Stop logging me out of the vSphere Web Client!!

I know VMware has increase the default timeout value in vSphere 5.5 & higher to 120 minutes, but for me, slowly prying my cold dead fingers off the old .NET, C# Windows vSphere Client, it's not long enough ... so here's how to increase it.

I'm pulling the basic information from KB 2040626.  Click here.

Increasing the VMware vSphere Web Client session timeout period

Changes need to be performed on the server/VM hosting vCenter Server.

File locations depending on version:

     vCenter Server 5.x
     Windows 2003 – %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\VMware\vSphere Web Client
     Windows 2008/2012 – %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\VMware\vSphere Web Client
     VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) – /var/lib/vmware/vsphere-client

     vCenter Server 6.x
     Windows 2008/2012 – C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-client
     VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) – /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/

Add this line to the file:

          Note: If the line already exists, verify that the line does not contain a hash (#).

    session.timeout = value
          where value is the timeout value in minutes.

          For example, to set the timeout value to 300 minutes, add the line:

    session.timeout = 300
          Note: To set the client to never time out, specify a negative value or 0.

Restart the vSphere Web Client Services: 

• In Windows operating systems, restart the VMware vSphere Web Client service.
• In the VCSA (vCenter Server Appliance), restart the vsphere-client service.

Note: To restart the vSphere Web Client Service, run these commands:

In the vCenter Server Appliance 5.x:
/etc/init.d/vsphere-client restart

In vCenter Server Appliance 6.x:
service-control --stop vsphere-client
service-control --start vsphere-client

Increasing the VMware vSphere Web Client session timeout period

vSphere Data Protection End-of-Life (VDP EOL) & Goodbye 3rd Party Switches

Well, needing massive changes, VMware's vSphere Data Protection Appliance, even with the addition of the features from VDP Advanced, has proven no match for the plethora of backup Solutions currently on the market.

As a result they have announced the following:

vSphere Data Protection: End of Life

VMware is discontinuing VMware vSphere Data Protection (VDP), a general purpose backup product included with vSphere. VMware vSphere 6.5 is the last release which includes the VDP product.

All existing VDP installations with active Support and Subscription (SnS) will continue to be supported until their End of General Support (EOGS) date. Learn more.

Additionally, they have made this announcement about 3rd Party vSwitches:

Notify Customers: Update on vSphere 3rd Party vSwitch Support

VMware is discontinuing the third party virtual switch (vSwitch) program.
VMware will continue to support the 3rd party virtual switch APIs, and the enablement of a partner's use of these APIs up to the vSphere 6.5 Update 1 and prior vSphere versions, as long as an active support and subscription services contract exists.

All vSphere releases and vSphere 6.5 Update 1 will no longer have third party vSwitch APIs and third party vSwitches will no longer work. View these FAQs to learn more and encourage your customers to migrate to vSphere Distributed Switch using our free tool.

New vSphere 6.0 Version Release this week!

VMware Releases vCenter Server 6.0 Update 3a 

Here's What's New in this release:

What's New

The vCenter Server 6.0 Update 3a release addresses an Apache Struts security vulnerability documented in the Resolved Issues section listed here:

Resolved Issues

• Update to Apache Struts
  Apache Struts is updated to version 2.3.32 to resolve CVE-2017-5638.

The rest of the detail can be found in the Release Notes: Here

===============================================================

If you missed what vSphere 6.0 Update 3 included here's the What's New from it:

What's New

• Support for Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol: Support for TLSv 1.0, TLSv 1.1, and TLSv 1.2 are enabled by default and configurable for vCenter Server 6.0 Update 3.
  • VMware Syslog Collector on vCenter Server Appliance supports TLSv1.0 only.
  • To configure TLSv 1.0, TLSv 1.1and TLSv 1.2, see KB 2148819.
  • For VMware products supported for TLSv1.0 disablement and the use of TLSv1.1, TLSv1.2, see KB 2145796.
  • Download the TLS configuration script from the Product Download page
  • For known issues related to the TLS protocol, see KB 2148819.

• External database support: vCenter Server now supports the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 3.


• Changes in command-line templates and strings: Updates to command-line interface templates and strings. For information about the changes in the CLI installer, see VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 3 CLI Installer Changelog. For information about deploying and upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance, read the Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of the VMware vCenter Server Appliance.


• Windows to Linux migration support: With installation and upgrade, migration from vCenter Server Windows 5.5.x to vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 3 is supported. Read the vSphere Migration documentation for more information on migrating VMware vCenter Server to vCenter Server Appliance.


• Updates to time zones in the Linux guest operating system customization: vCenter Server Linux guest operating system customization supports latest time zones. For more information on time zone changes and daylight saving time (DST) changes in Linux guest operating systems, see the Time Zone Database by Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).


• Updates to time zones in the Windows guest operating system customization: vCenter Server Windows guest operating systems customization supports the latest time zones. For more information on time zone changes and daylight saving time (DST) changes in Windows guest operating systems, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 3162835.


• Platform Services Controller: Platform Services Controller of vCenter Server Appliance is installed with 4 GB of memory by default, for fresh install and while upgrading from 5.5.x to 6.0 Update 3.


• Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) over User Datagram Protocol (UDP) for Kerberos operations: For improved performance, use Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) over User Datagram Protocol (UDP) for Kerberos operations when it is a part of the Active Directory. To enable this feature, leave and join a domain for a minor update:
  1. Update your setup to 6.0 Update 3
  2. Leave and join a domain so that udp_preference_limit entry appears in /etc/krb5.conf
  Note: It is applicable for vCenter Server Appliance only. The current setting may remain functional if no operation is performed.
• Resolved Issues: This release of vCenter Server 6.0 Update 3 addresses issues that are documented in the Resolved Issues section.

The rest of the detail can be found in the Release Notes: Here

Please comment on adoption of these updates...