Updating VMware Tools on Splunk for VMware Forwarder Appliance

[colinj]

Howdy all,

Now that I have Splunk for VMware up and running I've noticed that vCenter reports that the version of VMware Tools that is running on the forwarder appliance is not current. The guide (VMware Tools Installation Guide For Operating System Specific Packages) that VMware provides says to first remove any old copies of the VMware Tools before upgrading. Now I know the basics of using yum and rpm to install and remove packages. What I don't know is how or in what form the VMware tools are installed on the forwarder appliance. So, my questions are as follows:

1. What version of VMware Tools is installed on the Forwarder Appliance?
2. What is the right way to remove an older version of the VMware Tools from the Forwarder Appliance?
3. What is the right way to install a new(er) version of the VMware Tools on the Forwarder Appliance?

[tfletcher_splun · Accepted solution]

The FA VM is really just a centos VM. Following the instructions for the upgrade of vmware tools on centos machines is all you need.

It should be installed in the default installation directory.

[tfletcher_splun]

should be in /usr/lib/vmware-tools/
from greppin' around there is something at
/usr/sbin/vmware-tools-upgrader

that sounds like an upgrader though a quick search showed some knowledge base articles on vmware about issues with it. I'd take a quick look. Version should be easy to see from looking at that directory, /usr/lib/vmware-tools/

[colinj]

The problem that still remains is what is the default installation directory? The VMware Tools can be installed in any of the following ways:

1. Installed from a script.
2. Installed as a package.
3. Built from source (with the open source tools).

All of these leave things installed in different places.