Users Guide

Table 3. Privileges Required To Manage Server Administrator Services

Service User Privilege Level Required

View Manage

Instrumentation User, Power User, Administrator,

Elevated Administrator

Power User, Administrator,

Elevated Administrator

Remote Access User, Power User, Administrator,

Elevated Administrator

Administrator, Elevated

Administrator

Storage Management User, Power User, Administrator,

Elevated Administrator

Administrator, Elevated

Administrator

Authentication

The Server Administrator authentication scheme ensures that the correct access types are assigned to the

correct user privileges. Additionally, when the command line interface (CLI) is invoked, the Server

Administrator authentication scheme validates the context within which the current process is running.

This authentication scheme ensures that all Server Administrator functions, whether accessed through

the Server Administrator home page or CLI, are properly authenticated.

Microsoft Windows Authentication

On supported Microsoft Windows operating systems, Server Administrator uses Integrated Windows

Authentication (formerly called NTLM) to authenticate. This authentication system allows Server

Administrator security to be incorporated in an overall security scheme for your network.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux And SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Authentication

On supported Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server operating systems, Server

Administrator uses various authentication methods based on the Pluggable Authentication Modules

(PAM) library. Users can log in to Server Administrator either locally or remotely using different account

management protocols, such as LDAP, NIS, Kerberos, and Winbind.

VMware ESX Server 4.X Authentication

VMware ESX Server uses the Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) structure for authentication when

users access the ESX Server host. The PAM configuration for VMware services stores paths to the

authentication modules and is located at /etc/pam.d/vmware-authd.

The default installation of ESX Server uses /etc/passwd authentication, similar to Linux, but you can

configure ESX Server to use another distributed authentication mechanism.

NOTE: On systems running VMware ESX Server 4.x operating system, to login to Server

Administrator, all users require Administrator privileges. For information on assigning roles, see the

VMware documentation.

VMware ESXi Server 5.X Authentication

ESXi Server authenticates users accessing ESXi hosts using the vSphere/VI Client or Software

Development Kit (SDK). The default installation of ESXi uses a local password database for authentication.

ESXi authentication transactions with Server Administrator are also direct interactions with the vmware-

hostd process. To make sure that authentication works efficiently for your site, perform basic tasks such