Xtravirt vSphere Client RDP Plug-in

Xtravirt is about to release another great tool; the vSphere Client RDP Plug-in. Last week Paul Davey has invited me to join the Xtravirt RDP Plug-in beta program. I was feeling very honored with his invitation and started performing some tests on their new RDP extension right away. I works like a charm, the installation is straight forward, after firing up the vSphere client the new RDP Plug–in is available at the vSphere Client plug-in manager.

When you jump to “Home” (I still have to get used to that) you'll find the new RDP plug-in at the Solutions and Applications section. Here you can configure the RDP behaviour like screen size, username, domain and port. When the setup of the global setting is done, it’s time to put the plug-in to test.

Just right click one of your virtual machines and check-out the context menu, you’ll see an extra option appears called Connect over RDP. Just select the new menu option and your RDP connection will initiate.

Update: I’ve just received an updated version from Paul with the following new features:

Password – you can now set a password to be used for all connections, allowing automatic logon.
Security Warning – Security Warnings can be disabled by ticking the relevant tick box.

Update: vSphere Client RDP Plug-in is released - http://xtravirt.com/vsphere-client-rdp-plug-in

I’ve created a little Jing movie which shows the new version of the Plug-in in action.

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This post was mentioned on Twitter by esloof: Xtravirt is about to release another great tool; the vSphere Client RDP Plug-in (kudos to @pauld_xtravirt) - http://bit.ly/c0mmuc

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Tracked: Jan 30, 11:49

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Why would we want this when we can use the console window??

#1 Tom on 2010-01-29 16:06 (Reply)

The console runs over VCN, it not performing that well in a WAN environment, besides that VMware advises to use an RDP session instead of using the console in a multi client situation.

#1.1 Eric Sloof (Homepage) on 2010-01-29 18:39 (Reply)

Tom, I think RDP is definitely faster than the Native Console window. Also, in multiuser environments, its not uncommon for me to find the console locked - RDP will just pop a new session and I don't have to inquire about whether the locked console is needed. Not a 'need to have' but definitely a 'nice to have'.

CARLO.

#1.2 Carlo Costanzo (Homepage) on 2010-01-29 18:40 (Reply)

That's a really handy PlugIN! Can't wait to download and test drive. -Carlo.

#2 Carlo Costanzo (Homepage) on 2010-01-29 18:24 (Reply)

Oh, this is great. For my own part "windows key -> mstsc /admin" is second nature and faster than finding the icon on my desktop, but this might just change that! Excellent!

#3 Christian Mohn (Homepage) on 2010-01-29 18:54 (Reply)

Thanks everyone for explaining...I don't have a large ESX environment and my client is in the same subnet as the VMs, so the above issues don't apply to me...

#4 Tom on 2010-01-29 20:17 (Reply)

Great such a plugin was missing for a long time. Sure I like to use it. Excellent! Manfred

#5 Manfred on 2010-01-31 18:42 (Reply)

I am glad that it is being this well received! It will be made available shortly to everyone for free from the www.xtravirt.com website. And Eric thanks for testing!

#6 Paul Davey (Xtravirt) (Homepage) on 2010-02-01 10:57 (Reply)

Excellent tools, but in my opinion it needs a bit of tuning for the vSphere Client to which IP to use in case if VM has got multiple IP Address, such as MSCS or ISA Server Array Clustered. For instance, suppose I have a MSCS cluster, the Resources are on one of the Node, so the Node is dedecting the Original IP, the Shared Public IP and the Private IP. In my case, the MSCS private IP is dedecting in the vi-Client. When I initiate an RDP Connection to the MSCS Node, it picks the Private IP instead of the Public Shared or it's orginal IP. In this case, RDP will not establish the connection. Another one is the ISA Enterprise Array Nodes, one of the ISA Nodes is detecting the DMZ IP Address, and when I initiate the RDP Connection it picks up the DMZ IP instead of the LAN IP in order to connect. Thanks, Habibalby

#7 Habibalby (Homepage) on 2010-02-02 08:05 (Reply)

Thats some great feedback! I will definately work something out for the next revision! Thanks! Paul Davey Xtravirt

#7.1 Paul Davey (Homepage) on 2010-02-02 09:55 (Reply)

looking forward to receive the great news from Xtravirt.com

#7.1.1 Habibalby on 2010-02-02 10:25 (Reply)

Is there possible to use the "DNS name" property instead of IP-address when connecting to VM?

#8 PhoenixUA on 2010-02-04 12:12 (Reply)

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Eric Sloof - NTPRO.NL

Friday, 29 January 2010

Xtravirt vSphere Client RDP Plug-in

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