Must-have VMware infrastructure plug-ins

There are quite a few VMware plug-ins out there, but which would you really use on a regular basis? Here is a simple guide to the plug-ins I use and why I would not use some of the others.

Must haves:

• VMware Update Manager (part of VMware vCenter Server)
• Storage VMotion plug-in. This plug-in was created by Andrew Kutz who now works for Hyper9 and works on the H9Labs.com projects.
• H9Labs Hyper9 VI Client plug-in Also from Andrew Kutz. It allows me to do simple searches within the infrastructure and hooks in to Hyper9 if you have it.

Here is a list of plug-ins I use but don’t consider must-haves.

• GuessMyOS plug-in from H9Labs (adds cool icons).
• PowerGUI plug-in from Quest Software (allows me to use PowerShell from within the VMware Infrastructure Client).

Here are ones I know about but do not use.

• Twitter plug-in (I use Twhirl instead because I need to see the VMware Infrastructure Client when chatting sometimes)
• Invoke plug-in (Invoke a command in the security context of your logged-in user on a host) I consider Invoke to be rather dangerous. I would want a way to limit its usage by command, which is the main reason I don’t install this plug-in. Perhaps the Hytrust Appliance will help with this.
• Console plug-in (SSH console for ESX host, not very useful for ESXi).
• AddPortGroups plug-in (Adds multiple portgroups to multiple vSwitches at the same time).

My wish list

• Plug-in to one of the backup tools (VCB, Veeam, vRanger, esXpress, etc.)
• Opscheck plug-in
• ConfigCheck plug-in

Many of the current batch of plug-ins were written by Andrew Kutz of Hyper9. Hopefully, others will add more soon!