Vmware tools why update

Finally, it also helps keep time synchronized between the host and the guest machine - but sometimes this can cause complications with domain controllers, so turn it off if you have a DC running on a VM host. Those "tools" are actually the device drivers and are one of the most important components of the VMWare software stack. They are what provides much of the stability and performance of vSphere!! The OP asked a legitimate question, and being told to go somewhere else for an answer seems extremely pointless, as this entire forum's purpose is to give assistance.

A better answer would be along the lines of:. It's funny that you say that because we outsourced the setup of this server since it's our first VmWare server and the first thing I noticed was that the VmWare tools were not installed. Should snapshots be taken before the installation, or is it safe enough to install the tools without doing snapshots first?

Yes install VMWare tools. This interface also allows the ESXi host to be able to check on the health of the VM client while it is operating. No you do not need to do anything prior to applying the tools.

But be aware if you upgrade or patch ESXi which you should be you may need to reapply the tools now and again to the clients.

They are not going to hurt anything, and are actually quite helpful. They are on their way out the door anyhow, so no love lost. Since you've held my hand and lead me down this road The easiest option is not the cheapest. If you purchase the VMware essentials license you will get the vsphere update tools. The essentials license will also get you the backup APIs so you can use Veeam paid or free to backup your vm clients. The other option is to download the updates from the VMWare web site and upload them manually.

X had this and manually run the update tool to extract the patch and apply it. There's actually a client specifically for updating the hosts- the "vsphere host update utility". Yep that is a one time purchase. If you want to get upgrade rights to vmware then you will need to pay for maintenance on that license. But since I was way off on my first estimate don't quote me.

Yes for that price it is kind of silly to not jump on it. Plus with essentials it give you one console to manage up to 3 vmware hosts and the backup APIs.

Free is good, but Essentials is much better. After you click install or upgrade, you can continue the installation in the Guest OS. It is a good idea to always make sure you have installed VMware tools on any virtual machine templates you are deploying so you do not have to continue to do this process every time you create a new virtual machine. Installing VMware tools for Linux is as easy as it is for Windows, in the past, this was not always the case.

You can use the above process, or another method if you prefer. If you want to install VMware tools on linux, and you are cringing at the methods above, have no fear, VMware has something very special for you, especially if you are not a linux GUI person.

Open-vm-tools, also referred to as openvmtools and open vm tools, is just that, VMware tools ready for you to deploy into your favorite open source linux product. You can also find an official article about open-vm-tools on the VMware KB here , however the great news for linux users it is distributed with many linux distributions since linux servers are so commonly deployed as virtual machines these days.

For example, if you are looking to install VMWare tools on Ubtuntu, it has been included in the main repository since version To install VMware tools in Ubuntu, you just need the following command:. You can find more information about VMware tools for Ubuntu on the Ubuntu site.

If you are familiar with yum, you may be asking yourself how you can use it to install VMware tools. You can browse this directory to find the exact version of VMware tools you are seeking, then install it using the yum command. Additionally, they may be offered as a standalone patch when the new version of VMware tools offers new features or bug fixes. VMware tools is an often overlooked but very important component to any VMware vSphere infrastructures. VMware tools is what allows our virtual machines to do what they do best — work for us!

Using our existing one-liner from above we will just append Update-Tools to update the VMs with tools currently out of compliance.

You may have noticed that all the VMs had their updates kicked off at the same time and this may not be ideal, this is one way that the Update-Tools cmdlet works, however we can get around this by storing the VMs within a variable and then using a loop process them one at a time. This is definitely preferable as it will limit the impact to the environment.

Keep in mind that with Windows Server VMware Tools no longer need a reboot on upgrade , it can be safe to enable this setting and have VMs stay up to date on every reboot. However this may not be applicable to all situations, so another recommendation would be to enable this for a lab environment or non-critical workloads.

The easy way to enable this option is to log into the vSphere Client, edit the VM settings and enable the setting. Here we can see which VMs have the automatic upgrade set and which ones are configured for manual.

Utilizing a filter we can look for objects that are set for manual and then configure them to be set for upgradeAtPowerCycle. When it comes to upgrading your VM Compatibility this is something that should be done with caution. Upgrading VM Compatibility aka VM Hardware is like pulling out the motherboard and replacing it with a new one, so this should only be done when features and functionality in a higher level are needed.

