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Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 101
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AnESXisystemgrantsaccesstoitsresourceswhenaknownuserwithappropriatepermissionslogsontothe
systemwithapasswordthatmatchestheonestoredforthatuser.YoucanusethevSphereClientorthe
vSphereSDKforallusermanagementtasks.YoucannotcreateESXiusers
withthevSphereWebClient.
Youcanusethevicfg-usercommandtocreate,modify,delete,andlistlocaldirectaccessusersonanESXi
host.YoucannotrunthiscommandagainstavCenterServersystem.
Thischapterincludesthefollowingtopics:
“UsersinthevSphereEnvironment”onpage 101
“vicfguserCommandSyntax”onpage 101
“ManagingUserswithvicfguseronpage 102
AssigningPermissionswithESXCLI”onpage 104
Users in the vSphere Environment
Users,androlescontrolwhohasaccesstovSpherecomponentsandwhatactionseachusercanperform.User
managementisdiscussedindetailinthevSphereSecuritydocumentation.
vCenterServerandESXisystemsauthenticateauserwithacombinationofusername,password,and
permissions.Serv ersandhostsmaintainlistsof
authorizedusersandthepermissionsassignedtoeachuser.
Privilegesdefinebasicindividualrightsthatarerequiredtoperformactionsandretrieveinformation.ESXi
andvCenterServerusesetsofprivileges,orroles,tocontrolwhichuserscanaccessparticularvSphereobjects.
ESXiandvCenterServerprovideasetofpre
establishedroles.
TheprivilegesandrolesassignedonanESXihostareseparatefromtheprivilegesandrolesassignedona
vCenterServersystem.WhenyoumanageahostbyusingvCenterServersystem,onlytheprivilegesandroles
assignedthroughthevCenterServersystemareavailable.Ifyouconnect
directlytothehostbyusingthe
vSphereClient,onlytheprivilegesandrolesassigneddirectlyonthehostareavailable.YoucannotcreateESXi
userswiththevSphereWebClient.
vicfg-user Command Syntax
Thevicfg-usersyntaxdiffersfromothervCLIcommands.Youspecifyoperationsasfollows:
vicfg-user <conn_options> -e <user> -o <add|modify|delete|list>
Ifyoucreateauserwithoutspecifyingtherole(--role),theuserhasnopermissions.Youcannotchangethe
usersrole,youcanonlychangetheuserspermission.
Managing Users
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IMPORTANTStartingwithvSphere5.1,youcannolongermanagegroupswithvicfg-user.
IMPORTANTYoucannotusevicfg-usertocreateroles.Youcanmanagesystemdefinedroles.