Installation guide

CHAPTER 3 Using the VMware Management Interface to Manage Your Virtual Machines
87
Running the VMware Management
Interface
VMware ESX Server provides the VMware Management Interface, a Web-based
management tool that allows you to
• Monitor the state of virtual machines and the VMware ESX Server machine on
which they are running.
• Control (power on, suspend, resume, reset and power off) the virtual machines
on the server.
• Connect the VMware Remote Console to a given virtual machine, for hands-on
management.
• Modify virtual machine configurations.
• Manage users and groups.
• Configure SANs.
• Create and delete virtual machines.
• Answer questions and acknowledge messages posed by the virtual machine.
• Configure ESX Server (root users only).
You should use the VMware Management Interface from a management workstation,
not from the server machine where ESX Server is installed. Running the X Windows
System on your server’s service console is not recommended.
To use the management interface, make sure you set read permissions for all users for
each virtual machine you want to manage from a browser when you register each
virtual machine.
Note: If you are connecting to the management interface with Internet Explorer 6.0,
you must configure the browser. See Using Internet Explorer 6.0 to Access the
VMware Management Interface on page 90.
Note: You can only use ASCII characters when viewing the management interface.
Once your user name and password are authorized by the management interface, the
Status Monitor page appears. The Status Monitor page contains high level details
about all the virtual machines on the server to which you are connected. The Status
Monitor page links to a detailed set of pages specific to each virtual machine, where
you find information about virtual devices, configuration options and a summary of