VMware Communities : Thread List - vSphere Guest SDK

How do I install, start, shut down, and suspend VMs via command line?

Romanadvoratrelundar — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:17:17 GMT

I've installed ESXi 4.0 on a computer, and would like to create and manage VMs via command line (via SSH). I tried installing the command line tools on Linux, but the commands don't work - they complain about some missing PERL library, and I haven't been able to get them to work.

I have gotten some command line access to work by using the console to enable ssh access, and then sshing in from another host, but despite going through teh command line documentation, it's still not clear to me how to do this. So here's what I want to do:

1) Create one or more virtual machines (say, with Linux or Windows server running on them)

2) Power on a VM

3) Suspend a VM

4) Wake a suspended VM

5) Power off a VM

6) Shut down the machine hosting ESXi.

7) Get actual CPU usage for a hosted VM.

Can someone please tell me what the correct commands are to do this? Even if you know just one, it would be helpful.

Thanks!

vmci socket open on ESX host

fghmcbtyu — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:45:59 GMT

hi,
I am trying to open socket on ESX host vmci device, the AFValue type is 56.
I get error "Address Family Not Supported by protocol".

can you help me please?

Thanks!

Need help for communication between ESX host and Guest with VMCI

ankitgovil — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:28:25 GMT

Hi friends,
Can someone suggest a method of carrying out communication between ESX host and Guest using VMCI. We want to implement discovery mechanism for co-located VM.

encrypt password

jmyerholtz — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:31:47 GMT

I am wondering if anyone has any idea on how to encrypt passwords in a powercli script. I am creating a script that is checking for compliance and then alerting on non-compliant vms. The script has a requirement of running as a scheduled task every night with no interaction. I can do this by specifying the vc password. but, rightfully so, security is stating the password must be encrypted, or the script needs to be complied, it cannot be in clear text. does anyone have any ideas?

Web service address

alatariel — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:22:10 GMT

hi everybody, i need to know the meaning of "Web service address", and how to install it (web services) in virtual center 4

(it's part of the installation of VC 4 ???? )

Thank you

Typo in VMCI socket documentation and other issues

Andreas Johansson — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:00:08 GMT

Hi,

I'm experimenting with the new VMCI-socket library at the moment and thought I should share some of the issues I have stumbled upon.

1. You can't use the new library with VMs that are created using VMware Workstation older than version 6.0.

Issue: VMCI is grayed out in the GUI. (The new pciBridge isn't available in earlier versions)
Solution: Upgrade the VM to at least version 6.0 (VM -> Upgrade or change version... - when the VM is powered off)

2. There is a typo in the documentation that results in that you can't call the getsockname() function on a VM (it works on the host though) if you are following the datagram instructions.

Issue: In the stream section of the documentation the "my_addr_size" variable is initialized with "sizeof my_addr", but in the datagram section this is left out.
Solution: Add the same assignment (but to the "svm_size" variable) in the datagram section before calling the getsockname() function.

Since VMware doesn't provide an example application for testing I coded a proof of concept implementation (Only datagram at the moment) that you can use as a base in your own tests.

Kind Regards
Andreas

Message was edited by: Andreas Johansson - updated the VmciSocketExample to v0.0.2 (It's now possible to provide servers listening port)

MOB Permission + EMC ControlCenter

TobbeG — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:49:13 GMT

Hi! We are evaluating EMC:s product EMC Control Center (for VMware) for storage discovery, but we are having problems to get the discovery process to start.

This product uses the VMware MOB (Managed Object Browser) and should only need an "ordniary" account on the VMware ESX host and browse permission within VirtualCenter.

When I use the "ordinary" account nothing is discovered, but when I use the root account everything is discovered.

My question....must I use the root account to run https://servername/mob

Best regards

Tobbe

How can I get the IP Address(es) of a Guest VM?

sub15runner — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:13:05 GMT

How can I get the IP Address(es) of a Guest VM?

Thanks,

-Phil

Connection to wmware View

KarlDempsey — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:16:08 GMT

is there a new conection broker.

i connect using RDP . i heard that there will be a new way to connect.

Does anyone know

Thanks

VMware tools for linux derivative

wduncanSF — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:21:15 GMT

We have modified linux o/s that we'd like to have the VMware tools and therefore access to the SDKs.

What is the process?

How does one get the tools onto a VM with a guest O/S that is not recognized?

--will d.

VMCI problem

teflonpenguin — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:51:28 GMT

When compiling and running the following code I get the error shown below.

$ g++ -g -o client client_udp.cpp

$ client 172.16.7.173 9999 4096
VMCIsockAddressFamily=34
Attempt to send 4096 bytes.
sendto() error: Invalid argument.

Note the address family of 34 in /usr/include/linux/socket.h conflicts with AF_MAX.

This was run on a Pentium 4 machine running Fedora 10 with VMPlayer 2.5.2 (build 156735)

#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <arpa/inet.h>
#include </usr/lib/vmware/include/vmci/vmci_sockets.h>

#define MAX_LENGTH_UDP 65536

int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int sockfd, n, port, packetSize;
unsigned clientLength;
unsigned sendlength;
char bufferMAX_LENGTH_UDP;

if (argc != 4) {
printf("Usage: %s server port packetsize\n",argv[0]);
exit(-1);
}
port = atoi(argv[2]);
sendlength = atoi(argv[3]);

int VMCIsockAddressFamily = VMCISock_GetAFValue();
sockfd = socket(VMCIsockAddressFamily, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
printf("VMCIsockAddressFamily=%d\n",VMCIsockAddressFamily);

if (sockfd < 0) {
printf("Socket error: VMCIsockAddressFamily=%d %s\n",VMCIsockAddressFamily,strerror(errno));
exit(-1);
}

struct sockaddr_vm server;
clientLength = sizeof (struct sockaddr_vm) ;
memset(&server,0,sizeof(server));
server.svm_family = VMCIsockAddressFamily;
server.svm_cid = 2;
server.svm_port = 9999;

fprintf(stdout, "Attempt to send %d bytes.\n", sendlength);

if (( n = sendto(sockfd, buffer, sendlength, 0, (struct sockaddr *) & server, clientLength)) < 0) {
printf("sendto() error: %s\n",strerror(errno));

}

return 0;
}

vAPP under vm

kbr5678 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:25:59 GMT

Hi..

In our environment we are using VMWare vSphere webservices
SDK....VirtualMachine entity via we get vm properties like
runtime,guest,config details.In this entity shows all vms except vApp
under vms...We are not get the vApp under vm properties via
VirtualMachine entity..suppose we getDynamiProperty method for vApp
under vms collection those details..its take more time...Is any idea to
get vApp under vm properties.

Thanks

Ramesh

How to fetch the VC IPADDRESS through VI SDK MOB

kumar_sudhir1 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:25:26 GMT

How to fetch the VC IPADDRESS through VI SDK MOB? Is there any other way for fetching VC Ipaddress instead of using EACH ESX Management Server IP?

Thanks

Sudhir Kumar

How to fetch the management server IP address of each ESX server from VC MOB

kumar_sudhir1 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:50:34 GMT

I Have two ESX server connected to a VC 2.5. , When i access the MOB(management object refernece) of the VC and try to get the management server IP address of each ESX server it displays unset.Is there any way that i can set the value to it??

