Both open-vm-tools and VMware Tools not working correctly in pfSense 2.2

[VFrontDe]

Okay, I think I found the issue and a workaround:

The VMware Tools scripts are in /usr/pbi/open-vm-tools-amd64/local/share/vmware-tools. They try to call the system scripts /etc/rc.d/netif and /etc/rc.d/dhclient, but these do not exist, so they fail.

Since I do not need the VMware Tools scripts at all I disabled them following the instructions at https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.vmtools.install.doc/GUID-0D493762-56EB-4021-9A7A-591336F88CA4.html.
The 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

created the tools.conf file in /usr/pbi/open-vm-tools-amd64/local/share/vmware-tools with the following contents:
  [powerops]
  poweron-script=
  resume-script=
  suspend-script=
  poweroff-script=

and after a restart of the VMware Tools the issue was resolved and a guest shutdown/restart in the vSphere Client always succeeds.

[VFrontDe]

Found another issue with the open-vm-tools package: The boot script /usr/local/etc/rc.d/vmware-kmod.sh loads kernel modules from /usr/local/lib/vmware-tools/modules/drivers, but that directory does not exist.

As a workaround I created a symlink:

cd /usr/local/lib
ln -s /usr/pbi/open-vm-tools-amd64/local/lib/vmware-tools vmware-tools

[neptunus]

@VFrontDe:

Found another issue with the open-vm-tools package: The boot script /usr/local/etc/rc.d/vmware-kmod.sh loads kernel modules from /usr/local/lib/vmware-tools/modules/drivers, but that directory does not exist.

As a workaround I created a symlink:

cd /usr/local/lib
ln -s /usr/pbi/open-vm-tools-amd64/local/lib/vmware-tools vmware-tools

Can anyone write a summary howto install vmware-tools and get it to work on a newly/fresh installed pfsense 2.2?

[johnpoz]

I just disabled the scripts on the vclient.. But guess you could disable them on pfsense as well.

When I get a chance I will update the pfsense doc for installing openvm tools..  that ln should really be created when the package for pfsense is installed.  But I can update the doc with this info, etc.

[Jamerson]

@johnpoz:

I just disabled the scripts on the vclient.. But guess you could disable them on pfsense as well.

When I get a chance I will update the pfsense doc for installing openvm tools..  that ln should really be created when the package for pfsense is installed.  But I can update the doc with this info, etc.

a big thank you for this

[VFrontDe]

@johnpoz:

I just disabled the scripts on the vclient.. But guess you could disable them on pfsense as well.

When I get a chance I will update the pfsense doc for installing openvm tools..  that ln should really be created when the package for pfsense is installed.  But I can update the doc with this info, etc.

I wrote a new blog post with instructions and some more details:
http://www.v-front.de/2015/01/pfsense-22-was-released-how-to-install.html

[johnpoz]

Dude you rock – you might as well have just updated the doc yourself.. hehehe  Now just need to find time to edit it..  Of course I will give credit to your fantastic work..  Nice to see you directly on the forums - even if only 6 posts ;)

[VFrontDe]

@johnpoz:

Dude you rock – you might as well have just updated the doc yourself.. hehehe  Now just need to find time to edit it..  Of course I will give credit to your fantastic work..  Nice to see you directly on the forums - even if only 6 posts ;)

Thanks,
I registered for the forum just to discuss this topic … but I will try to return here from time to time to help people or when I need help myself :-)
pfSense rocks, Open Source rocks! I know that like me a lot of people use pfSense on VMware at home or in labs, even for production. I just want to give back to the community by helping others.

[johnpoz]

I am curious what the deal with the native tools are..  Very strange.. When they next update them will try again..  I think when I find time will do a clean install of native freebsd and see if same issues.  If happens with that clearly needs to be reported to vmware.

[doktornotor]

I must be missing something… is this actually needed for anything on 2.2 (beyond heartbeat)? Sounds like installing this stuff is a lot of work causing more harm than good.

[johnpoz]

The open tools is just click install package - but seems to be a bit of issue with that package..  Needs a couple of tweaks to get them working.  Only real use I have now that vmx3 is out of the box supported is the ability to gracefully shutdown the vm from esxi.  This is nice to have for example power outage and my ups sends shutdown commands.

Guess could have it shutdown each vm directly to that os vs having esxi do it, etc.

[alie2n]

Hi,
I just followed the instructions from www.v-front.de/2015/01/pfsense-22-was-released-how-to-install.html

As I was upgrading from 2.1.5 with installed openvm-tools (added via the web package manager) my sequence after the upgrade was the following:

vmware-toolbox-cmd script power disable
vmware-toolbox-cmd script resume disable
vmware-toolbox-cmd script suspend disable
vmware-toolbox-cmd script shutdown disable
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/vmware-guestd.sh restart
cd /usr/local/lib
rm -rf vmware-tools # these still existed from old installation
ln -s /usr/pbi/open-vm-tools-amd64/local/lib/vmware-tools vmware-tools
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/vmware-kmod.sh restart

So, I had to cleanup a bit in between… :)
Now everything seems to be working smoothly. Can anyone contact the maintainer of the openvm package that these things happen automatically?

[reqlez]

what is the status of the open vm tools package being compatible without doing CLI hacking ?