Apr 2 2009   5:51PM GMT

Three new tools for the VMware toolbox

Posted by: Texiwill
Edward L. Haletky, ESX, Files Lite, iPhone, iTunes Appstore, Texiwill, vCenter Mobile Access, VMware VI

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.

There was a recent release of all the current VMware Infrastructure 3 documentation and I like to keep all that with me when I am consulting. The device I keep with me is my iPhone. So what better way to have these PDFs at my finger tips then by putting them on my iPhone? I used Files Lite which gives 200 MB of space on your iPhone to store PDFs, Office docs, and other items. It comes with a WebDAV server that will be available only if you are connected via Wifi. This is the only way to upload the PDFs which you can download from VMware’s Documentation website for VI 3.5. If opt for the for-fee version of Files, you can have unlimited space. For Kindle owners, there is also a Kindle application for your iPhone.

The last new tool is the VMware Infrastructure Client (VI Client) which can talk to VMware Server. To connect the VMware Infrastructure Client to VMware Server you would specify the port number of 8333 as well as the host name, instead of just the host name for logging in a la hostname:8333. Now if only VI Client could  manage VMware Workstation, we could have one VI Client to rule them. Perhaps the VMware Mobile Access Technology could be used with VMware Server as well?

There you have it, three new tools for the toolbox and some relative questions about security that you should be awere of.