If not is there any any way that i can access the VC IP of each ESX server rather than showing up NULL??

Thanks

Sudhir Kumar

VM to ESX host communication

Vichu — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:24:45 GMT

Hi ,

Is there a way to enable VM(Ubuntu8.10 installed) to send a signal/notification to ESX host for specific event occurred?.

To a Vmware ESX 4.0 server, how to find provisioned space of each virtual machine

tqbeibei — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:53:30 GMT

clsuse11 |Powered On |16.00 GB | 16.00 GB | 59 |

Thank you

How can I get datastore extents info?

tqbeibei — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:42:35 GMT

For example:
following info is from VSphere Client
Datastore

Identification | Device | Capacity |

tqcmvm_1 | vmhba2:0 | 26.00 GB |

Datastore Detail
Extents
vmhba2:0:1 25.01 GB
vmhba2:0:2 1.08 GB
Total Fomatted Capacity 26.00GB

What API I should use to catch those extents value?

ReconfigVM_Task getting no response for changing the Virtual Disk size

kumar_sudhir1 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:59:29 GMT

I wriiten the Sample code for changing the VirtualDisksize (HardDisk2 Virtual Disk) through ReconfigVM_Task. But it's not able to perform these operation means not able to change the size of the specified Virtual Disk.

VirtualDisk vd = (VirtualDisk)vdary;

if (vd.deviceInfo.label == "Hard Disk 2")
{
disk = vd;
disk.capacityInKB = 81920; //Changing the disk size

}

if (disk != null)
{
diskSpec.fileOperation = VirtualDeviceConfigSpecFileOperation.replace;
diskSpec.fileOperationSpecified = true;
diskSpec.operation = VirtualDeviceConfigSpecOperation.edit;
diskSpec.operationSpecified = true;

diskSpec.device = disk;

ManagedObjectReference taskmor = _ServiceContent.Service.ReconfigVM_Task(templateRef, vmConfigSpec)

}

Thanks

Sudhir Kumar

Host not responding

GregLH14 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:03:35 GMT

Hi.

Firstly, I am sorry for my english and I am sorry if I write this message at the wrong place.

I use the trial version of vSphere. I have install vSphere Client on my computer (DEVCAEN-6). I also have 2 hosts with ESX 4 (SRVTST-1 and SRVTST-4). I have create a cluster with vSphere. When I had a host into my cluster, it appear as "Not responding" one or two minutes later.
On my hosts I have configured /etc/hosts (and C:/WINDOWS/system32/drivers/etc in my computer) like this :

*******
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
172.16.14.86 SRVTST-1
172.16.14.92 SRVTST-4
172.16.14.173 DEVCAEN-6
*******

I have also create /etc/hostname in SRVTST-1 and SRVTST-4.

I do some searchs before to write this message. This is what I have already do :
- When I add them in vSphere, it is by their name, not by their IP adress.
- I have tried to remove wimuser, vpxuser and vcsa users.
- I have remove /etc/vmware/ssl/* then I have do "service mgmt-vmware restart"

I don't know what is wrong. Can anybody help me please ?

Thank you.

Not able to implement HostSystemPowerState Properties value by using C#

kumar_sudhir1 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:00:11 GMT

Not able to fetch HostSystemPowerState properties value by using c#. Need sample c# code for getting the HostSystemPowerState.

Thanks

Sudhir Kumar

Can't able to fetch HostSystemPowerState value by using VI SDK

kumar_sudhir1 — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:23:22 GMT

I want to fetch the HostSystemPowerState value by using VI SDK. When i tried to fetch this value from HostRuntimeInfo, i can able to fetch all properites value such as connectionState, but i not able to get this value means HostSystemPowerState. Can you tell me how can i able to fetch this value in c#?

ObjectContent[] hostPowerState = GetObjectProperties(hshttp://x.obj, new stringhttp://x].obj, new string[ { "runtime.powerState" });

system.console.writeline(hostPowerState[0].propSet[0].val) getting error since the val has 0 and 1 index and i can't able to fetch the value by using that index mean val[0] or val[1].

Thanks

Sudhir Kumar

VMware Guest performance

VMwareKids — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:29:26 GMT

Hai VMware guys,

Am having problem in retrieving performance data for VM Guest, like

1. CPU Speed and Usage

2. Network Speed and Usage

3. Memory Capacity and Usage

4. Disk Capacity and Usage

through VIAPI or possibly with CIM class.

Please help me out

Thanks in advance

Devilal L

create a schedule task of poweroff the specified Virtual Machine using the SDK getting failed

kumar_sudhir1 — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:57:06 GMT

Hi everyone,

I made a code to create a schedule task using the SDK, but I have errors:

Here is my code:

// Find the virtual machine list from the virtual machine folder found above.

ManagedObjectReference] vmList = (ManagedObjectReference[)getObjectProperty(vmFolderRef, "childEntity");

//Searching for the template/virtual machine

ManagedObjectReference templateRef = null;

for (int i = 0; i < vmList.Length; i++)

{

if (vmList.type == "VirtualMachine")

{

Object[] vmProps = getProperties(vmListi], new String[ { "config.name", "config.template" });

if (((String)vmProps[0]).Equals(srcName))

{

templateRef = vmList;

}

// Define the operation to be performed.

MethodAction ma = new MethodAction();

ma.argument = new MethodActionArgument[1];

ma.name = "PowerOffVM_Task";

DateTime theDate = DateTime.Now;

theDate.AddMinutes(1);

// Define the scheduled task specification.

OnceTaskScheduler dTScheduler = new OnceTaskScheduler();

dTScheduler.runAt = theDate;

dTScheduler.runAtSpecified = true;

dTScheduler.activeTimeSpecified = true;

dTScheduler.activeTime = DateTime.Now;

dTScheduler.expireTime = theDate.AddHours(1);

dTScheduler.expireTimeSpecified = true;

ScheduledTaskSpec tSpec = new ScheduledTaskSpec();

tSpec.description = "Revert to the specified snapshot according to the schedule.";

tSpec.enabled = true;

tSpec.name = "Power Off Virtual Machine";

tSpec.action = ma;

tSpec.scheduler = dTScheduler;

tSpec.notification = Foo@Bar.com;

VS.CreateScheduledTask(_ServiceContent.scheduledTaskManager, templateRef, tSpec);

Error: SOAPEXCEPTION was unhandled. Aspecified parameter was not correct.

Do i am doing wrong with this parameter:--------------------------------------------

ma.argument = new MethodActionArgument[1];

Regards

Sudhir Kumar

VMsafe

Flest — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:23:11 GMT

Hi,

Did VMware released VMsafe SDK?

If yes, where can I get it?

Best regards,

Sergey.

How to create a template of Virtual Machine by using VI SDK

kumar_sudhir1 — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:53:18 GMT

I want to create a template of Virtual Machine by using VI SDK. Does VI SDK provide any method for creating a new template of Virtual Machine?

