VMWare tools for unRAID


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Kudos Zeron!!  I've tried three shutdowns and it works fine.  No error message on shutdown and no parity check on start up.  Thanks so much!

 

On a side note, I understand your frustration with the development (or lack thereof) of unRAID and while I can't blame you for looking for an alternative, I hope you stick around as your contributions here are truly appreciated and would be sorely missed.

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I noticed that sabnzbd and sickbeard were always preventing the array from unmounting, so I have my go script modify the vmtools shutdown script as follows.  Not sure if this may be similar to your issue (or if it even still works, as I haven't had a need to shutdown via the script in quite some time) or not.  Sharing in case this helps anyone out.

 

# Update vmware-tools shutdown
if [ -f /etc/vmware-tools/scripts/poweroff-vm-default.d/01-halt ]; then
  sed -i '/holding files/a \/etc/rc.d/rc.sickbeard stop\
/etc/rc.d/rc.sabnzbd stop' /etc/vmware-tools/scripts/poweroff-vm-default.d/01-halt
fi

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Link on first post for rc9 actually gives the same link as rc8.  Tried manually inputting rc9, but perhaps the filename is different (date, perhaps)? 

 

Edit: Acutally, the displayed filename works fine.  Just the link that is the problem.

 

Sorry fixed...

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Zeron - To test things further, I just now shut down the unRAID VM again via vSphere and it gave me the error this time.  When I tried to shut it down I got the error below and unRAID did nothing and kept running.  When I tried it a second time I got the same error, but it did shut down and it restarted without a parity check.  A few subsequent tests all resulted in the unRAID VM shutting down cleanly without any error message the same as yesterday after I installed your latest version.  Today's results would seem to indicate that your VMtools works fine on my freshly rebooted system, but not after it's been running a while.  I'm not sure what that might suggest, but maybe that info tells you something.  I am running unMENu and simpleFeatures.  I'll remove then when I get some more time to see if they play any role in this issue and  I'll continue to test as I have time.

 

Call "VirtualMachine.ShutdownGuest" for object "unRAID" on ESXi "192.168.1.41" failed.
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I can also confirm RockDawg's tests. A shutdown with a freshly booted system results is no error, however, the error appears after running the system for a while. Both instances do in fact shutdown the system regardless of the error message.

 

If I were to guess, it appears as though it's a timeout issue, as a running system would need to spinup the disks prior to shutdown and my inclination is that it does not need to do this on a freshly booted system - hence no error.

 

 

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If I were to guess, it appears as though it's a timeout issue, as a running system would need to spinup the disks prior to shutdown and my inclination is that it does not need to do this on a freshly booted system - hence no error.

 

That's good thinking.  I never considered that might be the issue, but it makes sense. I just tried a few tests and I can't seem to tell.  I I tried 5 shutdowns with the disks spun up and I didn't get the error.  I tried five time with the drives spun down and I got the error twice, but three time I didn't.  Not sure if that info helps.

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Question, since BundledVMXNETThree="No" does that me we are using the VMware vmxnet3 virtual NIC driver supplied with unRAID?

 

I ask because I see "VMware vmxnet3 virtual NIC driver - version 1.1.29.0-k-NAPI" is the one that is loaded and don't believe this is the driver supplied with your package Zeron.

 

My understanding was that should something fail to execute or install your package Tom's vmx3net driver was a backup to be able to access the unRAID server. But your OpenVM vmx3net driver should be the one loaded as long as the package installation is executed successfully?

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Question, since BundledVMXNETThree="No" does that me we are using the VMware vmxnet3 virtual NIC driver supplied with unRAID?

 

I ask because I see "VMware vmxnet3 virtual NIC driver - version 1.1.29.0-k-NAPI" is the one that is loaded and don't believe this is the driver supplied with your package Zeron.

 

My understanding was that should something fail to execute or install your package Tom's vmx3net driver was a backup to be able to access the unRAID server. But your OpenVM vmx3net driver should be the one loaded as long as the package installation is executed successfully?

 

I stopped packaging vmxnet3 when Tom included it in his kernel. 

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I have a new version that should fix the timeout issue with the shutdown guest command.  I had to make changes to the vm-tools code.  Reboot Guest is also working on my test system.

 

Can some of you test this out and see if it works better?

 

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.tgz

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.plg

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Question, since BundledVMXNETThree="No" does that me we are using the VMware vmxnet3 virtual NIC driver supplied with unRAID?

 

I ask because I see "VMware vmxnet3 virtual NIC driver - version 1.1.29.0-k-NAPI" is the one that is loaded and don't believe this is the driver supplied with your package Zeron.

 

My understanding was that should something fail to execute or install your package Tom's vmx3net driver was a backup to be able to access the unRAID server. But your OpenVM vmx3net driver should be the one loaded as long as the package installation is executed successfully?

 

I stopped packaging vmxnet3 when Tom included it in his kernel.

 

Oh, I see. I was hoping to get a performance gain with the OpenVM network driver versus the Linux provided one. Your the owner so its up to you. Thanks for everything and explaining.

 

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I have a new version that should fix the timeout issue with the shutdown guest command.  I had to make changes to the vm-tools code.  Reboot Guest is also working on my test system.

 

Can some of you test this out and see if it works better?

 

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.tgz

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.plg

 

Reboot guest, how sweet! Will try shortly.

 

UPDATE: Reboots guest successfully. I only tried with the array unmounted. Have you tried with it mounted and does it gracefully shutdown the array?

