Remote VMware console without a browser

Wrong Number

Article from ADMIN 04/2011

By Udo Seidel

The Firefox version 3.6 browser plugin for accessing consoles on virtual servers can suddenly stop working, causing problems for VMware server admins. We explain how to use the plugin without the browser.

Linux users rely on a web interface to manage their VMware servers [1] – for lack of a native client [2]. For most basic administrative functions on Linux, you can use your own choice of browser, but what if you want to access the console of the virtual server, and your browser needs to integrate the plugin provided by VMware? The browser plugin is designed specifically for your Internet machine and for the underlying operating system. In the case of VMware, access to the console for Linux users means deploying a browser that understands the XPI plugin format – that is, Firefox and its relatives (Listing 1).

Listing 1

Browser Plugins for VMware Server 2.0

$ pwd
/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/plugin
$ ls
build_doNotErase.txt
vmware-vmrc-linux-x64.xpi
vmware-vmrc-linux-x86.xpi
vmware-vmrc-win32-x86.exe
vmware-vmrc-win32-x86.xpi

However, Firefox users with version 3.6 are locked out of the remote console. Without a noticeable error message, the connection times out before it can be opened. If you replace the browser with any 3.5.x version, it will work as it always has.

Undocked

Some research on the web shows that many users have had this problem. Fortunately, you never need to wait long for an actionable workaround. The most obvious approach is to use a version of Firefox that works. It really doesn't make much difference whether you decide to fall back to the previous version of the browser or just install a second version parallel to it, but there is another approach.

While rummaging in the browser's plugin

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