Virtual Infrastructure Web Access Product Support Engineering VMware Confidential

Virtual Infrastructure Web Access

Product Support Engineering

VMware Confidential

VI4 - Mod 2-9 - Slide 2

Module 2 Lessons

Lesson 1 – vCenter Server High Availability

Lesson 2 – vCenter Server Distributed Resource Scheduler

Lesson 3 – Fault Tolerance Virtual Machines

Lesson 4 – Enhanced vMotion Compatibility

Lesson 5 – DPM - IPMI

Lesson 6 – vApp

Lesson 7 – Host Profiles

Lesson 8 – Reliability, Availability, Serviceability ( RAS )

Lesson 9 – Web Access

Lesson 10 – vCenter Server Update Manager

Lesson 11 – Guided Consolidation

Lesson 12 – Health Status


Module 2-9 Lessons

Lesson 1 – Overview of Web Access

Lesson 2 – Web Access Requirements

Lesson 3 – Installation of Plug-ins

Lesson 4 – Troubleshooting Web Access


What Is Virtual Infrastructure Web Access?

VI Web Access is a browser-based application designed to manage virtual machines on ESX and vCenter Server deployments.

System administrators who need to access virtual machines without a VI Client

People who use virtual machines as remote desktops

Virtual Infrastructure administrators who need to interact with virtual machines remotely

The VI Web Access interface provides an overview of all of the virtual machines on an ESX system and vCenter Server.


What Is Virtual Infrastructure Web Access?

Using VI Web Access to manage virtual machines, you can:

Use a browser to view hosts and the virtual machine details

Perform power operations on virtual machines

Edit a virtual machine’s configuration and hardware

Generate Remote Console URLs that users can use to access their virtual machines

Interact with the guest operating systems running on the virtual machines

Access ESX hosts and vCenter Server from Linux systems

VI Web Access focuses on virtual machine management and does not offer the full range of administrative tasks available through the VI Client.


Key Features of VI Web Access

Key features of VI Web Access.

Access ESX hosts and vCenter Server from both Linux and Windows systems

Access virtual machines on ESX hosts and vCenter Server without installing the Virtual Infrastructure client

Configure existing virtual machine settings

Add/Remove virtual machine to/from the Inventory

Perform power operations (start, stop, reset, suspend, and resume) on virtual machines

Monitor the operation of datacenters, ESX hosts, and virtual machines


Key Features of VI Web Access

Key features of VI Web Access.

Interact with the guest operating systems running within virtual machines using VMware Remote console

Generate URL, command line and desktop shortcuts for virtual machines

Create snapshots of virtual machines

Administrators can provide end users with access to virtual machines.

Users and Administrators can use VI Web Access to access ESX hosts and vCenter Server from both Linux and Windows systems.

Client devices allow users to use disk and CD/DVD drives from your own computers to install software or copy data.


System and Browser Requirements

Browser Requirements

To access VMware Virtual Infrastructure Web Access, you should have one of the following browsers installed:

Internet Explorer 6.0, 7.0, or later for Microsoft Windows

Mozilla Firefox 2.0, 3.0, or later for Microsoft Windows

Mozilla Firefox 2.0, 3.0, or later for Linux

NOTE Other browsers are not actively excluded, but VMware has certified VI Web Access with only the browsers listed above.


Install Web Access Plug-In on in Microsoft IETo run VI Web Access, install the VMware Virtual Infrastructure plug-in.

To install VMware Virtual Infrastructure ActiveX Control in Microsoft Internet Explorer

1 In the Internet Explorer window, type the VI Web Access URL:<https://vmwarehost.yourdomain.com/ui>

2 Log in to VI Web Access using the user name and password for the host to which you are connecting


Install Web Access Plug-In on in Microsoft IE


Install Web Access Plug-In on in Microsoft IE

3 Select a virtual machine from the Virtual Machines list.

4 Click the Console tab.

5 If prompted, click Install.

You will have to restart your browser after installation.


