What are the vmware tools

It is very simple to understand the VMware environment. With the help of the VMware workstation player, we can easily get familiar with the VMware platform. It will help to run the second operating system on Linux as well as on the Windows platform.

In the VMware workstation player, we can create an isolated and secure working environment. The network topology and configuration, the privacy settings will be enabled on the browser level as well. Similarly, the VMware workstation player tool is a great tool for testing as well as the learning front.

It is also having sandbox capabilities, isolation features, etc. In VMware workstation player tool, we can easily test the different configuration and setting before directly applying to the actual production environment. If we need to convert the physical environment onto the virtual platform, then we need to make sure that none of the machines should be available physically.

The entire machine should be move from the physical environment to the virtual environment, i. It will help to convert or enable the simultaneous conversions of the on-prem physical machine without having any downtime.

It will be a great help for the large-scale infrastructure. We can convert the multiple physical machines at the same time and manage them from the centralized platform. It is nothing but a windows PowerShell interface. It will help to manage the vSphere. The VMware PowerCLI is a powerful command-line tool; it will help to design the automation task or jobs to due reduce human efforts. It will include various components like storage, network, security, virtual machine management, etc.

It will also reduce human errors also. The RVTools are free tools. It will provide detailed information on the virtual CPU, virtual memory, virtual disk, etc. It will represent the information in the specific tab.

We also have the filter option. It will enable the specific tab information. Similarly, it will also print the different information like the virtual environment information. With the help of RVTools, we can perform a series of administrator operations. From the 6. It will be a great help for the UI developer. Here, we can also define which type of elements will be visible for the respective user or the groups. In the VMware environment, the VisualEsxtop is the most popular tool.

It will help with troubleshooting and monitor the virtual machines and ESXi hosts. We can also display the data simulation on multiple windows.

It also has a separate performance statics counter also. In the VisualEsxtop tool, we are having the flexible channel batch output feature. In the physical world, with servers or even laptops, we often must install specific hardware drives provided by the equipment vendor. Since VMware abstracts the physical hardware underneath the hypervisor, or virtual machines do not care what hardware is underneath them, even if it is changed. Hardware specific drivers are usually related to the annoyances we just talked about, like choppy video or sound, so we still need some sort of replacement for them.

VMware tools is that replacement. Think of VMware tools as the replacement for the hardware drivers provided by hardware vendors. Sure, those things are annoying, and VMware tools makes our life easier by fixing those problems, but they are for more than just that. Besides the annoyances we just talked about, VMware tools also provides additional functionality. Remember, hardware abstraction is just one benefit of virtualization. There are many many benefits, another which is the ability to take a snapshot of a virtual machine.

When we take a snapshot, we are taking a point in time picture of our virtual machine. We can revert to the original and discard the snapshot if something goes wrong, like a bad patch or failed application upgrade.

However, how do we make sure that picture does not come out cloudy, or is not overexposed? This is another place VMware tools comes in. To really make sure our picture is not fuzzy, we do need more a bit more pausing than this. Never fear, there are other ways to do this, and you can find a great overview of how to make sure your virtual machine is in a consistent state for snapshots and backups here.

Installing VMware tools could not be easier. 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.