vCMA – VMware vCenter Mobile Access Tips

Posted on 6th September 2013 by Alex Galbraith | Permalink Comments Off on vCMA – VMware vCenter Mobile Access Tips

This started as an article for a really random error I got when installing the vCMA (vCenter Mobile Access) fling today, but I’ve added a few extra tips for those not used to managing appliances.

As per most other VMware appliances, the vCMA is based on CentOS, so most CentOS commands will work.

 

Where do I download it from?

The vCMA appliance can be downloaded from:
http://labs.vmware.com/flings/vcma

JavaScript TypeError exception

After connecting to https://your-vcma-address:5480 and logging in with the default username and password (root/vmware) from Firefox, I was presented with the following error:

Uncaught Exception:
 com.google.gwt.core.client.JavaScriptException: JavaScript TypeError exception: Object doesn't support property or method 'setExpression'

vcma-error

This would appear to be an incompatibility with browsers as it occurs in Firefox, works intermittently with IE, but appears to work fine with Chrome (Windows) or Safari (iPad). I haven’t tested any other browsers / platforms to date.

vCMA Address

The new default vCMA address now requires HTTPS:

https://vcma-address:5480

vCMA Default Password

User: root
Password: vmware [change this asap after installation as per below!]

Change Your vCMA Root Password

Once your vCMA is up and running, log in via the console, or SSH as root, and change your root password using the following command:

passwd

 

Changing your timezone in vCMA

If you then want to change your timezone, use the following steps (modified from this post by Chris Jean, thanks Chris!):

First, make a backup of the existing localtime file. It’s always good practice to make backups of original config files.

mv /etc/localtime /etc/localtime.bak

Next, create the link:

ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/London /etc/localtime

Make sure to replace “Europe/London” with the directory (if your zone has one) and filename of the timezone you wish to use.

Now you just need to test your change. Run “date” from the command line, and ensure that the appropriate time, date, and timezone are reported.

Connecting from your iPad

Once you have the vCMA up and running, download and install the VMware vSphere Client for iPad:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/vmware-vsphere-client-for/id417323354?mt=8

Enter the hostname or IP address of your vCMA server.

You will then be presented with the main login screen to allow access to your vSphere infrastructure. You can then connect either to the address of an ESXi host or your vCenter server using the appropriate address/username/password combo.

That’s about it for today. If I find any other useful vCMA tips I will update the article, or alternatively if you have any good vCMA tips, please feel free to comment / share below!

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VMworld News Link Summary

Posted on 30th August 2013 by Alex Galbraith | Permalink Comments Off on VMworld News Link Summary

As most people are already aware, VMworld US was this week. As expected they announced vSphere 5.5, NSX and a whole load of other stuff.

Here is a list of some of the more interesting overviews, blog posts and reactions to the new features and announcements all in one place for your ease of perusal! 🙂

Keynotes

General vSphere

SSO

vSAN

NSX

Training

More links

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Has VMware just killed some certification kudos?

Posted on 21st July 2013 by Alex Galbraith | Permalink Comments Off on Has VMware just killed some certification kudos?

So I woke up this morning to what would seem to be an innocuous email from VMware Education confirming some changes to the candidate IDs. Nothing much interesting here:

“To streamline the certification exam registration process, and provide you a single consolidated view of your training and certification histories, we have updated our candidate tracking systems. Part of this update was the creation of a new Candidate ID for all users. Your former Candidate ID VCP###### has been replaced by VMW-########X-########. This new ID will be recognized at both vmware.com/certification and pearsonvue.com/vmware.

From now on, when you are ready to register for a VMware certification exam, you will begin at vmware.com/certification. Once you have registered with VMware and received authorization, you can proceed to pearsonvue.com/vmware to schedule your exam date, time and location.

Please keep your new Candidate ID handy. Should you misplace this email, you can find your Candidate ID by logging in at vmware.com/certification to access myPreferences.”

Until we get to this bit:

“Note: We will no longer be using “Certification Numbers” such as 00001 or VCAPDCA-123456 going forward. If you are a veteran certified individual, you’ll find your original VCP Certification number reflected in the last digits of the new Candidate ID.”

I may be reading this wrong, but it would appear that you will no longer have a VCAP or VCP number… Perhaps worse still, maybe not even a VCDX number?!

Not massively important in the grand scheme of things (especially since VMware jumped from ~550 to >2000 when the VCAP5 came out so it’s hard to keep track of how many there are now as it is!). Still, a bit of a downer for people who want to show that not only have they been certified, but were perhaps some of the pioneers in doing so.

Just my 2p… I would love to hear other people’s thoughts on this? Does anyone actually care?

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RIP Google Reader, Long live Feedly!

Posted on 30th June 2013 by Alex Galbraith | Permalink Comments Off on RIP Google Reader, Long live Feedly!

They say RSS is dead, yet for years Google Reader has been my number one resource for technical news and insight, and I don’t think I’m the only one! Following 70+ individual blogs and news sites, I regularly breached Google’s 10,000 feed items per month, but sadly after nearly 8 years Google are finally pulling the plug tomorrow. If you haven’t already made plans to replace your aggregator, now is your last chance to do it!

When the announcement came out, I deliberately waited until as late as possible to ensure I could get the best to option. I won’t go through them all as there are loads, but Giga Om did a particularly good job of weighing up the options:

http://gigaom.com/2013/06/24/life-after-google-reader-gigaoms-guide-to-the-best-options/

As I rarely use Google Reader via the web page, my main requirements were:

  • Support for gReader Pro (Android)
  • Support for Reeder (iPhone)
  • The ability to tag or even better, sort feeds into folders
  • If possible, an easy migration path, e.g. though OPML support or similar.

Fortunately, Feedly has turned out to meet all those requirements and more! Not only does it support gReader (with Reeder support coming soon), they implemented a one click migration process, where you simply give them permissions on your Google Reader account, and they will migrate your entire feed list in one go, replicating it on their system. Awesome!

The only thing left was to log out of gReader on each of my devices in turn, and log back in using the Feedly account option, job done!

If you want a recommendation for a great Google Reader replacement, you won’t go wrong with Feedly!

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