Getting started with vMA

Documentation

What is vMA?

• Here is a video explaining vMA on VMware KBTV

Visit the vMA Home Page:

• VMware vMA

vMA Forum:

• VMware vSphere Management Assistant (vMA)

You will find latest Downloads, Reference Documentation and Community Discussions and links to resources.

Downloads

• vMA 4.x Download - Supports ESX(i) 3.5u2/4.x and vCenter 2.5/4.x
• VIMA 1.0 Download - Supports ESX(i) 3.5u2+

Tutorials

Setting up vMA video by David Davis

• Using the new VMware vSphere Management Assistant (vMA)

Setting up vMA to be a syslog server by Simon Long

• Using vMA As Your ESXi Syslog Server

vi-fastpass

• vMA 4.1 - Authentication Policy (fpauth vs adauth)
• How to configure and use vMA's vi-fastpass with fpauth and adauth on vSphere 4.1
• How to automate & cron vi-fastpass scripts on vMA 4.1

Upgrade vMA:

• Why you should upgrade from vMA 4.0 to vMA 4.1

How to clone vMA:

• Cloning vMA still not supported?

Backup & Restore vMA + vi-fastpass DB:

• How to backup/restore vMA's config + vi-fastpass DB

Scripts and Tools

vGhetto Script Repository:

• vGhetto Script Repository

New tools and scripts to add/manage ESX(i) and vCenter targets on vMA 4.x:

• http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/p/vmware-vma-vima.html

vMA Compatible Agent/Scripts(Third Party) Community List:

• vMA Compatible Agent/Scripts(Third Party) Community List

Health check reports on your VMware environment:

• VMware vSphere Health Check Report - vMA 4.x
• VMware Health Check Report - VIMA 1.0

Taking screenshots of your VM using vMA 4.x:

• takeVMScreenshot.pl using vMA 4.x

Host and VM shutdown with UPS integration using vMA:

• ghettoUPSHostShutdown.pl

Backup VMs using vMA:

• ghettoVCBg2 - Free alternative for backing up VMs in ESX(i) 3.5 and 4.x (no SSH console required!)

Utilize vi-fastpass On vMA to run Perl script without clear text password:

• useVIFastpassOnvMAToRunPerlScriptWithoutClearTextPassword.pl

Tweaks

Hot add memory to vMA or other supported Linux guestOSes using vSphere ESX(i) 4.x:

• Hot add memory to vMA or other supported Linux guestOSes using vSphere ESX(i) 4.x

How to increase/resize vMA Disks:

• How to increase/resize vMA 4.0 Disks
• How to increase/resize vMA 4.1 Disks

Offline patching of vMA 4.x:

• Update vMA without internet access

How to install VMware VDDK on vMA:

• How to install VDDK 1.1 on vMA 4.0 (libfuse.so.2 fix)

Reconfigure networking on vMA:

• vmware-vima-netconf.pl

vMA & Active Directory:

• vMA 4.1 - Active Directory IntegrationTip

Removing stale targets from vMA:

• How to remove stale targets from vMA

Enable root account:

Edit /etc/passwd using vi

sudo vi /etc/passwd

Change

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/sbin/nologin

to

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash