a file tools.conf in the directory /usr/pbi/open-vm-tools-amd64/local/share/vmware-tools and add the following lines to it:

[powerops]
poweron-script=
resume-script=
suspend-script=
poweroff-script=

source : http://www.v-front.de/2015/01/pfsense-22-was-released-how-to-install.html

mephisto

Understood, just a shame I will need to do this across all instances of pfsense.

It would be handy to have the openvmtools package updated with this problem fixed

cmb

I fixed that issue in the package.

Supermule

I get this still on the console….

vsphere_console.PNG_thumb

mephisto

@cmb:

I fixed that issue in the package.

I udated to 2.2.2 today and reinstalled the package, still the same problem across a few different instances of pfsense

EMWEE

Does anybody knows what script vmware tools invokes to shutdown.

When i shutdown pfsense trough vmware-tools it doesnt stop the running packages. Im using Freeradius with accounting and now it doesnt send accouting stop packages when i shut it down with vmware-tools.

I tried a custom shutdown script in tools.conf (poweroff-script=), but vmware-tools ignores my script and just shutdowns the machine without stopping the packages.

doktornotor

@mephisto:

@cmb:

I fixed that issue in the package.

I udated to 2.2.2 today and reinstalled the package, still the same problem across a few different instances of pfsense

Because it installs outdated junk that is NOT needed and worse, breaks what's already shipped with core OS by default. Stop installing this package.

mephisto

@doktornotor:

@mephisto:

@cmb:

I fixed that issue in the package.

I udated to 2.2.2 today and reinstalled the package, still the same problem across a few different instances of pfsense

Because it installs outdated junk that is NOT needed and worse, breaks what's already shipped with core OS by default. Stop installing this package.

the package available is listed as 1280544_11, but it downloads 1280544_09 when you hit the install button.

What other options do we have?

I checked openvmtools website and says the latest is 9.10, I'm a bit confused

johnpoz

what exactly are you trying to do and what is not working?

Yes the version of openvm tools installed is
[2.2.2-RELEASE][root@pfSense.local.lan]/root: vmware-toolbox-cmd -v
9.4.0.25793 (build-1280544)

Sure looks looks like 128044 is the build to me, which is what pfsense package is labeled.

I don't see _11 on https://files.pfsense.org/packages/10/All/ so that seems to be a mistake??

But not sure what issue your having with the tools?

[2.2.2-RELEASE][root@pfSense.local.lan]/root: kldstat
Id Refs Address Size Name
1 10 0xffffffff80200000 22d0f80 kernel
2 1 0xffffffff824d1000 8160 vmblock.ko
3 1 0xffffffff824da000 13680 vmhgfs.ko
4 1 0xffffffff824ee000 5630 vmxnet.ko
5 1 0xffffffff82611000 22f7 vmmemctl.ko

You can turn of the scripts in the vclient..

EMWEE

Guess ill have a try with the original vmware tools.

johnpoz

native tools break the vmx3.. you have to disable checksumming on the nic, etc.

What is it you feel is not working in the open? It is working just fine for me - as you can see all the stuff is running.. What is that you feel is not shutting down?

Supermule

Uninstalled the package and the errors went away.

EMWEE

@johnpoz:

What is it you feel is not working in the open? It is working just fine for me - as you can see all the stuff is running.. What is that you feel is not shutting down?

The problem is with the shutdown procedure of the VM. When my pfsense i given a shutdown from ESXi it first need to stop (not kill) my packages and after that shutdown the OS. Im useing Captive Portal / FreeRADIUS with accounting and now when i shutdown a VM from ESXi no accounting stop packet is send out by Captive Portal.

So i tried to set /etc/rc.initial.halt in tools.conf as a poweroff script since that properly stops all packages but this doesnt seems to have any effect.

