Fusion 6.0.2 / OS X 10.9.2 Host / OS X 10.9 Guest VM running >100% CPU no matter what

[dgretch]

Hi all

I've got Fusion 6.0.2 running on a Mac Pro with the following specs:

- Mid 2010

- OS X 10.9.2 (tried on 10.9.1 as well)

- 2.8GHz Quad-Core Xeon

- 12GB 1066 DDR3 RAM

- HD 5770 @ 1GB

- 1TB SATA drive @ 7200 rpm

I'm trying to run a 10.9 guest, because I can use the VM to test and re-test images that I push over NetBoot via DeployStudio. AFAIK, Fusion is the only desktop-level virtualization software that supports netboot (please advise if I'm wrong here). I can start up the VM and deploy the iamge to the vmdk okay, although CPU usage runs between 80-90% throughout for the "vmware-vnx" process on my host. When I boot to the OS, and attempt to log in, CPU usage skyrockets over 100%, and has been as high as 300%. The user profile never loads to the desktop, making the VM unworkable. My host OS continues to work fine during this, however. This is 100% repeatable.

I have tried adjusting the RAM in the guest VM from 2GB up to 6GB and it has made no difference. I have tried every different value for # of processors as well, to no avail. I have even blown the VM away and created it with twice as much disk space (80GB, for a ~12GB .dmg image) and the issue persists.

Has anyone else seen this? If so, has anyone been able to resolve? Being able to test netboot imaging in my environment would be a huge boon to the desktop support staff at my company.

Thanks in advance for any tips!

[dariusd]

Hi dgretch, and welcome to the VMware Communities!

OS X NetBoot in a VM was my little pet project, and I'm still not aware of any other virtual platform with NetBoot support :smileygrin:.  It's great to hear that you are making use of it, but not so great to hear that it is giving you problems!  I haven't seen anything like the problem you describe... Let's see if we can figure it out.

Initial questions:

Are you including other software in the configuration you're pushing with DeployStudio?  Have you tried deploying just the OS in its default configuration?  I haven't used DeployStudio at all, but I have tested creating 10.9 guests booting from OS X Server's NetBoot (diskful and diskless) and NetInstall features.  If you are doing anything interesting during the deployment, try moving back to the most basic configuration you can.  If possible, test with only OS X Server's NetInstall.

Even if you can't log in to the guest at the login screen, you might be able to configure the deployment to enable Remote Login inside the guest's System Preferences and then SSH into the guest to prod around that way.  (But it might also just go to 100% CPU when you try to SSH in, too...)

If nothing obvious shows up from those steps (or if they are too time-consuming to do), let's grab a debugging logfile and see what that shows.  Do that by going into Virtual Machine > Settings..., choosing Advanced, then set Troubleshooting to Hang/Crash and close the settings window.  Power on the VM and reproduce the problem – i.e. try to log in and check that the CPU usage spikes and the VM hangs.  Leave it for a few minutes, then power off the VM.  Inside the VM's bundle, you'll find a file named vmware.log.  Take that file, and attach it to a reply here in the forums, and I'll take a look.  (To attach a file, choose Use advanced editor in the top-right; Please don't copy-and-paste it into your post.)

Thanks,

--

Darius

[dgretch]

Hey Darius,

I appreciate the feedback for sure! I'm definitely eager to get this working as it would be hugely beneficial in my environment.

My restore task in DS is as simple as it can be. It restores the .dmg image to the target volume. That's it. No additional tasks afterwards. In my production environment I typically run Software Updates, but beyond that, post-flight configuration is done by hand. I've never used NetInstall personally, but part of me has a hard time believing it's related to the deployment itself, as DeployStudio itself is very thin, and my configuration is about as minimal as it gets. After the disk image restore, before booting into the OS, there is a DS "Finalize script" that cleans up caches. CPU usage runs at ~200% during this even...it doesn't feel like something at the Guest OS level is causing this, but that's just my gut.

I enabled debugging per your suggestion, let the VM sit for about 5 minutes in an "error" state, shut it down, grabbed the log file, and have attached it here.

Let me know what you think!

[dariusd]

Unfortunately, the log isn't as helpful as I'd hoped, sorry.  Could I ask you to run another test?  Edit the VM's configuration file (while the VM is powered off – Instructions at VMware KB: Editing the .vmx file for your VMware Fusion virtual machine) and add the line

   monitor_control.log_vmsample = "TRUE"

then power on the VM and reproduce the issue, as before.  Leave it a few minutes, then power off the VM and post the vmware.log.

Thanks!

--

Darius

[dgretch]

I edited the vmx file per your instructions and have attached the new log file here as requested. Let me know if this is any more helpful

Thanks!

[dgretch · Accepted solution]

If anyone comes across this, I seem to have resolved it by updating my stable build to the latest nightly build of DeployStudio (2014.03.09)