VMWare tools for unRAID


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I have 5.1 installed and open_vm_tools-2012.05.21.724730_unRaid5.0rc8-i686-3Zeron.tgz.

 

Not sure if this is related but when I attempted to add the network adapter I have only two options: "Flexilble" or "E1000", which is different than what I see for my windows vms (vmtools current) where I see "VMXNET3". Could it be that Zeron's vmtools is not fully compatible with ESXi 5.1 ? In vSphere Client I can see VMware Tools are running (3rd-party/Independent). Maybe that's why I do not see the VMXNET3 option.

VMXNET3 support is now included in unRAID out-of-the-box.  I'm pretty sure that as long as the original platform supported VMXNET3 (when you were creating the VM), it would be selectable, as I remember not having any internet connectivity for other Linux VMs until I installed vmwaretools... so Zeron's package should have nothing to do with your lack of option.

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Thanks for the input, and indeed you are right, it had to do with the OS type selected. I had "Other 32-bit" selected. Changing it to freebsd solved the issue.

 

On another note, I noticed after installing the vCLI perl library, sending a shutdown request to my unRAID does indeed work by I get this error message in the console:

 

The request to Power off this

virtual machine failed because the

corresponding VMware Tools script

did not run successfully. If you

have configured a custom

power-off script in this virtual

machine, make sure that it

contains no errors. Attempting the

operation again will ignore the

script failure. You can also submit

a support request to report this

issue. 

 

Thie is how it is invoked:

 

perl c:\scripts\esxi\esxi-control.pl --server 192.168.x.xx --username xxx --password xxxx --action shutdown --vmname unRAID

 

EDIT:

 

After inspection this error in the console is displayed on the first invocation which the vm does not do a shutdown. After a second running of the command above, it does work. Are others experiencing similar?

 

Found this http://communities.vmware.com/message/2096512?tstart=0

 

Well, as a temp workaround i put this in the go script and i no longer receive the error.

 

This is a big issue if individuals wrote custom scripts (in my case which apcupsd calls) to execute a clean shutdown in the event of a power failure.

 

touch /sbin/ifup 

chmod a+x /sbin/ifup

 

EDIT 2: I just realized in the Options setting for the vm, there is an option to Run VMare tools scripts (or not), and a check next to "Before shutting down Guest". I need to try this and whether suppressing this will fix shutdown errors, instead of creating a dummy ifup executable and not cause any adverse effects.

 

esxi: 5.1

unraid: v5rc8a

vmtools: open_vm_tools-2012.05.21.724730_unRaid5.0rc8-i686-3Zeron.tgz

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm having issues installing the vmware tools.

 

I'm running unRAID 5rc8a in a ESXi box (X9SCM, Xeon 1240, 16GB RAM). I installed unRAID in a hybrid boot following brian89gp's instructions. It works very well and boots in around 15 secs.

 

I downloaded  open_vm_tools-2012.05.21.724730_unRaid5.0rc8t-i686-3Zeron.plg from the first post and put it in /boot/plugins. However when starting unRAID I get some mixed messages:

 

* the vSphere Cliens shows: ? Running (3rd party/Independent)

v_Sphere.jpg

 

* unRAID shows a warning, aparently it didn't install

Atlas.jpg

 

* however the tgz package downloaded well to /boot/packages. I tried a manual install and got a warning mkdir cannot create a directory, although it installed (apparently) fine

putty.jpg

 

* when I use the command "Shut Down Guest" from the vSphere client I get an error message, although the vm closes after a few seconds

closing.jpg

 

So I have some questions:

[*]Is this ok? I don't feel comfortable with the question mark in the vSphere client.

[*]Why do I get the warning in unRAID?

[*]Is the error message when closing expected? I don't want to put any data in my array until I'm confident the closing procedure is fine.

[*]Would it be better to install the 'official' VMware tools

Some additional info. I don't have yet any drives in the array. I am waiting for the fans to arrive.

 

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I'm having issues installing the vmware tools.

 

I downloaded  open_vm_tools-2012.05.21.724730_unRaid5.0rc8t-i686-3Zeron.plg from the first post and put it in /boot/plugins.

 

I think this may be the problem, the .plg file should go in /config/plugins

There are two possible ways to install this:

  • For unRAID 5.0b11 an later use the put the .plg file /config/plugins on your flash drive.  See the beta-11 release announcement for more information: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=14664.0
  • For all version of unRAID, put the .tgz file in /extra on you flashdrive - this method is recommend for unRAID before 5.0b11 and any user who uses VMXNET3

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I think this may be the problem, the .plg file should go in /config/plugins

There are two possible ways to install this:

  • For unRAID 5.0b11 an later use the put the .plg file /config/plugins on your flash drive.  See the beta-11 release announcement for more information: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=14664.0
  • For all version of unRAID, put the .tgz file in /extra on you flashdrive - this method is recommend for unRAID before 5.0b11 and any user who uses VMXNET3

 

Ok, so I installed the SimplyFeatures webGUI and then copy the VMware .plg file in /boot/config/plugins. Now it installs ok and I can see the VM tab in the SF webGUI.

 

However, I still get this error.

 

* when I use the command "Shut Down Guest" from the vSphere client I get an error message, although the vm closes after a few seconds

closing.jpg

 

So I have some questions:

[*]Is this warning when shutting down the guess normal? I don't feel comfortable with error messages.

[*]Would it be better to install the 'official' VMware tools?