Install Web Access Plug-In on for Mozilla FirefoxTo install the VMware Virtual Infrastructure plug-in in Mozilla Firefox for Linux and Windows

1 In the Firefox window, type the VI Web Access URL:https://vmwarehost.yourdomain.com/ui

2 Log in to VI Web Access using the user name and password for the host to which you are connecting.


4 Click the Console tab and click Install Plugin.

5 Select Edit Options and click Allow.

6 Click Close and click Install Plugin.

7 Click Install Now.

8 After the installation is complete, choose View > Reload to reload the page.


Connect to Virtual Infrastructure Web Access

To connect to ESX host or vCenter Server using Web Access, check that the webAccess service is started.

You must also have a compatible Web browser as well as access rights to the ESX or vCenter Server.

To log in to VI Web Access1 Start your Web browser.

2 Enter the URL of your ESX or your vCenter Server installation:

https://<host or server name>/ui

The login page contains fields for your user name and password.

3 Enter your user name and password and click Log In.

The VI Web Access home page appears.


Overview of the VI Web Access Default ViewThe VI Web Access default view contains a high-level view of the ESX or vCenter Server that you are logged in to, including a list of all registered virtual machines and their status.


Overview of the VI Web Access Default View

Menu bar — The menus above the Inventory panel provide access to common application and virtual machine operations, including power operations and snapshot and console commands.

Toolbar — Appearing along the top of the page, these buttons allow you to act on the selected virtual machine, offering one-click access to power operations.

Recent Tasks — Appearing along the bottom of the page, this area displays tasks recently executed by ESX, including host-level configuration changes. You can sort tasks by clicking the column headers. By default, tasks appear in reverse chronological order (most recent tasks first). You can double-click a task to get more detailed information.


Using VI Web Access Menu Options

Shutdown Guest — Shuts down the guest operating system. VMware Tools executes the script associated with this power state change, if any.

Restart Guest — Restarts the guest operating system and the virtual machine. VMware Tools executes the script associated with this power state change, if any.

Take Snapshot — Takes a snapshot of the virtual machine.

Revert to Snapshot — Reverts to an existing snapshot.

Remove Snapshot — Removes an existing snapshot.

Manage Snapshots — Opens the snapshot manager to display information about an existing snapshot.

Enter Full Screen Mode – Starts VMware Remote Console in full screen mode.

Open in a New Window – Opens a new VMware Remote Console instance.


VMware Remote Console

The Console tab is available when you select a virtual machine from the inventory panel.

To interact with the guest operating system running in a virtual machine, use the Console tab to connect remotely to the virtual machine’s mouse, keyboard, and screen (MKS).

When a virtual machine is powered off, suspended, or not available, or if the MKS plug-in is not installed, the Console tab displays a message and possible actions for the virtual machine.


Install the VMware Remote Console Add-On

VMware Remote Console allows you to interact directly with the guest operating system.

You must install VMware Remote Console as a Web browser add-on the first time you use it with a Web browser that does not already have the add-on installed.

To install the browser add-on for VMware Remote Console1 Click the Console tab.If the add-on is not installed, the text shown in the previous slide appears

2 Click Install plug-in. In Internet Explorer, this is usually the only step required. In Firefox, a message appears at the top of the browser indicating

that Firefox prevented the site from asking you to install the software on your computer.


Install the VMware Remote Console Add-On

3 Click Edit Options next to the Firefox message.The Allowed Sites — Add-ons Installation page appears.

4 Click Allow to allow the add-on to be installed from the host system, and click Close.You are returned to the Console tab as shown in Figure 4-1.

5 Click Install plug-in.The Software Installation page appears.

6 Click Install Now.The add-on is installed.

Firefox requires you to restart your browser.


Generating and Sharing Virtual Machine Shortcuts


You can generate a shortcut to enable virtual machine users to interact directly with the guest operating system from a Web browser or VMware Remote Console.

Generating a Web Shortcut

Administrators can generate a Web shortcut to customize the View Access user interface for users. You can generate a Web shortcut that displays only the Console tab, enables or disables access to the workspace, or enables or disables access to the virtual machine inventory.

The Web shortcut is like any Web browser URL, so you can do any of the following:

Added to a list of favorite Web pages

Shared with one or more users in an email message



To create a virtual machine Web shortcut

Select the virtual machine from which to generate a Web shortcut in the Inventory panel.

In the Status section of the Summary tab, click Generate Virtual Machine Shortcut.


