VM /ETC

So you’ve downloaded your free version of ESXi. Maybe you’ve built a couple of ESX Servers but you haven’t purchased a full VI 3.5 Enterpise license. You might even have an enterprise license but your VirtualCenter (VC) server will be a virtual machine (VM) and you want to build a template VM as a gold image first. These are some of several possible scenarios where it helps to have VC -like functionalities without VirtualCenter. This post is a summary of 3 freely available tools that can provide some of VirtualCenter’s features.

First let me state that there is not an exact substitute for VirtualCenter, and the automation and ease of management VC provides is well worth it’s cost. Now for some alternatives.

ESX Manager 2.3

As described on it’s web page at ESXGuide.com:

Features:

• Virtual Center independent
  Keeps track of Virtual Machine Host Registration, Migrations and Status
  Manage Virtual Machine Configuration
  Display and work in the Virtual Machine Console
  Kill Virtual Machine Process (if the VM can’t be powered off)
  Rename Virtual Disks of registered Virtual Machines
  Move Virtual Disks and keep the disk attached to the Virtual Machine
  Virtual Machine Registration, Start , Restart , Reset, Power Off, Suspend
  Extend Virtual Disks
  View-Search-Filter Logfiles on the ESX Host.
  Define and save custom SSH commands with Parameter handling

VMX – Trilead VM Explorer

I discovered VMX – Trilead VM Explorer from the professionalvmware.com post titled Free ESX and ESXi Backups – Trilead VM Explorer and it quickly has become one of my favorites. It is much more than a back up tool however. Here’s more info from theTrilead web page.

Features

• Multi-Server Management
  The graphical user interface of VM Explorer allows to connect to multiple ESX, Linux and FreeBSD servers at the same time in the same interface.
• Server to Server fast copy
  Allows you to copy files directly (drag&drop) between ESX, Linux and FreeBSD servers at full speed: throughput is only limited by the available network/storage system bandwidth.
• ESX to ESX/Windows/Linux/FreeBSD/SAN Backup & Restore
  Our unique ESX to any backup feature allows to backup virtual machines to other ESX Servers, Linux or FreeBSD servers. Of course, virtual machines can also be stored to a SAN (ISCSI or NFS) directly attached to an ESX. Furthermore, backups can also be saved on the Windows machine where the VM Explorer is running.
• Support for ESX 3i
  VMX version 1.5 includes beta support for the next generation of ESX servers.
• File Browser
  Browse instantly your ESX/Linux/FreeBSD servers’ file system and copy files from one to the other just by drag & drop. Supports also up- and download to the management station.
• Integrated SSH Client
  The integrated SSH Terminal Client allows you to configure all your Unix/Linux based Servers trough SSH, all within one software.
• Job Scheduler
  The integrated job scheduler allows you to perform unattened, periodic backups of your virtual infrastructure.
• Integrated ESX Snapshot Manager
  Create and remove snapshots directly from within VMX.
• Dynamic Compression
  To make use of slow network links (e.g., for wide-area replication) or to save space on the target system, backups can be dynamically compressed.

VI Client Datastore Browser

The VI Client (VIC) comes with every version of ESX/ESXi. It’s really surprising all that you can actually do with it. Although not meant to be a post about the VIC, Jason over at boche.net provides some great examples of how to simulate some VirtualCenter functionality with VMware’s standard client. Check out Jason’s post titled Virtualization rematch corrections and clarifications to see examples of how the VIC can:

• Upload and download files
• Rename objects
• Clone VMs

Let me know if there are other free alternatives that are worth adding to my VI tools usb stick.

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