Appliance 250 with error in Startscreen (Starting vmtoolsd FATAL " Error inserting vmw_balloon)

[DyksikMichael]

Hello,

have you any ideas ?

When i start the appliance the following error we see in the startscreen..

The Error:

Starting vmtoolsd FATAL " Error inserting vmw_balloon (/lib/modules/3.0.101-180.18-default/kernel/drivers/misc/vmw_balloon.lo): No such device

Can we fix the issue ?

Many Thanks.

[EdwardDavis]

Hello,

[edited, see my comment further below]

This is Normal, ignore the message on hardware.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

vmw_balloon.ko is VMware Memory Control (Balloon) driver

if this is a VMware machine, it should be running (my example 8.3.0.1.0 replica)

edavis-vm151:~ # lsmod | grep ball
vmw_balloon 13576 0

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I have never seen that error before on a virtual machine where vmware is actually using vmtools.

Here is my 8.3.0.1.0 on Vmware, do you have the same files and what happens when you run the two commands ?

edavis-vm150:~ # find * / | grep -i vmw_balloon
/lib/modules/3.0.101-108.35-default/kernel/drivers/misc/vmw_balloon.ko
/sys/module/vmw_balloon
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/holders
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/version
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/srcversion
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/initstate
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/supported
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/refcnt
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections/.note.gnu.build-id
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections/.text
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections/.exit.text
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections/.init.text
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections/.rodata.str1.8
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections/.rodata.str1.1
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections/.rodata
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections/.eh_frame
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections/__verbose
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections/.gnu.linkonce.this_module
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections/.bss
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections/.symtab
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/sections/.strtab
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/notes
/sys/module/vmw_balloon/notes/.note.gnu.build-id

edavis-vm150:~ # /etc/init.d/vmtoolsd start
Starting vmtoolsd done
edavis-vm150:~ # modprobe vmw_balloon

Your best option is open a new support case with your above results

and facts about the ESX server version you have.

[_EricaChalfin]

Dyksik Michael‌,

You said this is an A250 hardware appliance, but is it a Dell or Intel appliance?  You can determine by opening an SSH session and running the following commands. 

• For a Dell box run omreport chassis info. 
• For an Intel server, the command is dmidecode.

What software were you installing on the appliance?
Is this an upgrade or fresh install?

What is the name of the file you were using?

Based on the error, I'd recommend that you https://community.rsa.com/docs/DOC-1294 and open a case to resolve the error.

Regards,

Erica

[EdwardDavis]

Well yes now I see that is a 250, if this is hardware then ignore that message, vmware tools is part of the bundle but doesn't run on hardware. so....one of those items that we pack by default, but isn't needed on hardware and not a problem if it fails.

Let me check my 8.3 hardware:

man-vm115:~ # lsmod | grep ball
man-vm115:~ #

man-vm115:~ # /etc/init.d/vmtoolsd start
Starting vmtoolsd FATAL: Error inserting vmw_balloon (/lib/modules/3.0.101-108.35-default/kernel/drivers/misc/vmw_balloon.ko): No such device

** ERROR **: PANIC unicodeCommon.c:343

aborting...
startproc: signal catched /usr/bin/vmtoolsd: Aborted

Normal, ignore the message on hardware.

[_EricaChalfin]

Edward Davis‌,

Thank you for adding the clarification!  Much appreciated.

Dyksik Michael‌, follow Edward Davis‌'s suggestions and let us know the result.

Regards,

Erica