VMware Communities : Unanswered Threads - VIX API

RevertToSnapshot error vmrun

ffc518 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:07:04 GMT

Hi,

When I run the command:
vmrun -T server -h "http_address" -u userHost -p passwordHost revertToSnapshot "file.vmx" snapshot_name

I get the following error:

One of the parameters was not valid.

my version is VMware-vix-1.8.1-207905.exe
What can I do? Please Help me!

64-bit app against x86 VIX

fixitchris — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:00:19 GMT

I put together a simple 64bit app that tries to connect to a host using x86 VIX1.6.2. However, this does not work.

What are some possible solutions?

ref : http://www.dnjonline.com/article.aspx?ID=jun07_access3264

Pb stopping a guest using vmrun

jylenhof — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:10:39 GMT

Hi,

I've installed VMware-VIX-1.7.0-186713.x86_64.bundle on a RHEL 5.4 x86-64 Linux box.

I've managed to use vmrun to list all VMs :

vmrun -T vc -h https://hereismyadressip/sdk -u jylenhof -p hereismypassword list
Total running VMs: 101
s0184:storage1 S0127/S0127.vmx
VmVolume3 S0136 - Test Linux/S0136 - Test Linux.vmx
<snip>

VMware_Autonome_02 SV0188 - Serveur de Chat/SV0188 - Serveur de Chat.vmx
VMware_Autonome_02 SMTP2 - Relais Mail/SMTP2 - Relais Mail.vmx

But when I try to use it to stop a VM, the status reported is not the real one (my guest is powered on) :

~~root@sv0220 fence_vmware~~# vmrun -T vc -h https://hereismyipaddress/sdk -u jylenhof -p hereismypassword stop "VmVolume1 sv0221 - Maquette FTP/sv0221 - Maquette FTP.vmx"
Error: The virtual machine is not powered on: VmVolume1 sv0221 - Maquette FTP/sv0221 - Maquette FTP.vmx
~~root@sv0220 fence_vmware~~#

Nothing is written on the vcenter side.

And when I try to start this already started vm, it says that it cannot connect to the virtual machine...

~~root@sv0220 fence_vmware~~# vmrun -T vc -h https://hereismyipaddress/sdk -u jylenhof -p hereismypassword start "VmVolume1 sv0221 - Maquette FTP/sv0221 - Maquette FTP.vmx"
Error: Cannot connect to the virtual machine
~~root@sv0220 fence_vmware~~#

On the vcenter side, I've this message :

XXX VirtualMachine.powerOn.label not found XXX
sv0221 - Maquette FTP
The attempted operation cannot be performed in the current state Powered on).
BANQUE-ACCORD\jylenhofV1000.banque-accord.com
19/11/2009 17:03:38

Please advice what's wrong with my commands or if there's something wrong anywhere else ? (I can provide more information if asked precisely)

Regards,

rest api

mdinic — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:55:59 GMT

Hi,

I was looking for some example of how to use VMware rest api for fetching of all virtual machines, or all hosts, or virtual machines of specific host, and I did not find any.

The example in class: com.vmware.vim.rest.sample.RestAppDemo does not show much more then hello world, or alt least it looks to me this way.

Also I was unable to find a list of available URL's which can be used. I know that rest client is using managed object browser as rest service provider, but just by browsing it I was unable to find the URL I need.

E.g. this URL would fetch some info about the ESX server:

https://<server>/mob/?moid=ServiceInstance&doPath=content.about

but where can I find any API for rest calls like this (I found this one in class RestAppDemo) or example that is not trivial. Maybe an example to turn on virtual machine?

Can anyone give me some hint, I've been Google-ing for a few days and did not find anything that could help.

Thanks in advance

How to monitor VM is normally running or facing a problem.

Shigemi — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:30:05 GMT

First of all, I wrote my question as document by mistake, so I submit again here.

I have a question how a remote program can monitor VM is normally running or not on VMware.

My environment is VMware ESX 4.0 and VIX API 1.7.
My C++ program can successfully access VMware from remote workstation, monitor power state of VM, power on or shutdown VM. And I want to monitor VM health state in order to confirm VM is normally running, that is power state of VM is running and also VM is not in hang condition.

In case of Hyper-V of Microsoft, VM object, Msvm_ComputerSystem, has HealthState and OperationStatus properties. So it is possible to monitor VM is normally running by periodically monitoring those properties, I think.

In case of VMware, VM object has not such a property. So if anyone has an idea to know health state of VM, please let me know.

I have an idea to confirm VM health by periodically writing and reading variable to VM as follows, but I don't know this is effective or not.
############################################################################
BOOL writeReadPropertiesToVM(VixHandle vmHandle, BOOL* vmOK)
{
BOOL status = FALSE;
VixError err = VIX_OK;
VixHandle jobHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
char *readValue = NULL;

jobHandle = VixVM_WriteVariable(vmHandle,
VIX_VM_GUEST_VARIABLE,
"myTestVariable",
"newValue",
0, // options
NULL, // callbackProc
NULL); // clientData);

err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle, VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_OK != err)
{
// Handle the error...
const char* errorString = Vix_GetErrorText(err, NULL);
printf("VixVM_WriteVariable, status = 0x0%x(%s).\n", err, errorString);
goto abort;
}
printf("VixVM_WriteVariable succeeded.n");

jobHandle = VixVM_ReadVariable(vmHandle,
VIX_VM_GUEST_VARIABLE,
"myTestVariable",
0, // options
NULL, // callbackProc
NULL); // clientData);
err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle,
VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_VM_VARIABLE_STRING,
&readValue,
VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_OK != err)
{
// Handle the error...
const char* errorString = Vix_GetErrorText(err, NULL);
printf("VixVM_ReadVariable, status = 0x0%x(%s).\n", err, errorString);
goto abort;
}
printf("VixVM_ReadVariable succeeded.\n");
*vmOK = TRUE;

status = TRUE;

abort:
Vix_FreeBuffer(readValue);
Vix_ReleaseHandle(jobHandle);
return status;

}

Thanks and regards,

Shigemi

What do i need to use the VIX?

eXeC001er — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:36:46 GMT

Hello!

My questions:
1. Supported guest OS?
2. What do i need to install in guest OS?

I tried to use VIX on Solaris 10 (i use Vmware Workstation 7.0 on Windows). In guest OS installed vmware tools (version from WS6.5).

vmrun -T ws -gu root -gw ******** "full_path_to_vmx_file" "cmd_in_guest_os"
Error: This operation is not supported on this guest

why?

Uninstalling legacy installation... This version of "VMware VIX API" is incompatible with this operating system. Please install the "x86_64" version of this program instead.

sbuhk — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:20:51 GMT

get this error when trying to install workstation 7 after removing workstation RC1.

Uninstalling legacy installation...
This version of "VMware VIX API" is incompatible with this operating system.
Please install the "x86_64" version of this program instead.

kernel 2.6.27.29-0.1

I am using a x64 Opensuse 11.1 install.

i have tried to install both32 bit and 64

"Invalid user name or password for the guest OS" error in vmrun runProgramInGuest Operation

michal zobec — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:32:11 GMT

Hi all,

i have this script

"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\vmware\VMware VIX\vmrun.exe" -T ws revertToSnapshot "C:\_virtual-machines\vmware virtual machines\windows xp hry\windows xp hry.vmx" "testovani instalace 3"
"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\vmware\VMware VIX\vmrun.exe" -T ws start "C:\_virtual-machines\vmware virtual machines\windows xp hry\windows xp hry.vmx"
"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\vmware\VMware VIX\vmrun.exe" -T ws -gu user -gp aaaa copyFileFromHostToGuest "C:\_virtual-machines\vmware virtual machines\windows xp hry\windows xp hry.vmx" E:\lgo\software\tes4-oblivion-isles\_actual\Output\lgooblivionshiveringislesczech100.exe c:\temp\lgooblivionshiveringislesczech100.exe
"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\vmware\VMware VIX\vmrun.exe" -T ws -gu user -gp aaaa runProgramInGuest "C:\_virtual-machines\vmware virtual machines\windows xp hry\windows xp hry.vmx" -activeWindow -interactive c:\temp\lgooblivionshiveringislesczech100.exe /silent

all operations is ok but last operation is write this error message: Invalid user name or password for the guest OS

i am not understand this. if you see for console output:

E:\lgo\software\tes4-oblivion-isles\_actual>"C:\Program Files (x86)\vmware\VMware VIX\vmrun.exe" -T ws
+ -gu user -gp aaaa copyFileFromHostToGuest "C:\_virtual-machines\vmware virtual machines\windows+
+ xp hry\windows xp hry.vmx" E:\lgo\software\tes4-oblivion-isles\_actual\Output\lgooblivionshiveringisl+
esczech100.exe c:\temp\lgooblivionshiveringislesczech100.exe

E:\lgo\software\tes4-oblivion-isles\_actual>"C:\Program Files (x86)\vmware\VMware VIX\vmrun.exe" -T ws
+ -gu user -gp aaaa runProgramInGuest "C:\_virtual-machines\vmware virtual machines\windows xp hr+
y\windows xp hry.vmx" -activeWindow -interactive c:\temp\lgooblivionshiveringislesczech100.exe /silent

Error: Invalid user name or password for the guest OS

first guest operation is run ok and second with same username and password not run for username and password problems

host: windows vista ultimate english x64 sp2
guest: windows xp professional sp3
vmproduct: vmware workstation 7 rtm

Any idea for this problem?
thanks for any help

michal zobec

How do you VixPropertyList_AllocPropertyList in VixCOM (or how to open an encrypted VM)?

dblock — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:02 GMT

I've added support to VixCOM 1.8 to VMWareTasks (Player, etc.), but I can't figure out how to allocate a new property list from C# via VIXCOM to support encrypted virtual machines. I want this code basically in C#. Ideas?

err = VixPropertyList_AllocPropertyList(hostHandle,
&propertyHandle,
VIX_PROPERTY_VM_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD,
"vmPassword",
VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (err != VIX_OK) {
// Handle the error...
goto abort;
}

// Open the virtual machine:
jobHandle = VixHost_OpenVM(hostHandle,
"c:
Virtual Machines\\vm1
win2000.vmx",
VIX_VMOPEN_NORMAL,
propertyHandle,
NULL, // callbackProc
NULL); // clientData

Problem with revertToSnapshot

mic21 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:00:02 GMT

Hi,

When I run the command:

vmrun -T server -h "http_address" -u userHost -p passwordHost revertToSnapshot "file.vmx" snapshot_name

I get the following error:

One of the parameters was not valid.

