Connections from Client to CIM Server

If your client fails to complete a connection to a CIM server, use these suggestions to help verify the connection parameters and the health of the CIM server.

Using SLP

Check the connection parameters using an SLP client (available on the Web). Run the SLP client on the same subnetwork as the managed server. Verify that the managed server advertises the expected CIM service and the correct URL.

Using a Web Browser

To verify that you can reach the CIM service at the advertised location, connect to the managed server with a Web browser. Use a URL of the form https://<cim-server.mydomain.com>:5989/ (substituting the name of the actual server), and verify that the server is responding on the expected port. Port 5989 is the default port for CIM-XML connections, but your installation might be different.

Using a Command-Line Interface

Using a command-line interface allows you to bypass any issues related to the correct invocation of the interface functions in a programmatic client.

For convenient interactive access to a CIM server, install wbemcli, available from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=128809. Using wbemcli, you can invoke CIM operations from a shell.

To access a CIM server using the WS-Management protocol, install the wsmancli package, available from http://sourceforge.net/projects/openwsman/. Using the wsman command-line interface, you can invoke CIM operations from a shell.

Verifying User Authentication Credentials

If you are certain that the connection parameters are correct, verify the authentication parameters. To complete a connection, you must authenticate as a user that is known to the managed server.

Connect to the managed server through the console and check that your root password is correct. Then use that password to authenticate as the root user from your client.

Note If the managed server is in lockdown mode, you must authenticate using a CIM ticket obtained from vCenter Server. See CIM Authentication for Lockdown Mode for more information about using a CIM ticket to authenticate.

Rebooting the Server

If all your connection parameters are correct and you are certain of your authentication credentials but you still cannot complete a connection, reboot the managed server or restart the management agents on the server.

Using Correct Client Samples

If you are using sample clients supplied by VMware, check the documentation to be sure that the samples are intended to work with the CIM server to which you are trying to connect. The samples might hard-code parameters, such as the port and namespace, that affect the connection.

For example, the C++ code in the CIM Storage Management API Programming Guide connects to the CIM server included with ESX Server 3.0, but does not connect to the CIM server included with ESX 4 or later.

Using Other CIM Client Libraries

VMware does not test all available CIM client libraries with ESXi. If your CIM client cannot connect to the CIM server, try writing a test client for a different library. For example, http://.sourceforge.net has a number of CIM client libraries available.

Using the WS-Management Library

If you are unable to find a satisfactory client library to make a WBEM connection, use WS-Management. ESXi 6.5 includes a WS-Man server to support CIM operations.

VMware recommends using the Web Services for Management Perl Library for WS-Man clients. This library is included with the VMware vSphere SDK for Perl version 1.6 or higher. See http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/sdk_pubs.html for more information about the vSphere SDK for Perl.