Thanks

Sudhir Kumar

MigrateVM_Task operation getting failed

kumar_sudhir1 — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:06:07 GMT

I want to migrate a Poweron Virtual Machine from one host to another host by using MigrateVM_Task operation of VI SDK.

ManagedObjectReference vmotionTask = ServiceContent.Service.MigrateVM_Task(vmRef, mgResObj, mgHostObj, VirtualMachineMovePriority.highPriority, VirtualMachinePowerState.poweredOn, true);

But i not able to perform the Migrate Opeartion. " A specified parameter was not correct".

Also attaching the sample code named as vmotion.rtf.

Thanks

Sudhir Kumar

How to identify external and internal disk available to ESX Host by using vSphere Guest SDK or VI SDK

kumar_sudhir1 — Tue, 26 May 2009 06:29:02 GMT

I have two external Lun and two internal Disk exposed to my ESX Host. How can i identify which of these Luns are external or internal by using vSphere Guest SDK?

Thanks

Sudhir Kumar

Clone VM from one host to another host by using VI SDK

kumar_sudhir1 — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:55:31 GMT

I want to clone a VM from one host to another host by using VI SDK.

//Create VirtualMachineCloneSpec & VirtualMachineRelocateSpec

VirtualMachineCloneSpec cloneSpec = new VirtualMachineCloneSpec();

VirtualMachineRelocateSpec relocSpec = new VirtualMachineRelocateSpec();

relocSpec.host = hostRefnew;

relocSpec.pool = resourcePoolRootRef;

relocSpec.transform = VirtualMachineRelocateTransformation.sparse;

cloneSpec.location = relocSpec;

cloneSpec.powerOn = false;

cloneSpec.template = false;

// Create VirtualMachineConfigSpec

VirtualMachineConfigSpec configSpec = new VirtualMachineConfigSpec();

cloneSpec.config = configSpec;

ManagedObjectReference cloneTask = _ServiceContent.Service.CloneVM_Task(templateRef, vmFolderRef, clonedName, cloneSpec);

Want to fetch HBA Bandwidth and NIC Port Information from using VI SDK

kumar_sudhir1 — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:19:53 GMT

I want to fetch the HBA Bandwidth information and NIC Port information such as whether the NIC has DualPort or QuadPort information from the VI SDK. Does VI sdk provides these information?

Thanks

Sudhir Kumar

VMCI_MAX_NUM_CALLS and Thread Safe

WarrenHarris — Tue, 12 May 2009 23:40:56 GMT

I am working with a legacy VMCI implementation (6.04), and was wondering what the VMCI_MAX_NUM_CALLS #define is used for. Also, is the legacy VMCI implementation thread safe?

Any information appreciated. Thanks!

Warren

VMCI: Sending datagram, guest to host, no receiving socket

AnthonySowden — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:47:43 GMT

If a datagram is sent from a guest to the host (CID=2), and there is no socket on the host to receive the datagram, then the sendto returns with an immediate error of 10022.

This error (Invalid Argument) suggests that the construction of the call is in error. The call is in fact not in error -- there's just no-one to receive the data.

For UDP traffic, a similar situation leads to a subsquent read error on the socket, with a "Connection Reset" -- also a little odd for a connectionless protocol. With UDP, this error will only show up if the receiving computer actively rejects the UDP. Stealth firewalls prevent even this. Ignoring all "Connection Reset" errors on UDP reads is easy, and doesn't run the risk of missing a serious error.

To get the same functionality with VMCI datagrams, I will have to ignore all Invalid Argument errors on send calls. Could this error code be changed, so that the lack of a recipient can be distinguished from other, potentially more serious, errors?

Select and WSAWaitForMultipleEvents with VMCI and UDP sockets in Windows guest

AnthonySowden — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:44:10 GMT

I am trying to write a relay program using VMCI sockets that will relay datagrams between a VMWare Linux Host (the "client"), and a computer connected to a VMWare Windows Guest (the "server"). I am using VMWare Workstation 6.5.2, build 156735.

The relay program runs on the Guest. VMCI is used to exchange datagrams with the Linux Host. UDP is used to exchange datagrams with the other computer, which is connected to a network that is only accessible to the Guest. The Guest runs Windows XP.

 "Client"                      "Relay"                     "Server"
Linux/Host                   Windows/Guest              Another Computer
           <--VMCI/DGRAM-->              <--UDP/Private-->

I have all the basic ingredients working, but am having problems on the Windows Guest getting select() or WSAWaitForMultipleEvents() to work with both VMCI and UDP.

First, select():

client_fd = socket(af_vmci, SOCK_DGRAM,...);
bind(client_fd...);

server_fd=socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM,...);
bind(server_fd...);

FD_ZERO(&readfds);
FD_SET(client_fd, &readfds);
FD_SET(server_fd, &readfds);
select(FD_SETSIZE, &readfds, 0, 0, 0);

If I set up the readfds parameter with both the VMCI socket fd (client) and the UDP socket fd (server), then select returns a Windows Sockets Error 10022 (Invalid Argument). If I comment out the FD_SET of the VMCI socket fd, then the select call works, and my program successfully waits for, and reads, datagrams from the UDP socket. Likewise, if I comment out the FD_SET of the UDP socket fd, then select behaves normally and my program successfully waits for, and reads, datagrams from the VMCI socket.

Having no luck with select(), I switched to using WSAWaitForMultipleEvents():

client_fd = socket(af_vmci, SOCK_DGRAM,...);
bind(client_fd...);
client_event = WSACreateEvent();
WSAEventSelect(client_fd, client_event, FD_READ);

server_fd=socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM,...);
bind(server_fd...);
server_event = WSACreateEvent();
WSAEventSelect(server_fd, server_event, FD_READ);

events[0] = client_event;
events[1] = server_event;
wait_status = WSAWaitForMultipleEvents(2, events, FALSE, WSA_INFINITE, FALSE);

... and then after reading from a socket ...

ResetEvent(event);

This approach completely killed all VMCI functionality. My program waited for, and read, UDP datagrams, but the event associated with the VMCI socket was never set to a signalled state.

I am now stuck.

On the Linux side, VMCI appears to work more as it should. My "client" program creates a VMCI/datagram socket, and uses the TUN/TAP interface to extract IP packets from the Linux kernel. I use select() to wait for data to arrive on either the VMCI socket fd, or the TUN/TAP fd. This all seems to work fine.

I guess I can re-write the Windows Guest "relay" program as two separate programs, each blocking on a single socket -- essentially two half-duplex relay programs. Or I could use 2 threads in a single program.

Any ideas as to what the Windows Sockets Error 10022 (Invalid Argument) in select might be?

/dev/vsock missing in host

MarkWoollard — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 09:23:37 GMT

I want to implement communications between processes on guest OS's and the host system. VMCISock_GetAFValue() is on the host is returning -1 and having looked at vmci_sockets.h it would appear that this is because the code can't open /dev/vsock. On my host this device is not present, it is present on guest systems, /dev/vmci is present on both host and guests. Do you have to enable VMCI on the host? Host is Redhat EL4 and guests Fedora Core 10.

Thanks for any input
Mark

recv error

plx — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:45:03 GMT

Any idea why recv returns the following error?

recv: Socket operation on non-socket

fd returned from accept is 0.

