Hi, The main issue here is console output is done as graphics so no access to that, prior to ESX people could connect via a serial console and it worked fine. I know a few people in this situation, we have had it in the Windows world for years but it has come to the Linux world now with virtual machines. Andrew. ________________________________________ From: Blind-sysadmins [blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] on behalf of Chris Turner via Blind-sysadmins [blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] Sent: 03 April 2017 20:48 To: Blind sysadmins list Cc: Chris Turner Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Access to vmware ESX 5.5 (both gui and VM guest console) Hi. You all know a lot more about this stuff than me, I'm just using it at home. But I use vmware esxi 6 on an HP server. The webgui works but definitely has issues. Especially when trying to alter hardware settings for a vm. JAWS won't read the values in combo boxes. Fortunately I can connect via Workstation and change this stuff there. I guess this isn't an option in the real world with firewalls and policies in the way. I'll be folowing this. Have no experience with puppet and alike. Regards. Chris Turner On 01/04/2017 15:45, Ryan Hutchings wrote:
Hi all,
I recently joined the list, as I came across it while researching the above subject.
I am a Linux system administrator in the UK, and contract out my services to various companies.
A few places I have worked in predominantly use virtual machines for their servers, via vmware ESX 5.5.
I have found access to both the GUI of vmware ESX (which is done via a web interface which uses inaccessible flash) and Virtual machine consoles themselves, to be nearly impossible to use with a screen reader (have tried both JAWS and NVDA).
Supposedly, vmware ESX 6.0 has improved the accessibility of its web interface, but I haven't come across a company who uses ESX 6.0 yet, and the ones that I have worked for that use 5.5 have been reluctant to upgrade because of the perceived risk, virtual machine migration and so on.
I have tried using the virtual console on Linux machines and network serial port access on vmware ESX (which I had to get sighted colleagues to setup), but this caused issues for sighted people who then wanted to use machines via the main vmware guest console.
This meant that I had to enable serial port access when initially setting up a machine (via kickstart), and then disable the serial port once I had done the setup, both these tasks requiring sighted assistance.
Have any of you had experience with using Vmware guest consoles / the vmware ESX 5.5 GUI with a screen reader?
I have used vmware workstation and vmware player at home several times to run my own virtual machines, but I was able to access most machines via ssh and telnet.
At the compaies I have worked at, ssh/telnet access is blocked for initial kicking of a machine, and is only available once machine configuration is complete.
I have also explored using powershell and ruby esx interfaces to ESX via the command line, but these do not allow booting a machine via PXE for example, which is required for initial machine setup using kick start over a network.
Many thanks for any advice,
Ryan Hutchings
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