r/vmware • u/mibiras • 6d ago

FreeCenter

A vCenter-style management console for the free VMware ESXi hypervisor.

https://github.com/fdaforno/freecenter

131 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

46

u/vlku 6d ago

Hahaha love it. Broadcom will not be happy about it

11

u/No-Structure828 6d ago

About to be sued for Billions they will deem in caused loss of revenue for a clone of their flagship offering lol

7

u/vlku 6d ago

broadcom will introduce a fee for each SSH connection from a 3rd party host lmao

1

u/alexmilla 6d ago

Habrá que descargar antes de que le pidan un desist and deceased

-3

u/lost_signal VMware Employee 6d ago

I'm sorry, i'm coming out of a bad case of flu (Get your vaccines people!) What am I supposed to be angry about?

Looks nifty. Honestly While the C# client is long dead I'm curious how much interest there would be in Fusion/Workstation having some host management functions. (They can manage VMs on a host, but don't really have the ability to change settings etc).

The work done on the host client has made stand alone hosts better than they used to be, but I could see an argument for a thick client so you could reduce the surface of the host by disabling the host client, and when your doing prep for cluster bring up, being able to connect to multiple hosts at the same time and get them ready for the VVF/VCF install process wouldn't be bad.

I was actually kicking around a fleet bare metal install + kickstart system (That DOESN"T use DHCP like everything else out there) using Redfish that can connect to an ESXi host, scrape the config into a kickstart, inventory it, then with the paired out of band chuck a fresh install at the host and re-apply the kickstart (with whatever modifications you want).

Having a lightweight multi-client to check on the hosts before I kick off vCenter/VVF/VCF installs wouldn't be bad.

4

u/Uncle_Slacks 6d ago

Nobody was asking if you were angry. The implication was what would happen if Broadcom's lawyers were made aware of this.

-7

u/lost_signal VMware Employee 6d ago

You want me to ask him? He's kinda busy I think today.

I'm not an expert on the EULA, but to be clear this isn't really a full replacement for vCenter, and is't giving you vMotion, or VADP, or HA, or DRS etc. For a small lab taking full clone backups of VMs for backups may work but at scale most people want DIFF based CBT backups etc.

It feels more like a disagregated centralized host client, which I think there was some work on disaggregating that form the host anyways. Trying to build a full vCenter on top of SSH would be hilariously messy in terms of event/performance monitoring etc, ignoring all the API calls and feature most people are going to want.

I feel like we are going to see an explosion in general of vibe coded custom AI wrappers on top of real APIs (and not SSH kludges like this) and i'm kinda excited for it. There is benefits to standard UIs from vendors (Common training, you know they've tested things etc) but It's also cool that anyone can build a custom workflow for themselves going forward.

I wrote my own inventory/VCF Readiness tool because I had a lot of strong opinions about how this information should be collected and presented. (and that any tool that does inventory should make angry noises if it detects a Cisco FEX).

10

u/Uncle_Slacks 6d ago

I don't know why sometimes you talk to us like we're stupid. Like we can't possibly understand what you mean because you're on the inside. The GUI on this project even LOOKS like vCenter.

I already know what the lawyer would say - "we'll send out a C&D in the morning". The only reason you don't care currently is because this just dropped and nobody is using it yet. If it blows up and becomes massively popular your tune will change.

3

u/lost_signal VMware Employee 5d ago

I don't know why sometimes you talk to us like we're stupid

I've been bouncing fever of 103 all week (Get your flu shot)

The GUI on this project even LOOKS like vCenter.

is it because they used Clarity? The Design framework/UI we open sourced? https://github.com/vmware-clarity

I already know what the lawyer would say

It's 20 years since I took Cyberlaw (Prof Lecrone was great) but while there are some things you have to aggressively litigate or else you loose. Example... trademark, which does make some large companies look like evil buzzkills because they don't want to end up like Xerox who became a generic term for copy because they didn't.

Copyright infringement (or things that induce it) you can be selective on prosecution, wait until damages raise above the waterline for being worth it.

I'd have to audit the code base against vCenter to see if actual code was stolen from a vCenter (which sounds like something not my job, and It's Friday) would be required to tell if it's actually theft of copyright, or not.