I'm just trying to follow the example in the programming guide and the following is the server code:

if ((sockfd = socket(afVMCI, SOCK_STREAM, 0)) == -1) {
perror("socket");
}
struct sockaddr_vm my_addr = {0};
my_addr.svm_family = afVMCI;
my_addr.svm_cid = VMADDR_CID_ANY;
my_addr.svm_port = 3999;
if (bind(sockfd, (struct sockaddr *) &my_addr, sizeof my_addr) == -1) {
perror("bind");
goto close;
}
if (listen(sockfd, 5) == -1) {
perror("listen");
goto close;
}
int newfd;
struct sockaddr_vm their_addr = {0};
int sock_len = sizeof (their_addr);
if (newfd = accept(sockfd, (struct sockaddr *) &their_addr, &sock_len) == -1) {
perror("accept");
goto close;
}
memset(buf, 0, MSGSIZE + 1);
ret= recv(newfd, buf, MSGSIZE, 0);

Cannot find vmcilib.h

plx — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:42:02 GMT

When trying to compile the vmci sample application that comes with workstation 6.5.2.136735 on Suse 10.3, got the error vmcilib.h cannot be found, I did a search and could not find it anywhere, am I missing anything? where can I get this header file?

Thanks.

Why I can't get the right cid of the vm-os?

magicking — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:58:30 GMT

My vmware version is workstation 6.5.2,The host os is xp,the vm os is xp too. I can use the "VMCISock_GetLocalCID" method to get the host cid,It is 2. But when I put the program into the vm-os,It always get -1. I'm sure in the vmx file

vmci0.present="true" vmci0.unrestricted = "TRUE" and vmci0.id also has value,But when call the method can't get it. The vm-os type is workstation 6.5,Must I install the windows server os in vm? How can I get the cid in vm-os?

VMCISock_GetAFValue returns -1

plx — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:14:24 GMT

I'm writing a test program to get familar with vmci. While running my test program in the VMguest OS , I got an error from VMCISock_GetAFValue, the return value is -1. The following is my setup:

Host Windows XP.

VMWare work station version: 6.5.2 build-156735

Guest OS: Open Suse 11.1

Open-vm-tools: 2009.04.23

Installed the package by compiling the source file downloaded from open-vm-tools.sourceforge.net with the following procedure:

1) ./configure

2) make

3) make install

Any hint what might went wrong? Thanks in advance!

Host CID uncertainty

MarkWoollard — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:03:10 GMT

The documentation for VMCI function VMCISock_GetLocalCID() states 'The VMware host usually has CID = 2'. Since there is no API to get the CID of the host from within a VM what do you do to communicate with the host from a VM? Using CID = 2 works for my tests but the docs imply just using CID = 2 is not guaranteed to always be correct. What is the recommended way of dealing with this?

Thanks
Mark

VMCI Inter VM / Host communication problem

MarkWoollard — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:35:10 GMT

I am trying to setup basic VMCI datagram communications between guest OS and the host. I have put together a test harness comprising of a client and server application and these communicate with each other if both are run on the host, or within the same VM. However I cannot get them to communicate between VM and host or inter VM. The socket calls all succeed but no data is received on the server end.

I am running on latest ESX Server under CentOS 5.3 and the VM guest OS is also CentOS 5.3. VMCI seems to be installed and working, as VMSock calls work as do socket calls with socket created for VMCI family.

I can't see any setting for ESX Server to control inter-VM VMCI comms but maybe I have missed something? Failing that is there a piece of example code known to work that I can try?

Thanks
Mark

VMCI-socket stability issues

Andreas Johansson — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:00:28 GMT

Hi,

I have now finished my Java wrapper of the socket API and am experiencing severe stability issues in my tests; it occures when I push traffic through it (Bluescreens on the host pointing all over the place). My testing spec is as follows:

Host:

Vista Ultimate SP1
WS 6.5.1 build-126130

VM:
WinXP SP3
VMware tools 7.8.4 build-126130

I have about 6 concurrent handles open at the same time and very soon the computer either freeze or gives me a bluescreen. Some of the bluescreens I have observed are:

ntfs.sys crash
IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

At first I thought it was because of a conflict with my other virtual server appliances (VirtualBox and Virtual PC 2007), but uninstalling them didn't resolve the issue. Something is going very bad deep into the kernel code since Vista can't recover from the error. If anyone have seen this before I would be grateful to know more about the cause.

Kind Regards
Andreas

basic questions on VMCI

memetom — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 22:07:45 GMT

Hi,

start investigating to move application to VM environment and like to write and run tool on guest VM to track cpu VM is getting from host server.

Can tool written to use VMCI run inside guest OS and use VMCI to gain some information on host server?

Is VMCI work on ESX also?

Thanks,

Tom

VixVM_RunScriptInGuest usage in linux

eyasso — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 07:27:20 GMT

Hi all,

I am looking for a sample on using this C API on linux. I want to run shell script using this API.
How do I set "interpreter" for linux shell script?

In some reason, all samples are for Windows OS.

Thanks.

Redistribution of vmGuestLib.dll, vmGuestLibJava.dll and vmGuestLibJava.jar

AlexVas — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:08:23 GMT

I am having problems to find clear answer to the following question:

Can I redistribute vmGuestLib.dll, vmGuestLibJava.dll and vmGuestLibJava.jar files with my application?

I've read licence agreement, but have not managed to get any definitive answers

Thank you,

Alex

VMCI-socket threadsafe?

Andreas Johansson — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:07:36 GMT

Hi,

I'm almost finished with my Java socket wrapper around the new VMCI library. I have done some tests and the first thing that strikes me is that its not thread safe (The legacy VMCI library is). After creating-sending-closing a couple of sessions between the host and a VM the client on the VM crashes hard (Entire JVM) with EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (This happens when calling the sendto function and the host is waiting in recvfrom at the same time). I don't think the error is in my JNI code but somewhere in your library.

I will try to recreate the error in C - I'll post an example if I succeed.

Kind Regards
Andreas

Can a guest identify the machine its running on?

hnrkssn — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:06:33 GMT

Is there a way of a guest to identify the physical machine it is running on?

For example, say that you have two physical mahcines A and B.

Can a guest A1 tell if it is running on machine A or B?

Using CPUID or is all CPUID info emulated?

Best regards

VMCI socket - bug in select() function?

Andreas Johansson — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:17:04 GMT

Hi,

I have now proceeded to create non blocking IO channels but can't get your select() implementation to work. The problem is that it doesn't timeout as it should and therefore act as a blocking IO.

int selectOnRead(int sockfd, unsigned long secTimeout, unsigned long uTimeout)
{
    fd_set readFdSet;
    struct timeval tv;
	
    tv.tv_sec = secTimeout;
    tv.tv_usec = uTimeout;
	
    FD_ZERO(&readFdSet);
    FD_SET(sockfd, &readFdSet);

    select(FD_SETSIZE, &readFdSet, NULL, NULL, &tv)
}

The code above is as simple as it gets by using select; only one file descriptor that should timeout on the values set in "tv". If we go through the arguments to select they should be:

FD_SETSIZE = Number of FDs + 1 (Or FD_SETSIZE)
readFdSet = Array of FDs to observe when they can be read without blocking
tv = A simple time structure that can hold seconds and microseconds

(If tv is NULL select will block, if both time holders are 0 select return immediately, else it will use the values for timeout - http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_mono/libc.html#Waiting-for-I_002fO)

I have tested the following:

1. If both time holders in tv is set to 0 VMCI-socket still blocks.
2. It doesn't matter if datagram or stream is used.
3. If all three observable types is NULL select will not block (or timeout) but instead return error(-1).