What can I do? Please Help me!

Thank, mic

Problem with revertToSnapshot

mic21 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:59:56 GMT

Hi,

When I run the command:

vmrun -T server -h "http_address" -u userHost -p passwordHost revertToSnapshot "file.vmx" snapshot_name

I get the following error:

One of the parameters was not valid.

What can I do? Please Help me!

Thank, mic

unable to copy file from host to guestVM - "Error: Invalid user name or password for the guest OS"

zeevik — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:41:14 GMT

I'm trying to copy a file from an ESX host to a linuxVM running on it

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware VIX>vmrun -T esx -h https://10.55.1.16/sdk -u root -p *** -gu user -gp *** copyFileFromHostToGuest "QA-NAS-01 VM/vm.vmx" /root/file /root/file

the command returns "Error: Invalid user name or password for the guest OS"

opening the console of that machine, I'm able to login with user/*** to the linux shell (linux VM, which has no SSH access)

Any ideas ?

Thanks,
Zeevik

vix 1.7 installer crashes

JonathanHansen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:48:32 GMT

I am trying to resolve this issue and it has me baffled.

The installer gets to the EULA, I hit enter to begin installing and it just dies. No error message, no indication it did anything, just exits.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Programmatically Connecting/Disconnecting Removable Devices using VIX API?

julzen — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:10:17 GMT

Is it somehow possible to connect/disconnect removable devices using the VIX API?

Or is there another mechanism how I might archieve that using my own tool/script?

Thanks

VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_VMWARE_WORKSTATION error

sarahi — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:29:38 GMT

Hi,

I'm trying to run a script in a 64-bit Windows 7 VM usingthe vmrun command line tool (1.6.0.2073) and the following options:

vmrun -T ws -gu user -gp passwordrunProgramInHost "C:\vms\W7.vmx" -interactive "C:\test\test.cmd"

and i get the following error:

Error: Service type VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_VMWARE_WORKSTATION was specified, but not installed

Can anyone help me with this error, it would be most appreciated!

Thanks

there is a way to obtain, CPU and Memory usage from the virtual Machine

ghosther — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:25:56 GMT

there is a way to obtain, CPU and Memory usage from the virtual Machine usink Vix Api.

Regards.

I'm using C# wrapper.

Where could i get a beta version?

IsaacLeal — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:41:07 GMT

I'm trying to use VIX with vmware player, as in this article : http://www.vmware.com/beta/workstation/vix-api/vix_player_technote.pdf

But the link to download is broken.

Some one can say where do I can find this beta version?

Thanks!

Possible is it that VixHost_Connect() complete a connection through a session ID, not the username and password?

brinews — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:36:33 GMT

What I want to realize is that accomplish a interaction with the vm on some ESX host under my VC. Because of the unreachable of ESX host username and password, I can only get the session from the VC, then how can I reach the vm with VIX?

I have some try, just initialize the username with session ID and password NULL, then I get such error: CRITICAL **: gvmomi_session_connect: assertion `cnxParams' failed, anyone have ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Is there a way to retrieve performance statistics in VIX API?

levinpeng — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:19:04 GMT

I am going to use VIX API to control VMs host in ESX servers in my automation system. Is there a way to get the statistics for ESX and storage? I'd like to use them to determine if the action is allowed, for example, it won't power on any VMs if CPU usage is more than 70%.

vmrun: revertToSnapshot gives "A file by that name does not exist" error

antekone — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:37:22 GMT

Hello. I'm having a problem with vmrun.exe (so I guess I'm not 100% convinced if it's the correct thread), as in the post title. I've used version 6.5.1 of vmrun.exe, and today I've installed v1.7 of VIX (it was advertised on the forum, above thread list), tagged as "e.x.p build-186713", but the problem remains.

I'm listing the image's snapshot list by using listSnapshots (%VMX% is the path to the .vmx file):

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX>vmrun -T ws -gu Test -gp test listSnapshots %VMX% r1
Total snapshots: 1
r1

and then I'm trying to revert the snapshot:

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX>vmrun -T ws -gu Test -gp test revertToSnapshot %VMX% r1
Error: A file by that name does not exist

I can revert to this snapshot ("r1") with VMWare Workstation GUI with no problems. When I start the virtual machine, and then I'll try to revert to the snapshot using vmrun.exe, the machine will stop, vmrun.exe will run for 2-3 secs, and it'll dump the same error as above.

Funny thing is, it doesn't work with only one image - I have several virtual machines, with serveral different versions of Windows, and everything works on them (listing snapshots and reverting to them).

I enclose the dump of directory contents, with file names and their sizes, as I saw on other (unanswered) thread that someone requested it, so I guess it could be important.

Technology Exchange Developer Day - VIX API Applications and Scripts for Managing Guest Environments

navadavuluri — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:26:52 GMT

Hello,

We are happy to announce about our hands-on demo at Technology Exchange Developer Day 2009, VIX API Applications and Scripts for Managing Guest Environments

Presenter: Matt Lamantia

Demo ID: DS-03

Time: 3:45 - 4:45 AM

Abstract:
We will show examples of how the VIX API can be used to develop tools for managing guest environments
in VMware products. Included will be a domonstration of prrof-of-concept tools that monitor processes and
transfer files to multiple guests simultaneously. We will also show a Perl script that combines vSphere
Web Services SDK and VIX SDK to re-size a virtual disk and then the filesystem above it on the fly.

Technology Exchange Developer Day - VIX API Applications and Scripts for Managing Guest Environments

navadavuluri — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:21:06 GMT

Hello,

We are happy to announce about our hands-on demo at Technology Exchange Developer Day 2009, VIX API Applications and Scripts for Managing Guest Environments

Presenter: Matt Lamantia

Demo ID: DS-03

Time: 4:45 - 5:45 PM

Abstract:
We will show examples of how the VIX API can be used to develop tools for managing guest environments
in VMware products. Included will be a domonstration of prrof-of-concept tools that monitor processes and
transfer files to multiple guests simultaneously. We will also show a Perl script that combines vSphere
Web Services SDK and VIX SDK to re-size a virtual disk and then the filesystem above it on the fly.

using vestris starting from aspnet

oslinda — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:51:13 GMT

Hi, I’m trying to power on a virtual machine starting from a
the web application, that’s say, using ASP.NET. The problem is that I run the
application from internet explorer doesn’t work but if I run one from the
visual studio works. I think that it could be problems of permits but I
impersonate the user of the application and neither it works. Here I send the
code.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using Vestris.VMWareLib;
using VixCOM;

namespace VixWebApplication
{
public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

}

protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// declare a virtual host
VMWareVirtualHost virtualHost = new VMWareVirtualHost();

// connect to a local (VMWare Workstation) virtual machine
virtualHost.ConnectToVMWareWorkstation();

// open an existing virtual machine
VMWareVirtualMachine virtualMachine = virtualHost.Open(@"D:\Shared\My Virtual Machines\Windows XP Professional\winxppro.vmx");

// power on this virtual machine
virtualMachine.PowerOn(Constants.VIX_VMPOWEROP_NORMAL /*| Constants.VIX_VMPOWEROP_LAUNCH_GUI*/, 180);

// login to the virtual machine
virtualMachine.LoginInGuest("mila", "mila");

}
}
}

When
I run the application starting from the browser I obtain this error “Cannot
connect to the virtual machine” but I run the application from visual studio
works fine, that’s to say, the virtual machine power on.

+Cannot
connect to the virtual machine+

*Description:*An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the
current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about
the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: Vestris.VMWareLib.VMWareException:
Cannot connect to the virtual machine

Source Error:

Line 29:

Line 30: //
power on this virtual machine

Line 31:
virtualMachine.PowerOn(Constants.VIX_VMPOWEROP_NORMAL /*|

Constants.VIX_VMPOWEROP_LAUNCH_GUI*/, 180);

Line 32:

Line 33: //
login to the virtual machine|

Source File: C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\VixWebApplication\VixWebApplication\Default.aspx.cs Line: 31

Stack Trace:

[VMWareException:
Cannot connect to the virtual machine]

Vestris.VMWareLib.VMWareInterop.Check(UInt64
errCode) +66

Vestris.VMWareLib.VMWareJob.Wait(Int32
timeoutInSeconds) +47

Vestris.VMWareLib.VMWareVirtualMachine.PowerOn(Int32
powerOnOptions, Int32 timeoutInSeconds) +78

VixWebApplication._Default.Button1_Click(Object
sender, EventArgs e) in
C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\VixWebApplication\VixWebApplication\Default.aspx.cs:31

System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.OnClick(EventArgs
e) +111

System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String
eventArgument) +110

System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.System.Web.UI.IPostBackEventHandler.RaisePostBackEvent(String
eventArgument) +10

System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler
sourceControl, String eventArgument) +13

System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(NameValueCollection
postData) +36

System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean
includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint

Disconnecting NIC in guest Programmatically

jmcmorris — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:34:55 GMT

Hello, I am currently in search of a way to programmatically disconnect the guest's NIC. I have looked in several different places for a possible solution but I have come up practically empty handed. I am wondering if I can do this with VIX API? I was looking at VixVM_WriteVariable as a possibilty. Besides VIX, I also looked at vmware-cmd as a possibilty but from what I understand it was kind of replaced by vmrun, but vmrun doesn't have a disconnectdevice like vmware-cmd does.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

~Jasson

CRITICAL **: file ..\..\..\gobject\gobject.c: line 1737: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

ScottLangham — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:34:00 GMT

I've got a C# console app that uses VIX 1.6.2 (to connect to ESXi v3.5.0
Sometimes during a call to Connect, the text:

(MyConsoleApp.exe:5508): CRITICAL **: file ..\..\..\gobject\gobject.c: line 1737: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

Gets output to the console window. I'm guessing this is being output by some internal library that VIX uses; maybe an author of that library accidentally left an assertion in the release version of their code.