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Reboot guest, how sweet! Will try shortly.

 

UPDATE: Reboots guest successfully. I only tried with the array unmounted. Have you tried with it mounted and does it gracefully shutdown the array?

 

Yes, it unmounted cleanly on my test systems.  My test system only has 3 drives though.  I have not put it on my live system yet as it is currently being used and cannot be rebooted.

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I have a new version that should fix the timeout issue with the shutdown guest command.  I had to make changes to the vm-tools code.  Reboot Guest is also working on my test system.

 

Can some of you test this out and see if it works better?

 

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.tgz

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.plg

 

I shut down the system 3 times through the vSphere client on a freshly boot system. It unmounted and shut down cleanly with no parity check on start up. I didn't get a single error/warning message. It looks very good!  8)

 

On the down side, I'm afraid there is a 'but'. It took unRAID more than 5 minutes to shut down (one of the times it took 6 whole minutes). I was very tempted to click on the power button twice but fought the urge  :)

 

I can live with this, but will have to configure accordingly the ups shutdown procedure.

 

Thanks Zeron,

 

PS: My system is:

unraid 5 rc10

7 drives (5 data + parity + cache)

no ifup line on the go file

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I have a new version that should fix the timeout issue with the shutdown guest command.  I had to make changes to the vm-tools code.  Reboot Guest is also working on my test system.

 

Can some of you test this out and see if it works better?

 

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.tgz

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.plg

 

I shut down the system 3 times through the vSphere client on a freshly boot system. It unmounted and shut down cleanly with no parity check on start up. I didn't get a single error/warning message. It looks very good!  8)

 

On the down side, I'm afraid there is a 'but'. It took unRAID more than 5 minutes to shut down (one of the times it took 6 whole minutes). I was very tempted to click on the power button twice but fought the urge  :)

 

I can live with this, but will have to configure accordingly the ups shutdown procedure.

 

Thanks Zeron,

 

PS: My system is:

unraid 5 rc10

7 drives (5 data + parity + cache)

no ifup line on the go file

 

Were the drives spun down when you shut down?  I would check it myself, but my wife is watching movies on the server while I watch football.

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All good here:

 

I'm running ESXi 5.1, and unRAID 5.0-rc10.  With open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.plg installed I used the vSphere Client to Shut Down the unRAID guest.  Powering the machine back on was as expected (no parity check).  Following the same procedure on previous versions always resulted in a parity check. 

 

I have also run restart guest from the vSphere Client software, and the array also came up clean.

 

 

Thanks Zeron!!

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I have a new version that should fix the timeout issue with the shutdown guest command.  I had to make changes to the vm-tools code.  Reboot Guest is also working on my test system.

 

Can some of you test this out and see if it works better?

 

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.tgz

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.plg

 

I shut down the system 3 times through the vSphere client on a freshly boot system. It unmounted and shut down cleanly with no parity check on start up. I didn't get a single error/warning message. It looks very good!  8)

 

On the down side, I'm afraid there is a 'but'. It took unRAID more than 5 minutes to shut down (one of the times it took 6 whole minutes). I was very tempted to click on the power button twice but fought the urge  :)

 

I can live with this, but will have to configure accordingly the ups shutdown procedure.

 

Thanks Zeron,

 

PS: My system is:

unraid 5 rc10

7 drives (5 data + parity + cache)

no ifup line on the go file

 

Were the drives spun down when you shut down?  I would check it myself, but my wife is watching movies on the server while I watch football.

They were up,  I re-started the system before each shutdown,  so they were spinning up.  Could it be because the system was "fresh",  a lot of cache_dirs activity i guess ???

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I have a new version that should fix the timeout issue with the shutdown guest command.  I had to make changes to the vm-tools code.  Reboot Guest is also working on my test system.

 

Can some of you test this out and see if it works better?

 

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.tgz

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.plg

 

I would love to try this, but I have the motherboard that some people are reporting abysmal write speeds with when running 5rc10 so I'd rather not upgrade unRAID at this time.

 

What is it that makes these need to be specific to the version of unRAID?

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I have a new version that should fix the timeout issue with the shutdown guest command.  I had to make changes to the vm-tools code.  Reboot Guest is also working on my test system.

 

Can some of you test this out and see if it works better?

 

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.tgz

http://unraid.zeron.ca/plugins/open-vm-tools/open_vm_tools-2012.10.14.874563_unRaid5.0rc10-i686-8Zeron.plg

 

I would love to try this, but I have the motherboard that some people are reporting abysmal write speeds with when running 5rc10 so I'd rather not upgrade unRAID at this time.

 

What is it that makes these need to be specific to the version of unRAID?

Understand why you wouldn't want to test.  I suspect it isn't a problem unless you are using large amounts of memory in the VM or running standalone unRAID. 

 

I have 3GB assigned to my unRAID VMs.  I am not using a X9SCM anymore but my Tyan's use the same chipset and I just upgraded last night - had to because of permissions problems.  It is working fine for me.  I went from RC4 to RC10 and if anything the parity build got faster.  While still on RC4 I replaced a bunch of drives including parity so had to do a rebuild.  So when I switched to RC10 I rebuilt parity again as a test and the speeds appeared to be faster with the same drives only hours later.  I had 90+MBs on RC4 at the same point that RC10 had 110+MBs.  Total time seemed to be less on RC10 but I didn't record the total time on RC4 so can't be completely positive about the times.

 

I will try the new RC10 version when I get a chance.  Probably tomorrow evening.

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