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How to launch a Remote Console for the VMs on the ESX Server from the PlateSpin Orchestrator without installing the VNC Server on each VM.

(We use ESX Server Hypervisor (Production/Testing/Deployment) for running Guest OS on the VMs.)

If we want to see the Desktop console of those VMs, we need to keep them on the Network. If it's Windows MC we will RDP to it, or if it's Linux we will use VNCViewer to view the desktop.

Suppose the VM lost network connections, then either we need to go to that machine and set up it on a LAN or we can use the VI Client to connect to the machine, then we can see the console.

But if we don't have a VI Client, (VMware provides a UI client to access the server VMs on it to manage the basic operations of the ESX Server Objects) we can SSH to the ESX Server, then there is a way to configure the remote console for each VM.

Prerequisite:

Actually, we are using the VNC Server on the ESX Server (by default VNC Server is available in ESX machine) instead of installing a VNC Server in each VM. And no need for the VM to be on the network.

Before that, we need to start the VNC Server service on the ESX Server through the firewall with the command:

 " esxcfg-firewall -e vncServer"

Currently VMware supports 5901 - 5964 ports. It means at a time we can launch remote consoles for 65 VMs.

For using this service, VM need not to be on the Network.

VMware recommends to install the VMware tools for better appearance of the screen resolution and mouse pointer.

1. Open the PlateSpin Orchestrator and Discover the VMs on the ESX Server.
2. Procedure:
   
   1. Open the VMX (configuration) file of the Virtual Machine. It's just a simple text file.
   2. Add the following lines at the end of the vmx file.

	RemoteDisplay.vnc.enabled = "True" 
   	RemoteDisplay.vnc.port = "5901" 
   	RemoteDisplay.vnc.password = "jython" 
	
	

Save the file and start the VM.

In the text fields of:

vnc ip Address: give the ESX Server ip
vnc port Address: give the port used in the configuration file

3. Power-On the VM, select the “Launch Remote Desktop” option for the VM.

   The console for the VM will be shown by launching a separate window.

Now you can see the console of the VM.