Anyway, does anybody know what this is or if there's a solution to make it go away? The connection fails if I see this message, but it usually succeeds after 4 or 5 retries.

Problem loading vix.dll

LukeQuinane — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:27:05 GMT

I am using the VMWare Tasks library to try and automate some VMs for testing. However when my C# program (32-bit) tries to load vix.dll it seems to fail. Running vmrun.exe from the VixCOM directory works.

In procmon I can see vmrun.exe try to load winmm.dll, oleacc.dll, mpr.dll, msasn1.dll, winspool.drv in C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\VIServer-2.0.0\32bit\ which all fail. It then continues on to load other DLLs and runs ok.

My program also attempts to load these DLLs in C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\VIServer-2.0.0\32bit\, fails and then continues on to load them in C:\Windows\SysWOW64.

The vmware-vixWrapper.log file looks like this for my program:

Jul 30 12:16:38.631: app| Log for VixWrapper pid=5844 version=1 build=build-156745 option=Release
Jul 30 12:16:38.636: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:38.637: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:38.637: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:38.639: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:38.647: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws-2\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:38.651: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:38.651: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:38.655: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:38.656: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:38.659: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws-2\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:38.660: app| Loading Vix implementation library C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\VIServer-2.0.0\32bit\vix.dll
Jul 30 12:16:38.669: app| failed to load library C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\VIServer-2.0.0\32bit\vix.dll (193)
Jul 30 12:16:38.669: app| No Vix library found for provider 10 revision -1

and the file for vmrun.exe looks like this:

Jul 30 12:16:14.802: app| Log for VixWrapper pid=3460 version=1 build=build-156745 option=Release
Jul 30 12:16:14.812: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:14.813: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:14.814: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:14.814: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:14.823: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws-2\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:14.827: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:14.827: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:14.828: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:14.828: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws_server_esx-4\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:14.832: app| config points to non-existent implementation library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\ws-2\32bit\vix.dll'
Jul 30 12:16:14.833: app| Loading Vix implementation library C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware VIX\\VIServer-2.0.0\32bit\vix.dll

Any help would be appreciated!

XML error on calling VixHost_Connect

Bart_Simpson — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:05:24 GMT

Hello when I call the VixHost_Connect function I get this error:

vimServiceVersions.xml:1: parser error : Space required after the Public Identifier
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
^
vimServiceVersions.xml:1: parser error : SystemLiteral " or ' expected
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
^
vimServiceVersions.xml:1: parser error : SYSTEM or PUBLIC, the URI is missing
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
^
vimServiceVersions.xml:9: parser error : Opening and ending tag mismatch: hr line 7 and body
</body></html>
^
vimServiceVersions.xml:9: parser error : Opening and ending tag mismatch: body line 4 and html
</body></html>
^
vimServiceVersions.xml:10: parser error : Premature end of data in tag html line 2

^
vimService.wsdl:1: parser error : Space required after the Public Identifier
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
^
vimService.wsdl:1: parser error : SystemLiteral " or ' expected
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
^
vimService.wsdl:1: parser error : SYSTEM or PUBLIC, the URI is missing
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
^
vimService.wsdl:9: parser error : Opening and ending tag mismatch: hr line 7 and body
</body></html>
^
vimService.wsdl:9: parser error : Opening and ending tag mismatch: body line 4 and html
</body></html>
^
vimService.wsdl:10: parser error : Premature end of data in tag html line 2

^
noname.xml:1: parser error : Space required after the Public Identifier
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
^
noname.xml:1: parser error : SystemLiteral " or ' expected
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
^
noname.xml:1: parser error : SYSTEM or PUBLIC, the URI is missing
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
^
noname.xml:9: parser error : Opening and ending tag mismatch: hr line 7 and body
</body></html>
^
noname.xml:9: parser error : Opening and ending tag mismatch: body line 4 and html
</body></html>
^
noname.xml:10: parser error : Premature end of data in tag html line 2

^

System: CentOS 5.3 x86_64 with VMware Server 2.0 (lats version for x86_64)

running the same code(after recompiling) on an 32 Bit CentOS 5.3 with VMware Server 2.0 (lat tversion for32 Bit) it will work.

What goes wrong?

Can removable devices connect or disconnect with VIX API?

SAMSAMC — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:41:34 GMT

Hi,

I want to be able to connect a USB device (currently being connected to the host) to the guest with command-line or program.

Is this possible in some way?

Menu -> VM -> Removable Devices -> Connect USB Device or Disconnect USB Device

I want to be albe to execute this command in some way.

if it is impossible, I want to answer that is word "It's impossible"

help me, please.

Throwing vmodl.fault.RequestCanceled without actually having cancelled a request

schnarff — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:23:28 GMT

I'm running VMware Server 2.0.0, Build 122956, and Vix 1.6.2, Build 127388, on an Ubuntu 8.04.03-LTS system. The setup works reasonably well most of the time - I've been able to do VM management via the Perl portion of the API, and generally speaking, it's good to go.

The reason I'm here is that I'm having an intermittent failure of the system that makes no sense (as best I can tell). The system is primarily used to manage a pair of virtual machines that I'm using to run a virus testing sandbox, with my Perl script running a process that boils down to:

Grab infected file, copy it over to clean virtual machine A
Start tcpdump on the host OS (which requires me to fork off a child process so it doesn't block)
Run the infected file on virtual machine A (clean virtual machine B is just sitting there so that it can be infected, and I can capture the traffic going over the network)
Wait 5 minutes
Kill the tcpdump process (no further fork, just a syscall)
Revert both virtual machines to their clean, pre-infected state
Loop back to the start with another file.

It works well for about 2-3 days, before my Perl script hangs during the process of reverting the second virtual machine. At that point, my hostd.log shows the following:

~~2009-07-22 14:42:14.684 'Vmomi' 3064437648 info~~ Activation N5Vmomi10ActivationE:0xcdcaf20 : Invoke done waitForUpdates on ~~vmodl.query.PropertyCollector:ha-property-collector~~
~~2009-07-22 14:42:14.685 'Vmomi' 3064437648 info~~ Throw vmodl.fault.RequestCanceled
~~2009-07-22 14:42:14.685 'Vmomi' 3064437648 info~~ Result:
(vmodl.fault.RequestCanceled) {
dynamicType = <unset>,
msg = ""
}
~~2009-07-22 14:42:14.686 'Vmomi' 3064437648 info~~ Activation N5Vmomi10ActivationE:0xd111108 : Invoke done waitForUpdates on ~~vmodl.query.PropertyCollector:ha-property-collector~~
~~2009-07-22 14:42:14.686 'Vmomi' 3064437648 info~~ Throw vmodl.fault.RequestCanceled
~~2009-07-22 14:42:14.686 'Vmomi' 3064437648 info~~ Result:
(vmodl.fault.RequestCanceled) {
dynamicType = <unset>,
msg = ""
}
~~2009-07-22 14:42:14.686 'Vmomi' 3064437648 info~~ Activation N5Vmomi10ActivationE:0xd06a6d8 : Invoke done waitForUpdates on ~~vmodl.query.PropertyCollector:ha-property-collector~~
~~2009-07-22 14:42:14.687 'Vmomi' 3064437648 info~~ Throw vmodl.fault.RequestCanceled
~~2009-07-22 14:42:14.687 'Vmomi' 3064437648 info~~ Result:
(vmodl.fault.RequestCanceled) {
dynamicType = <unset>,
msg = ""
}
~~2009-07-22 14:42:14.701 'PropertyProvider' 3064437648 verbose~~ RecordOp REMOVE: sessionList, ha-sessionmgr
~~2009-07-22 14:42:14.702 'ha-eventmgr' 3064437648 info~~ Event 3653 : User akirk logged out
~~2009-07-22 14:42:14.702 'PropertyProvider' 3064437648 verbose~~ RecordOp ASSIGN: latestEvent, ha-eventmgr

Obviously, I'm not manually issuing a cancellation request of any kind, since the goal is to just let my script run as long as it has files to process (which is essentially infinitely, given the amount of data I'm trying to look at). Is there any other reason such a request might be issued? Do I need to do a host disconnect and reconnect on each iteration of my loop? Or can VMware Server and/or VIX just not handle a long-running loop like that well?

How can i reconfigure a VM using VIX API

helpmeforvmware — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:53:41 GMT

Hi,,

I want to reconfigure VM using VIX API, let say i want to change memory share and cpu share in VM consider it as a X, and i want to remove one nic from. How to achieve this using VIX API.

Thank & Regards,

HelpmeforLinux.

