Manual Registration of Local vSphere Client

You can register your local vSphere Client with the vCenter Server instance using a manual method that applies to either the vCenter Server Appliance or to vCenter Server for Windows.
  • Verify that you have access to a
    vCenter Server
    instance.
  • Verify that the bash shell is enabled on the
    vCenter Server Appliance
    .
    See
    Toggling the vCenter Server Appliance default shell
    , https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2100508.
The SDK provides a registration script that you can run in the
vCenter Server
instance. The files generated by this script connect your local Web browser application to the remote
vCenter Server
system.
  1. Navigate to the
    vCenter registration scripts
    folder under
    tools
    in your SDK installation.
  2. Copy the
    dev-setup
    script to one of the following locations on the
    vCenter Server
    system depending on your vSphere deployment.
    • On the
      vCenter Server Appliance
      , use the
      root
      directory to copy the script. You must make the file executable.
    • On the
      vCenter Server
      for Windows, use the
      C:\Users\Administrator
      directory to copy the script.
  3. Run the
    dev-setup
    script in the corresponding directory.
    The script generates the following files:
    webclient.properties
    ,
    store.jks
    , and
    ds.properties
    .
  4. Copy the generated files on your development machine in one of the following locations.
    On a Windows operating system, you might not be able to see the
    ProgramData
    folder. To change the way items are displayed on a Windows machine, use
    Folder Options
    from
    Control Panel
    .
    Operating System
    Generated File
    Location on Your Development Machine
    Windows
    webclient.properties
    C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-client\
    Mac OS
    /var/lib/vmware/vsphere-client/vsphere-client/
    Windows
    store.jks
    C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\
    Mac OS
    /var/lib/vmware/vsphere-client/
    Windows
    ds.properties
    C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-ui\config\
    Mac OS
    /var/lib/vmware/vsphere-client/vsphere-ui/config/
  5. If you use a Mac OS development environment, edit the
    webclient.properties
    file and set the
    keystore.jks.path
    property to point to the
    /var/lib/vmware/vsphere-client/store.jks
    file.
  6. If you use a Mac OS development environment, edit the
    ds.properties
    file and set the
    solutionUser.keyStorePath
    property to point to the
    /var/lib/vmware/vsphere-client/store.jks
    file.
  7. If you use a Mac OS development environment, before you connect your local Web browser application to the
    vCenter Server
    system for the first time, edit the
    server.xml
    file. Change the value of the
    certificateKeystoreFile
    attribute of the
    <Certificate>
    element to
    /var/lib/vmware/vsphere-client/store.jks
    .
    You can locate the file at
    your_SDK_folder
    /html-client-sdk/vsphere-ui/server/conf
    .
  8. Start the local
    vSphere Client
    by running the
    startup
    script located at the
    bin
    directory of the
    server
    folder.
    For example, if you use a Mac OS development environment, the script for starting the
    vSphere Client
    is located at
    your_SDK_folder
    /html-client-sdk/vsphere-ui/server/bin
    .
    You might need to make the script executable:
    chmod +x startup.sh
  9. Open a Web browser and log into your local
    vSphere Client
    at
    https://localhost:9443/ui
    .
    Your local
    vSphere Client
    connects to the
    vCenter Server
    instance and displays the vSphere inventory.
You can deploy your custom plug-ins to the local
vSphere Client
and verify whether the plug-ins function properly in your development environment before deploying them on the remote Web browser applications.