Creating a New User with Read-Only Privileges to the ESX Server

If the eG agent is to use VI SDK for collecting statistics or just to auto discover the VMs, then at the time of test configuration, you will have to provide the name and password of an ESX user who has been assigned the ‘Read-Only’ role. By default, the root user of the ESX server is authorized to execute the tests. However, it is preferable that you create a new user on the monitored ESX server with the said privileges, using the steps detailed below:

1. Login to a system on which the VMware Infrastructure Client is installed.

2. Double-click on the VMware Infrastructure Client icon on your desktop.

3. Figure 53 then appears. To connect to the monitored ESX host, select the IP address / Name of the ESX host from the list box, and then provide the login information. To create a new user on an ESX host, you will have to login to the host as a root user. Therefore, provide the User name and Password of the root user in Figure 53.

   

   Figure 53 : Connecting to an ESX host

4. The VMware Infrastructure Client console then opens (see Figure 54). This console has a tree-structured listing of VMs and resource pools on the left hand side and a series of tab pages on the right. The topmost node of the tree-structure represents the ESX host, which has the virtual machines (or guests) as its sub-nodes. To create a new user on the ESX host, first click on the Users & Groups tab page in the right panel (see Figure 54). The list of existing users on the ESX host is then displayed.

   

   Figure 54 : The VI Client console

5. Next, right-click any where within the Users & Groups tab page to invoke a shortcut menu. Select the Add option from the menu to add a new user (see Figure 55).

   

   Figure 55 : Selecting the Add option

6. Doing so opens Figure 56, wherein you need to provide the Login name of the new user, the User Name, and the Password. Confirm the password by retyping it in the Confirm text box, and click the ok button to complete the addition of the new user.

   

   Figure 56 : Adding a new user

7. Figure 57 then appears, where you will find the newly added user name displayed.

   

   Figure 57 : The newly added user name displayed in the list of users to the ESX host

8. Next, to assign a role to the new user, click on the Permissions tab page in Figure 58, right-click anywhere within the tab page, and select the Add Permission option (see Figure 58). 

   

   Figure 58 : Selecting the Add Permission option

9. Figure 59 then appears. Click on the Add button in Figure 59.

   

   Figure 59 : Clicking on the Add button

10. From the Users and Groups list that then appears, select the user that you just created, and click the Add button therein (see Figure 60).

    

    Figure 60 : Selecting the user for whom a role is to be assigned.

11. Upon clicking, the selected user’s name will appear against the Users box, as depicted by Figure 61.

    

    Figure 61 : The user name displayed in the Users box

12. Then, click the ok button in Figure 61. Figure 62 then appears, where you will find the selected user name displayed in the Users and Groups section. To assign the read-only role to this user, select the Read-Only option from the Assigned Role list in Figure 62, and click the ok button therein.

    

    Figure 62 : Assigning the Read-Only role to the user

13. Figure 63 then appears indicating the role assigned to the newly created user.

    

Figure 63 : The new user and the role assigned to the user being displayed