CopyDatastoreFile_Task strange behaviour

r123 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:24:14 GMT

Hello,

I need to copy virtual disks (or files) between datastors in VI. I am using VMware Infrastructure (VI) API from perl. Initialy I tried to use CopyVirtualDisk_Task, but it apeared that it works just with ESX servers not virtual center. Then I tried to use CopyDatastoreFile_Task. CopyDatastoreFile_Task works fine with copying files in general, but it has strange behaviour when VM disk files ".vmdk" should be copied. When copying vmdk files it just creates very smallfile in destination - I think that it is some kind of reference to original file. Why it is so?

Following code is used in perl script to do the copy.

my $service_content = Vim::get_service_content();
my $file_mgr = Vim::get_view(mo_ref => $service_content->fileManager);
$file_mgr->waitForTask($file_mgr->CopyDatastoreFile_Task(sourceName => $SourceName,sourceDatacenter => $SourceDatacenter,destinationName => $DestName,destinationDatacenter => $DestDatacenter));

I also tried to move the file using MoveDatastoreFile_Task - it renamed source file dummy.vmdk to dummy-flat.vmdk, but in destination it again created very small file dummy.vmdk. But after that I was able to copy dummy-flat.vmdk with CopyDatastoreFile_Task. Can somebody explain this strange behaviour? Is there something wrong in those perl lines above? Files with extentions vmx, vmsd, vmxf I was able to copy successfuly.

Regards,

Roberts

Session Update! VIX APIs - Managing and Automating Guest OS

navadavuluri — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:23:18 GMT

Sessions # DE-02

Session Abstract:

The VIX APIs provide an easy-to-use, high-level
programming interface that combines virtual machine management operations with
actions in the guest operating system, such as running programs and copying
files to and from the guest. Users can leverage VIX to write scripts and
programs in C, Perl, C# or Visual Basic, and use a simple command-line tool for
writing shell scripts. This session will provide an overview of the VIX API,
along with detailed examples and demonstrations.

{youtube} http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJQtcNE39m4 {youtube}

Learn about our speakers:

Matt LaMantia is the manager of the VIX API team at VMware, focusing on enabling users and
independent software vendors to interface with VMware's platform offerings. Prior to working at VMware,
he was on the J2EE Server team at Art Technology Group and the speech recognizer team at
Dragon Systems, Inc. He received his MS in engineering management at MIT in 2006 and a BA in
computer science from Harvard in 1994.

Matt Richards is a senior software engineer for VMware, where he is the engineering lead for the
VIX API. While at VMware, he has worked on areas including platform scalability, product security,
and API and protocol design. He received his BS in computer science from Stanford University.

Can't connect to ESX 3.5u4 or 4.0 using VIX 1.6.2

jimirving — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:38:59 GMT

Going by the documentation here http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vix-api/vix16_reference/lang/com/functions/Connect.html I've been trying to connect to ESX in several instances. I've tried ESX 3.5 u2, u4 and ESX 4.0. In every single case, I can't connect In the manner described in the documentation, namely:

-using VixCOM.Constants.VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_VMWARE_VI_SERVER;

-using https://hostname:port/sdk

I have, however, been able to connect using VixCOM.Constants.VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_DEFAULT, and using only the direct hostname (ie esx10.example.com) for the hostname value.

The problem, however, is that even once I'm connected using SERVICEPROVIDER_DEFAULT, I can't open any VM's. I've tried opening them with datastore paths, absolute paths, and relative paths. Nothing works.

Does anybody know what's going on here and how I can get connected to ESX and open a VM? All of this code worked perfectly on VMware Server.

I really appreciate any help that anyone can give.

Any infos on the new 1.6.2 Version?

patrickschneider — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:34:22 GMT

Hello all,

I just stumpled on VMware-vix-1.6.2-156745.exe available on the VMware Server 2 download page. The package's date: 30/3/2009, product version: 2.0.1 build-156745
Unfortunately, I could not find a changelog or something like that anywhere.
The VIX API landing page still claims that VMware-vix-1.6.2-127388.exe (03/12/2008, product version: 2.0.0 build-127388) is the most recent version of the VIX API.
http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vix-api/

Can anyone point me to a changelog?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Patrick

Host Connect Problems [Vix-Perl]

luskjh — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:35:37 GMT

Hi,

My code (shown below) is producing the following error:

Failed to get property type for 3010 on handle 16799219.
HostConnect() failed, 22003, GetErrorText(22003)
Retrieving Host Handle...%

Code: http://www.pastie.org/544455

The above is the module, and to test it I just made a normal .plx file that included the module, and

vm( '/home/josh/vmware/SLES 10.2/SLES10.2.vmx' , 'start' );

...which should run the subroutine start, and use the path specified, but as shown above, I get that instead.

All help is greatly appreicated .

-Josh

How to get/answer question via VIX API?

cli4 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:48:55 GMT

What I'm trying to do is to create virtual machines using C program with VIX API. First I create a VM as template. Then I copy all files of the first VM and do some neccessary modificaitons on the copy. After that, I use VIX API to regiester the new VM. From the web interface, I can see registration is successful. At last, I try to use VIX API to power on the new VM. The power on process hangs up in the middle way, and from the web interface, I can see it appears a "?" mark on the new VM, I click the "?" mark, and get a question to ask if I copied or moved the VM file since it detects uuid conflit. After I choose "I copied it", the uuid of the new VM is updated and the new VM get successfully powered on.

My question is that if it's possible to let my C program automatically answer the question via VIX API or some other mechanism? I want to automatically create new VMs based on the template VM.

Thanks in advance.

Error when running vmrun on Linux (vmrun 2.0.1)

ch3nh4n — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:00:20 GMT

Hi,

I tried to use vmrun on Linux (Ubuntu 8) with VMWare Server 2.0 installed (and vmrun 2.0.1 included).

I can browse my server with Web GUI (locally or remotely) with no problem, but when I tried to control it via command line locally (from that Linux itself), I keep getting this error message:

Error: The specified service provider was not found

As I also have installed VMWare Server 2.0 on Windows (and vmrun 2.0.0, under VIX directory), I tried to control remotely to that first Linux machine and it works perfectly (needless to say that I can also control my local VMWare Server on my Windows box itself). The documentation and forum I read so far suggest that the vmrun is probably too old, to support -T server (but while my Windows can successfully do it with vmrun 2.0.0, and my Linux has 2.0.1, I'm a bit puzzled in that remark - but if it's the case, where can we download newer vmrun that support "-T server" for Linux?).

I'm pretty sure, it's not the security problem or wrong syntax (I even tried it as root), as I executed identical command on both machine. But if you're interested to know, the command I tried is:

vmrun -T server -h https://10.128.41.27:8333/sdk -u (username) -p (password) list

(also have tried to use localhost, its machine name, or 127.0.0.1 on my local Linux with no difference)

Note:

I actually found a workaround to make it works using vmware-vim-cmd, but I found it much more tedious in syntax than vmrun. So, would prefer if I can make vmrun works.

Thanks for helping.

How to script/program creation of image from web app

vmwaretrial2009 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:06:49 GMT

I have a web app that will need to take an existing VmWare image and create multiple instances of this image on the fly. I'm guessing I could either do this via an API or VmWare CLI. Any advice?

Can I $ pay $ someone to automate a VMware function?

mswarbrick77 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:15:45 GMT

I just need a simple VMware task automated and I can't figure out how to do it and would be happy to pay someone to code it.

Call or email

Mark

sales@sosstandbyserver.com

480-430-7780

Emergent : about Guest vmware tools , unattended

undefine — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:57:34 GMT

When I copied one Guest os which had contained vmware tools to another dir, when I start the copied one there's no vmware tools. why?
If I install the vmware tools again using VixVM_InstallTools() function, I must login the guest again.
I need Install the vmware tools unattended.
Please help me !

waiting ......

How do I script changing from Bridged to NAT?

mswarbrick77 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:47:42 GMT

I want to be able change from Bridged to NAT on a running VM and have it take effect immediately. I need to do this with a script. How can I do it?

My host is Vista. My guest is Server 2003. I am running VMware server 2x

vmrun + vSphere4 = crash!

rkreitz — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:27:20 GMT

Greetings,

To what degree is vmrun.exe (Vix 1.6.2-127388) supported under vSphere4 (4.0.0, 164009)? I'm able to invoke a list command and get running VMs from all clusters managed under vCenter, but I'm getting the following crash when I attempt any guest operation:

ERROR **:file

d:/build/ob/bora-127388/bora/vim/lib/gvmomi/gvmomi/gvmomiSession.c: line
1253: assertion failed: (NULL ==
g_hash_table_lookup(session->priv-<listenerTable,listener))
aborting...

Is there a vSphere 4-compliant beta version of Vix out there that I can play with?

As we all know, Vix is all we have to manage in-guest processes, and I have a lot of in-guest processes to manage.

Thank you,

Randy Kreitzman
MFG Tools/Automation
Autodesk, Inc.

how to swtich between powered on VMs using vix api

papapa — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:01:20 GMT

Hello,

I want to know as there is an option in VMware workstation to swtich between different powered on VMs so is there any function also exit in VIX api which supports this functionality.
if yes than which one.

best regrads
papapa

Unable to run programs in visual stidio 2003

vixapi — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:32:25 GMT

Hi,

I have installed vmware server 2.0 and vix api 1.6.x. I have successfully compiled the programs(using C) in visula studio 2003. But im getting wrong results. The reference tells that vix api 1.6 will works in visual studio 2005... I compiled the same program in the env : vmware server 1 and its worked fine. when i copy the exe and run it in my machine it giving the executable file is wrong (both are 32bit windows xp machine)...

