Enable the vi-user Account

As part of configuration, vMA creates a vi-user account with no password. However, you cannot use the vi-user account until you have specified a vi‑user password.

Important The vi-user account has limited privileges on the target ESXi hosts and cannot run any commands that require sudo execution. You cannot use vi-user to run commands for Active Directory targets (ESXi or vCenter Server). To run commands for the Active Directory targets, use the vi-admin user or log in as an Active Directory user to vMA.

To enable the vi-user account

1	Log in to vMA as vi‑admin.

2	Run the Linux passwd command for vi-user as follows:

sudo passwd vi-user

If this is the first time you use sudo on vMA, a message about root user privileges appears, and you are prompted for the vi-admin password.

3	Specify the vi-admin password.

4	When prompted, type and confirm the password for vi-user.

After the vi-user account is enabled on vMA, it has normal privileges on vMA but is not in the sudoers list.

When you add ESXi target servers, vMA creates two users on each target:

■	vi-admin has administrative privileges on the target system.

■	vi-user has read-only privileges on the target system. vMA creates vi-user on each target that you add, even if vi-user is not currently enabled on vMA.

When a user is logged in to vMA as vi-user, vMA uses that account on target ESXi hosts, and the user can run only commands on target ESXi hosts that do not require administrative privileges.