Hi Andrew,
We do use packer along with kickstart files that are stored on a network
server; virtual machines are then instructed to boot from PXE to kick
(install os), and then we have a postinstall script executed after the os is
installed, which installs puppet and configures iptables, ssh etc after
which point I have ssh access and can connect to the machines.
However, there are two issues.
1. If the machine fails halfway through kickstart and I need to get onto the
machine to see what the problem is, I am unable to, as ssh is not yet setup.
2. When powering the virtual machine one, I am unable to get into the menu
that allows one to select "network boot" or "pxe" - this is a vmware option
as aposed to a option in the guest itself, and is done by pressing f12 just
as the VM is powering on.
I tried to see if powershell or ruby vmware cli tools could automate
pressing f12 at the appropriate time, but alas, it cannot.
I have been thinking of looking into AWS and maybe moving more towards that
sideo f things, since that is the future of virtual machine deployment
anyway, and seems, on the face of it, to be more accessible.
Incidentally, does AWS work well with screen readers?
As a note, we use Redhat enterprise Linux 6 at the particular company I am
working in at the moment; this does not allow initiating an install via ssh,
whereas some distributions of Linux do, such as debian.
If I was able to initiate the install via ssh I could monitor the kickstart
via that.
Thanks,
Ryan
-----Original Message-----
From: Blind-sysadmins
[mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Andrew
Hodgson
Sent: 01 April 2017 21:35
To: Blind sysadmins list
Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Access to vmware ESX 5.5 (both gui and VM
guest console)
Hi,
There is no real way of accessing ESX consoles with speech since they use a
graphical representation of the screen.
I believe the way forward for us is to use automation as much as possible to
get us a working system without having to resort to console access. I
realise this is quite a different story in most companies, for example the
work I am doing for the people I work for I am in the automation team, which
is working in AWS, and completely separate from the rest of the business
using ESX with a very different workflow.
I am typically using Packer to create images in code, then those are
deployed to VMs and I can then use those going forward with SSH or something
else.
I would recommend looking at Packer with ESX if you can to see if that will
help you with your workflow.
Andrew.
-----Original Message-----
From: Blind-sysadmins
[mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan
Hutchings
Sent: 01 April 2017 15:46
To: blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org
Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] Access to vmware ESX 5.5 (both gui and VM guest
console)
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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