Is there any way to work vix api v1.6 in visula studio 2003...

its very Urgent

Thanks in advance

REgards,

ilavaa

Modify Disk Mounting Options from VIX

BillyONeal — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:26:06 GMT

Hello

Is it possible to modify the iso file mounted to a VM with VIX? If so, what function would I use for that?

Billy3

Strange behaviour

Fluffy08 — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Hi all,

i have some quite strange behaviour here:
I used autoit to automate a
setup. I copy the files to the VM and the use this code to run the setup:

VixCOM.IJob job = null;
VixCOM.IVM VM = null;
VixCOM.IVixLib lib = null;

lib = new VixCOM.VixLib();

int[] propertyIDs = new int[1];

Console.WriteLine("Connecting...");
job = lib.Connect(VixCOM.Constants.VIX_API_VERSION, VixCOM.Constants.VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_VMWARE_WORKSTATION, "", 0, "", "", 0, null, null);

object results = null;
object] resultsArray = (object[)results;
propertyIDs[0] = VixCOM.Constants.VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE;

handleError("Setup Error:", job.Wait(propertyIDs, ref results), lib);

resultsArray = (object[])results;

//get our host
VixCOM.IHost host = (VixCOM.IHost)resultsArray[0];

//open VM
Console.WriteLine("Opening Virtual Machine");
job = host.OpenVM(vmPath, null);

handleError("OpenVM Error:", job.Wait(propertyIDs, ref results), lib);
resultsArray = (object[])results;

//get VM
VM = (VixCOM.IVM)resultsArray[0];

Console.WriteLine("Logging in user...");
job = VM.LoginInGuest("Cord", "cord", VixCOM.Constants.VIX_LOGIN_IN_GUEST_REQUIRE_INTERACTIVE_ENVIRONMENT, null);

handleError("Login Error:", job.WaitWithoutResults(), lib);

Console.WriteLine("Logged in...");

//let programToRun be something like C:\temp\autosetup.exe

Console.WriteLine("Running program: " + programToRun);
job = VM.RunProgramInGuest(programToRun, null, 0, null, null);

handleError("Run Program Error:", job.WaitWithoutResults(), lib);

On Windows Vista, i have the following behaviour:
When this code is run from visual studio, the setup is started and the automated install works.
When i put this into a ms build task and run it from a build script, the interactive services screen pops up and the automation does not work.

Do you have an idea what might cause the problem? Since the code is identical and both use VixCOM, i dont get whats going wrong.
I am using VM Workstation with the latest updates.

Thanks for your help!

Where are VIX logs, for WS6.5.1?

strnbrg — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:58:19 GMT

I'm trying out the powerOn.c sample program that comes with VIX. On a host running VMWare Server 2.0, powerOn works fine. On a (different) host running Workstation 6.5.1, powerOn doesn't work for me (and I do have #define USE_WORKSTATION). Trouble is, I'm kinda lost debugging this because while with Server 2.0 I get VIX logs in /var/log/vmware/hostd-4.log, with WS6.5.1 I don't see that file or for that matter any other log file; is there one, and if so what is it called?

Also (and this may be my problem, though I'd still like to know where the log file is), in the VIX example programs, within the #ifdef USE_WORKSTATION block it says '#define HOSTNAME ""'. Should I change that, and if so to what? I've tried 127.0.0.1 as well as the $HOSTNAME environment variable (with and without the domain name appended), but powerOn still doesn't work.

Cannot Start a VM Using Vmrun

Nasu — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:14:25 GMT

I have VMWare WorkStation 6.5.2 on a Windows XP machine and I am trying to use vmrun to start a virtual machine. Seems like a straightforward task to me but I keep getting the message "Error: The specified service provider was not found." When I experimented with the COM API I got the same message (that was on another machine though).

wmrun -T ws -gu myUserNameOnGuestOS -gp myPasswordOnGuestOS start pathToMyVMXFile

What seems to be the problem here?

PowerOff after shutdown timeout

kplusalot — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:21:04 GMT

I am using VMware server 2.0 for testing end-user Windows applications. Sometimes, when I try to do a soft shutdown of a guest OS, the shutdown halts. When this happens via the VI web page, the interface will not allow me to perform a hard power off while it waits indefinitely for the soft shutdown.

I have a pretty extensive backup script that I have written to shuts down VM's before archiving and compressing them. Currently, I simply use a blocking synchronous wait (WaitWithoutResults). I know I can create a timeout wait by just looping on the VM power status instead. Before I bother actually modifying the code to do this, I want to ask the simple question. Can I actually force a hard power off using the VixCOM package if I have already initiated a soft shutdown? I know I can't using the VI interface; I just want to know if I can programatically.

Enable / disable unity mode from VIX API, not possible?!

VMwareRules — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:28:52 GMT

Hello!

I was very surprised to see that it is seemingly impossible (i.e. not supported) to enable/disable Unity mode from the most recent version of the VIX API. Is this really true? (I'm referring to VMware Workstation 6.5.x, but it doesn't seem to be supported in any VMware version anyway)

I've been searching quit a lot, so I sadly believe it is true. :-/ Or isn't it?

Would you please consider adding support for this in the VIX API? Practically all other possible VMware operations are supported, so this feels quite natural to support, and a very big "hole" to leave out, correct? I for one would need it very much.

If it is left out for a reason (and thus will continue to be left out) , I would be very interested to hear the explanation for it, since it would be a really useful thing to have.

Thanks!

VIX 1.6.2 Bug Report: recv error 10054

shimonek — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:40:14 GMT

I have found that running the snapshot.c sample code against a VMware Server 2 host produces the following error on the host when the program is closed:

SOCKET 3 (1848) recv error 10054: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host

Any known workarounds?

VIX 1.6.2 Bug Report: recv error 10054

shimonek — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:40:14 GMT

I have found that running the snapshot.c sample code against a VMware Server 2 host produces the following error on the host when the program is closed:

SOCKET 3 (1848) recv error 10054: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host

Any known workarounds?

VIX 1.6.2 Bug Report: recv error 10054

shimonek — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:36:30 GMT

I have found that running the snapshot.c sample code against a VMware Server 2 host produces the following error on the host when the program is closed:

SOCKET 3 (1848) recv error 10054: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host

Any known workarounds?

How to set new IP to the virtual machine

chetanb — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:53:21 GMT

Hi All,

I am crating new virtual machine using vmware API. I want to set the new ip address to the vm whenever vm is created.
currently I am hard coding the ip, but moving forward this may cause duplication of IP. Please let me know your thoughts.

Snapshot operation does not release host socket

shimonek — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:10:07 GMT

I am writing a program that allows me to schedule scripts to run in my SLES VMs and create snapshots. The program will run perfectly for several days then crash.

I have noticed that my program leaves a socket open to the server when I perform a snapshot operation. Script operations do not exhibit this behavior. When I close the program after several snapshot operations I see the following in vmware.log on the server. One entry per snapshot.

Apr 07 09:44:29.398: vmx| SOCKET 106 (1808) recv error 10054: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
Apr 07 09:44:29.398: vmx| SOCKET 108 (1708) recv error 10054: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
Apr 07 09:44:29.398: vmx| SOCKET 110 (1956) recv error 10054: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
Apr 07 09:44:29.398: vmx| SOCKET 112 (1868) recv error 10054: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
Apr 07 09:44:29.398: vmx| SOCKET 114 (1788) recv error 10054: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host

To verify this was not a programming error on my part I created a test program to compare results. My test code follows. This is the snapshot.c example modified slightly. It exhibits the same behavior as my code. Does anyone know how to close a socket when the program is finished with it? Is this a known bug?

I am linking with vixd.lib using Visual Studio 2008. I have been unable to link VixAllProducts.lib with a MFC project but that's a problem for another day.

void CSRACreateSnapshotDlg::OnBnClickedCreate()
{
VixServiceProvider CONNTYPE = VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_VMWARE_VI_SERVER;

char HOSTNAME50 = "https://servername.domain.local:8333/sdk";

int HOSTPORT = 0;

char USERNAME50 = "servername\serviceaccount";

char PASSWORD = "mysupersecretpassword";

char VMPOWEROPTIONS = VIX_VMPOWEROP_NORMAL;

char VMXPATH_INFO50 = "standard SLES_PO/SLES_PO.vmx";

VixError err;
VixHandle hostHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
VixHandle jobHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
VixHandle vmHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
VixHandle snapshotHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
int numSnapshots;

jobHandle = VixHost_Connect(VIX_API_VERSION,
CONNTYPE,
HOSTNAME, // *hostName,
HOSTPORT, // hostPort,
USERNAME, // *userName,
PASSWORD, // *password,
0, // options,
VIX_INVALID_HANDLE, // propertyListHandle,
NULL, // *callbackProc,
NULL); // *clientData);
err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle,
VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE,
&hostHandle,
VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_FAILED(err)) {
goto abort;
}

Vix_ReleaseHandle(jobHandle);
jobHandle = VixVM_Open(hostHandle,
VMXPATH_INFO,
NULL, // VixEventProc *callbackProc,
NULL); // void *clientData);
err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle,
VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE,
&vmHandle,
VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_FAILED(err)) {
goto abort;
}
Vix_ReleaseHandle(jobHandle);

err = VixVM_GetNumRootSnapshots(vmHandle, &numSnapshots);
if (VIX_FAILED(err)) {
goto abort;
}

if (numSnapshots == 0) {
/*

If there is not already a snapshot, create a new one, with the
virtual machine powered on.