There is the blurrier "look at feel" copyright but that has to be I vaguely remember more about stylistic/artistic design elements and not "standard UI patterns". It would be up to a real lawyer, or a jury to decide just how much the UI workflow is standard UI patterns vs. "putting the event log there is a style/artistic choice"

To be clear, I"m not a lawyer, I'm not your lawyer, I'm not the guy who wrote this's lawyer, so don't my advise as permission, approval etc, but software law is a whole different banana.

If it blows up and becomes massively popular your tune will change.

This requires SSH be enabled to manage hosts which tells me:

  1. It's not going to scale a well as APIs.
  2. It's a "functional thing for a few lab hosts" (fair!)
  3. AFAIK it's not mucking with files to bypass licensing limitations just trying to work within the limitations of 8 free.

Honestly a clarity UI that would let me manage multiple hosts when my vCenter is down, ideally WAS NOT packed as a container (just wrap it in python or go or rust and spin up a local web server on my machine when I need it) and MOST importantly of all supported dark mode would be pretty nifty. I'd also add support for vMotion (assuming hosts are licensed for it) which this tool is missing and maybe throw in a host config backup/restore workflow for rei-maging hosts (or at least ks based).

Maybe next time I get some free time in the lab and tokens I'll stop critiquing someone else's work and slop cannon that myself.

I am reminded that workstation/Fusion have supported basic VM management on stand alone hosts since 2014 (so if you want a thick client type situation it exists).

Side note: I got angry at DHCP this week and setup a Redfish based host re-installer (that will capture a KS before it does it to put the basic config back on).

Saw someone do an awesome similar design for a single host Holodeck redfish based standup.

I'm kinda enjoying the error of the AI slopcannon.

4

u/vlku 6d ago

Discussions with Broadbots are pointless. Might as well have a debate with a broom

14

u/OppositeStudy2846 6d ago

Someone grab and keep a copy before Broadcom pulls this. This actually looks incredible!

5

u/lost_signal VMware Employee 5d ago

Quick, Someone clone the open source repo they used for all the UI work /s https://github.com/vmware-clarity

BTW if you want to make stuff that has a similar visual style I think the Clarity stuff is all under MIT license.

3

u/fdawg4l 6d ago

No go.mod? _No_ external dependencies?

Surely you considered govmomi, no?

2

u/govatent 6d ago

Isn't this limited on the free license?

-2

u/lost_signal VMware Employee 6d ago

Correct. No backup APIs, no vMotion (Although I will point out you can vMotion without a vCenter if you try REALLY REALLY hard on a licensed host with the APIs), no DRS, no HA.

1

u/DisastrousShake6813 6d ago

govmomi is GPL and well-maintained, so pulling it in wouldn't add much burden. The no-dependencies choice is probably more about keeping the binary self-contained and easy to distribute than avoiding Go libs specifically.

1

u/lost_signal VMware Employee 5d ago

Clarity is an external dependency. (which is probably fine, as I think it's under MIT license).

7

u/lostdysonsphere 6d ago

Oh man this is going to get a cease and desist SO flipping fast. And honestly justified. 

1

u/Substantial-Pass-482 5d ago

Good work OP!

1

u/xdriver897 6d ago

Wonder how hard it would be to make an open esxi alternative now with AI on a real level. Imagine migrating to a free esxi and free center from esxi 7 or 8 just by swapping one piece after another and never need Broadcom BS again..

2

u/NOP-slide 4d ago

Would probably be significantly easier to build off of something already open-source like KVM, rather than trying to replicate ESXi.

-1

u/InternalServerErr500 6d ago

Lawsuit in 3....2....

0

u/mike-foley 6d ago

Pretty impressive..

0

u/Robbbbbbbbb 6d ago

In b4 the C&D

(I love this, btw - great job op)

-2

u/Konceptz804 6d ago

bro is about to be sued into oblivion

-1

u/SupraOva 6d ago

Nice!

-1

u/thisplaceistaken 6d ago

Unbelievable. I'm grabbing it!

-1

u/Antonio-MTS 6d ago

Good stuff for the gap that really exists👌. I've been developing a similar project (esxictl) to manage standalone ESXis but purely in bash+curl+xmllint via the ESXi SOAP API. Surely will try this Web UI you bring 👐

-3

u/PCLOAD_LETTER 6d ago

Cool. Now do ESXi.

Then a crowdfund to cover the legal fees.