facter ESXi check not working properly

[cdenneen]

using:

include vmwaretools defaults to installing latest version rather than basing version number on ESXi fact check.

[craigwatson]

Can you give some detail on what isn't working? What value is it displaying? What version of ESXi are you using?

[cdenneen]

#28 shows output

[craigwatson]

Thanks - will follow up on that issue, closing here (not sure on the need for duplicates?).

[cdenneen]

Reason for separate tickets was:

1. the ESXi fact wasn't working
2. Could be caused by # 1 ... but without specifying version it appears to install latest instead of correct version.

[craigwatson]

The module is flexible in that regard, you can use the module parameters to set the exact version of the tools you need to install - either via Hiera or the class instantiation itself. I guess I should make that clear in the readme - the module doesn't do any of the logic of selecting the exact version you need, the inclusion of the ESXi version fact is more for informational purposes than logic.

Thanks :)

[cdenneen]

OK so what is the point of the esx_version check? I thought it would allow you to specify "include vmwaretools" and the fact would check ESXi version and install the appropriate version? vmwaretools_version would confirm correct version is installed or work with the ability to use a specific version but I guess I'm just confused as to the use of esx_version.rb if its not to automate version checking and install the correct tools version. Then if necessary in this repo you could have a map file similar to this one: http://packages.vmware.com/tools/versions

[craigwatson]

The esx_version fact was committed from another user (see #20) as an information-only fact that users of the module can use in other places. I don't actually use it in any of the module's manifests.

The fact that I do use is vmwaretools_version to determine the version number of the running tools, so that we can determine if we need to install the tools if it would constitute a downgrade (see manifests/params.pp).

The reason I left the installed version down to the module user is that you may wish to have consistent tools versions across your infrastructure, with exceptions explicitly managed using Hiera. The module is as flexible as your Puppet code, so it shouldn't be making the choices - you as the administrator should be choosing what version you want to use in your infrastructure.

[craigwatson]

That said, this is open source after all - feel free to fork and make the changes you'd like to make. As long as the changes are easily-configurable (i.e. via a auto_choose_version flag for example) I don't have any problem merging with the main code :)