*/
jobHandle = VixVM_PowerOn(vmHandle,
VMPOWEROPTIONS,
VIX_INVALID_HANDLE,
NULL, // *callbackProc,
NULL); // *clientData);
err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle, VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_FAILED(err)) {
goto abort;
}

Vix_ReleaseHandle(jobHandle);

/*

Since the virtual machine is running, passing the
VIX_SNAPSHOT_INCLUDE_MEMORY flag will make VixVM_CreateSnapshot()
save the run-time state of the machine, and not just the disk state.

*/
jobHandle = VixVM_CreateSnapshot(vmHandle,
"snapshotName",
"snapshotDescription",
VIX_SNAPSHOT_INCLUDE_MEMORY,
VIX_INVALID_HANDLE,
NULL, // *callbackProc,
NULL); // *clientData);
err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle,
VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE,
&snapshotHandle,
VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_FAILED(err)) {
goto abort;
}

Vix_ReleaseHandle(jobHandle);
jobHandle = VixVM_PowerOff(vmHandle,
VIX_VMPOWEROP_NORMAL,
NULL, // *callbackProc,
NULL); // *clientData);
err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle, VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_FAILED(err)) {
goto abort;
}
Vix_ReleaseHandle(jobHandle);

/*

Release the handle before it gets overwritten when we call
VixVM_GetRootSnapshot().

*/
Vix_ReleaseHandle(snapshotHandle);
snapshotHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;

}

err = VixVM_GetRootSnapshot(vmHandle, 0, &snapshotHandle);
if (VIX_FAILED(err)) {
goto abort;
}
/*

Here we pass VMPOWEROPTIONS to RevertToSnapshot since we
took a snapshot of a powered on virtual machine, and the
virtual machine will then be powered on again when we revert.

*/
jobHandle = VixVM_RevertToSnapshot(vmHandle,
snapshotHandle,
VMPOWEROPTIONS, // options,
VIX_INVALID_HANDLE,
NULL, // *callbackProc,
NULL); // *clientData);
err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle, VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_FAILED(err)) {
goto abort;
}

abort:
Vix_ReleaseHandle(jobHandle);
Vix_ReleaseHandle(vmHandle);
Vix_ReleaseHandle(snapshotHandle);

VixHost_Disconnect(hostHandle);
}

How can I get the Display Name of a guest?

Psychoboy — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:21:41 GMT

I am wondering how I can get the display name of a guest. Specifically when it's not running? if I use
jobHandle = VixVM_ReadVariable(VMHandle,VIX_VM_CONFIG_RUNTIME_ONLY,"displayName",0,NULL,NULL);
that only works if the machine is running.

Some other stuff I would like to be able to pull if possible is the hostname and OS

Is there a 64bit ovftool?

wduncanSF — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:43:31 GMT

I've been using v1.0 of the ovftool on my 32bit W/S. Now I'm moving to a 64bit. Is there a version for linux-x86-64? Or how does one load the needed 32bit VMware libs?

--will

Can't get a valid host hanle

Psychoboy — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:50:40 GMT

Every time I try and get a host handle with connect it fails and is 0. no error code. I am connecting to a VMWare Server 2. I tryed VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_DEFAULT also. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

jobHandle = VixHost_Connect(VIX_API_VERSION,
VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_VMWARE_VI_SERVER,
"https://192.168.0.221:8333/sdk", // hostName
0, // hostPort
"testuser", // userName
"123456", // password,
0, // options
VIX_INVALID_HANDLE, // propertyListHandle
NULL, // callbackProc
NULL); // clientData

err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle,
VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE,
&m_handleHost,
VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);

Host Handle always returning 0

Psychoboy — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:44:33 GMT

I'm trying to use the VIX API in C++

The issue is hostHandle always comes back 0. the error code is also 0

here is the source

jobHandle = VixHost_Connect(VIX_API_VERSION,
VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_VMWARE_VI_SERVER,
http://192.168.0.1:8333/sdk, // hostName
0, // hostPort
"testuser", // userName
"123456", // password,
0, // options
VIX_INVALID_HANDLE, // propertyListHandle
NULL, // callbackProc
NULL); // clientData

err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle,
VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE,
&hostHandle,
VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);

Fault occuring on use of VIX (Vestris)

tl3462 — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:22:42 GMT

I have an application which runs fine on my local development machine but when I run it within a VM (specifically my VI server) I get a fault and my application blows up. This happens on a call to the VixCOM dll (via the Vestris.VMWareLib wrapper).

VMWareVirtualHost host = new VMWareVirtualHost();

host.ConnectToVMWareVIServer(hostName, userName, password);

I've re-installed VIX and this makes no difference; the version I'm using (1.6.2) is the same on both my local dev and virtual VI server machines.

I suspect something weird is happening in one of the threads somewhere in the VixCOM dll but I've no idea where or how as it just causes a fault and dies.

Has anyone else come across this before? Any ideas why it might work fine on my dev machine (XP SP3) but not on my vm (XP SP2)?

Does Interactive VixVM_LoginInGuest feature work within VMware Infrastructure?

dalexeenko — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:27:26 GMT

Does Interactive VixVM_LoginInGuest feature work with VMware Infrastructure (VMware ESX and VMware ESXi in particular)?

The reason I am asking is that it seems that VMware Infrastructure has the same set of APIs as VMware Workstation according to http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vix-api/vix16_reference. But when I am starting a program in guest it is started in non-interactive session.

Thanks.

programmatically Change the Memory and CPU settings.

jclit — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:12:42 GMT

I am using ESX Server 3.5.0 and would like to automate a few of the images on it. I need to be able to programmatically shut down the machine, change the CPU and memory settings and restart the machine. I have found the API for the shutdown and restart but not the settings changes. How do I do that?

Interactive

Fluffy08 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:19:35 GMT

Hi all,

i know this question has been posted already in different form, but im really stuck....
I want to automate a setup via autoit on my VM. I call it like this:

job = VM.LogInGuest("user","password",VixCOM.Constants.VIX_LOGIN_IN_GUEST_REQUIRE_INTERACTIVE_ENVIRONMENT, null);
job = VM.runProgramInGuest("c:\temp\stuff.exe", null, 0, null, null);

I want the setup to be run on the virtual desktop, but i always get the window prompting to switch to the secure desktop since an interactive service requires my attention...
I turned off UAC, but it does not help, i tried to adjust local security policies, but it does not help... It seems im really stuck here.
I use VMWare Workstation 6.5.1 build -126130, VIX is 1.6.3.5078.

Can someone give me a hint what i am doing wrong?

Thanks alot!

Query tools service from within guest OS

halr9000 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:57:58 GMT

Is the VIX API the right tool to use to query the tools service from within the guest OS? I've got a friend who wants to find out the host server of his VMs--from the VM. I told him to try and do it from the server side because that's my expertise, but that's a no-go for some reason.

If VIX isn't the answer, anyone know if this can be done otherwise?

vExpert, PowerShell MVP, VI Toolkit forum moderator
Author of the upcoming book: Managing VMware Infrastructure with PowerShell
Co-Host, PowerScripting Podcast (http://powerscripting.net)
Need general, non-VMware-related PowerShell Help? Try the forums at PowerShellCommunity.org

Spaces In Path To VMX File Causing Problems?

schnarff — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:45:48 GMT

Hello All,

I just set up VMWare Server 2.0 (Build 122589) on an Ubuntu 7.10 box, and am attempting to get started with the VIX Perl API. Unfortunately, I'm stuck very early in the process - specifically, at getting a handle to a VM - and I'm hoping that my issue is as obvious as I suspect.

Basically, I can connect to the host itself, but when I call VMOpen, I'm getting this error:

VMOpen() failed, 9 An error occurred while accessing a file: wrong file type

Here's the code in question:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use VMware::Vix::Simple;
use VMware::Vix::API::Constants;
use strict;

my $err = VIX_OK;
my $hostHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
my $vmHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;

($err, $hostHandle) = HostConnect(VIX_API_VERSION,
VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_DEFAULT,
10.4.11.194, # hostName
902, # hostPort
"myuser", # userName
"mypass", # password
0, # options
VIX_INVALID_HANDLE); # propertyListHandle

die "HostConnect() failed, $err ", GetErrorText($err), "\n" if $err != VIX_OK;

($err, $vmHandle) = VMOpen($hostHandle, "/home/vmware/Windows\ XP\ SP2/Windows\ XP\ SP2.vmx");

die "VMOpen() failed, $err ", GetErrorText($err), "\n" if $err != VIX_OK;

...Do everything in your program...

HostDisconnect($hostHandle);

I suspect that my problem is the spaces in the path to the VMX file, given that I don't see spaces in anyone else's paths while browsing this forum. If I'm correct, is there some other way of escaping out the spaces that I can use to connect to my existing VMs with spaces in their names? Or will I need to modify them to remove the spaces from their names (if so, how?), or even create new VMs (there's not that much on the machines in question, I'd just prefer to avoid rebuilding if I can)?

How to change a file on guest

Throndorin — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:09:21 GMT

is there any way to create a file on the guest and add content to him?

Throndorin

stop soft doesn't close Ubuntu guest down gracefully

peterp49 — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:16:41 GMT

Hi.

I'm running Workstation v6.5.1 on a 32-bit Windows XP host.

The following script to close down all running guests works, except for one problem:

for /f "usebackq skip=1" %%i in (`"c:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmrun" list`) do "c:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmrun" stop %%i soft

When this script stops a 32-bit Ubuntu 8.04 guest, it succeeds, but an open e-mail client in the guest registers a crash condition which it recovers from when the guest is re-started.

This doesn't happen if the Ubuntu guest is shutdown by hand from within the guest; the open e-mail client terminates gracefully and doesn't register a crash condition.

The lastest VMware-tools are installed in the guest.

Somehow the 'soft' argument in the script isn't working for this guest. It should make the shutdown the same as shutting the guest down manually.

