6.0.1

Example: Establishing Serial Port Network Connections to a Client or Server
Simple Server
Connection
To connect to a virtual machine's serial port from a Linux or Windows
operating system if you do not use vSPC, configure the virtual machine with
a serial port connected as a server with a telnet://:12345 URI. To access a
virtual serial port from a client, use telnet yourESXiServerIPAddress 12345.
Secure Server
Connection
To enforce an encrypted connection to the virtual machine's serial port from
a Linux operating system, you can configure Telnet to enforce encryption by
configuring the virtual machine with a serial port connected as a server with
a telnet://:12345#verify URI.
To access a virtual serial port from a client, use telnet-ssl
yourESXServerName 12345. This connection will fail if the Telnet program you
are using does not support SSL encryption.
Simple Client
Connection
If you are running a Telnet server on your system and you want the virtual
machine to automatically connect to it, you can configure the virtual machine
as a client using telnet://yourLinuxBox:23.
The Virtual machine keeps initiating the Telnet connection to port 23 on
yourLinuxBox.
Secure Client
Connection
Additional URI options allow you to enforce a specific server certificate and
restrict the ciphers being used. Virtual machines with a serial port configured
as a client with telnet://ipOfYourLinuxBox:23#cipherList=DHE-RSA-AES256-
SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA&peerName=myLinuxBoxName.withDomain will
connect to ipOfYourLinuxBox only if the system supports one of two listed
ciphers, and if it presents a trusted certificate issued to
myLinuxBoxName.withDomain. Replace .withDomain with the full domain
name, for example, example.org.
Add a Serial Port to a Virtual Machine
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. A virtual machine can use up to 32 serial ports.
Prerequisites
n
Verify that the virtual machine is powered off.
n
Check that you known 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.
n
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.
n
To use authentication parameter with network serial port connections, see “Authentication Parameters
for Virtual Serial Port Network Connections,” on page 111.
n
Required privilege: Virtual Machine .Configuration.Add or Remove Device
Procedure
1 Right-click a virtual machine in the inventory and select Edit Settings.
2 On the Virtual Hardware tab, select Serial Port from the New device drop-down menu, and click Add.
The serial port appears at the bottom of the virtual device list.
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
112 VMware, Inc.