Managing VMWare VCenter Instances

Owned by Phillip Hanegan
Last updated: Nov 20, 2019
2 min read

The EmpowerID VMWare connector allows organizations to manage the Virtual Machines, ESX servers, and templates hosted in their VMWare VCenters. These management actions include the following:

  • Start - This action powers on or awakens any targeted machines currently powered off or in a suspended state and marks those machines as running.
  • Stop - This action powers off any targeted machines currently running and marks those machines as stopped.
  • Reboot - This actions reboots the guest OS on any targeted machines. The targeted machines must be running for this action to have effect.
  • Shutdown - This action shuts down the guest OS on any targeted machines. The targeted machines must be running for this action to have effect.
  • Suspend - This action suspends any targeted machines. The targeted machines must be running for this action to have effect.
  • Unregister - This action removes the virtual machine from EmpowerID's inventory. The targeted machine must be powered off for this action to have effect. If the machine is running, an exception occurs.
  • Reset - This action resets power on any targeted machines. The targeted machines must be running in an unsuspended state for this action to have effect.
  • Create Snapshot - This action creates a new snapshot of any targeted machines.
  • Revert Virtual Machine to Current Snapshot - This action reverts any targeted machines to the most current snapshot. The targeted machine must have a current snapshot for this action to have effect. If the machine does not have a current snapshot, an exception occurs.


Prerequisites

To manage VCenter instances in EmpowerID, a user needs an Access Level assignment that allows the following operations for the Computer resource type:
  • Start Instance
  • Stop Instance
  • Reboot Instance
  • Shutdown Instance
  • SuspendInstance
  • UnregisterInstance
  • CreateVMSnapshot
  • RevertVMToCurrentSnapshot

By default, these operations are allowed on the All Access (EmpowerID Admin) Access Level.

Before you can manage VMWare from EmpowerID, create an account store that connects EmpowerID to your VMWare VCenter. For details, see Connecting to VMWare.


To manage VMWare VCenter instances in EmpowerID

  1. In the Navigation Sidebar of the EmpowerID Web interface, expand Resources and click Computers.
  2. From the Actions pane, click Manage VMWare Virtual Machines.



  3. In the Find VMWare Virtual Machine lookup that appears, search for the VMWare virtual machine you want to manage, click the record for it to select it, and click Submit.



  4. Select the action you want to perform from the Action drop-down and click Submit.