Specifications

What to do next
(Recommended) If you upgraded VMware Tools as part of a larger, system-wide upgrade, next upgrade to
the newest virtual hardware version available for the virtual machine.
Operating System Specific Packages for Linux Guest Operating
Systems
For vSphere deployments, VMware provides operating system specific packages (OSPs) as a packaging and
distribution mechanism for VMware Tools. These VMware Tools OSPs are packaged using native package
formats and standards such as rpm and deb.
Using OSPs provides the following benefits:
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You can use the native update mechanisms of the guest operating system to download, install, and
manage VMware Tools.
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You can upgrade to the latest version of VMware Tools without having to upgrade to the latest version
of vSphere.
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Because VMware Tools OSPs follow the best practices and standards of the specific Linux operating
system, OSPs use standard mechanisms for determining dependencies among packages. These
mechanisms allow you to audit the packages on virtual machines with or without graphics
components.
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You can use standard operating system tools to examine OSPs during VMware Tools installation. This
process allows you to easily determine which components to install and to verify the validity of the
packaging.
IMPORTANT Use OSPs if you want to use native update mechanisms, rather than vCenter Server, to manage
updates for VMware Tools. If you use an OSP, the VMware Tools status is unmanaged on the virtual
machine Summary tab. The status unmanaged means that you cannot use vCenter Server to manage
VMware Tools and you cannot use vSphere Update Manager to upgrade VMware Tools.
For more information, go to the VMware Operating System Specific Packages Web site, at
http://www.vmware.com/download/packages.html.
Perform an Automatic Upgrade of VMware Tools
When you start an automatic upgrade of VMware Tools, you do not need to perform any operations in the
guest operating system that is running on the virtual machine. The automatic upgrade uninstalls the
previous version of VMware Tools, installs the latest version that is available for your ESXi host, and if
necessary, reboots the virtual machine.
Automatic VMware Tools upgrade is not supported for virtual machines with Solaris or NetWare guest
operating systems.
Prerequisites
The following requirements are for each virtual machine in the upgrade:
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Power on the virtual machine.
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Verify that the guest operating system is running.
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To determine whether you have the latest version of VMware Tools, look on the Summary tab for the
virtual machine.
Procedure
1 Select Automatic Tools Upgrade.
vSphere Upgrade
162 VMware, Inc.