VMware tools with compatible Delphix Engine versions.
Overview
All recent versions of Delphix Engine have the VMware tools pre-installed when installed from the standard Delphix OVA image:
| Delphix Version | VMware tools Package Version | Internal Version | Compatibility |
| Delphix 2.5.x | not installed | - | - |
| Delphix 2.6.x | ESX v4 (1.0) | 8.3.7.3827 | ESX v4, ESX v5 |
| Delphix 2.7.x | ESX v5 (2.1) | 8.6.0.6261 | ESX v4, ESX v5 |
| Delphix 3.0.x | ESX v5U1 (3.0) | 8.6.5.11214 | ESX v4, ESX v5 |
| Delphix 3.1.x | ESX v5U1 (3.0) | 8.6.5.11214 | ESX v4, ESX v5 |
| Delphix 3.2.x | ESX v5U1 (3.0) | 8.6.5.11214 | ESX v4, ESX v5 |
| Delphix 4.0.x and newer | As of Delphix 4.0, we have moved to customized tools that are optimized for the Delphix Virtual Appliance. | - | - |
Compatibility
All versions of VMware tools are compatible with all versions of the VMware ESX server. There is no need to install, upgrade, or change the VMware tools running on Delphix Engine.
When running some combinations of Delphix Engine 3.2.x or earlier and ESX server, you may see this warning in vSphere:
This warning message can be safely ignored. All Delphix Engine releases are explicitly tested with the bundled VMware tools. Installing or running alternate versions of the tools is not supported.
If you are running 4.0.x or newer you will see this message when checking VMware tools:
How Delphix Engine Uses VMware Tools
There are several components of VMware Tools, but not all of the VMware Tools functions are used by the Delphix Engine. For example, a feature that manages mouse control for VMware guests is not used because the Delphix console is text only. Components that are used by Delphix include:
- Paravirtualized network driver (vmxnet3)
- Memory control (vmmemctl driver and memory control daemon, only present on Delphix versions <= 3.2)
- Time synchronization with the ESX server
- VM toolbox (shutdown of Delphix Engine from vSphere client)