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

doktornotor

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Because it installs outdated junk that is NOT needed and worse, breaks what's already shipped with core OS by default.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Because it installs outdated junk that is NOT needed and worse, breaks what's already shipped with core OS by default.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

johnpoz

well you clearly do not have tools running.

From pfsense run kldstat

[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

What does esxi say about the tools? Oh that it is not installed - here is what it should look like if you have the tools installed openvm package.

toolsrunning.png_thumb

Supermule

I uninstalled them and wanted the VmWare one since it gets errors on some .ko files.

Installed the package again and getting this…

tools_1.PNG_thumb

tools_2.PNG_thumb

johnpoz

your clearly not installing the correct tools.. your just installing the package from package installs right or are you trying to install with pkg install? Or a file?

That error is something wrong - what version of pfsense are you running, and what version of esxi?

Im going to do a clean install of 2.2.2 and install the openvm package because you should not be having these problems.

edit: Well I can see why you might be having problems
On a clean install of 2.2.2 64bit and trying to install the openvm tools package it just seems to hang on

Executing custom_php_install_command()…

And yup its still actually downloading _9 vs the package saying its _11, let me give it a bit more time and see if it every finishes, etc.

Supermule

pfSense 2.2.2 and ESXi 4.1U3 at test site.

I click install on the Open VM package available in the packages menu.

johnpoz

I don't think freebsd 10.1 is supported on esxi 4.. Pretty sure 10.1 was not available until 5.5u2 – did they back port to 4??

http://blogs.vmware.com/guestosguide/guest-os/unix-and-others/freebsd

Supermule

Its just installed as FreeBSD 64bit. No specific choice of OS.

Works fine and runs no issues. I just get the error in the Open Vmtools package.

johnpoz

dude 10.1 is not supported on that version of esxi, it works your lucky.. Run a older version of pfsense if your not going to be current with your esxi version

also see this error other than _9 being downloaded vs _11
php-fpm[77198]: /pkg_mgr_install.php: Could not open /usr/local/share/vmware-tools/tools.conf for writing

If you create the dir and file the pkg installs, shows 3rd party and running in esxi, but the ko's are not loaded when you check kldstat

Clearly the package is broken and will have to wait until its fixed. But again freebsd 10.1 and pfsense 2.2 is not supported on that version of esxi