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WSLH
Contributor
Contributor

vmware 7.1.4 miscompiles vmmon on redhat enterprise 6.1?

Foolishly I upgraded a redhat enterprise 6.0 workstation to 6.1 yesterday.  vmware won't start, because the vmmon.ko module won't load, because the smp_ops symbol definition is wrong.

Any bright ideas on a quick software patch?

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bloommax
Contributor
Contributor

I encoutered the same problem. How did you find out the problem is caused by "smp_ops symbol definition"? Currently, I'm setting the previous working kernel (2.6.32-71.29.1) as default in grub.conf as a temporary solution before the patch is available.

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akrherz
Contributor
Contributor

Filed this in redhat bugzilla:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=706216

daryl

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akrherz
Contributor
Contributor

Anybody hear anything on this matter?

daryl

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toracat
Contributor
Contributor

As posted to the Red Hat bugzilla entry, RHEL 6.1 users can workaround the issue by compiling the vmmon module on thier system. You can find a howto here:

http://blog.toracat.org/2011/05/vmware-workstation-and-rhel6-1/

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akrherz
Contributor
Contributor

Works! Thanks so much Smiley Happy

daryl

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bloommax
Contributor
Contributor

It can also be resolved by using DKMS auto installation of kernel modules. See my post here (most bottom):

http://communities.vmware.com/message/979827#979827

You need to run the installation when the 2.6.32-130* kernel is running. If installed under earlier kernels, the wmmon module won't be listed as weak-update for 2.6.32-130*.

Most recent dkms support package can be downloaded here:

http://linux.dell.com/dkms/permalink/

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

You folks may already know this, but I feel it's worth mentioning: RHEL 6 is only supported as a Guest OS for Workstation 7.x, not as a Host OS. The Compatibility Guide shows this: http://bit.ly/SCL-RHEL6

So, when upgrading from an unsupported OS to another unsupported OS, it perhaps shouldn't be a surprise that Workstation breaks.

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Karmoy
Contributor
Contributor

Here, you can submit a feature request to support RHEL 6.1 as host platform for VMware Workstation:

https://www.vmware.com/contact/contactus.html?department=prod_request
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toracat
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks. I have submitted a requet.

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akrherz
Contributor
Contributor

I submitted a request too Smiley Happy  Anybody hear anything?

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Karmoy
Contributor
Contributor

No sign of life from VMware regarding this nasty problem Smiley Sad

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toracat
Contributor
Contributor

Nope, no news from VMware regarding adding support for RHEL-6.

I'm a long time user of VMware since version 1.x (year 1999) but started looking for alternatives. I run kvm on other systems because it seems a natural fit for RHEL. Don't know if VMware's relationship with Red Hat is deteriorating... hope not.

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Karmoy
Contributor
Contributor

Me too, I am disappointed by VMware. Not just products with the shiny "Cloud" sticker bring value to customers.

Me too, I have an eye on KVM. An earlier version was still too rough around the edges for me. But I was told that it KVM is improving rapidly because most public Cloud providers use and improve it. Therefore, I will definitely give KVM another try.

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