I hope to gather together a collection of odd/unusual/specific programs that make a VMware administrator’s life easier.

1. I was at a client with the host in the DMZ and I needed to transfer files to a VM to enable SSL (zip of SSL key files) but the server was running Windows 2008 R2 and since it was in a DMZ it was pretty locked down.  No transfer via download from a trusted web server, or a secure file sharing site, or even from the clients own inside LAN.  So what does the vSphere client console support – client CD/DVD (ISO’s and physical devices), but how to share a local folder as a CD/DVD drive?  Freeware to the answer –> SoftwareFolder2Iso – http://www.trustfm.net/divx/SoftwareFolder2Iso.php which takes a folder and spits out an ISO file.  Did not play with it a whole lot but for my need it was perfect.  Yes I know I could have burned a disk of the files or used a R/W disk and shared that but this tool is better and I do not have to worry about safely destroying the physical media.

2. How would you like the entire VMware documentation website with PDF’s on you local machine?  I found myself without access to the internet at a client (MiFi couldn’t get a signal in the bowels of the building) but needing to look up an issue?  Now this is not as good as having off-line access to Google search but at least you have the sum of the documentation for VMware.  So head on over to xtravirt (registration required) and download the VMware Documentation Downloader (http://xtravirt.com/vmware-documentation-downloader) and check for a new version after VMware product releases.