6.0

Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 103
Chapter 7 Managing Users
EachESXihosthasseveraldefaultusers:
Therootuserhasfulladministrativeprivileges.Administratorsusethisloginanditsassociatedpassword
tologintoahostthroughthevSphereClient.Rootuserscancontrolallaspectsofthehostthattheyare
loggedonto.Rootuserscanmanipulatepermissions,creatingusers(onESXihostsonly),
workingwith
events,andsoon.
ThevpxuseruserisavCenterServerentitywithrootrightsontheESXihost,allowingittomanage
activitiesforthathost.ThesystemcreatesvpxuserwhenanESXihostisattachedtovCenterServer.
vpxuserisnotpresentontheESXihostunlessthehostisbeingmanagedthrough
vCenterServer.
Otherusersmightbedefinedbythesystem,dependingonthenetworkingsetupandotherfactors.
Thefollowingexamplescenarioillustratessomeofthetasksthatyoucanperform.Specifyoneoftheoptions
listedin“ConnectionOptionsforvCLIHostManagementCommands”onpage 18inplaceof
<conn_options>.
To create, modify, and delete users
1Listthe
existingusers.
vicfg-user <conn_options> -e user -o list
Thelistdisplaysallusersthatarepredefinedbythesystemandallusersthatwereaddedlater.
2Addanewuser,specifyingaloginIDandpassword.
vicfg-user <conn_options> -e user -o add -l user27 -p 27_password
Thecommandcreatestheuser.Bydefault,thecommandautogeneratesaUIDfortheuser.
3ListtheusersagaintoverifythatthenewuserwasaddedandaUIDwasgenerated.
vicfg-user <conn_options> -e user -o list
USERS
-------------------
Principal -: root
Full Name -: root
UID -: 0
Shell Access -> 1
-------------------
...
--------------------
Principal -: user27
Full Name -:
UID -: 501
Shell Access -> 0
4Modifythepasswordforuseruser27.
vicfg-user <conn_options> -e user -o modify -l user27 -p 27_password2
ThesystemmightreturnUpdated user user27 successfully.
5Assignreadonlyprivilegestotheuser(whocurrentlyhasnoaccess).
vicfg-user <conn_options> -e user -o modify -l user27 --role read-only
Thesystempromptswhetheryouwanttochangethepassword,whichmightbeadvisableiftheuserdoes
notcurrentlyhaveapassword.Answeryorn.Thesystemthenupdatestheuser.
Updated user user27 successfully.
Assigned the role read-only
CAUTIONSeetheAuthenticationandUserManagementchapterofvSphereSecurityforinformationaboutroot
usersbeforeyoumakeanychangestothedefaultusers.Mistakesregardingrootuserscanhaveseriousaccess
consequences.
IMPORTANTThecommandlistsamaximumof100users.