6.0.1

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VM serial port connected over network. Use to connect the serial port output through a network
without the virtual serial port concentrator.
IMPORTANT Do not change the allowed IP list for either rule set. Updates to the IP list can affect other
network services that might be blocked by the firewall.
For details about allowing access to an ESXi service through the firewall, see the vSphere Security
documentation.
Configure Virtual Machine Communication Interface Firewall
You can configure the virtual machine Communication Interface firewall (VMCI) to restrict virtual machines
accessing the hypervisor based services and VMCI based services.
You can restrict VMCI usage to a subset of VMCI-based services on each virtual machine. For example, you
can allow certain virtual machines to access VMCI services and deny access to others for security reasons.
Currently, VMCI devices support guest to host communication. A virtual machine can communicate with
VMCI services through the following means:
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ESXi hypervisor
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Services installed on the host operating system in the form of a vmkernel module
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Applications installed by a verified vSphere Installation Bundle
Change the Serial Port Configuration
You can connect the virtual serial port to a physical serial port or to a file on the host computer. You can also
use a host-side named pipe to set up a direct connection between two virtual machines or a connection
between a virtual machine and an application on the host computer. In addition, you can use a port or vSPC
URI to connect a serial port over the network. You can add up to 32 serial ports to a virtual machine.
Virtual machines can be in a powered-on state during configuration.
Prerequisites
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Check that you know the correct media types for the port to access, vSPC connections, and any
conditions that might apply. See “Using Serial Ports with vSphere Virtual Machines,” on page 107.
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To connect a serial port over a network, add a Firewall rule set. See “Adding a Firewall Rule Set for
Serial Port Network Connections,” on page 108.
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To use authentication parameters with network serial port connections, see “Authentication Parameters
for Virtual Serial Port Network Connections,” on page 111.
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Required privileges:
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Virtual machine.Configuration.Modify device settings on the virtual machine.
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Virtual machine.Interaction.Device connection on the virtual machine to change the device
connection status.
Procedure
1 Right-click a virtual machine in the inventory and select Edit Settings.
Chapter 6 Configuring Virtual Machine Hardware
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