Snapshot fails if VMWare tools are "old"

[cyberkov]

As soon as the vcenter reports the vmware tools are reported as "tooslOld", the creation of snapshots with the quiesce option fails:

    def create_snapshot(host, name, description, include_ram = false, quiesce = false)
      server = find_vm_by_uuid(host.uuid)
      raise N_('Unable to create VMWare Snapshot with Quiesce. Check Power and VMWare Tools status.') if quiesce && (server.power_state != 'poweredOn' || server.tools_state != 'toolsOk')
      raise N_('Unable to create VMWare Snapshot. Cannot set both Memory and Quiesce options.') if quiesce && include_ram

The output with foreman-rake console:

host = Host.find_by_name('myserver')
server = host.compute_resource.find_vm_by_uuid(host.uuid)
irb(main):009:0> server.power_state
=> "poweredOn"
irb(main):010:0> server.tools_state
=> "toolsOld"

[sbernhard]

Thanks @cyberkov
what would you expect should the plugin then do, if the tool_state is toolsOld? Maybe its just about a nice error message / popup?

[cyberkov]

Hello @sbernhard!

I checked the documentation and it seems that there used to be an issue regarding quiescing when the VMWare Tools version was too old (somewhen around ESX 4.1 ...), so I think testing for that makes sense. In our case it effectively prohibited snapshotting a windows machine because VMWare released a new version a few days ago (and we are not that fast :-) ).

I think it would make sense to have a setting like "Ignore old VMWare tools version" that would change the test from
if quiesce && (server.power_state != 'poweredOn' || server.tools_state != 'toolsOk') to
if quiesce && (server.power_state != 'poweredOn' || server.tools_state != /toolsOk|toolsOld/) to give the user the ability to choose his or hers fate.

For Linux servers, one usually uses openvmtools which do not seem to have this problem.

[sbernhard]

Thanks, I will open a feature request to improve the handling, which options (with/without ram, quiesce) should be offered for creating a snapshot.

The best would be, if the plugin detects that the vmware tools are too old, that the quiesce option is disabled and a note tells the user the reason (= disabled because vmware tools to old)

[cyberkov]

Hello @sbernhard!

I took the time over the weekend and thought about the problem. I think that the guard clause is there to ensure that the VMWare Tools are installed at all, not if they are current.

Therefore I would suggest to change the clause to the following states:
quiesce_wont_work = "toolsNotRunning" || "toolsNotInstalled"
Quiesce will work at least in the following states: "toolsOk" and "toolsOld"

I didn't check the documentation which other states will be there and just tested the ones I was able to come up with :-)

I wouldn't mind if this is going to be implemented as it's own test to show a nice error or keep it as it is.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[nadjaheitmann]

We have merged #121 . Does it solve the issue?

[sbernhard]

@cyberkov is the issue solved?