VMware Tools builds 32039 and 41412 both show 'OK' in VC?

[mrstorey]

Does anybody know why some of our VM's running on fully patched (42829 build) 3.01 ESX hosts show their VMware tools status as 'OK' when the are appear to be running VMtools build 32039?

I was expecting an 'Out of date' status for any VMs running a build less than 41412?

Or are both VMware tools builds 'valid' on fully patched 3.01 hosts?

[doubleH]

my vmtools versions shows build 43424

[mrstorey]

I should have mentioned the VMs are Win2K3 servers..!

I've just (re) ran a tools install on a Win2K3 VM running on a 42829 ESX host, and it still shows VMware tools build 41412?

Should all the tools build numbers be the same across all guest OS's?

[Texiwill]

Hello,

That depends on the OS of the guests, Each tool set is slightly different. If they are W2K3 systems then yes I would say they should all be the same if you have autoupdate enabled. If you do not, then you need to do the updates by hand.

Best regards,

Edward

[doubleH]

mine are Win2K3 as well and my build is different from yours. is it possible you missed a patch?

[doubleH]

what is this autoupdate you are referring to?

[mrstorey]

We actually used dominic7's autopatch script to apply all of them. Let me just run esxupdate query :

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begin paste----

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esxupdate query

Installed software bundles:

\---- Name \---- --- Install Date --- --- Summary ---

3.0.0-27701 23:36:36 10/03/06

3.0.1-32039 21:52:32 12/06/06 Full 3.0.1 release of VMware ESX Server

ESX-2158032 14:21:21 05/06/07 Add LFENCE for RWO on AMD K8 before RevF

ESX-1410076 14:25:17 05/06/07 BSOD 0x109 during 64-bit Windows install

ESX-1006511 14:26:17 05/06/07 Fixing TX hang in 80003ES2LAN Controller

ESX-9986131 14:27:34 05/06/07 Updated openssh, python, and openssl

ESX-8173580 14:29:22 05/06/07 Fix COS Oops running Dell OM5 w/ QLogic

ESX-6921838 14:32:31 05/06/07 hot removal of a virtual disk thru SDK

ESX-2066306 14:33:31 05/06/07 Patch for VM crashes and possible freeze

ESX-6075798 14:34:41 05/06/07 Force vmxnet module to be installed 1st.

ESX-5497987 14:36:36 05/06/07 Fixes a misleading locking message.

ESX-3996003 14:37:37 05/06/07 To support the latest time zone rules.

ESX-2092658 14:39:04 05/06/07 SNMP agent returns full VM config file.

ESX-2031037 14:39:59 05/06/07 To provide LUN an unique ID Name

ESX-1917602 14:40:56 05/06/07 To improve compatibility for Windows NT.

ESX-1271657 14:42:05 05/06/07 Open IPMI improvement for slowness.

ESX-9865995 14:44:06 05/06/07 LUNs of MSA Array disappear and reappear

ESX-6856573 14:45:09 05/06/07 PhysMem_Get() accesses wrong pages

ESX-6050503 14:48:01 05/06/07 Error on "network adapters" tab in VC UI

ESX-5885387 14:48:51 05/06/07 RedHat Moderate: gzip security update

ESX-5031800 14:49:38 05/06/07 RHSA-2006:0749 tar security update

ESX-3199476 14:50:58 05/06/07 VMXNET shutdown may lead to BSOD

ESX-9916286 14:52:11 05/06/07 To update zlib library for ESX 3.0.1

ESX-1161870 14:53:13 05/06/07 Several bug fixes in vmware-vmx.

ESX-3416571 14:54:10 05/06/07 Potential Buffer Overflow.

ESX-5011126 14:55:13 05/06/07 Potential Buffer Overflow.

ESX-7737432 14:56:05 05/06/07 Potential Buffer Overflow.

ESX-7780490 14:56:59 05/06/07 Potential Buffer Overflow.

ESX-8174018 14:58:00 05/06/07 Potential Buffer Overflow.

ESX-8852210 15:00:52 05/06/07 Potential Buffer Overflow.

ESX-9617902 15:02:17 05/06/07 Potential Buffer Overflow.

ESX-2559638 15:03:13 05/06/07 Update info rpm for ESX 3.0.1.

ESX-2257739 15:04:56 05/06/07 To deliver several fixes in vmkernel.

ESX-1541239 15:06:03 05/06/07 Updates Emulex Fibre Channel driver.

For a differential list of rpms, use the -l/--listrpms option.

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end paste----

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...hmm...it looks like we might be missing one or two patches.....let me do a bit more investigation.....

[mrstorey]

Ah - my bad - on the hosts I was looking at we hadn't applied the May 15th patches. Sorry for making sweeping assumptions!

But back the original question - do you know why vastly different VMware tools build numbers appear as 'OK' on our esx hosts?

Why would a 42829 ESX Build show older Vmware tools builds as 'Ok' in Virtualcenter?

Or, is this by design? Should I not expect to see 'Out of date' tools statuses from older 3.01 patch levels?

[doubleH]

i really don't know if they would show out of date. i've only seen it work as showing vmtools are installed or not. it would definately be nice to see it work the way you explain it though. you should submit that as a feture request.

spelling mistake

Message was edited by:

doubleH

[Rob_Bohmann1 · Accepted solution]

The April patches introduced a regression bug that appeared a few patch cycles earlier, where tool status was not being properly reported, even though the tools needed to be updated. This was fixed with the May 15 patches, and if you move your guests to a host that has the May 15 patches applied you will see this. So tools status within virtual center being accurate is dependent on what patch level the host on which your vm is running is currently at.

Hope that makes sense...

[BenX]

Hello,

If anybody is having problems with the VMware Tools still showing "out of date" in VC after the "Install VMware Tools" command issued[/u] try to simply check the "Upgrade VMware tools..." while installing the tools. It worked for me!

Note: VMware ESX build:44686

Maybe this is helpful to somebody.

Good luck!

Ben