1# toolbox - VMware guest tools library for Go # 2 3## Overview 4 5The toolbox library is a lightweight, extensible framework for implementing VMware guest tools functionality. 6The primary focus of the library is the implementation of VM guest RPC protocols, transport and dispatch. 7These protocols are undocumented for the most part, but [open-vm-tools](https://github.com/vmware/open-vm-tools) serves 8as a reference implementation. The toolbox provides default implementations of the supported RPCs, which can be 9overridden and/or extended by consumers. 10 11## Supported features 12 13Feature list from the perspective of vSphere public API interaction. The properties, objects and methods listed are 14relative to 15the [VirtualMachine](http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.wssdk.apiref.doc%2Fvim.VirtualMachine.html) 16managed object type. 17 18### guest.toolsVersionStatus property 19 20The toolbox reports version as `guestToolsUnmanaged`. 21 22See [ToolsVersionStatus](http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.wssdk.apiref.doc%2Fvim.vm.GuestInfo.ToolsVersionStatus.html) 23 24### guest.toolsRunningStatus and guest.guestState properties 25 26The VMX determines these values based on the toolbox's response to the `ping` RPC. 27 28### guest.ipAddress property 29 30The VMX requests this value via the `Set_Option broadcastIP` RPC. 31 32The default value can be overridden by setting the `Service.PrimaryIP` function. 33 34See [vim.vm.GuestInfo](http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.wssdk.apiref.doc%2Fvim.vm.GuestInfo.html) 35 36### guest.net property 37 38This data is pushed to the VMX using the `SendGuestInfo(INFO_IPADDRESS_V3)` RPC. 39 40See [GuestNicInfo](http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.wssdk.apiref.doc%2Fvim.vm.GuestInfo.NicInfo.html). 41 42### ShutdownGuest and RebootGuest methods 43 44The [PowerCommandHandler](power.go) provides power hooks for customized guest shutdown and reboot. 45 46### GuestAuthManager object 47 48Not supported, but authentication can be customized. 49 50See [vim.vm.guest.AuthManager](http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.wssdk.apiref.doc%2Fvim.vm.guest.AuthManager.html) 51 52### GuestFileManager object 53 54| Method | Supported | Client Examples | 55|---------------------------------|-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 56| ChangeFileAttributesInGuest | Yes | [chmod](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/chmod.go) | 57| | | [chown](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/chown.go) | 58| | | [touch](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/touch.go) | 59| CreateTemporaryDirectoryInGuest | Yes | [mktemp](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/mktemp.go) | 60| CreateTemporaryFileInGuest | Yes | [mktemp](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/mktemp.go) | 61| DeleteDirectoryInGuest | Yes | [rmdir](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/rmdir.go) | 62| DeleteFileInGuest | Yes | [rm](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/rm.go) | 63| InitiateFileTransferFromGuest | Yes | [download](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/download.go) | 64| InitiateFileTransferToGuest | Yes | [upload](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/upload.go) | 65| ListFilesInGuest | Yes | [ls](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/ls.go) | 66| MakeDirectoryInGuest | Yes | [mkdir](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/mkdir.go) | 67| MoveDirectoryInGuest | Yes | [mv](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/mv.go) | 68| MoveFileInGuest | Yes | [mv](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/mv.go) | 69 70See [vim.vm.guest.FileManager](http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.wssdk.apiref.doc%2Fvim.vm.guest.FileManager.html) 71 72### GuestProcessManager 73 74Currently, the `ListProcessesInGuest` and `TerminateProcessInGuest` methods only apply those processes and goroutines 75started by `StartProgramInGuest`. 76 77| Method | Supported | Client Examples | 78|--------------------------------|-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 79| ListProcessesInGuest | Yes | [ps](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/ps.go) | 80| ReadEnvironmentVariableInGuest | Yes | [getenv](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/getenv.go) | 81| StartProgramInGuest | Yes | [start](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/start.go) | 82| TerminateProcessInGuest | Yes | [kill](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/kill.go) | 83 84See [vim.vm.guest.ProcessManager](http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.wssdk.apiref.doc%2Fvim.vm.guest.ProcessManager.html) 85 86## Extensions 87 88### Authentication 89 90Guest operations can be authenticated using the `toolbox.CommandServer.Authenticate` hook. 91 92### Go functions 93 94The toolbox [ProcessManager](process.go) can manage both OS processes and Go functions running as go routines. 95 96### File handlers 97 98The `hgfs.FileHandler` interface can be used to customize file transfer. 99 100### Process I/O 101 102The toolbox provides support for I/O redirection without the use of disk files within the guest. 103Access to *stdin*, *stdout* and *stderr* streams is implemented as an `hgfs.FileHandler` within the `ProcessManager`. 104 105See [toolbox.Client](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/guest/toolbox/client.go) and 106[govc guest.run](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/vm/guest/run.go) 107 108### http.RoundTripper 109 110Building on top of the process I/O functionality, `toolbox.NewProcessRoundTrip` can be used to start a Go function to 111implement the [http.RoundTripper](https://golang.org/pkg/net/http/#RoundTripper) interface over vmx guest RPC. This 112makes it possible to use the Go [http.Client](https://golang.org/pkg/net/http/#Client) without network access to the VM 113or to a port that is bound to the guest's loopback address. It is intended for use with bootstrap configuration for 114example. 115 116### Directory archives 117 118The toolbox provides support for transferring directories to and from guests as gzip'd tar streams, without writing the 119tar file itself to the guest file system. Archive supports is implemented as an `hgfs.FileHandler` within the `hgfs` 120package. See [hgfs.NewArchiveHandler](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/toolbox/hgfs/archive.go) 121 122### Linux /proc file access 123 124With standard vmware-tools, the file size is reported as returned by `stat()` and hence a `Content-Length` header of 125size `0`. The toolbox reports /proc file size as `hgfs.LargePacketMax` to enable transfer of these files. Note that if 126the file data fits within in `hgfs.LargePacketMax`, the `Content-Length` header will be correct as it is sent after the 127first read by the vmx. However, if the file data exceeds `hgfs.LargePacketMax`, the `Content-Length` will be 128`hgfs.LargePacketMax`, and client side will truncate to that size. 129 130## Testing 131 132The Go tests cover most of the toolbox code and can be run on any Linux or MacOSX machine, virtual or otherwise. 133 134To test the toolbox with vSphere API interaction, it must be run inside a VM managed by vSphere without the standard 135vmtoolsd running. 136 137The [toolbox-test.sh](toolbox-test.sh) can be used to run the full suite of toolbox tests with vSphere API interaction. 138Use the `-s` flag to start the standalone version of the toolbox and leave it running, to test vSphere interaction 139without running the test suite. 140 141## Consumers of the toolbox library 142 143* [Toolbox example main](https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/toolbox/toolbox/main.go) 144 145* [VIC tether toolbox extension](https://github.com/vmware/vic/blob/master/lib/tether/toolbox.go) 146 147* [VIC container VM tether](https://github.com/vmware/vic/blob/main/cmd/tether/main_linux.go) 148 149* [VIC container host tether](https://github.com/vmware/vic/blob/master/cmd/vic-init/main_linux.go) 150 151## Supported guests 152 153The toolbox guest RPC implementations tend to be simple and portable thanks to the Go standard library, but are only 154supported on Linux currently. Support for other guests, such as Windows, has been kept in mind but not yet tested. 155 156## Supported vSphere Versions 157 158The toolbox is supported with vSphere 6.0 and 6.5, but may function with older versions. 159