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 101 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 101.

    Connecting to ESX host

    Figure 101 : Connecting to an ESX host

  4. The VMware Infrastructure Client console then opens (see Figure 102). 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 102). The list of existing users on the ESX host is then displayed.

    VI Client console

    Figure 102 : 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 103).

    Selecting Add option

    Figure 103 : Selecting the Add option

  6. Doing so opens Figure 104, 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.

    Adding New user

    Figure 104 : Adding a new user

  7. Figure 105 then appears, where you will find the newly added user name displayed.

    Newly added User name to the ESX host

    Figure 105 : 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 106, right-click anywhere within the tab page, and select the Add Permission option (see Figure 106). 

    Selecting Add Permission option

    Figure 106 : Selecting the Add Permission option

  9. Figure 107 then appears. Click on the Add button in Figure 107.

    Clicking on Add button

    Figure 107 : 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 108).

    Selecting User for whom Role is to be assigned

    Figure 108 : 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 109.

    User name displayed in Users box

    Figure 109 : The user name displayed in the Users box

  12. Then, click the ok button in Figure 109. Figure 110 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 110, and click the ok button therein.

    Assigning Read-Only role to User

    Figure 110 : Assigning the Read-Only role to the user

  13. Figure 111 then appears indicating the role assigned to the newly created user.

    Displaying new user and Role Assigned to User

Figure 111 : The new user and the role assigned to the user being displayed