Managing VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3) from OS X (10.5.1 Leopard)

Up until now there has not been a way to manage VI3 from OS X clients. This stinks for those of us with our shiny PowerBooks and MacBook Pros (I just can’t let my 12″ go!). What to do, what to do… Then, suddenly and without warning BOMP BOMP BOMP (10 points if you know where that line is from) VMware released the VI Perl Toolkit, or as I like to call it, the viper toolkit (look at the directory name from a shell). Unfortunately for us there is no OS X version of the installer, but since VMware released the source, all that is required is a little ingenuity and we have ourselves a working VI client.

Step 1, cut a hole in a box. Oops, wrong series of steps. Step 1, download the viper toolkit from VMware at http://www.vmware.com/download/sdk/index.html. Make sure you get the source code (VI Perl Toolkit - source), not one of the pre-built installers.

Once the tarball is downloaded, deflate it and change directories into it. Go ahead and attempt to create a makefile with:

perl MakeFile.pl

You will receive something similar to:

[0]akutz@amends:viperltoolkit$ perl Makefile.PL

Checking if your kit is complete…

Looks good

Warning: prerequisite Class::MethodMaker 2.08 not found.

Warning: prerequisite Crypt::SSLeay 0.51 not found.

As you can see, some perl modules are missing. Good thing OS X (10.5.1 Leopard) comes with cpan. Install the missing modules by typing:

cpan Class::MethodMaker Crypt::SSLeay

Accept all of the default for both of the modules. Now you can create the makefile needed to build the viper toolkit:

perl MakeFile.pl

After you create the makefile, test it with:

make test

You should receive something similar to:

[0]akutz@amends:viperltoolkit$ make test

PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 /usr/bin/perl “-MExtUtils::Command::MM” “-e” “test_harness(0, ‘blib/lib’, ‘blib/arch’)” t/*.t

t/VIPerlToolkit….ok

All tests successful.

Files=1, Tests=1, 1 wallclock secs ( 0.75 cusr + 0.06 csys = 0.81 CPU)

You want it to say “All tests successful.” Next install the viper toolkit by typing:

sudo make install

This will place the viper toolkit common runtimes and libraries and man pages in the appropriate locations. For OS X that is ‘/Library/Perl/5.8.8/’ and ‘/usr/local/share/man/man3/VMware’. You should see the following output:

[0]akutz@amends:viperltoolkit$ sudo make install

Installing /Library/Perl/5.8.8/VMware/VILib.pm

Installing /Library/Perl/5.8.8/VMware/VIM2Runtime.pm

Installing /Library/Perl/5.8.8/VMware/VIM2Stub.pm

Installing /Library/Perl/5.8.8/VMware/VIRuntime.pm

Installing /usr/local/share/man/man3/VMware::VIM2Runtime.3pm

Installing /usr/local/share/man/man3/VMware::VIM2Stub.3pm

Writing /Library/Perl/5.8.8/darwin-thread-multi-2level/auto/VIPerlToolkit/.packlist

Appending installation info to /System/Library/Perl/5.8.8/darwin-thread-multi-2level/perllocal.pod

Well, now you have a working VI client for OS X! Stay tuned as I show you more how the viper toolkit can make your life as an ESX administrator much easier.

Hope this helps!