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

[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.

[Clouseau]

Any news about this huge problem? 64bit and 32bit tools are now broken. This is now a "show stopper issue" at VMware vSphere environment.

[AhnHEL]

Can you use the proprietary drivers in the meantime like I described in the first page of this thread?  This was working fine for me for a very long time since the Alpha version days of 2.0

[yngndrw]

My VM Tools installed fine. It says "Unmanaged" in VMWare but I believe that's just because it's the open version of the tools which don't have all the features.

pfSense Version: 2.0-RC1 (amd64) built on Sat Feb 26 18:07:23 EST 2011
Open-VM-Tools Version: 217847

[toomeek]

What is Open-vm-tools? Something like Virtualbox-additions (paravirtualized drivers)?
Uh, never used, don't have to.
I just use Qemu-KVM and rtl8139/e1000 standard network devices. I would like to test performance, but I see "iperf" package is not available to download in Beta.
I use 2.0-RC1 (i386) built on Fri Apr 15 14:44:27 EDT 2011.

EDIT: sorry, I missed "Add" button.
Yes, You're correct. They are needed. Just never used more than 20Mbits before.
Tested both - from hypervisor (it has nVidia Corporation MCP61 Ethernet Gigabit NIC) and from client with 1Gbit NIC. Both reached ~50Mbits.

EDIT: Just tested again on Dell PowerEdge R310 with 2 x "Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme II BCM5716 Gigabit Ethernet" and reached ~73Mbits on "e1000" network device.
Oh, good to know that. I was planning to use virtualized pfSense as a router for LAN traffic too (routing traffic between 2 subnets). Becouse of heavy load (IP cameras, printers) I need to reach 1Gbit or more for that.

[Clouseau]

Onhel: No I can't. I must and want to use "native" psSense package menu drivers aka Open-VM-Tools. Now I understand why not to use open source drivers. Poor and extremely slow support  :-[ Community idea is not working here at all. Now the installation fails just for missing package icu-4.6.1.tbz. This has been the situation for long time now. This is situation in 32bit version. With 64bit version there is other major show stopper issues. (yeah - I'm a bit frustrated now)

I just can't understand how this can have a STABLE status on package list? "Open-VM-Tools: Stable 313025 platform: 2.0"
A totally non working package installer and status is STABLE?

installation@ESXi: 2.0-RC1 (i386) built on Sun Apr 17 04:28:14 EDT 2011

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.

[tojaktoty]

Disregarding the present openvmtools issues, any advantages using amd64 versus i386 on esxi?

[luma]

Hi,

I'm using pfSense 32bits on VMWare ESXi.

Concerning package installation issue, Martin(mfuchs) has recently made progress but it seems that the last problem is availibility of icu-4.6.1.tbz.

Do you think it's possible to sync this file from Martin (http://pfsense.trendchiller.com/packages/icu-4.6.1.tbz) to the pfsense one (http://files.pfsense.org/packages/8/All/)?

Thanks for all your effort!

[Clouseau]

@luma:

Hi,

I'm using pfSense 32bits on VMWare ESXi.

Concerning package installation issue, Martin(mfuchs) has recently made progress but it seems that the last problem is availibility of icu-4.6.1.tbz.

Do you think it's possible to sync this file from Martin (http://pfsense.trendchiller.com/packages/icu-4.6.1.tbz) to the pfsense one (http://files.pfsense.org/packages/8/All/)?

Thanks for all your effort!

This missing icu-4.6.1.tbz package has been synced at 29'th April, has anyone tryed the installation after this? I will do it tomorrow but I'm interested to hear if this issue now fixed?