Shulou(Shulou.com)06/02 Report--

In the process of implementation, there has always been a doubt, that is, more than 7. 0 CENTOS and REDHAT no longer need to install VMWARE's VMTOOLS separately, but it is always said that vmtools will affect the performance of the virtual machine. There has always been an idea to uninstall the VMTOOLS preinstalled on LINUX and to install the latest version of real VMWARE. After more than half a day of research, it is found that this is not the case at all. Let's talk about the conclusion first.

What operating systems does open-vm-tools support?

N Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 and later

N SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 and later

N Ubuntu 14.04 and later

N CentOS 7 and later

N FreeBSD 10.3,10.4 and 11.1

N Debian 7.x and later

N Oracle Linux 7 and later

N Fedora 19 and later

N openSUSE 11.x and later

So don't be silly to install another VMTOOLS that comes with ESXI.

Here is the explanation of open-vm-tools in the KB section

VMware support for open-vm-tools (2073803)

Last Updated: 12/25/2018

Categories: Informational

two

Symptoms

Disclaimer: this article is a translated version of VMware support for open-vm-tools (2073803). Although we will make continuous efforts to provide the best translation for this article, the localized content may be out of date. For the latest content, please see the English version.

This article provides information about the advantages, content, availability, and VMware support of open-vm-tools.

Purpose

This article provides information about the advantages, content, availability, and VMware support of open-vm-tools.

Resolution

advantage

The main purpose of open-vm-tools is to enable operating system vendors and / or community and virtual device vendors to bundle VMware Tools to their product versions. Open-vm-tools is an open source implementation of VMware Tools and consists of a set of virtualization utilities that improve the functionality, system management, and management of virtual machines in a VMware environment.

The benefits of bundling open-vm-tools include:

End users get the best out-of-the-box experience to efficiently deploy virtual machines on the VMware virtual infrastructure.

Reduce operating expenses and virtual machine downtime because updates to the open-vm-tools package are provided with operating system maintenance updates and patches. This eliminates the separate maintenance cycle for VMware Tools updates.

Open-vm-tools does not require a compatibility list check. Depending on the version of the client operating system, VMware Compatibility Matrix is sufficient.

Open-vm-tools, bundled with the operating system, provides a lean version optimized for each operating system version.

Note: to allow customization of Linux virtual machines with open-vm-tools versions earlier than 9.10, you need to install the deployPkg plug-in. For more information, see Installing the deployPkg plug-in in a Linux virtual machine with Open VM Tools version lower than 9.10 (2075048).

Content

Open-vm-tools consists of the following software packages:

Open-vm-tools software package

This package contains core open-vm-tools user-space programs and libraries, including vmtoolsd. These features are enabled by this package:

Synchronization of client operating system clock and Virtualization platform

Enable virtualized infrastructure to perform normal power operations (shutdown) and file system silence for virtual machines

Provides detection signals from the client to the virtualized infrastructure to support vSphere High Availability (HA)

Publish information about the client operating system to the virtualization platform, including resource utilization and network connection information

Provides a secure authentication mechanism to perform various operations through a virtualized infrastructure in the client operating system

Accept other extensible plug-ins, or customize open-vm-tools features

Open-vm-tools-desktop software package

This optional package extends open-vm-tools through other user-space programs and libraries to improve the interaction of virtual machines. This installation package depends on X, so it can be installed only if X is available. These features are enabled by this package:

Enable the ability to resize the client display to match the host console window or VMware Remote Console window for vSphere

Enable text copy and paste between host and client UI (bidirectional)

Enable drag-and-drop operations between clients and hosts for VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion products (bidirectional) (not supported on vSphere)

Open-vm-tools-devel software package

This optional package extends open-vm-tools through other user space libraries for use when developing applications using open-vm-tools. The package contains:

Libraries for developing vmtoolsd plug-ins

Documentation for libraries

Open-vm-tools-debuginfo software package

This optional package contains additional binaries and source code for debugging open-vm-tools.

