Adding an ESXi host to vMA

Instead of adding a vCenter Server to vMA, it is possible to add just the individual ESXi hosts. This is particularly useful if a single vCenter is used to manage multiple Data Centers and you don't want to expose all of the ESXi hosts managed by the vCenter to the vMA appliance.

How to do it…

The following procedure explains how to add an ESXi server to the vMA appliance.

1. Log in to the vMA console or SSH to it as the vi-admin user.

2. Issue the following command:

   vifp addserver <ESXi_server_name>
   

   Example:

   vifp addserver esx51-01.vdescribed.com
   

3. When prompted, specify the root password for the ESXi host.

   

4. Issue the vifp listservers command to verify that the ESXi host was added.

   

How it works…

When you add an ESXi server to vMA, unlike adding a vCenter Server, vMA doesn't store the root password in its credstore.

Instead, it will create two users on the target ESXi server:

• vi-admin with administrator privileges

• vi-user with read-only privilege

On the ESXi server, the /etc...