iPhone

Using an iPhone to fix an ESX server while on vacation

As you may or may not know, I was recently on a ’sort of’ vacation in Austin, TX., meaning I was still working on my latest book, VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment (which you can pre-order now on Amazon), so it was not much of a vacation. While away from my office I needed to access my host servers to fix a VMware ESX security element, which required not Virtual Infrastructure Client access, but console access.

To the rescue was my handy iPhone and the TouchTerm application that I downloaded for free. TouchTerm provides an SSH client for accessing a remote SSH server. The application even allows the use of pre-shared keys, which alleviates the major security concern when using SSH and other SSL-based codes. Continued »

Three new tools for the VMware toolbox

There are three new and useful tools for the virtualization administrator’s toolbox.

The first is the VMware vCenter Mobile Access Technology Preview. Thought not quite available yet, it bodes fairly well as it works from an iPhone. My only concern about this tool is about the security. Does it use pre-shared keys/certificates? Or should I only use it over a VPN that uses pre-shared keys/certificates?  Very cool technology preview, but still a few questions about it. (Click the link above to get the preview.)

The second is also something for the iPhone. Continued »