No matter what I put into the arguments it will block until a client sends it a packet. Is this a known bug or are my implementation wrong?
For a more complete example see the server implementation in the attachment.

Kind Regards
Andreas

VMCI socket feature request

Andreas Johansson — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:41:06 GMT

Hi,

I have just read through the VMCI socket guide and it looks to me that there are things that have been removed from the old VMCI implementation that are useful. In my current VMCI implementation I use the "VMCIDs_Register" call to register my VMCI server service as "IP-address:port", this allows me to address both IP and VMCI based sockets in the same way.

i.e.

sock = new Socket(host, port);
sock = new VmciSocket(host, port) ;

In the new API it's harder to hide the VMCI low level information and the result is that it propagates up into the higher levels of abstraction.

i.e.

sock = new VmciSocket(cid, port);

I would like to use both VMCI and ordinary IP-sockets and the CID information is really not necessary, it also breaks the socket contract. I would like the possibility to set an alias for a server service as was possible in the datagram implementation of VMCI (WS 6.0.x).

i.e.

// Server code...

service = IP-address;
VMCIDs_Register(service); // Bind an alias to servers CID

// Client code...
struct sockaddr_vm my_addr = {0};
my_addr.svm_family = afVMCI;
my_addr.svm_cid = service;
my_addr.svm_port = port;
...

Is this possible with the new architecture or do I have to create a workaround?

Kind Regards
Andreas

Supporting custom hardware in VMWare

wanvalen — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:41:55 GMT

I have been searching for info on how to integrate custom hardware into VMWare but can't locate any. How would an IHV go about writing drivers or other modules so that their custom hardware can be seen from inside guest OSes ?

VMCI Again

voodooRod — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:50:59 GMT

Early last year I looked into VMCI and found it wasn't what I needed to communicate with VMs. So, I rolled my own stream socket communication and all worked well. Upgrading to VMWorkstation 6.0, then caused me to see my sockets being dropped by the VM after running for some time. Keep Alives didn't help. So, now upgrading to 6.5 I'm returning to VMCI to see if it will keep the connection up and running.

Last time I looked at VMCI there was a datagram api. Am I correct in my understanding that, it has been depracated, and I must roll my own VMCI/Winsock sockets?

Also, before I make this leap, does anyone know why TCP stream sockets inside the VM would be dropped after running a while. They work, but after about 30 minutes the connection is dropped.

thanks,

Rod

Shared memory/sockets from Kernel mode in Windows

bazis — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 16:45:42 GMT

Is there any robust mechanism of communicating between Windows host and Windows kernel driver working on a VM without involving such heavy mechanisms as TDI? Basically, ideal way would be to read/write some pre-mapped shared memory address. However, as far as I understand, this API is deprecated now.
So, the question is whether it is possible to communicate between VM and host without calling heavy kernel routines.

VMCI - abuntu - Failed to init VMCI library

harriscd — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:07:48 GMT

I've successfully compiled the sample datagramApp.c, but when I start it with "/dg -d /dev/vmci -s", I recieve the following error:

Failed opening /dev/vmci with error 19

Failed to init VMCI library.

When compiling I used the following command:

gcc datagramApp.c -o dg -L/<path>/vmware-tools-distrib/lib/vmware-vmci/lib/vmci -I/<path>/vmware-tools-distrib-lib/include/vmci 'pkg-config --cflags --libs vmci'

thanks

Shared Memory and Socket API

apraman — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:15:15 GMT

Hello,

I need to communicate between Guest and Host OS. The development environment is C#. With Workstation 6.0, I had a sample done in C# with Dlls in C++ using VMCI Shared memory API and could communicate. After a while, I came across the synchronization problem and found the Socket API that comes with 6.5 Beta 2. Now, the documentation states that for communication between Host and Guest only UDP is avalaible and TCP can be used for communication between two Guest OS. UDP, is not a reliable protocol. Now, since this is a virtalisation concept, will the UDP be reliable in this case ? Can I pass UDP packets with length 8k - 12K byets without packet loss ? The communication between Guest and Host is very important in my application and I cannot to afford to loose even a single packet.

If I use Shared Memory, Will future version of Workstation support it? What it is best and reliable way to share these kind of packets between Guest and Host, I am unable to come to a conclusion. Can anyone please help.

Thanks and Regards

Ram

APIs to get Windows Product Key from Windows Virtual Machine

Manuzee — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:01:42 GMT

hi,

I just wanted to know the API to get information about product key / serial key of Windows Guest OS running as Virtual Machine?

Thanks,
Manu

How to measure number of shared pages in a VMware Workstation 6.0.5?

nprashan — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:11:26 GMT

I want to measure number of shared pages in the guest OSes which are installed over VMware Workstation 6.0.5

Guest API (Guest SDK) seems to work only for ESX server. Is there any API or tool which can give this information on VMware Workstation?

Experimental API to Test Time Offset?

IT Admin to the Stars — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:14:34 GMT

All,

My developers need to test the time offset created by the virtualization of user desktops. We've heard that there is an "Experimenal API" available for download from VMware which will allow us to test the time offset between virtual desktops and VMware servers.

Has anyone heard of this? If so, can you let me know where we can download?

Thanks a million

Mike

vmci problem

voodooRod — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:10:35 GMT

Has anyone out there been able to actually get the vmci datagram sample to actually work?

I'm failing on VMCIDatagram_CreateHnd(0); After initializing the vmci device, I'm to make the createhnd call. It returns with the value, VMCI_INVALID_HANDLE. Does anyone know what could cause this failure?

I know the VMCI is "experimental," but if no one has actually gotten the samples to work, then why release it and have folks waste time. I hope that my frustration isn't true, and that the vmci does work.

thanks,
Rod

Documentation on vmwareservice options requested

Jorgen_Stenberg — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:59:51 GMT

Where can i find documentation of all available commands to the -cmd option of the vmwareservice app in VMWare Tools?

Can an API be called from within a guest on VMware Workstation?

jknoke — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:52:22 GMT

I'd like to be able to control other VMs from a "master" VM. Sorry, I couldn't quite figure this out from the VMware web page I looked at and seems like some of the SDKs are for ESX, but not WS.

If the answer is yes, is there an SDK that will work in WS 5.5.5 (sorta old).

Vport in cluster assignment

karthimin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 05:27:43 GMT

Hi all,

Creating datastore in a cluster the vport should be same for for both host?(cluster is having two host). I tried with different vport for the two host's in a cluster, the datastore didn't appear in cluster datastores. what might be the reason? but using same vport for bit host's i could able to see the datastore in cluster datastores.

