topic Re: How to use VProbe inside ESXI hypervisor? in VProbes Discussions

How to use VProbe inside ESXI hypervisor?

ghiotto86 — Tue, 27 May 2014 15:48:43 GMT

I'm reading the VProbe documentation, but consider only virtual machines instrumentation. Can i instrument the ESXI hypervisor, in order to intercept calls from/to VMkernel?

Re: How to use VProbe inside ESXI hypervisor?

virtualirfan — Tue, 27 May 2014 16:48:59 GMT

What are you looking to do? If you share some details or an example, perhaps someone can help.

Re: How to use VProbe inside ESXI hypervisor?

ghiotto86 — Wed, 28 May 2014 08:10:50 GMT

Hi virtualirfan, for example, in the context of esxi hypervisor, i need to intercept all driver API (vmklinux or native) calls related to a read/write syscall. Is it possible?

Re: How to use VProbe inside ESXI hypervisor?

virtualirfan — Thu, 29 May 2014 00:42:24 GMT

You have to know the entry function name if it's a standard vmkernel function. Might also work for a VMware driver. Are you the driver author? If so, look at the VMware driver guide on how to inject your driver symbols in.

To trace a function, do this:

$ vprobe -t World_Switch

Enter: World_Switch

Exit: World_Switch retval = 0x41221d265000

Exit: World_Switch retval = 0x412241ce5000

Exit: World_Switch retval = 0x412214925000

Let me know if you need more.

Re: How to use VProbe inside ESXI hypervisor?

ghiotto86 — Thu, 29 May 2014 08:24:04 GMT

Thanks a lot! I'm not a driver author. Where can i find that VMware driver guide? Is it possible, for example, to probe function calls related to a specific context, e.g. storage subsystem? Finally, vprobe allows to read (or maybe write) target variables at function entry point?