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VMCI Sockets Programming Guide

VMCI Sockets Programming Guide

8 VMware, Inc.

Persistence of Sockets

VMCIsocketsloseconnectionaftersuspendandresumeofavirtualmachine.

InVMwarevSpherewithESX/ESXihostsandvCenterServer,VMCIsocketsdonotsurvivelivemigrationwith

VMwarevMotion™fromsourcetodestinationhost.InVMwarevSpherewithESX/ESXihosts,VMCIstream

socketconnectionsaredroppedwhenavirtualmachineisputintofaulttolerance(F

T)mode.NonewVMCI

streamsocketconnectionscanbeestablishedwhileavirtualmachineisinFTmode.

Socket Programming

Ifyouhaveexistingsocket‐basedapplications,onlyafewcodechangesarerequiredforVMCIsockets.Ifyou

donothavesocket‐basedapplications,youcaneasilyfindpublic‐domaincodeontheWeb.Forexample,

ApacheandFirefox,asshowninFigure 1‐1,“ESXihostwithStreamVMCISocketsan

dRabbitMQ,”onpage 9,

usestreamsocketsandareopensource.

RepurposinganetworkingprogramtouseVMCIsocketsrequiresminimaleffort,becauseVMCIsockets

behaveliketraditionalInternetsocketsonagivenplatform.However,somesocketoptionsdonotmakesense

forcommunicationacrosstheVMCIdevice,sotheyaresi

lentlyignoredtopromoteprogramportability.

Modificationisstraightforward.Youincludeaheaderfile,changetheprotocoladdressfamily,andallocatea

newdatastructure.OtherwiseVMCIsocketsusethesameAPIasBerkeleysocketsorWindowssockets.See

“PortingExistingSocketApplications”onpage 11foradescriptionofthemodificationsneed

ed.

Features in Specific VMware Releases

VMCIsocketscommunicatebetweenthehostandaguestonVMwareplatformproducts.Youcouldalsouse

VMCIsocketsforinterprocesscommunicationsonaguest.YoucannotuseVMCIsocketsbetweenthehostand

avirtualmachinerunningonadifferenthost.

AsofVMwareServer2.0RC2andWorkstation6.5RCre

leases,youcansettheminimum,maximum,and

defaultsizeofcommunicatingstreambuffers.See“SetandGetSocketOptions”onpage 14.

ESX/ESXi4.x(vSphere4)releasesandlaterhavecompleteuser‐levelsupportforVMCIsockets.Datagramand

streamsocketsaresupportedbetweenhostandguestsonbothLinuxandWi

ndows.IntheWorkstation7.x

releasesrunningonWindowshosts,onlydatagramsocketsweresupported.

IntheESXi5.0andWorkstation8.0releases,itwasannouncedthattheguesttoguestVMCIsocketsfeature

wouldbediscontinued.AsoftheESXi5.1release,onlyhosttoguestVMCIsock etsareallow

ed.

Enabling and Finding VMCI Sockets

Forhosttoguestcommunication,VMCIisenabledonvirtualmachineswithversion7compatibilityandlater.

Location of Include File for C Programs

VMwareToolsoranotherinstallerplacesthevmci_sockets.hincludefileinoneofthefollowinglocations:

 WindowsguestsonWorkstation8.0orlater,andWindowshostsofWorkstation8.0orlater–

C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\vmci\sockets\include

 earlierWindowsguests–C:\ProgramFiles\VMware\VMwareTools\VSockSDK\include

 earlierWindowshosts–C:\ProgramFiles\VMware\VMwareWorkstation

 Linuxguests–/usr/lib/vmware-tools/include/vmci

 Linuxhosts–/usr/lib/vmware/include/vmci

 ESX/ESXihosts–Notinstalledonthesystem.

MPORTANTTouseVMCIsockets,virtualmachinesmustbeupgradedtoVMwarecompatibility7(virtual

hardwar eversion7),whichwasintroducedinVMwareWorkstation6.5andsupportedinESX/ESXi4.0.