Maby some of u guys know another way to fix my problem.

johnpoz

so when you shutdown pfsense via gui for example or command line does your stuff get shutdown correctly?

you can run whatever scripts you want when vmware tools shutdown btw..

the package seems to be currently broken, its not installing _11 and mine just hangs on a clean just installed 2.2.2

EMWEE

Yup when u shutdown from the GUI it stops the packages first. I think it runs /etc/rc.stop_packages and then shuts down.

So where can i configure a custom script at shutdown? A custom poweroff= entry in tools.conf seems to be ignored.

johnpoz

that is not where you put it..

[2.2.2-RELEASE][root@pfSense.local.lan]/usr/local/bin: vmware-toolbox-cmd help script
script: control the scripts run in response to power operations
Usage: /usr/local/bin/vmware-toolbox-cmd script <power|resume|suspend|shutdown><subcommand>[args]

Subcommands:
enable: enable the given script and restore its path to the default
disable: disable the given script
set <full_path>: set the given script to the given path
default: print the default path of the given script
current: print the current path of the given script</full_path></subcommand></power|resume|suspend|shutdown>

EMWEE

@johnpoz:

that is not where you put it..

[2.2.2-RELEASE][root@pfSense.local.lan]/usr/local/bin: vmware-toolbox-cmd help script
script: control the scripts run in response to power operations
Usage: /usr/local/bin/vmware-toolbox-cmd script <power|resume|suspend|shutdown><subcommand>[args]

Subcommands:
enable: enable the given script and restore its path to the default
disable: disable the given script
set <full_path>: set the given script to the given path
default: print the default path of the given script
current: print the current path of the given script</full_path></subcommand></power|resume|suspend|shutdown>

Running these commands result in a entry in tools.conf, so its the same thing.

johnpoz

no really no.. Because just editing the file doesn't show up until after its tools have been restarted and it reads tools.conf If you do this then it makes it active. And what is the path to your script show if you do current?

since the default doesn't work

[2.2.2-RELEASE][root@pfSense.local.lan]/: vmware-toolbox-cmd script power current
/usr/local/share/vmware-tools/poweron-vm-default

This not where the script is - the script is here

[2.2.2-RELEASE][root@pfSense.local.lan]/usr/pbi/open-vm-tools-amd64/local/share/vmware-tools: ls -la
total 60
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 512 Apr 19 07:26 .
drwxr-xr-x 14 root wheel 512 Nov 27 16:37 ..
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 4359 Nov 27 16:37 poweroff-vm-default
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 4359 Nov 27 16:37 poweron-vm-default
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 4359 Nov 27 16:37 resume-vm-default
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 512 Nov 27 16:37 scripts
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1473 Nov 27 16:37 statechange.subr
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 4359 Nov 27 16:37 suspend-vm-default
-rw-r–r-- 1 root wheel 45 Apr 19 07:26 tools.conf
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 7594 Nov 27 16:37 vm-support

[2.2.2-RELEASE][root@pfSense.local.lan]/usr/pbi/open-vm-tools-amd64/local/share/vmware-tools: vmware-toolbox-cmd script power current
/usr/pbi/open-vm-tools-amd64/local/share/vmware-tools/poweron-vm-default
[2.2.2-RELEASE][root@pfSense.local.lan]/usr/pbi/open-vm-tools-amd64/local/share/vmware-tools:

how did you edit your tools.conf and did you reboot to let the tools load the config?
[2.2.2-RELEASE][root@pfSense.local.lan]/usr/pbi/open-vm-tools-amd64/local/share/vmware-tools: cat tools.conf
[powerops]
poweron-script=/usr/pbi/open-vm-tools-amd64/local/share/vmware-tools/poweron-vm-default

Also what does your esxi show for which scripts will be run?

whatdoesesxishow.png_thumb

Supermule

This is what I get.

Not possible to do that via the ESXi GUI apparently….

esxi-1.PNG_thumb

esxi-2.PNG_thumb

esxi-3.PNG_thumb