 

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I get the same error for two reasons, one and as I posted above, i think it has something to do with the vmware network script making reference to ifup which doesn't exists and consequently bombs. See here: http://communities.vmware.com/message/2096512?tstart=0

 

Secondly, perhaps a timeout issue, as i noticed  while executing the line below:

 

perl c:\scripts\esxi\esxi-control.pl --server 192.168.xxx.xxx --username root --password xxxx --action shutdown --vmname unRAID

 

From the time of invocation, unraid takes a good 5-10 secs to actually begin the shutdown process, by which time the console reports an error - probably due to not receiving a response in a timely fashion.

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I get the same error for two reasons, one and as I posted above, i think it has something to do with the vmware network script making reference to ifup which doesn't exists and consequently bombs. See here: http://communities.vmware.com/message/2096512?tstart=0

 

Secondly, perhaps a timeout issue, as i noticed  while executing the line below:

 

perl c:\scripts\esxi\esxi-control.pl --server 192.168.xxx.xxx --username root --password xxxx --action shutdown --vmname unRAID

 

From the time of invocation, unraid takes a good 5-10 secs to actually begin the shutdown process, by which time the console reports an error - probably due to not receiving a response in a timely fashion.

 

I don't know how I missed your post...

 

BTW, I'm using the same configuration as you do:

 

ESXi: 5.1

unRAID: v5rc8a

VMtools: open_vm_tools-2012.05.21.724730_unRaid5.0rc8-i686-3Zeron.tgz

 

It certainly looks the same error, but in my case it shuts down with only one request. So when I click on "Shut Down Guest", I get the error message, but the machine actually shuts down. My concern is that is just powering off and not properly shutting down.

 

I can't test your solution in the go file as I'm preclearing 2 drives right now, but will do and let you know how it works.

 

No one else is having this issue  ????

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  • 4 weeks later...

Yo,

 

Used the TGZ file install and edited the go-file and don't get any error messages anymore!

Question : When I select powerdown the guest it stops immediately and when I restart I allways get a unmounted array which I allways need to restart with a forced paritycheck !

Do i need to stop the array before shutting down?

 

thanks

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@simsquare

I'll check this afternoon and let you know, my unraid vm is still on the works and i don't pay much attention to it

Where are you? I'm in Europe and one if the few ones that post at this hours (10am here)

 

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

I'm in Belgium

 

Ok, this is what I did:

  • log in through putty and reboot -> system started a parity check on start up
  • idem but stopping the array first from the web page -> system started ok without parity check
  • log in through putty and powerdown -> system started ok without parity check
  • reboot from vSphere -> system started a parity check on start up
  • idem but stopping the array first from the web page -> system started ok without parity check
  • shutdown from vSphere ->system started a parity check on start up
  • idem but stopping the array first from the web page -> system started ok without parity check

Some comments/questions:

[*]According to this test, the only clean way of shutting down the array is powerdown through putty or stopping first the array. Is this normal behaviour?

[*]I can't see any power down button in Simple Features, should I?

[*]Even when starting a parity check on startup, array is automatically mounted. Did you enable Auto start in Settings->Disk settings

[*]Should reboot from the vSphere client work?

According to VMTool, system should not reboot itself even when rebooting from vShere. I have this message in the VMTools tab in SF

 

open-vm-tools v.2012.05.21-724730 compiled for unRAID 5.0-rc8

Note:

open-vm-tools does not distguish between shutdown and reboot events.

 

However, it did re-started. ??? Is this normal behaviour?

 

Can others report?

 

PS: I'm in Spain

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New version uploaded for 5.0rc8/8a


  •  
  • Update to: open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563
     
  • Work around shutdown error on ESXi 5.1 (You no longer need to add ifup from your go file)

 

Thanks works like a charm

Only thing that bugs me is that you first need to stop the array before powering down or you get an forced parity check the next boot!

Is it possible to stop the array automatically when powering down in vsphere?

 

thanks

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Thanks works like a charm

Only thing that bugs me is that you first need to stop the array before powering down or you get an forced parity check the next boot!

Is it possible to stop the array automatically when powering down in vsphere?

 

thanks

 

There is a shutdown script included that cleanly shuts down the array when you press the shutdown guest button.  It works on my ESXi 5.0 system, but appears to be ignored under 5.1.

 

I have updated my development system to ESXi 5.1 so hopefully I can find out why the script no longer works.

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For me running ESXi 5.1, I would get a clean shutdown with open_vm_tools-2012.05.21.724730_unRaid5.0rc8t-i686-3Zeron.plg, but I would get the error message when a shut down was initiated through ESXi. 

 

But when I tried either adding the ifup from the go file or the new updated VM tools, I got the forced parity check on start up.  So for me, 5.1 would do a clean shut down with the old tools.

 

I would love to see this work as I am seriously considering buying a CyberPower UPS so I can use their ESXi appliance VM to properly shut down guests and the host on power outages.  But obviously I need unRAID to shut down cleanly via ESXi for that to work.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Is anybody else getting the parity check on reboot using the updated VM tools?  I'd like to figure this out as I am ready to purchase my CyberPower UPS and relies on VM tools to shut down the VMs.

 

Yes - the latest version do this.  Something is preventing the custom shutdown script from executing.

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I'm not sure if the issue it new in esxi 5.1 or the latest tools release.  I first saw it when I updated my live system to esxi5.1, but I also updates unRaid to rc8a at the same time.

 

Given the glacial pace of unRaid development and the amount of issues the latest RC still has I have spent what little free time I have looking at replacing unRaid rather than working on the open-vm-tools plugin.

 

If some one want to try to find what id preventing the custom shutdown script form executing I will incorporate it in a future build.  If no one wants to help out then I'll get to it when I get to it (or not).

The shut downs script is found at: /etc/vmware-tools/scripts/poweroff-vm-default.d/01-halt

 

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