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Up to Discussions in VI: VMware ESXi™ 3.5

1 2 Previous Next 26 Replies Last post: Mar 25, 2009 7:44 PM by dmarrow

ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password) posted: Aug 25, 2008 1:18 PM

jim_md

8 posts since
Aug 25, 2008

When enabling VNC access within the .vmx file on ESXi, it seems the password option is ignored:

RemoteDisplay.vnc.enabled = "TRUE"
RemoteDisplay.vnc.password = "12345678"
RemoteDisplay.vnc.port = "5901"

This is how I used to do it on GSX. But on ESXi, no matter what the password is, I can connect to the vm without a password.(esxi isn't prompting)

Is anyone else having this problem?

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

1. Aug 25, 2008 6:40 PM

in response to: jim_md

Peter_vm

9,058 posts since
Feb 1, 2006

I think everyone wanting to secure builtin VNC with a password has that problem. I do.

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

2. Aug 25, 2008 8:28 PM

in response to: Peter_vm

nick.couchman

4,969 posts since
Jan 13, 2006

I take it that you're saying that the password option does not work in ESX(i)?

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

3. Aug 25, 2008 8:39 PM

in response to: nick.couchman

jim_md

8 posts since
Aug 25, 2008

Yes. The vnc password option does not work. You can connect directly to the virtual machines VNC port without a password even though one is defined.

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

4. Aug 26, 2008 12:42 AM

in response to: jim_md

mk1970g

35 posts since
May 18, 2005

What other remote console software/method could I then use on Linux?

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

5. Aug 26, 2008 4:33 AM

in response to: mk1970g

pmhausen

29 posts since
Dec 8, 2006

I run a local X server on my admin machine and use SSH with X11 forwarding to the Linux/FreeBSD box in question. Regularly I do not need graphical/console access at all, but if I have to use a SuSE system for a particular application I can still fire up Yast2 and click away. Or install Orcale, or whatever might need X11. As I said, most of the time my admin console/tool is vi.

Kind regards,
Patrick

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

6. Aug 26, 2008 5:53 AM

in response to: pmhausen

mk1970g

35 posts since
May 18, 2005

Maybe I do not understand your reply correctly but here's my usage scenario:

ESXi and VI Client (running on Windows) are in server room. I have few Windows virtual machines running on this ESXi.

I'm using my Ubuntu desktop, I have no physical access to the Windows PC running VI Client (since it's only used for administrative tasks).

I can start/stop/restart VMs with RCLI directly from my Ubuntu desktop.

Now I want to connect to the (virtual) Windows PCs but I want to have some kind of password prompt before I can see the console. Since VNC password is ignored, I want to have something else. My question is "what and how".

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

7. Aug 26, 2008 6:24 AM

in response to: mk1970g

pmhausen

29 posts since
Dec 8, 2006

Ah ... I intepreted your question for remote console software "on Linux" as "how can I connect to Linux server from Windows"?
But to connect to Windows, why bother with VNC at all? RDP is far superior in terms of interactive performance/responsiveness.

See http://www.rdesktop.org/

Kind regards,
Patrick

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

8. Aug 26, 2008 6:42 AM

in response to: pmhausen

nick.couchman

4,969 posts since
Jan 13, 2006

...but only if you're running Windows XP.

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

9. Aug 26, 2008 6:54 AM

in response to: nick.couchman

pmhausen

29 posts since
Dec 8, 2006

XP, Vista, 2000 Server, 2003 Server, 2008 Server, ... did I miss anything that is still available and supported?

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];lifesupsps#Windows

Kind regards,
Patrick

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

10. Aug 26, 2008 7:43 AM

in response to: jim_md

jim_md

8 posts since
Aug 25, 2008

Without the builtin VNC with passwords (like in GSX), our application isn't going to work. Rdesktop or installing VNC directly onto the VM's is not an option for us.

Is anyone having the problems with regular ESX?

If this can't be fixed, we'll have to switch to VMware Server (assuming it doesn't also have the same problem)

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

11. Aug 26, 2008 12:01 PM

in response to: jim_md

etung

11,086 posts since
Oct 15, 2006

In the hosted products, RemoteDisplay.vnc.password (plaintext) was replaced by RemoteDisplay.vnc.key (encrypted). In recent builds, RemoteDisplay.vnc.password was restored, since it's bad for VMs which used to require a password to stop requiring them when run under a newer version of Workstation. It doesn't look like this change got ported to ESXi, though.

Basically, use RemoteDisplay.vnc.key instead of RemoteDisplay.vnc.password - we're working on posting directions on how to generate the key.

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

12. Aug 26, 2008 12:56 PM

in response to: etung

jim_md

8 posts since
Aug 25, 2008

I googled around for "RemoteDisplay.vnc.key" and found someone's configuration file with an encrypted key.

I added it to my .vmx file and VNC did ask for a password! So, that does work.

We just need to know how to generated the encrypted key now.

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

13. Aug 28, 2008 9:50 AM

in response to: etung

Peter_vm

9,058 posts since
Feb 1, 2006

etung wrote:
In the hosted products, RemoteDisplay.vnc.password (plaintext) was replaced by RemoteDisplay.vnc.key (encrypted). In recent builds, RemoteDisplay.vnc.password was restored, since it's bad for VMs which used to require a password to stop requiring them when run under a newer version of Workstation. It doesn't look like this change got ported to ESXi, though.

Basically, use RemoteDisplay.vnc.key instead of RemoteDisplay.vnc.password - we're working on posting directions on how to generate the key.

Do you have any details on that?

Re: ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password)

14. Aug 30, 2008 11:25 AM

in response to: etung

thingy

20 posts since
Sep 2, 2006

If the key is generated via a well known hash, can you let us know what it is so that we can come up with our own scripts to generate the key?

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ESXi and VNC password (RemoteDisplay.vnc.password) posted: Aug 25, 2008 1:18 PM

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