VMWare Tools on vHMC

Well, here we, over 7 years later. I hope everyone has been doing well, and if they've moved on, welcome to anybody new from IBM that may be viewing this.

I would like to propose a potentially more viable alternative: the integration of the open-vm-tools package. open-vm-tools, being an open-source version of VMware Tools, is specifically designed for Linux distributions and might offer a more suitable and flexible solution for integration into vHMC.

With that in mind, I would like to offer some counterpoints for consideration:

Advantages of open-vm-tools: The open-vm-tools package is tailored for Linux environments and is widely adopted in enterprise-class Linux appliances. Its open-source nature allows for more adaptable integration into various systems, potentially alleviating some of the concerns you've mentioned about the official VMware Tools.

Appliance Integrity and Security: You mentioned concerns about these tools running as root and potentially modifying the underlying OS, leading to configuration corruption or security vulnerabilities. While these are valid concerns, many Linux-based appliances successfully integrate third-party tools without compromising their integrity. This is often achieved through careful sandboxing and limited permission sets, ensuring that the tools operate within a controlled environment. Could a similar approach be feasible for vHMC?

Lifecycle Management and Monitoring: Addressing the concern about controlling the tools' lifecycle and monitoring, implementing a management layer within vHMC for the open-vm-tools package could be a viable solution. This would allow health checks and necessary restarts without needing full root access.

Appliance Wrapper for Functionality and Security: Creating an appliance wrapper around open-vm-tools could offer a balanced integration, maintaining the desired functionality alongside the necessary security measures.

Update Management: Regular updates to open-vm-tools should be incorporated into the standard vHMC update process. This would ensure that vHMC always has the latest and most secure version of open-vm-tools without necessitating additional service costs. Streamlining these updates as part of vHMC's regular maintenance would further enhance its reliability and customer appeal.

To summarize, the integration of open-vm-tools into vHMC could provide significant advantages in flexibility, security, and compatibility with IBM's appliance model. This approach aligns with the evolving needs of your customer base and reinforces IBM's reputation as an innovative and customer-focused organization.

Remember, vHMC is an appliance. These tools run outside that model. That is, they run as root and can modify the underlying OS without going through HMC appliance management code. So there can be cases where the appliance configuration gets corrupted, or security vulnerabilities introduced.

How will you control the tools' lifecycle? Without root access, how do you know if the daemon died and then restart it?

If vHMC were to ship the tools, we'd have to create an appliance wrapper around these tools, which could restrict the functions you want. Plus there would be issues with keeping up with the latest level if you rely on IBM to ship updates to the tools for vHMC.

VMWare Tools are used for backup by snapshot, for monitoring and analysing performances.
Without VMWare Tools, VMWare can't support these tools.

Hi,

Can you please let us know on specific use cases you are looking for using VMWare tools on vHMC?

Thanks.

Creating a new RFE based on Community RFE #87259 in product Power Hardware Management Console.