VMware ESX Server 3 RPM Utilities

RPM Utilities
 
rpm
As ESX service console is based on modified Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, we can use the RPM package installation method to add applications to it. However, we should also point out that it's maybe not the best idea to add software to the service console. It is best to treat the service console as a dedicated console and not add applications to it.

If you are unfamiliar with RPMs in Linux, think of them like MSI packages in Windows.

The rpm command can be used to list and to install RPM-based applications. In the following example, we are using the command switch (-qa) to list the rpms installed in the service console.

# rpm -qa
libgcc-3.2.3-53
setup-2.5.27-1
basesystem-8.0-2
tzdata-2005m-1.EL3
glibc-2.3.2-95.37
bzip2-libs-1.0.2-11.EL3.4
etc!.....

If we are only interested in the VMware rpms, then we can just pipe the output of rpm -qa command into the grep search tool.

rpm -qa |grep VMware

which should yield an output something like

VMware-webCenter-esx-2.0.1-32041
VMware-esx-apps-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-iscsi-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-uwlibs-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-vmkernel-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-block-DAC960-2.4.11-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-net-bcm5700-7.3.5-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-net-e100-2.3.40-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-net-pcnet32-1.30c-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-net-tg3-3.43b.1vmw-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-adp94xx-0.0.5-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-aic7xxx-6.3.9-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-lpfcdd-v732-7.3.2.1vmw-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-megaraid_sas-0.0.2-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-qla2200-v7.07-7.7.4.1vmw-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-qla4010-3.24-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-vmkiscsi-3.4.2-32039
VMware-hostd-esx-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-lnxcfg-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-perftools-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-docs-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-tools-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-vmkctl-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-block-cciss-2.4.54-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-net-3c90x-1.0.2-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-net-bnx2-1.3.22-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-net-e1000-7.0.33.2vmw-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-net-s2io-1.7.6-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-aacraid_esx30-1.1.5.1vmw-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-aic79xx-6.3.9-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-ips-7.10.17.1vmw-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-megaraid2-2.10.7-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-mptscsi_2xx-2.6.34.1vmw-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-qla2300-v7.07-7.7.4.1vmw-32039
VMware-esx-drivers-scsi-qla4022-3.24-32039
VMware-esx-vmx-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-srvrmgmt-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-backuptools-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-scripts-3.0.1-32039
VMware-esx-3.0.1-32039
VMware-cim-esx-3.0.1-32039
VMware-vpxa-2.0.1-32042
 

If we then want to find out more information on an individual RPM package, we can use the rpm -qi option to query a package which reports the file version, vendor, license and description.

# rpm -qi VMware-hostd-esx-3.0.1-32039

Name        : VMware-hostd-esx             Relocations: (not relocatable)
Version     : 3.0.1                             Vendor: VMware, Inc.
Release     : 32039                         Build Date: Tue 26 Sep 2006 01:30:42 AM PDT
Install Date: Tue 06 Nov 2007 03:07:02 PM PST      Build Host: pa-build43.eng.vmware.com
Group       : Applications/Emulators        Source RPM: VMware-hostd-esx-3.0.1-32039.src.rpm
Size        : 269864433                        License: commercial
Signature   : (none)
Summary     : VMware Host Agent package.
Description :

If we then want to know what files are included in the rpm package, we can use query with the list option to see the files inside. For example, to see the files

# rpm -ql VMware-hostd-esx-3.0.1-32039

/etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml
/etc/vmware/hostd/env/0.xml
/etc/vmware/hostd/env/1.xml
/etc/vmware/hostd/env/vmconfigoption-esx-2.5.0.xml
/etc/vmware/hostd/env/vmconfigoption-esx-3.0.0.xml
/etc/vmware/hostd/environments.xml
/etc/vmware/hostd/esxinfo.vha
.....
 

rpm2cpio
If you are wanting to extract a single file from a RPM package but you don't want to install the RPM, then this is the tool for you. Probably best if you copy the RPM to a temp directory so when you extract the RPM you can then navigate the directory structure created in that temp directory to find the file or files you need.

Once you have copied out the file you were after, you can safely delete the contents of that temp directory. In other words, we have used rpm2cpio to extract the RPM archive.

Here is an example using the RPM we've used in the previous examples.

# rpm2cpio VMware-hostd-esx-3.0.1-32039 | cpio -idmv

i = Restore archive
d = Create landing directories
m = Create previous file modification times
v = verbose

 

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