Configuring VMware Tools on Oracle Linux kernel 2.6.39-400.245 or higher causes the operating system to panic

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Linux virtual machines running Oracle Linux kernel 2.6.39-400.245 and higher kernels panic when installing or upgrading VMware Tools.
  
• You are using VMwareTools-version.tar.gz distributed with ESXi host
• The operating system panics when VMware Tools is rebuilding initrd ramdisk.
• The panic references the Virtual Machine Communication Interface (VMCI)
• Running vmware-config-tools.pl to reconfigure an existing installation of VMware tools causes the operating system to fail.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0

Cause

This issue occurs because the prebuilt modules distributed with VMware Tools are incompatible with the latest Oracle Linux kernels.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, compile the VMware Tools modules during installation or configuration of VMware Tools.

To compile the VMware Tools modules:

Note: This process requires a compiler and kernel header to be installed within the guest operating system.

1. Log in to the guest operating system terminal or command line.
2. Install the compiler of your choice. For example, run this command to install the GCC Compiler:
   
   yum install gcc
   
   
3. Install the kernel headers associated with your operating system's kernel version.
   
   For example, run this command to install the kernel headers for kernel version 2.6.39-400.245.1.el6uek.x86_64:
   
   yum install kernel-uek-devel-2.6.39-400.245.1.el6uek.x86_64
   
   For example, run this command to install the kernel headers for kernel version 2.6.39-400.246.2.el6uek.x86_64:
   
   yum install kernel-uek-devel-2.6.39-400.246.2.el6uek.x86_64
   
   
4. Install or reconfigure tools using the vmware-install.pl script. Answer No when prompted to run the vmware-config-tools.pl script.
   
   For more information, see Installing VMware Tools in a Linux virtual machine using a Compiler (1018414).
   
   
5. Run this command to configure VMware Tools with the compile option:
   
   vmware-config-tools.pl --compile

Additional Information

Installing VMware Tools in a Linux virtual machine using a Compiler
カーネル 2.6.39-400.245 以降の Oracle Linux が動作している仮想マシンで VMware Tools を構成しようとするとオペレーティング システムが停止する
在 Oracle Linux 内核 2.6.39-400.245 或更高版本上配置 VMware Tools 会导致操作系统不稳定