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VMware ESXi

VMware ESXi

The ESXi connector allows organizations to bring the user, permissions, and roles data in their stand-alone VMware ESXi systems to EmpowerID, where it can be managed and synchronized with data in any connected back-end user directories.

ESXi roles and permissions are treated as EmpowerID groups and memberships.

Once connected, you can manage this data from EmpowerID in the following ways:

  • Create new users
  • Edit user attributes
  • Delete users
  • Create new roles and permissions
  • Manage roles and permissions membership
  • Delete roles and permissions


Additionally, EmpowerID provides provisioning policies or (also known as resource entitlements or RETs) that allow you to automatically provision ESXi accounts for any person within your organization based on your policy requirements. For more information, see Provisioning Policies.

This topic demonstrates how to connect EmpowerID to ESXi and how to configure it to meet your organization's needs.

To create an account store for ESXi on the web

  1. From the Navigation Sidebar, expand Admin, then Applications and Directories, and click Account Stores and Systems.
  2. Click the Actions tab, and then click the Create Account Store action.



  3. Select ESXi from the list of system types.



  4. On the ESXi Settings page, provide the following values:
    • Server — The IP address or FQDN of your ESXi Server
    • Name —  A name for the account store
    • User Name — Your ESXi administrator or root user name
    • Password —  Your ESXi administrator or root user password
    • Is Remote (Requires Cloud Gateway) — Select to indicate that the server is a cloud gateway.



  5. Click Submit.
  6. On the Cloud Gateway Servers page that appears, select the appropriate EmpowerID server and click Submit

    The Cloud Gateway Servers page displays only servers on which the EmpowerID Web Role service is running. If you do not see your server on the page, check the following:

    • Ensure that the server has been assigned either the All-in-One Server or Web Front-End server role.
    • Ensure that the EmpowerID Web Role service is running on the server.

    (The LDAP Management Host Web Service is responsible for LDAP communications and is enabled by default on each server running the EmpowerID Web Role service.)





  7. The Account Store is created and appears in the Account Stores grid and an associated Resource System appears on the Resource Systems tab.

To edit account store settings on the web

  1. In the Navigation Sidebar, expand Admin, then Applications and Directories, and click Account Stores and Systems.

  2. On the Account Stores tab, search for the account store you just created and click the link to go to its details page.



  3. On the Account Store Details page, click the Edit button or the name of the account store.



  4. In the edit view of the page, you can edit values in any of the enabled fields on several tabs as detailed in the tables below. Do not enable inventory until the end.

    If you do not want all of the users and groups found during inventory to go in the same location in EmpowerID, we recommend Mapping EmpowerID Locations to External Locations before enabling inventory.

  5. When you have finished editing, click Save.

    Clicking the Save button on any of the tabs saves any changed settings on all of the tabs, so there is no need to save it after each tab.

Settings Tab

General section

Setting Description
Option 1 Specify an Account Proxy Click Edit to change the Domain (Server), User Name, and Password that was entered when the account store was created.
Option 2 Select a Vaulted Credential as Account Proxy Click the drop-down arrow to select a vaulted credential to use as the account proxy.
Inventoried Directory Server Click the drop-down arrow to select from any connected ESXi servers.
Is Remote (Cloud Gateway Connection Required)Select to indicate that the server is a cloud gateway.

Authentication and Password Settings section

SettingDescription
Allow Password SyncToggle to allow EmpowerID to sync password changes discovered during inventory.
Queue Password ChangesToggle to have EmpowerID send password changes to the Account Password Reset Inbox for batch processing.
Password Manager Policy for Accounts without PersonSelect a password manager policy to use for the account. If not selected, it uses the Default Password Manager Policy.

Provisioning Settings section

SettingDescription
Allow Attribute FlowToggle to allow attribute changes to flow between EmpowerID and the account store.
Allow Provisioning (By RET)Toggle to allow EmpowerID to create users in the system that were created in EmpowerID.
Allow Deprovisioning (By RET)Toggle to allow EmpowerID to delete users in the system that were deleted in EmpowerID.
Max Accounts per PersonEnter the maximum number of user accounts from this domain that an EmpowerID Person can have linked to them. This prevents the possibility of a runaway error caused by a wrongly configured Join rule. We recommended setting this value to 1 unless users commonly have multiple accounts and you want them to be joined to the same person.
Default Person Business RoleSelect a default Business Role to assign provisioned people if none is specified.
Default Person LocationSelect a default Location to assign provisioned people if none is specified.

Special Use Settings section

SettingDescription
RBAC Assign Group Members On First InventoryThis setting only pertains to Active Directory account stores.
Automatically Join Account to a Person On Inventory (Skip Account Inbox)Toggle to allow EmpowerID to join newly discovered accounts to people during the inventory process if they meet the Join Rule as specified by the Custom_Account_InventoryInboxJoinBulk SQL stored procedure.
Automatically Create a Person On Inventory (Skip Account Inbox)Toggle to allow EmpowerID to provision EmpowerID people for new accounts discovered during the inventory process if they meet the Provision Rule specified by the Custom_Account_InventoryInboxGetAccountsToProvision SQL stored procedure.
Show in TreeToggle to show the account store in the Locations tree.
Queue Password Changes on FailureToggle to have EmpowerID send password changes to the Account Password Reset Inbox only when the change fails.
Use Secure LDAPS BindingToggle to bind accounts with encryption.