Here my question is for cluster we should use only the common vport(scsi traget) for creating datastore in cluster (or) we can use the different vport(scsi target) for craeting datastore in cluster?.Can any one please clarify on this?

Thanks

--karthi

Get a server GUID that is consistent for the physical server

DavidThi — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:30:31 GMT

Hi;

Is there a way in the guest O/S to determine if my app is running under VMWare and if so, to then get a GUID of some kind that is unique to the physical machine. I need to get the same GUID if running on the parent O/S or in any of the guests. It is ok of the GUID changes when the machine is rebooted.

Is this possible? And if so, how?

thanks - dave

Hercules Monochrome Graphics in VMware Server

RickHodgin — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:10:14 GMT

I'm looking for a way to connect to a virtual Hercules Graphics card (monochrome monitor) that will support text and graphics modes in VMware Server. When the virtual machine starts it has the main window which changes between text and graphics modes as the machine boots. I'd like to see another connected window which allows me to view what would be in monochrome address space, 0xb0000 to 0xb7ffff.

If such a thing doesn't exist, I'd like to be pointed in the right direction so I can write one. I just need access to that memory range in the virtual machine's memory, as well as a redirect of certain ports for reading/writing to that card's control registers, and then I can display the contents in a window myself. I have much experience developing on/with low-level Hercules graphics, including mouse pointers and flashing cursors in graphics mode (which is why I'm interested in having the ability to show what's in memory in a window--to support existing DOS-based apps I've developed over the years).

Thanks for your help.

Rick C. Hodgin

how can i call a program (say clock.exe) inside a guest machine from ESX?

BizCON Alex — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:30:19 GMT

In VMServer, I can use vmrun, how about ESX?

thx.

AlexLi

Detect whether Guest OS is running under VM

vikram_vap — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:16:58 GMT

Hello all ,

Is there any way to know that OS is running on VM or genuine harware ?

I want to that from code itself.Please let me know.

Also I would like to extend this thread with other questions as how I can limit vmware to use defined number of processors under dual core or multi core environment.

Or if thats not possible access information that which processors current VM has used and for what period of time ?

Thanks in adavance,

How to pass ALT-TAB hot key to host?

Giermann — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:39:47 GMT

I'm going to run one single application inside a VM, because this app only runs on WinNT4.

Now my users argue, whenever the press <Alt>-<Tab> it is executed inside the VM, but they want it to be executed on the host instead...

The result should look like a seamless application (running on the guest) but integrating in the normal Windows desktop.

I already managed to disable <Alt>-<Tab> inside the guest, but it would be great, if I could use an API-Call to release the keyboard hook from the guest or even to pass that key sequence over to the host!

Is this somehow possible???

Any help appreciated,

Sven

Socket API in 6.5 Beta

ramanasoory — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:21:22 GMT

Hello,
I am working with 6.5 Beta with Host OS as Vista and Guest OS as XP. I am creating a communication application between guest and Host using the socket API, but I am unable to communicate. Is there any sample for that ?
I create the server socket with VMADDR_CID_ANY as cid and VMADDR_PORT_ANY as port for the server address and bind the socket. After binding, I get the address and port using the getsockname and use the cid and port returned by the function for client connection. I am using Datagram for the connection between host and guest (Host is the server and guest is the client)
Can you please help?
All host functions ( getsockname, bind, socket) does not return -1 and the client functions too (socket and sendto) does not return -1.

Can I use WSAAsynSelect of Winsock to notify FD_READ message for the socket?

Thanks and Regards
Ram

VMCI for Solaris

cam.macdonell — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:27:37 GMT

Is VMCI supported under Solaris (Nevada)? There is no question when running config-tools.pl.

Thanks,

Cam

get the real phyiscal MAC address

MoonMoon — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:32:30 GMT

We are a developer of networking software. Like many vendors (including Microsoft WPA), we use the physical MAC to enforce license. So is there any way to get the real physical MAC address (instead of the 00-50-56 and 00-0C-29 range) within the VM?

I think this capability if quite important for many developers. Currently, for some customers we just decline to send them license altogether if they are using VMWare. This is quite bad and it will lead to lost sale for VMWare.

Getting VM Name from Inside the VM

mikhaill — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:12:14 GMT

Is it possible to somehow get the name of the VM from inside the VM itself that's running on an ESX server?

Thanks,

Getting VM name from withing guest

lmwinbur — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:12:20 GMT

How can I pull the VM name from withing the guest os (2003 server) using vbscript or vb.net? I'm using ESX3.5 and VC2.5.

Thanks,
Landon.

VMCI on Vmware Server 2.0?

Andreas Johansson — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:29:44 GMT

Is there any plan on supporting VMCI on Vmware server 2.0? I'm building a system where I really like to be able to contact my guest vm:s without using the network.

VMCIDatagram_RecvFrom bug

_t — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 17:39:01 GMT

the vmci api is very useful and works like a charm.

while playing around with the api i came across one possible "bug".
if one shrinks the receive buffer to exactly fit the message size,
VMCIDatagram_RecvFrom fails with an error VMCI_ERROR_GENERIC (operating system error).
the error disappears if the receive buffer is at least 32 bytes bigger than the actual required buffer size for the message,
which matches exactly sizeof(VMCIDatagramSendHdr).

the problem can be reproduced with the sample application datagramApp.c by lowering the buffer size.
the sample sends and receives 15-byte "HELLO ..."-strings.
therefore one expects the receive should work with a buffer that is at least 15-byte long or
it should be documented at http://pubs.vmware.com/vmci-sdk/functions/VMCIDatagram_RecvFrom.html that the buffer must be slightly bigger than the actual payload and
a VMCI_ERROR_INVALID_ARGS should indicate that there is something wrong with the arguments not with the operating system.

with BUFSIZE defined as 45 in datagramApp.c the receive fails, with BUFSIZE 46 or higher the receive succeeds.

hops this helps others that are having the same problem.

BTW "vmcilib.h" is missing:
#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif

... functions ...

#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif

VMCI with P/Invoke in C#

apraman — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:02:59 GMT

I am using VMWare workstation 6.0 evaluation and am developing an application using the VixCOM sdk using C#. I also need to use VMCI dll for sharing purposes and I am trying to use P/Invoke from c#. Following are some of three signatures for VMCI dll functions:

public static extern int VMCI_InitApp(string devName);

public static extern ulong VMCISharedMem_Create(uint size, ref System.IntPtr addr);

public static extern int VMCIDs_Lookup(
http://System.Runtime.InteropServices.InAttribute()
http://System.Runtime.InteropServices.MarshalAsAttribute(System.Runtime.InteropServices.UnmanagedType.LPStr) string name,
ref ulong handle);

The first two functions executes as expected. The third "Lookup function" always returns -8. The name I am passing is "vmci public group"
The functions works perfectly from c++ environment. But I need it in C#. (The device name I am passing for InitApp is "\\.\vmx86" )

Can anyone you please help?

