Vmware-Tools on BAFM

vmware-config-tools-pl finished with Could not find Parent Node

Mon, 09 Sep 2013 19:15:53 +0000

Well, today I encountered a old problem (or so I thought). Basically a specific udevadm version causes the vmware-config-tools.pl script to error out like this:

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The vmblock enables dragging or copying files between host and guest in a
Fusion or Workstation virtual environment. Do you wish to enable this feature?
[no]

!!! [EXPERIMENTAL] !!!
VMware automatic kernel modules enables automatic building and installation of
VMware kernel modules at boot that are not already present. By selecting yes,
you will be enabling this experimental feature. You can always disable this
feature by re-running vmware-config-tools.pl.

Would you like to enable VMware automatic kernel modules?
[no]

No X install found.

Could not find Parent Node...

I’ve had encountered this before in the past, and before there was some explanation on the VMware forums, which I couldn’t locate. Lucky me, the VMware Tools updater keeps modified versions of vmware-tools-config.pl around. So I ended up creating this short diff, so that I may find it in the future - if I still need it:

KMP: Define a new subpkg template

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:43:36 +0000

There might be reasons, you’d wish you could make the kernel module package do other things. Two already pop into my head: 1) The mpp-Image upgrades for the ibm-rdac kernel module packages and 2) the " adjustments" which need to be done post install for the VMware kernel module package in /etc/vmware-tools/locations.

What you basically do is this:

Add the new subpkg template to your sources list
Call the %suse_kernel_module_package macro with the option -s and then add your source number

For me this looks like this:

Autoinstalling VMware-Tools

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:30:08 +0000

As I wrote before, I have been working on our AutoYaST setup. That entitles determining whether or not we’re currently inside a VMware environment. AutoYaST rules wise, that’s pretty easy (even though the MAC-tag is empty 😳):

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 <!-- Addons: Install VMware Tools / KMP -->
 <rule>
 <custom1>
 <script>
if ip a | grep "link/ether 00:50:56" >/dev/null ; then
 echo -n vmware
fi;
 </script>
 <match>*</match>
 <match_type>exact</match_type>
 </custom1>
 <result>
 <profile>addons/@custom1@.xml</profile>
 </result>
 </rule>

The hard part is figuring out ways, to make the VMware Tools installation as pain free as possible. One thing I can’t do, is running vmware-config-tools.pl …

Novell KMP: vmware-tools-kmp and ibm-lin_tape-kmp

Sun, 10 May 2009 11:27:22 +0000

Disclaimer: I don’t take any responsibility for faults within the software, I just provide the RPM’s! Feel free to ask me about stuff concerning these RPM’s, but I ain’t accountable if your stuff goes kaboom … Oh, and those RPM’s aren’t recommended or supported by Novell or IBM!

After working with the novell-kmp solution, I think it’s actually rather easy to create a " Kernel Module Package". In the end, I created two additional KMP’s, one for the tools component of the VMware-Tools shipped with VMware ESX, and another for the lin_tape SCSI driver, used by our IBM TS3400 as well as the IBM TS7530.