EFW Support

ENDIAN, Y U NO PROVIDE DEV ENVIRONMENT ?

It seems like getting VMware tools on Endian community has always been difficult due to missing development libraries, and getting a proper development environment was notoriously difficult for unknown reasons. After persistently fighting with every single version of the the community edition, i am happy to say that I've finally got VMware tools, and a kernel development environment going on EFW 2.5.1.

Getting Started

• Download and install Endian EFW 2.5.1 in VMware. Assign the Endian VM 2 nics, 25 GB disk and as much RAM and CPU you can afford. This box will be recompiling the kernel.
• Download the Endian 2.5.1 Source Code package, you only need the kernel source code (kernel-2.6.32.43-57.e43.src.rpm).
• Extract kernel-2.6.32.43-57.e43.src.rpm from the downloaded source tgz and place it in your home directory.
• Make sure the Endian VM has internet access, and enable SSH through the web administration console.
• You must have a valid Endian development account. If you don't have one, sort it out before you begin.

Prepare and Customize Endian Kernel

Download and install devel environment:

   cd ~
   uname -a # take note of the current kernel version (write it down!)
   efw-upgrade -s # Upgrade to Bleeding Edge Dev channel.
   curl -O autoinstall.plesk.com/PSA_9.2.2/update-rpm-RedHat-el4-i386/glibc-devel-2.3.4-2.41.i386.rpm
   curl -O vault.centos.org/4.6/apt/i386/RPMS.os/ncurses-devel-5.4-15.el4.i386.rpm
   
   mkdir -p /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES
   mkdir -p /usr/src/redhat/BUILD
   mkdir -p /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386
   mkdir -p /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS/
   
   rpm -i kernel-2.6.32.43-57.e43.src.rpm
   rpm -i ncurses-devel-5.4-15.el4.i386.rpm 
   rpm -i --nodeps glibc-devel-2.3.4-2.41.i386.rpm   # Ignore errors
   
   smart install kernel-headers make patch gcc4 rpm-build m4 glibc-headers gcc

Make GCC4 default:

   cd /usr/bin/
   mv gcc gcc3
   ln -s gcc4 gcc

Prepare the kernel source tree:

   cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS/
   rpmbuild -bp --target=$(uname -m) kernel.spec
   ln -s /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/kernel-2.6.32/linux-2.6.32.i686 /usr/src/linux
   cd /usr/src/linux
   sed -i 's/CONFIG_MODVERSIONS=y/CONFIG_MODVERSIONS=n/g' .config # loosen up the kernel, disable modversions.
   make menuconfig 

At this point, you can configure your kernel, and generally optimise your system. In my case, I:

• Removed wireless support, ISDN support, various other uneeded modules and drivers.
• Set the processor type to Core2 / Newer Xeon.
• Disabled PAE.
• Disabled MODVERSION support in the kernel.

Compile kernel and modules, reboot:

   make -j4 all  # assuming you have 4 cores on the box (j4)
   make modules_install
   make install
   reboot

Install VMWare tools

After the reboot, SSH back into the Endian VM and initiate a VMware Tools install on the guest.

   uname -a   # make sure your new kernel has booted and is running.
   mkdir /mnt/cdrom
   mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom/
   cp -rf /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-9.2.1-818201.tar.gz /tmp/
   cd /tmp/
   tar zxpf VMwareTools-9.2.1-818201.tar.gz 
   cd vmware-tools-distrib/
   ./vmware-install.pl    # Proceed with VMware tools install as usual!

Having vmware-tools start on boot:

I hacked up some init scripts to have vmware tools start reliably on boot time. Probably not the best way, but it works.
Edit the /etc/rc.d/rc.ipac and add a reference to a vmware startup script.

   nano /etc/rc.d/rc.ipac

Change :

   echo "Setting up ip accounting"
   /etc/rc.d/helper/writeipac.pl
   /usr/sbin/fetchipac -S
   exit 0

to:

   echo "Setting up ip accounting"
   /etc/rc.d/helper/writeipac.pl
   /usr/sbin/fetchipac -S
   . /etc/rc.d/init.d/rc.vmware
   exit 0

Save and exit the file. Next, create the vmware startup script, reboot:

   echo /etc/init.d/vmware-tools start > /etc/rc.d/init.d/rc.vmware
   chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/init.d/rc.vmware
   reboot

Log back into SSH after the reboot, wait for a good 2 - 3 minutes for all the startup scripts to complete, and verify vmware-tools was installed properly:

   root@efw-1351283599:~ # ps -ef |grep vm 
   root      5120     2  0 12:20 ?        00:00:00 [vmmemctl]
   root      5270     1  0 12:20 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/vmtoolsd
   root      5526  5517  0 12:24 pts/0    00:00:00 grep vm

   root@efw-1351283599:~ # lsmod |grep vm
   vmmemctl                4973  0 
   vmci                   55997  1 vsock
   vmxnet                 14479  0 
   vmxnet3                23693  0 

Enjoy vmware-tools on your Endian EFW 2.5.1 Virtual Machine!

Hi pwnz
thanks for your post...
but I can't find the linux tools version that you have used!
The last one I found is VMware-tools-linux-9.0.0-782409
Please can you tell me where download that you have used?

Also... I need vmware tools only to allow the gracefull shutdown of Endian 2.51 vm
when the Host must be turned off.... Really I need to recompile the kernel how you do
in the article?
I hope you response... thanks a lot for your work
Michele

Hi,
I discovered this workaround to solve my problem:

forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-909720-start-0.html

I tried it with Esxi 5.1 and Endian 2.51: works!
 :)
It isn't a VmWare tools version problem.

Michele

Hello
seems that the kernel changed (now e48) and the kernel headers are missing form the smart repositiony :

 smart install  kernel-headers
Loading cache...
Updating cache...               ######################################## [100%]

error: 'kernel-headers' matches no packages

i don t find too the last e43 headers in the repositionny

Somebody has the same problem ?

Hello,  same here :(

Please UPLOAD complete virtual machine :)