Thanks and Regards,
Ram

VMCI and synchronization

apraman — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:12:04 GMT

Hi,

I am using VMCI to share data between Host and VM - both can read and write in the same shared region. Can I assume that the memory is synchronised i.e, VMCI internally has mutex implemented and I need not create such. (I think that is why API requires a name so that it can create a mutex for that handle). Please let me know.

Thanks and Regards,

Ram

Error loading custom DLL

unslacker — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:14:38 GMT

Hi,

I have a Java application that loads a custom DLL (written in C++) using JNI. Everything works properly when I run the application on a physical machine, but when I try to run it on a virtual machine, I get UnsatisfiedLinkErrors:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: C:\Program Files\Embo
tics\V-Commander\bin\WinServices64.dll: This application has failed to start bec
ause the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application ma
y fix this problem
at java.lang.ClassLoader$NativeLibrary.load(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary0(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Runtime.load0(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.System.load(Unknown Source) .....

I created a VM and put Visual Studio on it, and rebuilt the project. The newly created DLL now loads properly on the VM on which it was created (and on physical machines). However, it still won't load properly on any other VM. Has anybody encountered this issue before, or have any ideas as to what the problem may be?

Thanks,

Simon

VMCI dll in C++

apraman — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:48:25 GMT

Hello,

Have anyone used vmci dll in C++ Environment (Visual Studio 2005)? If yes Can you please let me know how you have linked and executed. I have problem in linking the application and tried in various ways, probably I am missing something.

When I add the dll file in "Additional dependencies" I get Linker error. But when I change the compiler option to C from C++, the error disappears and it works. I need to create a wrapper in C++.

Thanks and Regards,

Ram

Attaining the UUID from within the Guest VM

Dravis — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:35:30 GMT

I'm writing an application that will be run from within the Guest VM and need to know if it's possible to attain the Guest VM's UUID. I know it's possible to get the UUID from the outside by using the VI SDK but it doesn't sound like that's something I can use from within the Guest VM. Does the Guest VM even know what it's own UUID is or is that something only the server knows about?

In it's simplest form, I'd like to just launch an executable from within the Guest VM and pop a message that says "This VM's UUID is: xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx"

Can this be done? Thanks!

Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate loadable module in module_path: "libbluecurve.so"

osde.info — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:38:07 GMT

Run

$ vmware-toolbox &

on CentOS 4 VM with minimal XFCE install and you'll get :

Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate loadable module in module_path: "libbluecurve.so"

Using vmwsvr 1.0.5 build 80187

regards

clive
http://vizz.info

How can I get the UUID of a Guest VM?

ESX-Q — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:20:26 GMT

How can I get the UUID of a Guest VM?

Operation not supported while making clone of a vm using vmclone.pl from viperl toolkit on ESX 3.5

itm.nakul — Tue, 27 May 2008 10:57:23 GMT

hi all ,
i am using vmware viperl toolkit 1.5 on a windows client machine and ESX 3.5 as server(Trial Version)..
I want to clone a vm and using the vmclone.pl from viperl toolkit....
While running the cloning starts but not complete..............
I don't know wat's wrong in that script........
please solve my issue..........
waiting for prompt response..........
Thanx.......
regards...........

definitions of integers in vm_basic_types.h

cam.macdonell — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:52:22 GMT

Hi,

Just a comment that the definitions of uint64, int64, uint32, etc are not guarded by checks to see if those types are already defined. Definitions such as uint64 are becoming more common and without this check I encounter errors of duplicate definitions when compiling VMCI into other code that already defines them.

Just a thought.

Cam

GetResourcePoolPath Meaning?

drewbie — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:55:04 GMT

I'm calling the vmware guest API, and getting all sorts of useful information - but I can't figure out the meaning of the GetResourcePoolPath - right now, on my Windows 2003 VM on ESX 3.5, this returns: host/user/vm.1072.

OK, goodness - 1072 is my worldID, that makes sense... the rest is just not useful... I would presume that this would show the ESX host , not "host".. my ESX server is "ESXSERVER", so shouldn't this return: esxserver/root/vm.1072?

I would like to use the guest API as it appears to be very fast and very useful for my purposes, but I want to also associate the stats to the current ESX host system.. it appears resourcepoolpath should show this, but it doesn't - or I misunderstand the meaning of the API - either way, can anyone explain this?

How to measure memory overcommittment threshold?

tmilner — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:24:31 GMT

In short I'm trying to determine what the total memory requirement is of all running VMs. In other words, how much memory must my esx server have before it becomes overcomitted and must starting freeing up memory.

My current algorithm is to make a performance query and sum the counter "Memory Consumed (Maximum)" for all VMs. But I'm confused about the host counter "Memory Overhead (Average)". Should I retrieve that and add it in? Or is it the average overhead _per VM_?

And mostly, is this overall algorithm correct or am I missing something? TIA.

Tom

How to get host machine name/ipaddress

y_richard — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:53:35 GMT

I'm developing a test tool for VMWare. The test tool runs on VMWare guest OS and needs to talk to host OS. To do that I need to know the host machine name or ip address. So how do I detect host machine name or ip address inside guest OS? Thanks.

Convert template to virtual machine command line

benny_Boy — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:28:00 GMT

I describe my goal, then I'll you ask the best practice ? :

I need to deploy custom template (with custom size of HardDrive, RAM, ...., IP address), via a user interface (not via Infrasructure Client).

I thought, there is two differents ways to do it, but I understand there is no solution to deploy a virtual machine from a template in command line. So, my second option is to make template, then modify the .vmtx file, convert it into virtual machine, and finally resize (or add) hard disk (I saw vmkfstools have some options to do it).

My questions are :

Will it works with that solution ?

How convert template to virtual machine in command line ?

Thank you very much

Benny.

Java port of datagramApp VMCI example

Andreas Johansson — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:59:00 GMT

Hi!

I'm developing a Java port of the VMCI example and am going to release it to the Open Source community once finished. The port uses JNI to interact with the VMCI C-library and I have translated all the methods I need. Some functionality is working at the moment but unfortunately I am now stuck on a problem I don't see a solution to.

The following works:

1. Client on Host ----> Talk to ----> Server on VM (C impl)

2. Client on VM (C impl) ----> Talk to ----> Server on Host (Can only recieve not send response)

C impl = The example datagramApp written in C that follows with the VMCI library.

In example (1) above when using the C-implementation of the datagramApp application everything works as it should, the Java-client on the host can send and receive messages. In example (2) when using the Java-implementation of the datagramApp and running it as a server on the host and connecting to it with the C-implementation from within a VM, the server receives messages but can not send responses. (ErrorCode: (-2) - VMCI_ERROR_INVALID_ARGS).

If you still with me so far you may have noticed that my examples above haven't involved running my Java port from inside a VM, the reason for this is that I can't get passed the "VMCIResource_AddClientPrivileges" stage, I get (ErrorCode: (-7) - VMCI_ERROR_NO_ACCESS) both as client and server.

I have tested extensively and I'm pretty sure that it has something to do with the combination of the Java Virtual Machine, JNI, virtual environment and the C-library. It looks like JNI behaves somewhat strange in a virtual environment, I'm not sure though but it could explain why the error in example (2) only occurs inside a VM.

