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

[Clouseau]

I have latest snapshot of pfSense 2.0 Beta-5. I use it on vSphere ESXi hypervisor. I'v installed the Open-VM-Tools package, but this seems not to be working any more. Usually you get info that you have vm-tools installed and you get info of your interfaces etc… but not anymore. What's wrong in Open-vm-tools package when using vSphere hypervisor?

Open-VM-Tools version:217847

[AhnHEL]

The OpenVM Tools package doesnt work with 2.0 and ESXi.  Try the following instructions using the shell command ( option 8 ) in pfsense console menu:

1. Install prerequisites

When running on a 64 bit installation, run
pkg_add -r compat6x-amd64

When running On a 32 bit installation, run
pkg_add -r compat6x-i386 (Not tested but this should be it)

2. Install perl

pkg_add -r perl

3. 

Link the newly installed libraries so VMWare can find it

ln -s /usr/local/lib/compat/libm.so.4 /lib

ln -s /usr/local/lib/compat/libc.so.6 /lib

ln -s /usr/local/lib/compat/libthr.so.2 /lib

4. Install tools

Select "Install/Upgrade VMware Tools" in VMWare
 ESXi
Cd /mnt

Mkdir cdrom

Mount –t cd9660 /dev/acd0 /mnt/cdrom

Cd /tmp

Tar –xvf /mnt/cdrom/vmware-freebsd-tools.tar.gz

cd vmware-tools-distrib

./vmware-install.pl (Perl script, this is why Perl is installed)
Accept all defaults (press enter 8 times)

5. To clean up:

cd ..

rm -r vmware-tools-distrib

[Clouseau]

Ok - thanks! So Open-VM-Tools are useless. I must follow up your good advice and install propriatery drivers. This must be done every time pfSense upgrades?

[AhnHEL]

No, vmware tools will maintain through upgrades so no need to reinstall everytime.

Credit to Peter Overtoom for the howto

http://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/844

[Clouseau]

Does anyone have any info when open-vm-tools package is fixed ? I noticed that this bug has been open over half a year and seems to stalled. We have "manual" not so user friendly work around with propriatery vm-tools. I would like to use open-vm-tools package with single click and install method (works for cli amatours like me). So any info on this issue?

http://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/844

[Rezin]

Seems to work for me. shrug

• pfSense 2.0-RC1 (amd64) built on Mon Feb 28 20:07:11 EST 2011

• VMware ESXi 4.1.0 Build 34841

• Open-VM-Tools 217847

That shows as "Unmanaged" in vSphere Client, along with the IP addresses.

[focalguy]

@Rezin:

Seems to work for me. shrug

• pfSense 2.0-RC1 (amd64) built on Mon Feb 28 20:07:11 EST 2011

• VMware ESXi 4.1.0 Build 34841

• Open-VM-Tools 217847

That shows as "Unmanaged" in vSphere Client, along with the IP addresses.

Same for me but
2.0-RC1 (i386)
built on Thu Mar 3 17:43:05 EST 2011

I'm not sure what it is supposed to say in the "Unmanaged" part but it seems to be working.

[Clouseau]

@focalguy:

@Rezin:

Seems to work for me. shrug

• pfSense 2.0-RC1 (amd64) built on Mon Feb 28 20:07:11 EST 2011

• VMware ESXi 4.1.0 Build 34841

• Open-VM-Tools 217847

That shows as "Unmanaged" in vSphere Client, along with the IP addresses.

Yes - it installs just fine, but does not give any information about interfaces in vSphere ESX guest info. (No IP addresses shown at all)

[AhnHEL]

OK status in VMWare Tools.

[Clouseau]

@onhel:

OK status in VMWare Tools.

Hmmm… yep! That's what I'm looking for. Must figure out why I don't get that info in my vSphere 4.1 with latest RC.

[Clouseau]

Today I updated all my vSphere ESXi servers with 4.1.0 update 1 patch and all other available patches. Then I updated all my pfSense 2 RC1 firewalls to latest firmware. Then I reinstalled open-vm-tools package's (just in case). Rebooted pfSense firewall.

Now vmtools are in Unmanaged status but still no interface information. Just can't figure this out. This should not be this complex to install open-vm-tools succesfully working.

