Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 panics after installing an Operating System Specific Package (OSP) version of VMware Tools

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
After you upgrade the Operating System Specific Packages of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5, you experience these symptoms:

• In the RPM Package Manager update log of the guest operating system, you see entries similar to:
  
  Jul 9 12:11:18 tvxxre-b3-cf0077-b yum[22148]: Updated: vmware-tools-foundation-9.10.1-1.el6.x86_64
  Jul 9 12:11:18 tvxxre-b3-cf0077-b yum[22148]: Updated: vmware-tools-esx-kmods-9.10.1-1.el6.x86_64
  Jul 9 12:11:28 tvxxre-b3-cf0077-b yum[22204]: Updated: vmware-tools-libraries-nox-9.10.1-1.el6.x86_64
  Jul 9 12:11:28 tvxxre-b3-cf0077-b yum[22204]: Updated: vmware-tools-libraries-x-9.10.1-1.el6.x86_64
  Jul 9 12:11:28 tvxxre-b3-cf0077-b yum[22204]: Updated: vmware-tools-guestlib-9.10.1-1.el6.x86_64
  Jul 9 12:11:28 tvxxre-b3-cf0077-b udevd[505]: can not read '/etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules'
  Jul 9 12:11:28 tvxxre-b3-cf0077-b udevd[505]: can not read '/etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules'
  Jul 9 12:11:29 tvxxre-b3-cf0077-b yum[22204]: Updated: vmware-tools-core-9.10.1-1.el6.x86_64
  Jul 9 12:17:23 tvxxre-b3-cf0077-b kernel: imklog 5.8.10, log source = /proc/kmsg started.
  
  
  
• In the vmware.log file of the virtual machine, you see entries similar to:
  
  2015-07-09T12:11:30.840Z| vcpu-0| I120: MsgHint: msg.monitorevent.halt
  2015-07-09T12:11:30.840Z| vcpu-0| I120+ The CPU has been disabled by the guest operating system. Power off or reset the virtual machine.
  
  
• You are running Red Hat Kernel version 2.6.32-431.5.1.el6.x86_64
• You are attempting to upgrade to OSP VMware Tools version 5.5 Patch 5 or 6.0 Patch 1.
  
  Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1

Cause

This issue occurs due to an incompatibility between Red Hat Kernel version 2.6.32-431 and 2.6.32-71.

Resolution

This is a known issue affecting the newer OSP VMware Tools packages than the OSP VMware Tools packages for VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5 Patch 5 (Build 2718055) and 6.0 Patch 1 (Build 2615704).

To work around this issue, install VMware Tools using a Compiler.

For more information, see Installing VMware Tools in a Linux virtual machine using a Compiler (1018414).

Additional Information

This issue may also occur if YUM is set to auto-update to the latest Operating System Specific Package version of VMware Tools.

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Installing VMware Tools in a Linux virtual machine using a Compiler
安装 Operating System Specific Package (OSP) 版本 VMware Tools 后，Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 变得不稳定
Operating System Specific Package (OSP) バージョンの VMware Tools をインストールした後に Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 でパニックが発生する