How to Change Remote Connections to Virtual Machines on a Host

  • Article

Applies To: Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1

When you add a Windows Server-based host to Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) by using the Add Hosts Wizard, remote connections to virtual machines on that host are enabled by default, and the default remote control connection port is obtained from the General Settings in Administration view. After a Windows Server-based host has been added, you can change the remote connection settings in the Host properties. You set the default port in General Settings in Administration view. For more information, see How to Configure Remote Access to Virtual Machines.

Important

By default, encryption for VMRC connections is not enabled when a Virtual Server host is added. To enable encryption for VMRC connections, you must modify the remote connection host properties in the VMM Administrator Console.

To modify remote connection settings on a Hyper-V host

  1. In Hosts view, navigate to the host group that contains the host you want to modify and then, in the results pane, double-click the host.

  2. Click the Remote tab.

  3. To enable or disable remote connections, select or clear the Allow remote connections to virtual machines on this host check box.

  4. If remote connections are enabled, in the Remote connections port box, set the port that VMM will use to communicate with virtual machines on the Hyper-V host. The default port is 2179; you can enter any value from 1 to 65535.

    Note

    You do not need to add a firewall exception for the port.

To modify remote connection settings on a Virtual Server host

  1. In Hosts view, navigate to the host group that contains the host you want to modify and then, in the results pane, double-click the host.

  2. Click the Remote tab.

  3. To enable or disable remote connections, select or clear the Allow remote connections to virtual machines on this host check box.

    Note

    If you disable remote connections, all other configuration options become unavailable.

  4. If remote connections are enabled, in the Remote connections port box, set the port that VMM will use to communicate with virtual machines on the Virtual Server host. The default port is 5900; you can enter any value from 1 to 65535.

    Note

    You do not need to add a firewall exception for the port.

  5. If you would like to allow multiple users to access virtual machines on this host, select the Allow multiple VMRC connections check box. For more information about allowing multiple connections, see About Virtual Machine Remote Control.

  6. If you would like to enforce a time-out for VMRC connections, select the Enable remote connection timeout check box and then specify the time-out interval. The default time-out interval is 15 minutes; you can enter any value from 1–600.

  7. If you would like to encrypt VMRC remote connections for this host, select the Secure remote connection with this host check box. This option enables Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption by using an unsigned certificate from Virtual Server.

    Important

    It is recommended that you implement SSL security for VMRC remote connections, particularly if you use Basic authentication, which transmits passwords in plain text.

  8. If you would like to use a signed certificate from a certification authority to implement SSL encryption, do one of the following:

    1. Click Upload or replace certificate and then click Browse to upload or to replace a certificate.

    2. Click Generate Certificate Request to open the Secure VMRC Certificate Request dialog box. Then, perform the following steps to generate a certificate request file that you can send to a certification authority to obtain a certificate to upload:

      1. In the appropriate boxes, type information about your organization.

        Important

        Do not type more than two characters in the Country/Region box, or more than 64 characters in any other box. If you exceed these limits, the certificate request file is created but is not valid for creating a certificate from a certification authority.

      2. In the Key length list, choose the level of encryption you would like the certificate to use. The default key length is 512 bits; you can select 1024, 2048, or 4096 bits from the list.

        Note

        You can generate a certificate request with a key length greater than 4096 bits by using the New-VMRCCertificateRequest cmdlet in Windows PowerShell - Virtual Machine Manager command shell. For more information about using the Windows PowerShell - Virtual Machine Manager command shell, see Windows PowerShell Scripting in Virtual Machine Manager (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=91727). Generating a certificate request with a key length over 4096 bits might take a long time. You can track the progress of the process in Jobs view.

      3. In the Save request file to box, type the file path and file name for the certificate file, or click Browse to navigate to a folder, type the file name, and then click Save.

      4. Click Generate to generate the certificate request file.

        Note

        Generating a certificate request might take a long time, especially if you use a larger key length.

See Also

Concepts

About Virtual Machine Remote Control
How to Configure Remote Access to Virtual Machines
Modifying the Properties of a Host
How to Add Hosts in an Active Directory Domain
How to Add Hosts on a Perimeter Network