Flings
Apps and tools built by our engineers that are intended to be played with and explored.

Ops Panel for ESX

Ops Panel for ESX

Summary

The Operations Panel is a script tool which runs on the client browser and extends the default ESX server web page with a short list of all available virtual machines. It gives the user the ability to perform simple power operations (start, stop, suspend, resume). The user interface is easily accessible for the most common operations on an ESX host, and is available directly from the ESX home page.

System Requirements

Firefox browser with Greasemonkey extension, or Internet Explorer 7(+) with Greasemonkey for IE.

Instructions

Installation Instructions for Firefox:

  • Install Greasemonkey userscript extension to your Firefox browser (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748).
  • Install the Operations Panel for ESX script. Open the script URL in the browser (or drag and drop it, if you have downloaded it to your computer).
  • Go to http://your.esx.host -- the front-page of any of your ESX hosts (substitute the ip or dns name of your ESX host).

Installation Instructions for Internet Explorer:

  • Install Greasemonkey for IE (http://www.gm4ie.com/download.html).
  • Install the Operations Panel for ESX script, using the provided esxPanel.gm4ie file.
  • Go to http://your.esx.host -- the front-page of any of your ESX hosts (substitute the ip or dns name of your ESX host).

Video

Change Log

Engineers

Ivan Donchev

Works in the VIM Platform and Solutions group.

Add Comment

7 thoughts on “Ops Panel for ESX

    1. Giovanni Minniti

      I tried to run the GM script under Linux using FF 3.6.28 and GM 0.9.18 pointing to a fresh patched ESXi 4.1U1 box.
      Apparently it does not work. Do I something wrong with it?
      Please advice how to get this script up & running.
      Thx.

      Reply
      1. Ivan Donchev

        Could you check for errors in the javascript error console?
        Should be available by pressing Ctrl-Shift-J on FF.
        Or you can install the Firebug extension, for a more advanced console.

        Reply
  1. Joachim Heppner

    This sounds very interesting but we are a ESXi shop. Any plans on having this working for ESXi?

    Reply
  2. Ivan Donchev

    Yes, it is pure javascript, making http calls to the MOB for data and for operations. Greasemonkey is responsible to start the script on page load. If the script was included in the ESX frontpage html, it would not require Greasemonkey at all.

    It is not intended to replace webAccess, but only to extend the ESX front page with some server specific information, which gives a very quick answer to questions like “what VMs were on this server” and “is my VM powered on”.

    There was some temporary problem with the images for the download buttons. They must have been fixed now. Thanks for the alert!

    Reply
  3. William Lam

    Hello,

    Using FF 3.5.9 I’m unable to see or get prompted to download the greasemonkey plugin? I can however when using IE7?

    I noticed this only works on ESX, since ESX has webAccess page this would definitely be useful on ESXi, any plans on adding this feature? I’ve not looked at gresemonkey files, but I’m assuming this is going through the MOB and creating the appropriate URL calls to perform the basic VM operations?

    –William

    Reply

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