6.0.1

Authentication Parameters for Virtual Serial Port Network Connections
When you establish serial port connections over the network, you can use authentication parameters to
secure the network. These parameters can support an encrypted connection with a remote system using SSL
over Telnet or Telnets, or an encrypted connection with a concentrator using SSL over Telnet or Telnets.
URI Forms
If you do not use virtual serial port network connection (vSPC) and you configure your virtual machine
with a serial port connected as a server with a telnet://:12345 URI, you can connect to your virtual
machine's serial port from your Linux or Windows operating system. You use one of the following formats:
n
Telnet over TCP.
telnet://host:port
The virtual machine and remote system can negotiate and use SSL if the remote system supports the
Telnet authentication option. If not, the connection uses unencrypted text (plain text).
n
Telnets over SSL over TCP.
telnets://host:port
SSL negotiation begins immediately, and you cannot use the Telnet authentication option.
Authentication Parameters
For an encrypted connection, the URI includes a set of authentication parameters. Enter the parameters as
key words or key/value pairs. You can enter authentication parameters for secure Telnet (telnets), or for
Telnet (telnet) as shown in the following syntax:
telnet://host:port #key[=value] [&key[=value] ...]
The first parameter must have a number sign (#) prefix. Additional parameters must have an ampersand (&)
prefix. The following parameters are supported.
thumbprint=
value
Specifies a certificate thumbprint against which the peer certificate
thumbprint is compared. When you specify a thumbprint, certificate
verification is enabled.
peerName=value
Specifies the peer name that is used to validate the peer certificate. When you
specify a peer name, certificate verification is enabled.
verify
Forces certificate verification. The virtual machine will verify that the peer
certificate subject matches the specified peerName and that it was signed by
a certificate authority known to the ESXi host. Verification is enabled if you
specify a thumbprint or peerName
cipherList=value
Specifies a list of SSL ciphers. The ciphers are specified as a list separated by
colons, spaces, or commas.
Chapter 6 Configuring Virtual Machine Hardware
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