VMware support for open-vm-tools

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information about the benefits, contents, availability and VMware support for open-vm-tools.

Resolution

Benefits

The primary purpose for open-vm-tools is to enable operating system vendors and/or communities and virtual appliance vendors to bundle VMware Tools into their product releases. open-vm-tools is the open source implementation of VMware Tools and consists of a suite of virtualization utilities that improves the functionality, administration, and management of virtual machines within a VMware environment.

The benefits of bundling open-vm-tools are:

• End users get the best out-of-box experience to efficiently deploy virtual machines on VMware virtual infrastructure.
• Reduces operational expenses and virtual machine downtime, because updates to open-vm-tools packages are provided with operating system maintenance updates and patches. This eliminates separate maintenance cycles for VMware Tools updates.
• No compatibility matrix check is required for open-vm-tools. Adhering to the Broadcom Compatibility Guide for the guest OS release is sufficient.
• open-vm-tools bundled with the operating system provides a compact footprint optimized for each OS release. Note: To allow customization of Linux virtual machines with open-vm-tools version lower than 9.10, the deployPkg plug-in needs to be installed. For more information, see Installing the deployPkg plug-in in a Linux virtual machine with Open VM Tools version lower than 9.10
  

Contents

open-vm-tools consists of these packages:

• open-vm-tools package

  This package contains the core open-vm-tools user-space programs and libraries, including vmtoolsd. The following are features enabled by this package:
  • Synchronization of the guest OS clock with the virtualization platform
  • Enables the virtual infrastructure to perform graceful power operations (shut down) and file system quiescing of the virtual machine
  • Provides a heartbeat from guest to the virtualization infrastructure to support vSphere High Availability (HA)
  • Publishes information about the guest OS to the virtualization platform, including resource utilization and networking information
  • Provides a secure and authenticated mechanism to perform various operations within the guest OS from the virtualization infrastructure
  • Accepts additional plug-ins that can extend or customize open-vm-tools functionality

• open-vm-tools-desktop package

  This optional package extends open-vm-tools with additional user-space programs and libraries to improve the interactive functionality of virtual machines. This package depends on X and therefore must be installed only when X is available. The following are features enabled by this package:
  • Enables resizing of the guest display to match host console window or the VMware Remote Console Window for vSphere
  • Enables text copy and paste operation between host and guest UI (either direction)
  • Enables drag and drop operation between guest and host (either direction) for the VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion products (not supported on vSphere)

• open-vm-tools-devel package

  This optional package extends open-vm-tools with additional user-space libraries for use in developing applications using open-vm-tools. The package contains:
  • Libraries for developing vmtoolsd plug-ins
  • Documentation for the libraries

• open-vm-tools-debuginfo package

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

Availability

Source code for open-vm-tools can be found here.

End users obtain open-vm-tools redistributed by operating system vendors and communities or within virtual appliances. Integration of open-vm-tools with operating system releases vary. The highest level of integration includes open-vm-tools on the OS media and is installed by default during OS installation. In other cases, open-vm-tools is included on the OS media, but is not installed by default unless specifically specified during installation. In addition, some operating systems provides open-vm-tools through the use of online repositories and can be installed using the operating system package manager following installation.

The list of operating systems with open-vm-tools can be found at here.

 VMware support policy

• VMware recommends using open-vm-tools redistributed by operating system vendors.
• VMware fully supports virtual machines that include OVT redistributed by operating system vendors, which is done in collaboration with the OS vendors. This is only applicable to the operating system releases that are published as certified by the specific VMware product in the online Broadcom Compatibility Guide.
• VMware provides assistance to operating system vendors and communities with the integration of open-vm-tools for the new releases of the operating systems published as certified by the specific VMware product in the online Broadcom Compatibility Guide.
• VMware supports virtual appliances built using standard supported GOSes that include open-vm-tools , which is done in collaboration with the virtual appliance vendor. Standard GOSes are the operating systems that are published as certified by the specific VMware product in the online Broadcom Compatibility Guide. These GOSes are either directly provided by the OS vendors or are available for download in their original form. Please contact Broadcom if using a non-standard operating system and would like to get it certified for a specific Broadcom product.
• VMware does not recommend removing open-vm-tools redistributed by operating system vendors.

Frequently asked questions

• How do I install open-vm-tools in an operating system?
  
  Follow installation guidance from the OS vendor for a specific release.

• How do I update open-vm-tools?

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

• I'm using an older operating system release that includes an older version of open-vm-tools. Is this a problem?

  If the operating system release is published as certified and supported by the specific VMware product in the online Broadcom Compatibility Guide, the configuration is supported.

• Do I need a specific version of open-vm-tools for a specific VMware product?

  No. Each version of open-vm-tools is compatible with multiple past and future versions of VMware products. Adhering to the compatibility matrix for the guest OS release is sufficient.

• A virtual machine with open-vm-tools displays "Guest managed or 3rdParty/unmanaged" in vSphere Client. What does this mean?

  This means that vCenter Server cannot be used to install upgrades of open-vm-tools software in that virtual machine. Instead, manage the installation and update of open-vm-tools from within each guest operating system using the native package manager, such as yum or apt. Expect to get updates of open-vm-tools in sync with the installation of updates and patches in the guest operating system or the virtual appliance.
  
  The message "Guest managed" or "3rdParty/unmanaged" does not imply a support status for open-vm-tools or the guest operating system. The support status of operating system releases is published in the Broadcom Compatibility Guide and open-vm-tools distributed by OS vendor for use with certified operating system releases is fully supported by VMware.
  
  Note: "3rdParty/unmanaged" does not change the support commitment by VMware on a specific environment, as long as OS-vendor supported open-vm-tools are used on an Operating System certified by VMware. For more information, see Broadcom Compatibility Guide.

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

  Redistribution and integration of OVT is done by operating system vendors. Contact the OS vendor regarding the availability of open-vm-tools. If it is unavailable for the operating system, install VMware Tools distributed by VMware.

• How often is open-vm-tools released?
  
  open-vm-tools is released several times a year. To receive email notifications for open-vm-tools:
  Go to https://github.com/vmware/open-vm-tools/
  Select "Watch" and choose the preferred level of notifications. At the minimum "Custom" -> "Releases".
  
  Check all available releases at https://github.com/vmware/open-vm-tools/releases.

• As an operating system or virtual appliance developer, where is help with integration of open-vm-tools?
  
  Support for operating system developers can be obtained by raising an issue through the github site at: https://github.com/vmware/open-vm-tools or through the VMware TAP Portal.

• As an operating system or virtual appliance developer, where are bugs or feature requests logged?
  
  Log bugs and feature requests through the github site at: https://github.com/vmware/open-vm-tools

Additional Information

Installing the deployPkg plug-in in a Linux virtual machine with open- vm-tools version lower than 9.10