ESXi 3.5u4 is out, does the RCLI still have r/w access for the free version?

[lamw]

Found out through twitter from @scott_lowe and @jasonboche ESX(i) 3.5u4 just got released today. I was wondering has anyone gotten a chance to play with the new version to see if a fix went out to lock down the VI API to read only mode when using tools like the RCLI? or does it still allow both read/write operations using the free licensed version of ESXi.

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William Lam

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at:

[Dave_Mishchenko · Accepted solution]

I tried vicfg-advcfg and vicfg-snmp and both failed to write ( Failed : fault.RestrictedVersion.summary). They worked fine to read configuration.

[depping]

AFAIK it will not have R/W access, but I haven't been able yet to test it.

Duncan

VMware Communities User Moderator

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[lamw]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the quick response and testing out limitations of the RCLI, I'm out of town for the entire week and won't have a chance to test but this was something I was quite curious to if it would have been fixed. Too bad to hear, looks like if users are happy with their r/w access with the RCLI, they may not want to upgrade to U4 just yet.

Thanks again

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William Lam

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at:

[Horinius]

I've been looking for ESXi 3.5u4 download link the whole day yesterday. As of today, all I could see is still U3, not U4. Where have you got your U4 ISO image?

[tlindi]

Hi

After I updated to ESXi Update 4 I encounted following errors (from esxi-backup.pl):

Fault:

SOAP Fault:

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Fault string: fault.RestrictedVersion.summary

Fault detail: RestrictedVersionFault

Could that be caused by same RCLI R/W issue?

Regards

tlindi

[AnsgarOnTVE]

Hi

I encountered the same problem in my backup script after I updated to U4 last Friday.

I discovered during my checks that all RCLI vmware-cmd commands gave me the same error message but the local

vim-cmd commands on the esxi-host do still work. Therefore I use the ssh connection to issue the commands e.g.

ssh root@<esxi-host> "vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms". I rewrote my backup script to use this method.

Ansgar

[lamw]

The issue is explained here: http://vmetc.com/2009/03/31/esxi-u4-ends-free-version-read-and-write-access-from-the-rcli/

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William Lam

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at:

[Hawkuz]

Could this be the same reason as for our actual start/stop-problem:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/203414

Why does VMWare restrict this minimal configuration possibility? Any official statement?

[lamw]

It would be nice to get an official word, but the VI API was never intended to have full read/write access. This was accidentally opened up during U2/U3 while fixing and internal API bug, so it's been known this issue would eventually be fixed. If you want full capabilities of the VI API (r/w) you'll need at least the Foundation license: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100654...

If you're happy with U3 and the full r/w access, I would suggest keeping it for now unless you really need the features introduced in U4.

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William Lam

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at:

[s1xth]

Another thing that was closed up (which may be a part of this same topic) is Veeam Monitor is now UNABLE to connect to the Console screen with U4 installed. Vmware Closed the access they were using, which in my eyes REALLY sucks and is really aggrivating. You need the licensed version of ESXi to be able to do this, seems like they are tighting up the free version quite a bit lately.

[lamw]

I'm not familiar with Veeam Monitor and the processes it uses, but if it made use of the VI API and requires write access, then yes the lockdown would also block that. I don't think they're tightening up the free version, the VI API was initially setup to have only read access but due to internal bug they unintentionally opened it up during U2/U3, so I guess the expectations from user has been perceived as it should have both r/w access. I agree, this should just open up the VI API to both read/write or implement it in such a way that only the RCLI and the set of pre-defined utilities are allowed to do some fo the basic configuration.

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William Lam

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at:

[Doug_Hazelman]

I'm not currently aware of an issue but will need to check. Have you looked on the Veeam forums or contacted support?

[Doug_Hazelman]

There is a discussion on the Veeam Forum regarding this, it is being looked into: http://forum.veeam.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=924

[Gostev]

Veeam Monitor never relied upon RCLI in any way, however the functionality of connecting to virtual machine's console from within Veeam Monitor still got affected for VMs running on free (unlicensed) ESXi 3.5 Update 4. As Doug said, we are looking at this at the moment. Sorry for any inconveniences this may have caused.

[agomezp]

i have the same problem with my script for make backup, you can tellme where is the replace for $rcli/vifs comman, or where is the script used for you.

[AnsgarOnTVE]

Here is my script. It is based on a script by KPC which I found in this forum. I modified it to suite my needs. Since scp is very slow with my backup server I export the backup directory bxyNFS and have this mounted as a NFS datastore on esxi. With this I tripled my throughput. I use a parameter to set the hostname of the esxi server to backup.

Regards

Ansgar

[Gostev]

This script will no longer work on ESXi 3.5 Update 4. The snapshot operation would fail with the "restricted version" error.

[AnsgarOnTVE]

I have version 3.5.0 Build 153875 installed on my esxi (Which build number is U4 anyway?).

Right after I updated to this version I had these problems with "restricted version" errors. So I looked for a solution and gave the local vim-cmd on the esxi a chance. This works pretty nice and therefore I decided to issue a remote command execution via ssh to do my backup job from my linux box.

Regards

Ansgar

[Gostev]

Yes, this is U4 build! Looks like you have found a workaround - very cool!