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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

v5 web vs client

So for those of you with Linux shops and you want to dump the client.. or hope to get it on Linux, bad news.

The WEB for v5 STILL is not there. You can manage hosts (configuratoin), but you can't add hosts from web to vCenter.  You can manage VM's but you can't add or create networking for instance..

The web is nice, but it's not the "full feature" I was expecting.  You still must have the client to do menial tasks, adding hosts, configuring networks, moving objects..

I will say the vCenter Appliance is SWEET!  I like it.  I am using embedded database (yeah for those Oracle purists out there, I HEAR you..) but I am telling you, it's pretty quick and responsive.  It has VERY low overhead.  Still too early I am not banging on it very hard, but my initial impression its very nice.

This is great for NON-Admins to access your environment, they don't need that pesky client, the integrated console days are back (where you can install the client from the web like we did in 2.0 ESX / GSX) but it only supports IE / Firefox (sadly no G-Chrome .. moment of silence).  The vCenter appliance complains (EVERY time) I am using a "non-supported browser" (google chrome) although it works fine.

More to come...

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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

OH yeah, the vCenter appliance (not sure where the problem is FTM) I can't configure AD.

Anyone else tried this?  I am getting errors that either the AD is not available or Global Catalog is missing.. this is the same configuration I used for vCenter 4.0 without issue, so obviously neither of those are true.

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wdroush1
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I remember reading that the vCenter appliance is missing core featuresets, AD integraton may be one of them.

It's another "woo hoo" quickly met with an "aww" due to it being basically broken for most people.

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

Try the following:

1)  Check DNS with 
"nslookup <domain name>" and "nslookup <DC IP>"

2) Check the firewall with
"domainjoin-cli join --details firewall <domain name>"

You can also trying joining the domain with domainjoin-cli.

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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

William Roush wrote:

I remember reading that the vCenter appliance is missing core featuresets, AD integraton may be one of them.

It's another "woo hoo" quickly met with an "aww" due to it being basically broken for most people.

Yeah I had one of those moments.. ooh this is .. WTF!.. ok, work around.. got it, oh that is nice.. no WAY, why did they do that.. holy.. ok..

Anyway there was a lot of mixed emotion to say the least.  still it shows promise!  I just hope that VM Ware wil stick with it (this time) on vCenter.. if they do, no install and it's RTR (ready to run!)

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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

Dave Mishchenko wrote:

Try the following:

1)  Check DNS with 
"nslookup <domain name>" and "nslookup <DC IP>"

2) Check the firewall with
"domainjoin-cli join --details firewall <domain name>"

You can also trying joining the domain with domainjoin-cli.

Very helpful, thanks!  I haven't tried these commands yet, but this will be something I can work on.

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pcmanning
Contributor
Contributor

I've got the appliance running,  but the Web Gui and Client isn't functioning - I assume this is because I haven't added an authentication source yet - choices bing NIS and AD - I've got an LDAP solution handy - why not that eh?

Paul

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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

pcmanning wrote:

I've got the appliance running,  but the Web Gui and Client isn't functioning - I assume this is because I haven't added an authentication source yet - choices bing NIS and AD - I've got an LDAP solution handy - why not that eh?

Paul

Yeah it looks like there will be some changes that need to be made for vCenter, but there should be more options not less.  LDAP should be included.

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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

Dave Mishchenko wrote:

2) Check the firewall with

"domainjoin-cli join --details firewall <domain name>"

Looks like that worked! 

Warning: System restart required
Your system has been configured to authenticate to Active Directory for the first time.  It is recommended that you restart your
system to ensure that all applications recognize the new settings.

But why not from the GUI?

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wdroush1
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

RParker wrote:

But why not from the GUI?

It's Linux, get used to it. Smiley Wink

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frodo
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi RParker and all:

RParker wrote:

Looks like that worked! 

Warning: System restart required
Your system has been configured to authenticate to Active Directory for the first time.  It is recommended that you restart your
system to ensure that all applications recognize the new settings.

But why not from the GUI?

Thanks for your valuable feedback for the vCenter appliance and the web client.

Web UI are using same way to setup AD on the vCenter appliance, and no issue was found on our testing. Could you please attach vc-support log? we will try to find the reason.

On Web UI Authentication->NIS/AD pages, there are warning messages like: Any change in Active Directory configuration will require a restart of the vCenter Appliance to take effect.

BTW: We have Release not for AD setting, please try to avoid:

http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere5/doc/vsphere-esx-vcenter-server-50-release-notes.html

...

On a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded database, restarting vpxd might fail. An error message similar to the following appears in the vpxd.log file:
Alert:false@ /build/mts/release/bora-336896/bora/vpx/vpxd/util/vpxdVdb.cpp:403

This error occurs if the system clock on the vCenter Server Appliance is reset to a time earlier than the time at which the database was created. This results in the database objects created by the vCenter Server Appliance having time stamps that appear to be in the future. This causes queries for database objects to fail.

Thanks.

Frank Hou (fhou@vmware.com)

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