[Guide]VMware ESX 4.1 and 5.0 Active Directory Integration
vSphere 4.1 offers the ability to use Active Directory for authentication. With AD integration you can use your normal domain user accounts that poses admin rights already to authenticate with your ESX. There are a couple of different ways that you can enable AD integration ( vSphere client, vCLI, scripting or Host Profiles). In this post I will cover the method through vSphere client.
Step 1: Connect to your host directly with the vSphere client. Click on the Configuration Tab. Then select the “Advanced Services” selection from the Software box on the lower left. Then you click on the “Properties” link that is shown in the picture below.
In the select “Service Type” drop down you will need to select “Active Directory”. The in the Domain field you need to type in the name of your domain that you will be connecting to. Next step is to click the “Join Domain” button and you will be presented with an authentication window. Enter your authentication details to join ESX boc to AD server.
After successfully entering your logon ID your ESXi host is added to the Domain.
Now that your VMware host was added to the domain you can now add users or groups to the Permissions tab. You can see below once on the Permissions area you right click and select “Add Permission”
Select the Administrator role from the section pointed out in the image below. click the Add button on the left side to pick your User or Group from the Active Directory connection.
Select your Domain from the domain drop down list at the top of the window shown below.
Once you have select the Domain that you integrated with you will be presented with a list of Users and Groups. You should select your User/Group and press the Add button and then click OK…
Now that you have added your Domain account or group you will see it in the lists of users as shown below.
Now Close your vSphere Client and connect it back using your newly configured Active Directory Integration. Now you have two ways to enter your Domain login credentials ( Domain\user or user@domain.com)
