VMWare Infrastructure Web Access Address and Port

Posted June 7th, 2009 in VMWare

VMWare Server 2 uses a web browser based system called VMWare Infrastructure Web Access to manage virtual machine configurations etc. This post is simply a reference for the address and port to access the web console.

To access VMWare Infrastructure Web Access go to (the first example will only work if VMWare Server is running on the local machine, and see also the note about Firefox below):

https://localhost:8333/

or

https://hostname:8333/

or

https://123.123.123.123:8333/

Substitute "hostname" for your computer's hostname and 123.123.123.123 for the actual IP address of your computer.

Using localhost on Firefox

Note that going to "localhost" won't work on Firefox so you need to use either the hostname or IP address as per the following error message (at least this was the case for me when testing):

The full text of the error message is "locahost:8333 uses an invalid security certificate. The certificate is not trusted because it is self signed. The certificate in only valid for ... (Error code sec_error_untrusted_issuer).

Error messages - Internet Explorer

The https:// in the address indicates the connection is through a secure server. The secure certificate is "self-signed" so the web browsers throw up error messages when trying to connect. Internet Explorer says:

There is a problem with this website's security certificate.

The security certificate presented by this website was not issued 
by a trusted certificate authority.

Security certificate problems may indicate an attempt to fool you 
or intercept any data you send to the server

This is expected and OK. Simply click the "Continue to this website (not recommended)" link and you are good to go.

Erorr messages - Firefox

Firefox tells you this:

Secure Connection Failed

desktop:8333 uses an invalid security certificate.

The certificate is not trusted because it is self signed.

To continue click the "Or add an exception" link and then click the "Add Exception" button. A new dialog window will open: click the "Get Certificate" button and then "Confirm Security Exception" button at the bottom. Next time you return you won't get the error message.