Possible addition to "Monitoring VMWare ESXi"

Feedback User Manual
#1

The instructions for " Monitoring VMWare ESXi" are well written from the Checkmk side. But there is a very non-intuitive menu step needed in the ESXi setup that would probably save users real headaches if it were mentioned here.

The documentation states: “You must have defined a user on the ESXi-server. It is sufficient that this user only has read access.” Well and good, but I only learned after much frustration that giving that user rights is done in a completely different place as user creation. (https://superuser.com/questions/1219405/creating-user-in-esxi-6-5-and-assigning-role) If you do not want to explain the proper steps or link to a page that does, you might give a hint, that this can be tested by seeing if the user can log into the ESXi GUI. If it cannot login, then Checkmk will not be able to monitor the host.

#2

I agree that VMware needs some lessons in UI design, but am worried about VMware “version” lock-in. That is, documenting someone else’s UI when it might change down the road.

And copyrights, etc…

If allowed, I’d make it specific and say, for example in VMware ESX 6.5, etc… in hope that people might “adapt” if they aren’t running 6.5.

#3

I have the same opinion as @cjcox, every ESX version as an other way to define the local users and permissions.
Simple solution for this problem, if it is possible i use the vCenter and not the single ESX servers.
This has also the advantage that the user must not be configured on every host.

#4

Andreas and cjcox have good points. I am dealing with ESXi and vCenter 6.7, but will be upgrading soon.

I guess the most important lesson I leaned is not to assume that you have completed the VMware user setup until you have proved that you can log in. I saw another forum entry where the user went through a long troubleshooting process until he discovered that a password had expired.

So my suggestion for the documentation would be to augement the statement ““You must have defined a user on the ESXi-server…” with the suggestion that you test this by using the credentials to login to the web ui and see that this works before proceeding.

#5

This should not be said :slight_smile:
As i mentioned before the user should be, if possible a vCenter user. The vCenter should be the default method to connect. Only if you use standalone ESXi server you must configure the local user.

#6

Hello Andreas,

I am sure you are right about the vCenter method being better. But the section I am referring to is titled " 2.1. Setting up via the ESXi host system". So it is not a matter of the vCenter approach being better.

But I am wondering if people who go the vCenter route (Section 2.2) should not be encouraged to make sure that their newly created ro user works at the vCenter web ui before proceeding? I would think that the same advice would apply there.

#7

vCenter user are real different then local users.
Normally i assign only the role to an existing account inside vCenter and that’s all.

What i recommend is that the documentation is changed in this way that vCenter is before the standalone ESX and that it is recommended as the default setup. This is something for @martin.hirschvogel :slight_smile:

#8

I will add it to the backlog of our knowledge team. I am happy when we finally migrate to GitHub and can create Issues inside GitHub for all these things :slight_smile: