How do I install VMware-Tools/Improving server performance when on VMware

If you notice some server slowing down (IO/memory) and this server is running on VMware, then we strongly recommend you to install VMware-Tools - a suite of utilities that enhance the performance of VM guest operating system and improves its management: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=340

Check if they are installed and kernel modules are loaded, the vmci is the main one:

# lsmod | grep vm

vmci                   80373  1 vsock

If you see no vmci in the output, then most probably they are not installed.

We do recommend installing them from source code using this article: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1018414

Installation process:

Click in VM menu > Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware tools (at least). After that their cdrom will be attached as /dev/cdrom . Mount it:

mkdir /mnt/cdrom

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

Then install kernel headers and VMware-Tools:

yum install kernel-headers

cd /mnt/cdrom/vmware-tools-distrib

./vmware-install.pl

Follow the wizard (pressing enter in most cases), make them enabled on startup.

Check if vmci exists in lsmod.

If you see tools installed but no module loaded - run the configuration from the command line:

vmware-config-tools.pl