vSphere is VMware's cloud virtualization platform includes a suite of components that helps enterprises deploy and manage VMware cloud-based resources. The commonly used component is vCenter Server. Frequently a vCenter Server is run as a VCSA (vCenter Server Appliance) to provide a centralized management application for all ESXi hosts, clusters, resource pools, datastores, vms and networks.

Creating a User in VMware

Before configuring the VMware Virtualization Platform connector in Lucidum, you must first create a read-only user account. Lucidum will use this user account to access the VMware Virtualization Platform.

To create a custom user role that grants the read-only access Lucidum requires, perform the following steps:

  1. Open your vCenter client at https://<vcenterservername>/ui

  2. Select Menu > Administration from the drop-down.

  3. In the menu at the left of the page, click Access Control > Roles. The Roles page appears:

  4. Click the plus sign (+) to add a new Role. The New Role page appears:

  5. In the pane on the left, select Storage views and select the View checkbox. Click Next.

  6. In the next screen, enter a name for the role in the Role name field. Optionally, you can enter a description in the Description field.

  7. Click the Finish button.

To assign the custom role to a user account, perform the following steps:

  1. In the vCenter client, select your vCenter server containing the hosts and clusters you are monitoring and click the Permissions tab.

  2. Click the plus sign (+) to add permissions.

  3. Enter values in the following fields:

  • User. Select your domain and add the user in the field below.

  • Role. Select the role that you just created.

  • Propagate to children. Make sure to select the checkbox.

  • Role Permissions. Make sure to select “Modify permission“.

Configuring the Connector for VMware Virtualization Platform

To configure Lucidum to ingest data from VMware Virtualization Platform:

  1. Log in to Lucidum.

  2. In the left pane, click Connector.

  3. In the Connector page, click Add Connector.

  4. Scroll until you find the Connector you want to configure. Click Connect. The Settings page appears.

  5. In the Settings page, enter the following:

    •  Host (required): The hostname of a specific ESX server or of the vSphere server.

    • User Name (required) - The credentials for a user account that has the permissions to fetch assets. The user name format is user@domain.

    • Password (required) - The credentials for a user account that has the permissions to fetch assets. The user name format is user@domain.

    • Port. VMware server port. Default is 443

    • Http Proxy Host. IP address of the proxy host that allows communication with on-premises devices.

    • Http Proxy Port. Port of the proxy host that allows communication with on-premises devices. 

    • Verify SSL. For future use.

  6. To test the configuration, click Test.

    • If the connector is configured correctly, Lucidum displays a list of services that are accessible with the connector.

    • If the connector is not configured correctly, Lucidum displays an error message.