vmware-tools-esx-kmods for newer kernels

[hcpr]

Hi.

This might be a question that is already answered somwhere, but I can't find it.

What is the best solution when the OSP Vmware tools package doe snot exist for the current kernel?

This is the case at the moment for Ubuntu 10.04, which is at 2.6.32-38, but the newest kmods package is vmware-tools-esx-kmods-2.6.32-33

I guess the solution is to build the modules manually (or rather via Puppet), but it would be a lot easier to get it automatiocally.

Does anyone know how often the modules package is updated?

Thanks

Message was edited by: hcpr. Corrected some spelling errors

[pieterjanheyse]

I would like to support this question, how are other people solving this? I am new to running linux in VMware, so I would love to be able to get the best performance, and as I understand, tools give me this. I would need the package "vmware-tools-esx-kmods-2.6.32-38-server" but it does not exist, is there no VMware support for ubuntu?

[fltech]

Hi,

UPDATE: See next post about Weak versionning... You don't need to compile modules for each new kernel.. youpi!!!

I have adapted the following procedure to build the tools each time a new kernel is released.

http://pookey.co.uk/wordpress/archives/296-installing-vmwares-esxi-guest-tools-on-ubuntu-11-10

This will allow you to update your vmtools from source. kmod seems to be a meta package and I suppose that it contains a prebuild and packaged version of the modules built in the above procedure...

By the way, if you don't use the OSP version of the tools but the "ISO" version from your host, you will need to run the vmware-config-tools.pl each time a new kernel is out anyway.

I'm not sure which option is better. With OSP or from ISO. In both case, we need a manual operation each time a new kernel is out. It would be very very nice if VMWare could supply new package each time a new kernel is out but that's not the case  OSP is the way to go! Hourray weak versionning!

Note: When you compile and install tools for your new kernel, first take a snapshot before proceeding and then do the procedure and keep an eye on your /var/log/kern.log. If something goes wrong, you will see it there.

Pierre-Yves Langlois

[fltech]

http://packages.vmware.com/tools/docs/manuals/osp-esxi-50-install-guide.pdf

You will find in the previous link more info about weak versionning. The OSP modules use weak versioning which means that drivers compiled for a previous version of the kernel remain compatible with new kernel when the  update is minor.

Which means that you just need to install the package vmware-tools-esx-kmods-2.6.32-28-XYZ (see the above docs for more detail) provided by VMWare and your tools will still be compatible with the newest kernel (ex: 2.6.32-40). :smileygrin:

Nice!

If for any reason, you need to compile your own module, the pookey's procedure will still work...

p.

[fltech]

disappointement. After more test, the weak versioning is not working automatically. Symlinks are not created in /lib/modules/2.6.32-40.server/weak-updates/... No modules are loaded in kernel (lsmod | grep vm). I will continue with more test to see if it's possible to activate weak versioning with ubuntu.

[fltech]

Finally the solution implemented here is to use the standard ISO from vSphere. We built a script that check (at boot time) if a new kernel was installed and send a mail to notify us. Then we rebuild the tools each time a new kernel is out with "sudo /usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl -d". In a couple of month, if it works well, we will add that line to the boot script to automate all the process.