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Archive for the ‘vi client’ Category

vCenter Client Shortcuts by Bouke Groenescheij is post worth book marking by VMware admins who want to speed up their administration and management of vSphere. Check out the entire post for many, many more shortcuts than those listed here, but I am high-lighting some of the key navigational shortcuts for my own reference later (and making sure I have a backup link to Groenescheij’s post!).

The following screen shots show the Ctrl+Shift keystroke combinations to move between the most common VI Client management views:

Other Ctrl+Shift Navigational shortcuts Read the rest of this entry »

I have periodically attempted different methods for running the VMware vSphere and VI Client (VIC) on Ubuntu. While continuing to keep my fingers crossed for VMware to release a Linux version, I’ve tried several workarounds only to remain unsatisfied:

• installing the VIC with Wine
• Locally running Windows virtual machines in either Virtualbox or VMware Workstation/Player
• Used the ESX web client when possible (features are limited)
• Used a full Remote Desktop to vCenter

The method with the least pre-configuration necessary has always been a remote desktop with the VIC already installed, but there is always some untimely inconvenience involved when working between two different desktops.

Long story short, the rest of this post is about using the default Ubuntu Terminal Server Client to access a single application via RDP. This is perfect for using the vSphere Client or VIC on Linux. It does not require a “published application” or full Terminal Server, but instead it is a simple way to take advantage of the administrative RDP connection from the standard Remote Desktop access available on any Windows operating system.

Before I describe how to set this up I want to also reference my first try at RDP directly to the vSphere Client and VIC. Afterall, Read the rest of this entry »

If you have not had advanced access to the VMware vSphere Beta or attended VMworld Europe 2009 or Partner Exchange 2009 Labs and you are just itching to see the new client management interface look and feel, then there are plenty of blogs with feature screen shots posting daily. This post is just a generic introduction to the new vSphere client options,  but primarily features  screen shots of the new vSphere web interface.

Read the rest of this entry »

VMware announced an upcoming technology preview will be available in April for vCenter Mobile Access (vCMA). Srinivas Krishnamurti, Director of Product Management and Market Development for VMware, provided a guest post on the VMTN Blog with news about new project. Introducing VMware vCenter Mobile Access describes vCMA as a virtual appliance that will allow admins to monitor and manage their VMware virtual infrastructure from a mobile phone with what appears to be most of the same functionality available from the VI Client.

Here’s some details from Srinivas’ post about vCMA:

“Did you ever get paged when you are in a meeting about some virtual machine that needed to be restarted?  Or, did you ever get an alert when you are at your kid’s soccer game or at the movies that a particular server is overloaded?  Actually, imagine any scenario where you need to actively manage your datacenter but you are nowhere close to a PC.  Wouldn’t it be nice to act on the notification from your mobile phone?  After all, we are now a generation that doesn’t leave home without a mobile phone…

Introducing VMware vCenter Mobile Access (vCMA).  vCMA allows you to monitor and manage VMware Infrastructure from your mobile phone with an interface that is optimized for such devices. Specifically, it allows you to:

• Search for virtual machines in your data center
• Migrate virtual machines from one host to another using vMotion
• Execute recovery plans using VMware Site Recovery Manager
• Access Scheduled Tasks, Alarms and Events
• And much more…”

This YouTube video shows off the vCMA on a Blackberry. Read the rest of this entry »

I was surprised to discover that the ability to estimate the size needed for the VMware VirtualCenter (VC) database was built in to the VirtualCenter Management Server Configuration options in VC 2.5. This means that the next time you are asked by your DBA “How big a database does VC need?” you can answer that question from the convenience of your VI Client.

Just point the VI Client at your VC 2.5 server and then use the Administration MENU (not the administration button). Select VirtualCenter Management Server Configuration. Then click on Statistics.

Here’s a screen shot from a VI Client pointed at a VC 2.5 Update 3 server. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

VMware’s VI Client is the remote management tool for VirtualCenter Server, ESX hosts, and Virtual Machines. In a default installation of VI 3.5 it can be downloaded without user authentication from the web interface of any ESX host or instance of VirtualCenter. Assuming restricted desktop permissions are in place, users may already be prohibited from installing the VI Client, and even if the client can be installed VirtualCenter and ESX permissions prevent unauthorized user access. But what if you want to prevent users from downloading the client in the first place?

Maybe you don’t want to manage multiple copies of the VI Client on your network. Maybe you don’t want support calls from users who are trying to get rogue administrative access. Perhaps you are just trying to ensure that your users who do have access to VI components always use the web interface. Whatever your reason, there are multiple methods for disabling the VI Client download from the ESX and VC 2.5 web interfaces. Some alternatives are:

• Close the web ports on the local firewall of each VMware Server
• Restrict access from non admin computers on your network
• Stop the web services on the VMware servers

The problem with doing any of the above is that you either end up breaking or limiting other features of your virtual infrastructure solution or it could require significant planning and configuration to implement.

This post explains how to leave the default VMware web ports and services open and active, and instead modify the web interface page content so that the unwanted links are no longer available. When finished with the steps below the “Log in to Web Access” link is the only content available from the web interface. It’s a simple alternative that doesn’t have any of the “gotchas” of the previously mentioned possibilities. Read the rest of this entry »