[AhnHEL]

Did several installs a couple of days ago trying to iron out an issue with my pfsense box and tried out the OpenVM Tools package again.  Got the Unmanaged status, IP address, DNS name and Host.  Seemed to be working just fine on my ESXi setup.

[Clouseau]

@onhel:

Did several installs a couple of days ago trying to iron out an issue with my pfsense box and tried out the OpenVM Tools package again.  Got the Unmanaged status, IP address, DNS name and Host.  Seemed to be working just fine on my ESXi setup.

I have istalled 2.0-RC1 (i386) built on Wed Mar 9 18:16:20 EST 2011. Open-VM-Tools Package 217847, 3 network adapters with Adapter type E1000.

One pfSense has now Unmaneged status and one Not installed status. Both pfSenses has the same version. All the Interfaces has manual ip-settings. No dhcp in use. Funny but I don't have any success to get any interface information.

Host Server: Dell PowerEdge 2950, 16GB RAM, 8 CPU cores x2,659GHzRAM, Intel Xenon E5430@2,66GHz
VMware vSphere 4.1.0 U1 Build 348481

Does non of you have this issue?




[regis]

I'm also experiencing strange behavior with open-VM-tools. It shows as unmanaged in Vsphere client and no information displayed about ip adresses and hostname, just like you.

I'm using pfSense 2.0-RC1 (i386) built on Mon Mar 14 11:25:06 EDT 2011 on ESXi 4.1.0,260247, em adapters

But even worse, with open-VM-tools installed, it seems that packets are dropped or lost. MSN messenger keeps disconnecting every 30s or so, downloads stalls after 30s

Once open-VM-tools package deleted and pfSense rebooted, everything's fine…

[Clouseau]

Okey, I'n not alone  ;D

I'm been banging my head to the wall (not helping any) with this issue. I'm lucky that I don't have any usability issues like regis. I have not done any "stress test" to pfSense with vm-tools installed just to figure out is there any major issues.

I really hope that develepers of vm-tools picks this problem up. Open-VM-Tools is only needed in virtualized environments and now it's non working => Open-Vm-Tools package is proken!

[focalguy]

@onhel:

Did several installs a couple of days ago trying to iron out an issue with my pfsense box and tried out the OpenVM Tools package again.  Got the Unmanaged status, IP address, DNS name and Host.  Seemed to be working just fine on my ESXi setup.

I'm not sure what the differences are. I'm not on the latest snapshot but I have it working just the same with showing my IPs and hostnames, etc. I'll update to the latest tonight and see if it continues to work.

[Sloth]

Open-VM-Tools working fine for me:
ESXi 4.1 update 1
pfSense 2.0-RC1 (amd64) built on Sat Feb 26 18:07:23 EST 2011

'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.

Jason.

[Clouseau]

@Sloth:

Open-VM-Tools working fine for me:
ESXi 4.1 update 1
pfSense 2.0-RC1 (amd64) built on Sat Feb 26 18:07:23 EST 2011

'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.

Jason.

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..

[Sloth]

The only other thing of note is that the current pfSense package version of Open-VM-Tools is quite old, dating back to 12-2009. There is a thread somewhere on this forum discussing the issue, which (if I remember correctly) comes down to the freeBSD maintainers updating the freeBSD package to the most current release Open-VM-Tools build i.e. not a lot the pfSense team can do about it. I have had problems trying to use the enhanced VMXNET2 driver, and VMXNET3 is not available, both of which may well be addressed by an up-to-date Open-VM-Tools freeBSD package.

I'll try spinning up a pfSense VM with the pfSense build you are using to see whether I suffer the same issue with that build (could be a 32bit specific issue).

Jason.
2.0-RC1 (amd64) built on Sat Feb 26 18:07:23 EST 2011

[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 !

[Clouseau]

2.0-RC1 (amd64) built on Sun Apr 10 21:49:29 EDT 2011

I have just no luck to install Open-VM-Tools on latest amd64 version. This Vm-tools package is totally fucked up. You must remove this from package list asap until this really works.

I hope that someone takes this issue on seriously. This issue must be fixed.