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 82 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 82.

    Connecting to ESX host

    Figure 82 : Connecting to an ESX host

  4. The VMware Infrastructure Client console then opens (see Figure 83). 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 83). The list of existing users on the ESX host is then displayed.

    VI Client console

    Figure 83 : 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 84).

    Selecting Add option

    Figure 84 : Selecting the Add option

  6. Doing so opens Figure 85, 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 85 : Adding a new user

  7. Figure 86 then appears, where you will find the newly added user name displayed.

    Newly added User name to the ESX host

    Figure 86 : 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 87, right-click anywhere within the tab page, and select the Add Permission option (see Figure 87). 

    Selecting Add Permission option

    Figure 87 : Selecting the Add Permission option

  9. Figure 88 then appears. Click on the Add button in Figure 88.

    Clicking on Add button

    Figure 88 : 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 89).

    Selecting User for whom Role is to be assigned

    Figure 89 : 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 90.

    User name displayed in Users box

    Figure 90 : The user name displayed in the Users box

  12. Then, click the ok button in Figure 90. Figure 91 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 91, and click the ok button therein.

    Assigning Read-Only role to User

    Figure 91 : Assigning the Read-Only role to the user

  13. Figure 92 then appears indicating the role assigned to the newly created user.

    Displaying new user and Role Assigned to User

Figure 92 : The new user and the role assigned to the user being displayed