Open Virtual Machine Tools

Open Virtual Machine Tools (open-vm-tools) are basically the open-source version of VMware Tools. They’re a set of tools that help improve the performance and user experience of virtual machines. As more people start using virtualization, each provider has their own tools and utilities to support guest virtual machines. But here’s the catch: most of these tools are proprietary and only work with specific platforms.

What Open Virtual Machine Tools Offer

With the Open Virtual Machine Tools project, we aim to tackle this issue and more! The tools right now include kernel modules for Linux and programs for all VMware-supported Unix-like operating systems. They do some really handy things like:

• Transfer files between a host and guest


• Boost memory management and network performance in a virtual setup


• Create communication methods between hosts and guests, as well as between guests themselves

The Excitement Behind Open Source

We’re super excited about kicking off this open-source project because it opens up so many possibilities!

• The source code is available for everyone, so users of VMware products (and possibly other platforms in the future) will get these tools through their distribution package manager. This means easier installation and upgrades—yay for sysadmins!


• If you want to package the source for your favorite Linux distribution, we’ve got some useful documentation ready for you.


• If you're into creating virtualization-enabled applications, this source can be a great reference point.


• If you want to move these tools to other operating systems or hypervisors, we’d love to hear your ideas and help out with development.

Guest Operating Systems Tested on This Release:

• Fedora Core 6 (i386 & x86_64)


• Fedora Core 7 (i386 & x86_64)


• Suse Enterprise 10.0 (i386 & x86_64)


• Suse Enterprise 10.1 (i386 & x86_64)


• Open Suse 10.3 (i386 & x86_64)


• Redhat 9.0 (i386)


• Redhat Enterprise 5 (i386 & x86_64)


• Redhat Enterprise 4 (i386 & x86_64)


• FreeBSD 6.2 (i386 & x86_64)


• OpenSolaris 10 "Nevada" (i386 & x86_64)


• Ubuntu Feisty 7.04 (i386 & x86_64)


• Ubuntu Dapper 6.06 (i386 & x86_64)

What’s New in This Release?

- We’ve made some bug fixes!