Usability

The source code for open-vm-tools can be found here

End users receive open-vm-tools that is redistributed by operating system vendors and communities or redistributed in virtual devices. The integration of open-vm-tools varies from operating system to operating system. The highest level of integration includes open-vm-tools on the operating system media and is installed by default when the operating system is installed. In other cases, open-vm-tools is included in the operating system media, but it is not installed by default unless specifically specified during installation. In addition, some operating systems provide open-vm-tools through the use of online repositories and can be installed using the operating system package manager after the operating system is installed.

A list of operating systems with open-vm-tools can be found in https://github.com/vmware/open-vm-tools/blob/master/README.md.

For information specific to FreeBSD, see VMware support for Open VM Tools on FreeBSD (2149806).

VMware technical support strategy

VMware recommends using open-vm-tools that is redistributed by the operating system vendor.

VMware fully supports virtual machines, including OVT redistributed by the operating system vendor, in cooperation with the operating system vendor. This applies only to operating system versions that are certified by specific VMware products in the online VMware Compatibility Guide.

VMware assists operating system vendors and communities in integrating open-vm-tools for new operating system versions that have been released with specific VMware product certification in the online VMware Compatibility Guide.

VMware supports virtual appliances built using supported standard GOS (including open-vm-tools), which is done in partnership with virtual appliance vendors. Standard GOS is an operating system released after being certified by a specific VMware product in the online VMware Compatibility Guide. These GOS can be provided directly by the operating system vendor or downloaded in their original form. If you are using a non-standard operating system and want it to be certified for a specific VMware product, contact VMware.

VMware does not recommend removing open-vm-tools redistributed by operating system vendors.

Frequently asked questions

How to install open-vm-tools in the operating system?

Follow the installation guidelines for a specific version provided by the operating system vendor. For more information, see Guest Operating System Installation Guide.

How do I update open-vm-tools?

Updates to open-vm-tools are distributed with operating system updates and patches as well as virtual device updates.

I am using a lower operating system version that contains a lower open-vm-tools version. Is there a problem?

This configuration is supported if the operating system version is released after being certified by a specific VMware product in the online VMware Compatibility Guide.

For specific VMware products, do you need a specific version of open-vm-tools?

No. Each open-vm-tools version is compatible with past and future versions of VMware products. It is sufficient according to the compatibility list of the client operating system.

Virtual machines with open-vm-tools display Guest managed or 3rdParty/unmanaged in vSphere Client. What does this mean?

This means that vCenter Server cannot be used to install an updated version of the open-vm-tools software in this virtual machine. Instead, you should use the native package manager to manage the installation and updates of open-vm-tools in each client operating system, such as yum or apt. You should get updates for open-vm-tools synchronously with updates and patch installations for client operating systems or virtual devices.

The message Guest managed or 3rdParty/unmanaged does not represent the support status of open-vm-tools or the client operating system. The support status of the operating system version is released in VMware Compatibility Guide, and VMware fully supports open-vm-tools distributed by the operating system vendor to authenticate the operating system version.

Note: as long as the open-vm-tools supported by the operating system vendor is used in an VMware-certified operating system, 3rdParty/unmanaged does not change VMware's commitment to support a specific environment. For more information, see VMware Compatibility Guide.

Why does the operating system not include open-vm-tools?

The redistribution and integration of OVT is done by the operating system vendor. Please contact your operating system vendor for the availability of open-vm-tools. If it is not applicable to your operating system, install VMware Tools released by VMware.

How often does open-vm-tools release?

Open-vm-tools is released several times a year. Subscribe to the following mailing list for notifications:

Http://sourceforge.net/p/open-vm-tools/mailman/open-vm-tools-announce/

As an operating system or virtual device developer, how can I get help on open-vm-tools integration?

Support for operating system developers is available through the mailing list at http://sourceforge.net/p/open-vm-tools/mailman/open-vm-tools-devel/ or VMware TAP Portal.

As an operating system or virtual device developer, how do you log defects or feature requests?

You can log defects or feature requests through the github site at:

Https://github.com/vmware/open-vm-tools

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.