Problems with VMware Web Access

I’ve been working with VMware Server version 2.0 and I got surprised with the new web access interface that reminded me the web interface of Microsoft Virtual Server (a very nice interface in my opinion); but I had the great idea to upgrade my VMware Server to version 2.0.1 and problems began… I wasn’t able to access the shiny VMware Web Access 🙁

My first workaround was to access the VMWare Web Access page locally in my virtual machines’ server (because using localhost I always was able to use that feature); but It was a problem having to log-in remotely to the server every time  I wanted to manage the virtual machines; so after some googling I found another fix for my problem, not the best one but I don’t have to connect to the server all times.

Here is the solution:

1. Edit your HOSTS file and add explicitly the IP address and URL of you server, for example:

   127.0.0.1       localhost #this is always by default
   209.191.93.52   your.virtualserver.com

2. Restart you computer (Maybe it is not necessary, but this is how computers work :P)
3. Open your Web browser (I use Firefox) and enter the following URL:

   https://your.virtualserver.com:8333/ui/#

   Put special attention to the /#…despite it sounds crasy, it works!!!… I’m read that the issue could be due to a bug with the tomcat server that uses VMware server, maybe that /# is a special command or something like this, I’m not sure, the fact is that it works!

If this chapuza (means like workaround in spanish :P) doesn’t work, restart your server. Despite using this chapuza there are some times that I still have the same problem, in order to avoid it, I just press CTRL + F5 to refresh the webpage and it works. By the way, I also read that there are some special issues if you are using Internet Explorer or Chrome, so be aware.

Well, I hope this could help someone of wasting time as I was.