VM manager configuration parameters

In advanced VM management, connection to each VM manager is created based on the information provided in the configuration files. Apart from specifying mandatory parameters, such as web address, virtualization type, user name, and password, you can also use additional ones to disable VM managers, set the number of login attempts, or allow Hyper-V to share credentials with hosts in the same cluster.

Important: The following settings cannot be changed for the main instance of VM Manager Tool that is installed on the BigFix server. Any changes are overwritten during the next action performed on VM managers. To configure VM managers on the main instance of VM Manager Tool, see: Adding VM managers in central mode.
Table 1. VM manager configuration parametersThe table describes global configuration parameters. For each parameter, there are 2 levels. The first level consists of four columns and provides the unit as well as the default, minimum, and maximum values of the parameter. The second level is common for all four columns and provides a description of the parameter.
Parameter Unit Default Minimum Maximum
Description
vmm_url Web address (URL)

Specifies the web address of the VM manager. You can provide either a full URL, a partial URL, or only a host name or IP address. In the second case, the full address of the VM manager is built based on the selected type of the VM manager and protocol (if specified). HTTPS protocol is used by default.

If you specify only the addresses, the defaults are used:

  • https://virtualcenter/sdk for VMWARE_V_SPHERE
  • https://hyper-v/wsman for MICROSOFT_HYPER_V
  • https://rhv-m:8443/api for KVM_RHV_M
  • 9.2.12 https://Citrix-hypervisor for XEN_MANAGER
  • 9.2.14 https://ovm-m:7002/ovm/core/wsapi/rest for ORACLE_VM
If you do not specify the complete URL but only a protocol, or a port, or a context path, the URL is built based on the following defaults:
  • VMWARE_V_SPHERE - default protocol https, port 443 (for https) or 80 (for http), context path - sdk
  • KVM_RHV_M - default protocol https, port 8443 (for https) or 8080 (for http), context path - api
  • MICROSOFT_HYPER_V - default protocol https, port 443 (for https) or 80 (for http), context path - wsman
  • 9.2.12 XEN_MANAGER - default protocol https, port 443 (for https) or 80 (for http), context path - <empty>
  • 9.2.14 ORACLE_VM - default protocol https, port 7002 (for https) or 80 (for http), context path - /ovm/core/wsapi/rest

If the URL contains the name of a VM manager, the name is resolved to an IP address. However, the full URL, including a port number, is used by the server to identify the VM manager.

Each VM manager must have a different web address, that is, only one entry is allowed for a particular URL. If two or more configuration files duplicate the URL address, only the first file is treated as valid. The remaining files are ignored.

vmm_type Characters
Specifies the type of VM manager. The possible values are:
  • VMWARE_V_SPHERE
  • MICROSOFT_HYPER_V
  • KVM_RHV_M
  • 9.2.12 XEN_MANAGER
  • 9.2.14 ORACLE_VM
vmm_communication_interface Characters POWERSHELL
Specifies the communication interface that is used for communication with Microsoft Hyper-V. This option is supported only when the VM Manager Tool is installed on Windows. On Linux, the value of this parameter is ignored and the NTLM communication is always used. The possible values are:
  • NTLM
  • POWERSHELL
vmm_login Characters
Specifies the user name that is used to access the VM manager.
Important: For Microsoft Hyper-V, you must use the Administrator account.
vmm_password Characters
Specifies the password that is used to access the VM manager. A password that is entered in plain text is immediately encrypted and saved while the configuration files are loaded.
Important: For Microsoft Hyper-V, you must use the Administrator account.
vmm_communication_locked True/false False
Indicates whether the connection to the VM manager is locked. The possible values are:
true
Disables the connection to the VM manager but keeps the configuration file. If the number of failed logging attempts that is specified in the vmm_max_subsequent_login_failures parameter is exceeded, the value of the vmm_communication_locked parameter is automatically set to true.
false
Unlocks communication with the VM manager and resets the count of the subsequent failed logging attempts.
vmm_get_cluster_info_with_shared_credentials True/false False
Indicates whether the same credentials can be used to connect to every host in the same cluster. You can use this parameter only for Microsoft Hyper-V. The possible values are:
true
Uses the same credentials to get information about all other hosts in the same cluster.
false
Set when credentials for every host in the cluster are different. Each host in the same Hyper-V cluster requires a separate configuration file.