README.md

README

Known Issues

Perl is a nightmare! Unfortunately vEMan currently depends on several perl
applications and of course the VMware SDK for perl which is really not a
good way publishing software which should run without problems..
My goal is to move all code over to python using the official VMware python SDK
instead of the perl one and forget all that crap.. To do this I need your
help: https://www.gofundme.com/veMan
    
If you encounter issues you can use the GIT repo which may already contain
fixes for your problem and check docs/TROUBLE for problem hunting.

Keep in mind that it may have good reasons why the code in GIT isn't
released yet - so don't await that GIT code is stable!

If you still want to use the development/latest available version:
git clone https://github.com/xdajog/vEMan.git vEMan-git

Requirements

Because vEMan is based on VMware and other great tools you need to ensure that
you have the following installed:

1) VMware SDK for Perl Toolkit  (*) 
2) The VMware ovftool   (**)

Besides the VMware requirements you need to have some standard Linux tools
installed to get vEMan running:

netcat, yad (***), a vncviewer (like http://tigervnc.org/ or similar), openssl,
bash, grep, sed, python, bc, ... 

IMPORTANT - Self-Signed Certificates

You must disable Perl SSL certificate checking when using the default 
self-signed VMWare certificates.

After installing if you start vEMan via the command line (./vEMan) you will get an error
trying to connect.

"DEBUG: Argument given is valid (F_ERR Target said:\n\nServer version unavailable at 
'https://10.10.10.5:443/sdk/vimService.wsdl' at /usr/share/perl/5.18/VMware/VICommon.pm
line 545.\n)"

This will be the similar error if you try to connect directly with CLI without using
vEMan.

"Error: Server version unavailable at 'https://..."

Cause:
This is a minor issue which occured when Perl increased security of certain modules.

Fix:
Change parameter to skip verification of SSL by editing https.pm of the LWP module.

sudo nano /usr/share/perl5/LWP/Protocol/https.pm

Change the value from 1 to 0 on this line:

$ssl_opts{SSL_verify_mode} ||= 1;

The line will look like the one below after your modification.

$ssl_opts{SSL_verify_mode} ||= 0;

Recommended versions

Currently recommended and well tested environment is:

    - VMware SDK for Perl:  v6.0, v5.1 (v5.5 has issues!)
    - ovftool:              v2.0.1 (or 3.x.x/4.x.x when you do NOT want to deploy)
    - yad:                  v0.26
    - python:               v2.7

Other versions may work but if you encounter problems try to upgrade/downgrade
to the above versions first.

Note: If you installed the VMWare Workstation it will likely have included ovftools.
This will cause vEMan to display a notice dialog to inform that the version of ovftool
is unsupported for certain tasks. This is fine and does not affect the functionality
of vEMan if you do not plan to utilize ovf specific features. 

Variables

Please read the INSTALL file before starting vEMan.
You can find a variables file included in this package which you may need
to modify according to your installation (check INSTALL file).

HELP

If you struggle somewhere you can get community help at the vEMan project page
on sourceforge.net!

FAQ in how to get support:
https://sourceforge.net/p/veman/discussion/support/thread/0c98a6f0/
--> YOU NEED TO FOLLOW THOSE STEPS MENTIONED THERE!!

Take also a look to the docs/TROUBLE if you encounter a problem

Footnotes

(*) http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vcli/
    Even if I encountered no problems when using VMware SDK for Perl Toolkit v4.x
    I recommend using v6.0 or 5.1 (when not using ESX 6) for vEMan.
    THERE ARE issues with VMware SDK 5.5 !!
    vEMan is tested with VMware SDK for Perl v6.0 only. 
    That means NOT that previous Perl Toolkits will NOT work anymore - but it
    means I will not TEST previous SDKs anymore..
    
(**) ATTENTION: v2.1.0 doesn't work! Use v2.0 or try any version higher than v2.1.0
	OVFtool v2.0.1 (only one(!) known to work very well) at VMware: 
	https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/get-download?downloadGroup=OVF-TOOL-2-0-1
    (seems to be thrown away by VMware??!)
	Alternative Google search:
	https://www.google.de/search?q=download+vmware-ovftool-2.0.1*.sh
    Untested ovftool v3.0.1 (install this if you are brave or do not want to
    deploy any VMs but using all the other features):
	https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/get-download?downloadGroup=OVF-TOOL-3-0-1
    
(***) yad is a fork of zenity (Homepage: http://code.google.com/p/yad/
    DEB packages available ;o)