Is this a bug which I should report, or user error?

Many thanks,

--Pete

Linker Error in VS2005

xiaogelee — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:56:54 GMT

Error 2 error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __imp__WSAEventSelect@12 referenced in function _PollMapSocketToEvent e:\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\vm_vix\vm_vix\VixAllProducts.lib 1
Error 3 error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __imp__WSACreateEvent@0 referenced in function _PollMapSocketToEvent e:\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\vm_vix\vm_vix\VixAllProducts.lib 1
Error 4 error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __imp__WSAEnumNetworkEvents@12 referenced in function _PollFireAndDequeueSocketEvent e:\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\vm_vix\vm_vix\VixAllProducts.lib 1

Any one know what should i do? Please give me some suggestions. Thx

RunProgramInGuest(): A file was not found

downatone — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:49:05 GMT

I've used this method RunProgramInGuest() to run various cmd & bat files in the past.
I'm now trying to run a vbs script passing in the following:

C:\Windows\system32\cscript.exe C:\Scripts\text.vbs

For some reason it continually hits a vix exception saying the file was not found.
I can confirm the file is there and that this call works, because it runs successfully on the virtual machine when I initiate this call using the command prompt ...

Any ideas as to why I might be experiencing this behavior?

compiling vix-perl 1.62 for VM Server 2 on ubuntu 8.04 server 32 bit

imnaydawg — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:37:25 GMT

per the docs i go into the '/usr/lib/vmware-vix/api' direcotry
--> extract file
sudo tar xzvf vix-perl.tar.gz
--> go into created directory 'vix-perl'
cd vix-perl
--> as sudo user execute 'perl Makefile.PL
sudo perl Makefile.PL
--> as sudo user execute 'make'
sudo make

and here it just goes crazy. i get all kinds of 'VixBinding' issues. Nothing i'm looking at is making a lot of sense. THe closest i've come to something helpful via search are some things talking about assumptions made regarding locations of files/libs/tools for linux that aren't true for ubuntu (or at least this version of ubuntu).

As a note, i have/had the same problem trying to do this w/ 1.60.

Managing Workstation(s) Through PHP/Apache

s.mortensen — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:24:30 GMT

Hello Experts

I am brewing on a project where I depend on Ubuntu 8.04 64 bit as host OS, and Windows XP Pro as guest OS in VMWARE Workstation 6.5.

Everything is to be managed through a PHP based web interface. And PHP helper/backend scripts.

As part of the system, I need to be able to pull status, start, stop, restart VM's from PHP.

I guess I need to look into some PERL scripting as well.

But rather than guess, I would appreciate it a lot if someone could give me a few pointers in the right direction.

Anything is appreciated.

Please ask away.

Thanks

/Steffen

Multithreading in VIX API: more crashes, any news on fixes?

dblock — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:36:32 GMT

I've been trying to extend our test automation to parallelize against multiple virtual machines. I am using VMWareTasks. I make a connection to a different VM on two threads, then use the handle(s) returned, etc. This is a collection of crash messages followed by access violations that I got recently. I'll edit with more as i see them

Most of the issues happen on connect or disconnect.

** (RemoteInstaller.exe:5572): WARNING **: ???: object class `GVmomiSession' has no property named `state'
** ERROR **: g_type_plugin_*() invalidly modified type GVmomiSession' aborting (popup)

Is there any news on a 1.6.3 that might fix these problems? I'd be really happy to try a beta too.

Thx
dB.

runprograminguest and usercontext (ubuntu)

alclonky — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:41:13 GMT

if i run runprograminguest with -gu and -gp the usercontext is't correct

if i run

touch filename

the owner is 27 (which is the uid not the name)

running a program with sudo bringst " uid 27 does not exist in passwd file!

running runprograminguist with user root works fine (but root isn't useable on ubuntu)

FYI: VIX Versions

fixitchris — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:20:46 GMT

I have been developing an app against VIX 1.6.0 for the past couple weeks only to find out that when I deployed it on another machine, along with the installation of VIX 1.6.2, the app would act funny and wasn't completely functional.

I guess this is just a reminder to all the developers and users out there. Install the VIX SDK version that the app was developed for...

Segmentation Fault in creating clone.

VivekDhayalan — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:21:44 GMT

Hi all I am very new to VIX API, I wanted to create a clone of an existing machine. but I am getting error(Segmentation fault) while creating clone. Could any one of you help me regarding this.

Please find the code that I used :

use VMware::Vix::Simple;
use VMware::Vix::API::Constants;

my $err = VIX_OK;
my $hostHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;

($err, $hostHandle) = HostConnect(VIX_API_VERSION,
VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_VMWARE_WORKSTATION,
undef, # hostName
0, #port number
"root", # userName
"root123", # password
0, # options
VIX_INVALID_HANDLE); # propertyListHandle

die "HostConnect() failed, $err ", GetErrorText($err), "\n" if $err != VIX_OK;

($err, $vmHandle) = VMOpen($hostHandle,"//apps//Images//BaseImage//BaseImage.vmx");

die "VMOpen() failed, $err ", GetErrorText($err), "\n" if $err != VIX_OK;

($err, $cloneHandle) = VMClone($vmHandle,
"Snapshot_1",
VIX_CLONETYPE_LINKED,
"//apps//Images//Clone_1//Clone_1.vmx",
0, # options
VIX_INVALID_HANDLE); # propertyListHandle

die "VMClone() failed, $err ", GetErrorText($err), "\n" if $err != VIX_OK;

HostDisconnect($hostHandle);

How can a guest VM exchange messages with hypervisor in ESXi?

zijiangning — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 02:08:30 GMT

Hello,

I'd like to know how can a guest VM exchange messages with hypervisor in ESXi?

In Xen hypervisors, xenstore can be used to exchange configuration and status information between Vm and hypervisor,
are there corresponding concepts in ESXi?

If I wan to set some configuration information such as the hostname and IP address when create a VM, what shall I do?

And also, how can I send some status information, such as memory usage, from the VM to the hypervisor?

Thank you.

How can a Guest VM exchange messages with the Hypervisor in ESXi?

zijiangning — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 01:56:54 GMT

Hello,

I'd like to know hw can a VM exchange messages with the Hypervisor in ESXi?

With Xen hypevisors XenStore can be used for exchanging the configuration and status information between VM and hypervisor.

Are there corresponding concepts in ESXi? If I want to set some configuration information for the VM at the time of VM creation, for example, the host name and IP address, what shall I do? And also, can I send information from VM to the hypervisor, such as the memory usage information at VM runtime?

Thank you.

VIX Expansion

fixitchris — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 22:30:02 GMT

I have come across a few threads here where VIX limitations prevent certain desired functionality.

I was thinking about developing a client-server application to expand the possibilities of host <--> guest interaction. The client would run on the host and the server would run on the guest (this approach would utilize VIX to determine the availability of guests and interprocess communication (named pipes) to communicate user defined acitons/commands to the guest). Using reflection in .NET I would expose an implementable interface for any developer to code add-ins for the base client/server app.

This would allow you (the .NET developer) to come up with specific functionality that is n/a in the VIX SDK; Compile it into a dll; import the dll into the client/server architechture and voila, new functionality/commands are now available through a console/GUI interface that would be part of the base client/server architecture.

What do you think?

Please Urgent Error Message After Open a Virtual Machine

sgrmock — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:19:34 GMT

Hi, I received the message error of snapshot when the red line is executed, follow code bellow pic

void foo() {

ulong err = 0;

object results = null;

global::VixCOM.VixLibClass __vlib = new global::VixCOM.VixLibClass();

global::VixCOM.IJob __ijob = __vlib.Connect(global::VixCOM.Constants.VIX_API_VERSION,

global::VixCOM.Constants.VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_VMWARE_VI_SERVER, "https://" + args[0] + ":443/sdk", 0, args[1], args[2], 0, null, null);

err = __ijob.Wait(new object[] { global::VixCOM.Constants.VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE }, ref results);

for (int j = 0; j < vmx__Files_P.Length; j++)

{

System.Console.Out.WriteLine("Open VM.:{0}", vmx__Files_P[j]);

__ijob = host.OpenVM(vmx__Files_P[j], null);

object jobSysCOM = null;

err = jb.Wait(new int[] { VixCOM.Constants.VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE }, ref jobSysCOM);

}

host.Disconnect();

}

VMware Failed to PowerOn C#

sgrmock — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:01:18 GMT

Hi, I received the following error when try poweron a vmx file, in attach follow the complete source code.

Tanks

vmware-vmx PID in Server 2

tgc1 — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:52:01 GMT

Hi!

Is there any method in VIX (or any other valid API) to get the PID of a guest?

This was possible with VMControl API (VMControl_VMGetPid), but VMControl
seems to be removed in Server 2.

Teppo

RemoveSnapshot Question

fixitchris — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:04:08 GMT

Does RemoveSnapshot function merge (commit) the snapshot data into the VMDK prior to deleting the snapshot?

Storing Variables in VMX

fixitchris — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:34:47 GMT

Is it possible to permanently store a variables inside the guest's VMX file? (This used to be possible with VMCOM)

VIXCOM Console

fixitchris — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:47:58 GMT

Below is my implementation of VixCOM.

USB connect/disconnect

brasse — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:02:26 GMT

Hello!

I'm not sure if this belongs in the VIX section of the forums. If it doesn't please show me where in the forums to post instead.

What I want to do is simple: I want to be able to connect a USB device (currently being connected to the host) to the guest with a script/program. Is this possible in some way? Either with VIX or something else?