Any help is highly appreciated.

shadow monitor

vovanb — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:02:39 GMT

Hi!
I am new in VMWare
The customer use VMServer which run virtual multilple WinXP.
User connect to WinXP via MS Remote Desktop.
Is exist any possibility via SDK to create shadow silent monitor of user session for another user or number users.In another words create possibility that number of users will connect to single user session?Which SDK I need to use for develop this solution?
Thanks,
Vladimir

Get ESX VM name from within the Guest OS.

Dick Murray — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:25:12 GMT

Is it possible to get the ESX 3.0.2 VM name from within the Guest XP OS?

I have a VBScript which configures the IP address based on the Guest OS hostname, e.g. "test-1-1" becomes "192.168.1.1".

What I would like to do is query the ESX VM and use this to configure the host IP address.

List VMs with allocated processors/cores and other details

askquestion — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 10:19:54 GMT

How can we list VMs with allocated processors/cores and other details ?

list of vm

Guest APIs — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:18:30 GMT

Hello Everyone
I would like to get a list of Virtual Machine in my managed infrastructure with Virtual Center 2.01 through the use of scripts, someone can help me?
Thanks

How Can I add more memory, cpu core to VM by script or API?

marcleq — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:04:56 GMT

Hi all, I can add more memory and cpu core to VM manually using console, but how can I do it using script or API?

Also, Can I do it when the VM has been powered on?

Thanks a lot!

Best,

-Qian

Retrieving current VMware Tools Clock Sync status inside Windows guest

RasmusHansen — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:46:43 GMT

I am currently writing some Operations Manager scripts to ensure that all of our VMware guests have a consistent time implementation (ie W32Time disabled, VMware Tools Clock Sync turned on), but to do this I need some programmatic way of retrieving the status of the VMware tools clock sync from within the guest (ie is it on or off).

Ideally I'd like to do this from either the command-line or within VBscript as that's the easiest to implement, but any way will do although it would be best if I don't need to install half a dozen extra bits of software.

Any ideas?

32-bit/64-bit VMCI interoperation?

stephen.donnelly — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:15:32 GMT

Using VMCI with Workstation 6.0.0 on a 32-bit Linux host, and a 32-bit Linux guest VM, my app works fine.

I enable Intel VT and install a 64-bit Linux guest VM, but when I try my app I get "Failed opening default VMCI device with error 2." (Failed to init VMCI library).

The "vmci" driver module is loaded on the guest, and the /dev/vmci device node exists.

Should VMCI work on a 64-bit guest with a 32-bit host? Have a made an error installing VMware Tools on the guest machine?

help with-"" /usr/lib/libvmware-vix.so.0: could not read symbols: File in wrong format"

marcleq — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:30:05 GMT

Hi all, when I use vmware APT to implement the resume of a VM, I had the following error:

" /usr/lib/libvmware-vix.so.0: could not read symbols: File in wrong format

collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

My host os is:

Linux hostname 2.6.23.1-10.fc7 #1 SMP Fri Oct 19 14:35:28 EDT 2007 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

and:

Linux hostname 2.6.17-10-generic #2 SMP Tue Dec 5 21:16:35 UTC 2006 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I installed vmware server on them both succesfully. But sees that there is some problem about the libvmware-vix.so.0.

Any Ideas?

Thanks a lot!

Best,

-Qian

cant find vmware tools pre-freeze-script and post-thaw-script scripts

osde.info — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:40:46 GMT

VCB document says the freeze and thaw scripts should be in

/usr/sbin/pre-freeze-script
/usr/sbin/post-thaw-script

but i can only see the vmware tools power, suspend & resume scripts in /etc/vmware-tools/

ls -l /etc/vmware-tools/

total 60

-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 39938 Jul 26 21:57 installer.sh
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3743 Nov 28 10:30 locations
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 299 Jul 26 21:57 poweroff-vm-default
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 299 Jul 26 21:57 poweron-vm-default
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 2109 Jul 26 21:57 resume-vm-default
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 1767 Jul 26 21:57 suspend-vm-default

regards
clive (aka osde.info)
http://www.vizzr.info

points=prizes
so please click helpful answer or correct answer when appropriate
(but where's the unhelpful button ?)

VMware Guest API is not enabled on the host

felipe77 — Fri, 25 May 2007 08:06:13 GMT

Hi,

I'm getting this error from a call to VMGuestLib_UpdateInfo (error code 3).
Guest SDK library is there of course and the session opens successfully.

The error doesn't occur in other VMs on the same host.

VMware Tools are installed in all the VMs on the host.

The Guest API is not disabled in the VM's configuration file (no isolation.tools.guestlibGetInfo.disable = "TRUE" entry in it).

I've run out of ideas. I'd appreciate any help or slightest suggestions.

Are there TCP Offload APIs available for the guest?

kevlar — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 20:51:06 GMT

Are there TCP Offload APIs available for the guest, or plans for them if not?

TIA.

VMwareService.exe reports "Total guest info exceeds maximum allocated space"

Jonathan Nash — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:38:59 GMT

Under ESX 3.0 I set a guest info variable called my_state for a VM using the Perl SDK. When i log onto the VM and read the value using

vmwareservice.exe --cmd "info-get guestinfo.my_state"

it gives back the correct value:

SessionID=ddsmith+ClientIP=10.20.13.12+Habitat=Vdesk+ClientName=10.20.13.12+VDI=+UserAgent=Mozilla/4.0

When i try and write a new value inside the VM using:

vmwareservice.exe --cmd "info-set guestinfo.my_state logoff"

It gives back the error:

Total guest info exceeds maximum allocated space

I haven't been able to find any related info on the internet for this error so any help would be greatly appreciated. It seems particularly odd since the new value being assigned is a shorter string than the current one.

VMCI - "Failed to lookup in discovery service" after VM suspend.

okagan — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:09:51 GMT

I have built the VMCI datagram sample and it works.
Yet, after the guest is suspended and then powered-on, the program fails.

The client in the guest reports an error: Failed to lookup in discovery service, the VMCIDs_Lookup function returned -7, which is VMCI_ERROR_NO_ACCESS - "The user does not have access to the resource, for example, due to insufficient privilege".

I have tried various things to resolve this, but nothing helped - The only solution is to power off the guest (instead of suspending it), which is not a solution...

Any ideas?

Thanks

OK

WinPE Guest PreBoot Environment

jrackliffe — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 16:09:58 GMT

Looking to leverage the guestSDK if at possible to help with this workflow.

I have to provision new VMs in a VC managed ESX hosted environment. This environment is a static IP only space. I would like to "no-touch" the deployment by leveraging a couple aspects of the VC and Guest SDKs.

Generate a VM in VC
Add a DynamicProperty to the VM that holds the target static IP of the VM
Boot to WinPE and using the GuestSDK access the VC with no network connectivity and extract the stored IP. I can take it from there.

This is no short order I understand. Can someone let me know if this is even feasible via the Guest SDK?

How to get more information about the host?

adeveloper — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:35:49 GMT

Hello,
I'm running VMware ESX server on Linux, with Windows guests. I'm looking for a way for the Windows guests to query information about their host, such as the Host name, Ip address, VMware version, etc.

Is this possible ?