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wingphil
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ESXi free version - remote access

Hi there,

I'm wondering if it's possible to remotely control the free version of ESXi. All I need to be able to do is clone, start and stop VMs, and I'm happy to use telnet or other command-line tools. Is it posible to use vmrun as with VMWare Server? Or a similar tool? Or is the free version deliberately hobbled in this respect.

Thanks for any help you can offer,

Phil

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krowczynski
Virtuoso
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Or enable ssh.

1) At the console of the ESXi host, press ALT-F1 to access the console window.

2) Enter unsupported in the console and then press Enter. You will not see the text you type in.

3) If you typed in unsupported correctly, you will see the Tech Support Mode warning and a password prompt. Enter the password for the root login.

4) You should then see the prompt of ~ #. Edit the file inetd.conf (enter the command vi /etc/inetd.conf).

5) Find the line that begins with #ssh and remove the #. Then save the file. If you're new to using vi, then move the cursor down to #ssh line and then press the Insert key. Move the cursor over one space and then hit backspace to delete the #. Then press ESC and type in :wq to save the file and exit vi. If you make a mistake, you can press the ESC key and then type it :q! to quit vi without saving the file.

6) Once you've closed the vi editor, run the command /sbin/services.sh restart to restart the management services. You'll now be able to connect to the ESXi host with a SSH client.

MCP, VCP3 , VCP4

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krowczynski
Virtuoso
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Just download and install the client from the homepage of your esxi. http://youserveripadress

MCP, VCP3 , VCP4
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krowczynski
Virtuoso
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Or enable ssh.

1) At the console of the ESXi host, press ALT-F1 to access the console window.

2) Enter unsupported in the console and then press Enter. You will not see the text you type in.

3) If you typed in unsupported correctly, you will see the Tech Support Mode warning and a password prompt. Enter the password for the root login.

4) You should then see the prompt of ~ #. Edit the file inetd.conf (enter the command vi /etc/inetd.conf).

5) Find the line that begins with #ssh and remove the #. Then save the file. If you're new to using vi, then move the cursor down to #ssh line and then press the Insert key. Move the cursor over one space and then hit backspace to delete the #. Then press ESC and type in :wq to save the file and exit vi. If you make a mistake, you can press the ESC key and then type it :q! to quit vi without saving the file.

6) Once you've closed the vi editor, run the command /sbin/services.sh restart to restart the management services. You'll now be able to connect to the ESXi host with a SSH client.

MCP, VCP3 , VCP4
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wingphil
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Hi,

Thanks for your help, sorry I should have been more specific. I need to be able to do this from code, I'm writing a piece of software to start and stop VMs on multiple hosts, and so an API or a command-line interface is what I need. If it's controllable via http maybe I can issue http requests from code. I haven't installed ESXi yet, I'm trying to determine what the best virtualisation software is for my needs.

Thanks again,

Phil

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wingphil
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Ah fantastic, your second answer seems to be what I need. I already have a software component to issue commands over ssh.

Cheers!

Phil

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