Regards,
Mattias

vmrun interactive services in Vista works inconsistently

bhat123 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:32:49 GMT

On my Vista machine (say A) when I run:
vmrun -T esx -h https://<esx_ip>:443/sdk -user root -password <root_pwd> -gu administrator -gp <administrator_pwd> runprogramInGuest "Data 2 VistaBX86/VistaBX86.vmx" -interactive c:\windows\system32\notepad.exe
this does not display notepad on desktop. It is instead shown inside "Interactive services dialog".

When I run the same command on another Vista machine (say machine B), it works correctly (i.e notepad is displayed on desktop like it does on NT4/5 OS).

I copied Group policy from the machine B onto the machine A, but this did not help.

Does vmrun -interactive depend on some Windows specific setting, which makes it run on one Vista OS but not on another Vista OS?
What am I missing?

encounter VIX error: Cannot read the virtual machine configuration file

guilechao — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:05:37 GMT

I use VIX1.6.1 and encounter VIX error "Cannot read the virtual machine configuration file"

Then I try to use vmrun to run below command and get the same error

vmrun -T ws listSnapshots "C:\virtual machines\TMMA2\01_TMMA_Server\Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Eng.vmx"

VIX error: Cannot read the virtual machine configuration file

Does anyone know how to prevent this error? Thanks very much.

Guile

Controlling VMWorkstation Visual State

AlexRybin — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:33:06 GMT

Hi!

Is there any way to control and manage VM Workstation visual state from other program running at host? Placing VM to fullscreen or windowed mode, minimize window, hide and activate VM window?

Is it possible?

AV: Using VIXCOM API against both VMWare workstation and VI server in the same process

dblock — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 04:23:31 GMT

It seems that VIXCOM dies when trying to connect to a Workstation after working with a VI connection, and vice-versa. The call to Connect hangs and there's an access violation on another thread. This sounds like a rare use scenario, but I think this hides a real problem in the VIXCOM API implementation. For me, the problem is in unit tests for VMWareTasks since the library works with both Workstation and VI.

Hope this helps debugging.

VIXCOM API bug (?): ListDirectoryInGuest fails and returns different error codes in VI and Workstation for empty directories

dblock — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 04:19:34 GMT

I think this is a bug in 1.6.2. ListDirectoryInGuest fails differently in VMWare Workstation and VI (ESX) for listing empty directories.

Workstation: GetNumProperties returns VIX_E_UNRECOGNIZED_PROPERTY when trying to get the number of results.
VI (ESX): returns 2, probably E_FILE_NOT_FOUND, although in VMWARE errors this is out of memory on job wait.

I think both are wrong and should fail the job with a specific error code that there're no files or subdirectories in this directory.

VIXCOM API bug (?): unrecognized error code calling GetErrorText before any other function

dblock — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 21:55:29 GMT

Not sure where to report VixCOM bugs... I think this is one, although not very serious. If you call VixLib.GetErrorText before calling any other VMWare function (eg. Connect) you get back Unrecognized errcode. That seems wrong, it should always return the correct result.

Commit a Snapshot (backup)

chrismisztur — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:30:16 GMT

Hello,

Is there a way to commit a snapshot with VIX in VMware server 2?

I am asking because I would like to backup the VMDK as quickly as possible, create snap, release lock on vmdk, copy vmdk, commit snap.

Any other ideas for free back up solutions?

Chris

Using CopyFileFromHostToGuest() with ESX 3.5

eatorres — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:50:22 GMT

I'm trying to copy a file from either my workstation or from a folder in one of my ESX datastores using CopyFileFromHostToGuest(). I have tried multiple ways of accessing the file that needs to be copied. To copy it from the ESX server datastore I have tried CopyFileFromHostToGuest("[storage1] Folder/filename.txt", "file_path_in_vm", etc...), but that wasn't working. Then I tried to copy a file from my local machine using CopyFileFromHostToGuest("C:\Folder\filename.txt", "file_path_in_vm", etc...), but that didn't work either. Is there something I'm missing? In both cases I am getting a vixError of 4, which means the file is not found. It would be ideal if I could use CopyFileFromHostToGuest() to copy a file on the ESX server to a VM that was running in ESX.

Running vmrun on Linux/Windows with ESX

lamw — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:45:09 GMT

I know VIX 1.6.2 was just released which now supports ESX 3.5u2+ (I believe).

I know there are some blogs floating out there about how to use "vmrun.exe" on Windows to manage your Virtual Machines on ESX. I just installed VIX on both Windows and on our VIMA box. I found that "vmrun" exists on both systems which is great, now I found small discrepancy in running the same exact command on the two hosts and was wondering if I was missing something:

Windows host execution:

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware VIX>vmrun.exe -T -h esx https://a.b.c.d/sdk -u root -p SOME_PASS list
Total running VMs: 1
[san-storage1] TEST-VM/TEST-VM.vmx

VIMA (Linux) host execution:

vmrun -T esx -h https://a.b.c.d/sdk -u root -p SOME_PASS list

Nothing is returned and it shows the usage summary, I'm not sure if the syntax is supposed to be different? VIMA can talk to the ESX Host and it's also in VIMA's management. The ESX Host in question is running latest VMware ESX 3.5u3
I've tried both Types = (server|esx), the results yield the same, works on Windows but not on Linux

Any idea what the issue might be?

Also on a side note, is there a way we can force the password to be prompted, I've found that if you just do -p or without -p that it'll error out. I'm pretty sure people will agree putting the root password in the page is probably not the best idea, especially in clear text. I'm looking at utilizing VIX to automate some tasks and I would like to either pass in the credentials once or store them in a temp cache like how VIMA / VI Perl Toolkit does its authentication.

How can I timeout on wix job wait or terminate the job on a timer safely?

dblock — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:22:50 GMT

This question has been asked several months before, so hopefuly the technology evolved

I had someone pull a cable from the ESX server on me during a process that restores a snapshot. I ended up with a client in an infinite IJob Wait. What's the proper way to time all calls out?

Some way to have a non blocking wait with a very long timeout via VIX API? (I am using C# / VixCOM)

I am doing this:

private static void InternalWait(IJob job, int timeoutInSeconds)
{
if (timeoutInSeconds == 0)
{
throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("timeoutInSeconds");
}
// active wait for the job to finish
bool isComplete = false;
while (!isComplete && timeoutInSeconds > 0)
{
Check(job.CheckCompletion(out isComplete));
if (isComplete) break;
Thread.Sleep(1000);
timeoutInSeconds--;
}

if (timeoutInSeconds == 0)
{
throw new TimeoutException();
}
}
Manual timer that aborts the thread? I am worried about the consequences and being able to continue or maybe even retry operation.
Something else?

Thx
dB.

Modify VMDK's with VIX 1.6

Ashwin89 — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:56:54 GMT

Hello,

is there any way to modify VMDK's files using VIX api 1.6?

I guess currently VDDK is getting used for the same.

Is there are any future plans to incorporate the VDDK into VIX API's set?

Thanks,

-AsHwIN

GetProperties doesn't update stale Virtual Machine Handle

nextone92 — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:22:42 GMT

I'd like to write some code to monitor Virtual Machine power on and take action once it's powered on. For example:

vmHandle = VixVM_Open(hostHandle, vmPath, NULL, NULL);

do {

Vix_GetProperties(vmHandle, VIX_PROPERTY_VM_POWER_STATE, &powerstate, VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);

} while (powerstate != VIX_POWERSTATE_POWERED_ON)

However, powerstate is never updated (I've confirmed this by running another instance of the code above). It looks like GetProperties call never goes out to the network to receive updated state of the virtual machine.

Is it possible to force Vix_GetProperties() to get updated state from the VMware host? Or is the only way to accomplish this is to reopen VM handle?

Thank you in advance for any tips/pointers!

runProgramInGuest -interactive flag in Vista does not work

rkreitz — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:57:28 GMT

Greetings,

I'm unable to get runProgramInGuest using the -interactive flag to work properly in a Vista guest. I've logged in as administrator and am passing in the proper credentials via vmrun:

vmrun -T ws -gu Administrator -gp password runPrgramInGuest "c:\Temp\Test.vmx" -interactive c:\boo\booi.exe

Error: Authentication failure or insufficient permissions in guest operating system

If I run without the -interactive flag, the app is started in session 0 and Windows Interactive Services "feature" is invoked. Has anyone gotten runProgramInGuest to work properly in Vista (where the program is not invoked in session 0)?

Thank you,

-Randy

VIX API and VB6 cannot get VixCOM to be read.

dhodge — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:54:49 GMT

I couldn't install VMWare server 2.0 so I installed 1.08, I understand this could possibly be the cause of my problem. I can get the script samples to run but they do not do anything, I cannot run the code myself either. I get an error when running the .wsf file in the samples directory, it says "The handle is not a valid object." I'm new to all of this so some tips would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

memory leaks

voodooRod — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:03:35 GMT

I'm running vmworkstation 6.0 with Bounds Checker and seeing an enormous amount of memory leaks when I exit out. A lot of them having to do with "DictLL_UnmarshalLine," in dictl.c, VixWrapper_FindLoadLibrary, Dictionary_Create, Dictionary_Append, and many others.

Also, when debugging and looking at the memory of handles and looking at the memory after calling Vix_ReleaseHandle, I don't see anything change at the memory location. I would expect to see the memory location change to some random data, NULL, 0xdeaddead, 0xdeadbeef, or something. It doesn't change, so is there a known bug on the Vix_ReleaseHandle?

I would suspect my code more, if it weren't for the fact that when I run a *.vmx without my code, just run vmworkstation 6.0, and look under Windows TaskManager, I can see the memory usage on the *.vmx file increasing and nothing is going except it is running.

I installed vmworkstation 6.5 as well and still see memory leaks.

My question is, are these known leaks by VMWare?