Generating and Sharing Virtual Machine Shortcuts3 In the Web Shortcut section, a sample URL is displayed.

4 (Optional) Expand Customize Web Shortcut to choose the user interface features: Select Limit workspace view to the

console to provide access to virtual machine's Console tab while hiding other details like event logs.

Select Limit view to a single virtual machine to disable inventory navigation.

Select Obfuscate this URL to generate a URL that is difficult to read or modify.

5 Copy the Web shortcut for future use.

6 Click OK to return to the Summary tab.


Generating a VMware Remote Console Desktop Shortcut

To create a VMware Remote Console desktop shortcut

1 Select the virtual machine from which to generate a desktop shortcut in the Inventory panel.

2 In the Status section of the Summary tab, click Generate Virtual Machine Shortcut.

3 In the Desktop Shortcut section, click Install Desktop Shortcut to <Virtual Machine>.

4 Confirm that you want to create the shortcut when prompted.The shortcut is created on the desktop.

5 Click OK to return to the Summary tab.


webAccess Troubleshooting

Troubleshoot Error 503

Error “503 Service unavailable” is thrown when the Web Access service on the host has failed to start properly.

To troubleshoot Error 503

Log in to your ESX host or vCenter Server using shell environment (for Linux) or remote console (for Windows).

Open the list of processes (Linux) or running tasks (Windows).

Restart the Web Access service.You will now be able to connect to your ESX host or vCenter Server using VI Web Access.



Troubleshoot Your VI Web Access Console Power On

If your VI Web Access console experiences an out.of.memory failure when started, increase the service console memory by 100 Mb.



To troubleshoot VI Web Access service on an ESX host

Log directly into your ESX service console.

Enter service vmware-webAccess status to check the status of the host’s VI Web Access service.

If VI Web Access service is stopped, enter service vmware-webAccess start.If the Console does not load properly, you might need to troubleshoot the plug-in installation.

To check the plug-in version in Mozilla Firefox

Go to about:plugins in the browser.VMware WebCenter Remote MKS Plug-in should show version 2.0.1.0.

If any other version number appears, reinstall the plug-in.



To check the plug-in version in Microsoft Internet Explorer

Go to Tools > Internet Options.

Click Settings.

Click View Objects.The Version column for QuickMksAxCtl should show 2.0.1.0.

If any other version number appears, right click QuickMksAxCtl and select Remove.

Re-install the plug-in.



To troubleshoot the plug-in installation in Mozilla Firefox

1 Quit Firefox (choose File > Quit).

2 Restart Firefox.

3 Type the VI Web Access URL:https://vmwarehost.yourdomain.com/ui



6 When you are prompted to install the plug-in, click OK.

7 After the installation is complete, choose View > Reload to reload the page.



To troubleshoot the plug-in installation in Microsoft Internet Explorer

1 Quit Internet Explorer (choose File > Close).

2 Launch Internet Explorer again.

3 In the Internet Explorer window, type the VI Web Access URL:<https://vmwarehost.yourdomain.com/ui>



6 When you are prompted to install the plug-in, click OK.

7 After the installation is complete, choose View > Refresh to reload the page.



Troubleshoot Virtual Machine Power Operations

If you are unable to power on a virtual machine, consider the following reasons:

You are missing the required libraries.

You have a non-GTK Mozilla browser.

You have a wrong version of Mozilla Firefox.


Troubleshooting

Install a proper version of Mozilla Firefox

Use this procedure if your Web Access is not working with your Mozilla Firefox browser. You can do this in one of the following cases:

Your Mozilla browser does not support GTK.

Your Mozilla Firefox browser installation was included in your Linux distribution. Some distributions package Firefox incorrectly and the resulting package does not work with VI Web Access.

To install a proper version of Mozilla Firefox

Go to the Mozilla official website and download the latest version of Firefox.


Lesson 2-9 Summary

Understand Web Access

Navigate around the Web Access interface

Learn how to troubleshoot Web Access


Lesson 2-9 – OPTIONAL Lab 1

OPTIONAL

Lab 1 involves using the Web Access interface

Installing the Web Access Plug-ins

Documents

Virtual Infrastructure Web Access Product Support Engineering VMware Confidential