Script erased on reboot

[denisesballs]

Hello all,

Not sure if anyone knows about 3ware cards, but they require installing the driver after install in order to work. 3ware also provides a customized version of their array configuration utility "tw_cli" that works on ESXi - http://3ware.com/KB/article.aspx?id=15600

Anyways, it works great and all, but I noticed on every reboot reboot the tw_cli binary I copied to / on the ESXi server gets erased. I've tried leaving it in root's home (/) and also putting it in root's $PATHs (/bin,/sbin), but every time I reboot it gets erased. I want to make sure it stays on there so I can always check my RAID status and also so I can write a nagios plugin to monitor it. The only other thing I can think of is copying it to the datastore, but I'd rather know what's going on and have it in the root filesystem. Any ideas? TIA -Jesse

[marcelo_soares]

ESXi have a ramdisk (that is loaded everytime you power ESX on), so everything you keep on the / will be deleted. Try placing the script at the VMFS folder. "/vmfs/volumes/".

Also, you can try (by your responsability):

cd /

mkdir test

cp -r YOURFILE_GOES_HERE /test

cp /bootbank/oem.tgz /test

cd test

tar -xzvf oem.tgz

rm oem.tgz

tar -czvf oem.tgz 'YOUR_FILE_HERE_AGAIN' 'etc' 'lib' 'sbin' 'usr' 'var' pkgdb.tgz

mv oem.tgz /bootbank

cd ..

rm -r test

Good luck.

Marcelo Soares

VMWare Certified Professional 310/410

Technical Support Engineer

Globant Argentina

Consider awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.

[denisesballs]

Hey Marcelo, thanks for the reply.

I want to try the custom oem.tgz method you've suggested but I think you have a typo in there.

I make /test, copy my file 'tw_cli' to there. I copy /bootbank/oem.tgz to /test. When I extract it (tar -xzvf oem.tgz), the only file extracted is called '.emptytgz' which is blank. Then trying the create command, I get nothing:

/test # tar -czvf oem.tgz 'tw_cli' 'etc' 'lib' 'sbin' 'usr' 'var' pkgdb.tgz

tw_cli

tar: etc: No such file or directory

tar: lib: No such file or directory

tar: sbin: No such file or directory

tar: usr: No such file or directory

tar: var: No such file or directory

tar: pkgdb.tgz: No such file or directory

tar: error exit delayed from previous errors

Should those be /etc, /lib etc. (instead of 'etc' 'lib')? What about / (root)? Where is pkgdb.tgz supposed to come from? Thanks again.

(looking again I think I'm supposed to cd / before I create the tgz since that's where the directories and pkgdb.tgz are but what about opt, vmiages etc?)

[marcelo_soares]

Weird, it should have all the / contents on it.

I will do it on my u1 lab again (I did it sometime ago with passwordless SSH with dropbear) and post results here. Maybe I am forgetting something.

Marcelo Soares

VMWare Certified Professional 310/410

Technical Support Engineer

Globant Argentina

Consider awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Moved to ESXi forum.

Also, instead of the OEM route you can place the file on any /vmfs used for VMs. Perhaps make a 'script' directory under there and reference the tw_cli from within that. However, the oem.tgz route is the best way.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009

Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security'[/url]

Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'[/url]

Blogging: The Virtualization Practice[/url]|Blue Gears[/url]|TechTarget[/url]|Network World[/url]

Podcast: Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast[/url]|Twitter: Texiwll[/url]

[denisesballs]

That would be great Marcelo because I'm going to be doing the same thing with mine, passwordless SSH. I don't see why my oem.tar.gz only contains an empty file called .emptytgz.

[marcelo_soares · Accepted solution]

Try this way:

cd /

mkdir test

cp -r YOURFILE_GOES_HERE /test

cp /bootbank/oem.tgz /test

cd test

tar -xzvf oem.tgz

rm oem.tgz

tar -czvf oem.tgz 'YOUR_FILE_HERE_AGAIN' 'FILE_CREATED_WITH_TAR'

mv oem.tgz /bootbank

cd ..

rm -r test

I tested here and the file were present for me after reboot.

Marcelo Soares

VMWare Certified Professional 310/410

Technical Support Engineer

Globant Argentina

Consider awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.

[denisesballs]

Marcelo, that works perfectly! Even with the ssh folder I created. Thanks a ton!