Our current recommended level is Hardware Version 11 as it handles remediation from current security threats. Prior to upgrading your VM Compatibility you should always make sure VMware Tools are up to date first as new drivers can be required for the new virtual hardware.

As I mentioned previously prior to upgrading your VM Compatibility I recommend taking a snapshot or a backup of the virtual machine in case a rollback is needed. Its quite easy to see the current version of VM Compatibility via the vSphere Client, however when checking the current levels across our entire vCenter Server we may want to automate this Below you will find a quick and easy one-liner to identify the VMs and their current VM Compatibility version.

As we can see above a few VMs are currently running v14 which is compatible with vSphere 6. We can do this again quite easily with PowerCLI.

If you wish to do this via the vSphere Client my colleague Nigel Hickey covers this in his blog series here. However, we are talking automation here so lets jump into the quick script to accomplish this. The next time the VM is rebooted it will be shutdown, the compatibility will be upgraded and then be powered back on. More information on upgrading VM Compatibility can be found here. Automating your VMware Tools and VM Compatibility upgrades do not need to be hard, we have quite a few ways to help you with this and help this blog has helped educate you on some additional methods.

For more information on Automating your vSphere Upgrade be sure to check out the full series here. Although both of these components hold much value for virtual machines VM when upgraded, caution should always be at the forefront of upgrading the VM Compatibility version.

I mention caution because upgrading the VM Compatibility version may not always be necessary to perform unless specific features are needed. VMware Tools is a set of services and modules that enable several features in VMware products for better management of, and seamless user interactions with, guests operating systems.

Although a guest operating system can run without VMware Tools, we suggest to always run the latest version of VMware Tools in your guest operating systems to access the latest features and updates. The status bar of the VM displays a message when a new version is available. In my vSphere 6. Step 2: Click More info to reveal additional information optional , then click Upgrade VMware Tools to begin the process. Choose an upgrade type, click Upgrade to continue.

In my scenario, I have selected an Automatic Upgrade. VMware Tools must be installed prior to updating it. After VMware Tools is updated, the virtual machine is restarted unless the NoReboot parameter is specified. An example usage is shown below that can update VMware Tools on a virtual machine specified by its guest operating system.

Now we will review Virtual Machine Compatibility. Virtual machine compatibility determines the virtual hardware available to the VM, which corresponds to the physical hardware available on the vSphere host. Upgrading the compatibility level will allow the VM to take advantage of additional hardware features available to the virtual machine.

Note that when upgrading VM Compatibility some applications or the OS to may have issues working properly. I suggest only upgrading VM Compatibility if you require a feature that comes with the newer hardware version. When ready, click Yes to continue. You may also choose to only upgrade after a normal OS shutdown versus when an OS crashes then reboots.

Step 4: Next we can review the status of the upgrade. When VM Compatibility is scheduled to be upgraded, you will notice the status of the upgrade is viewable under the VM Hardware section of the virtual machine.

Step 5: Once a VM Compatibility upgrade has completed, it can be verified by checking the status under the VM Hardware section of the virtual machine. As you have witnessed updating VMware Tools or Virtual Machine Compatibility are not complex tasks, but absolutely include steps that will require consideration prior to execution. Also be sure to review the vSphere Upgrade Guide. Please do not hesitate to post questions in the comments section of this blog or reach out to me directly via Twitter vCenterNerd.

In part 2 we will cover the vCenter Server Upgrade to 6. I am also assuming here that you have a backup of the vCenter Server prior to upgrading. Step 1: This is the introduction and an explanation of the two Stages of the Upgrade. Click Next to continue. Click Connect To Source to reveal the additional fields.

Then click Next to continue. Review and click Yes to continue. Step 6: Select the deployment size for the vCenter Server. Storage size changes will be reflected in the table below the selection dropdown in the Storage GB column. Step 7: Select the datastore location for the vCenter Server Appliance.

The option to also Enable Thin Disk Mode is available, if you require it. Be sure to add at least 1 DNS server. Once all required fields are completed, click Next to continue. Step 9: Review all settings of Stage 1 prior to Upgrade. Step 1: Review the details of the Stage 2 process and then Click Next to continue. Step 2: Once pre-checks have completed, results will be shown on screen. Review any warnings given, as well as the resolutions to these warnings.

In my upgrade scenario I had a few warnings, one reminding me to change DRS which we did before we began, and others that I validated were ok to proceed in this situation.