A short Javascript application can create a remote HTML Console.

The sample HTML file starts with normal items including a window title. At the beginning of the body it calls css/wmks-all.css, which is a compendium of other CSS format files for the keyboard, trackpad, and screen UI. It then calls Web versions of the jQuery and jQueryUI libraries, and the wmks.min.js program delivered in the SDK.

The HTML console is placed on a Web page by the wmksContainer object, and registered for keyboard and mouse events. After setup, the connect call is made to a Web service secure (wss) URL. You will have to supply this URL manually; it is not automated in the sample code.

Example: HTML file to display remote console. 

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC"-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> 
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> 
<head> 
  <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
  <title>Console</title> 
</head> 
<body>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/wmks-all.css" /> 
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.4.1.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://code.jquery.com/ui/1.12.0/jquery-ui.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="wmks.min.js"></script> 
<div id="wmksContainer" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%"></div> 
<script>
var wmks = WMKS.createWMKS("wmksContainer",{})
  .register(WMKS.CONST.Events.CONNECTION_STATE_CHANGE, function(event,data){
    if(data.state == WMKS.CONST.ConnectionState.CONNECTED){
      console.log("connection state change : connected");}
  });
wmks.connect("wss://ESXi.host.IP.Address:443/ticket/webmksTicket"); 
</script> 
</body>
</html>

This HTML file should be on a machine with Web service, for instance XAMPP or Lighttpd.

Replace ESXi.host.IP.Address with the IP address or fully-qualified hostname of the ESXi host where the virtual machine resides. Your browser must have accepted the security certificate from this ESXi host.

Acquire MKS Ticket with a Browser

To get the webmksTicket, find the vCenter Server that manages the ESXi host. You can get a ticket using the vSphere API (see Acquire MKS Ticket with vSphere API) or with the managed object browser (MOB).

To get a ticket with the MOB:

  1. In a browser go to https://vCenter.Server.IP.Address/mob
  2. Provide your login credentials for [email protected] or another SSO account
  3. Click content > rootFolder (group-dl) > Datacenter > vmFolder
  4. Click the VM number of the virtual machine you want to connect to
  5. Under Methods, click AcquireTicket
  6. Type webmks in the value field and click Invoke Method
  7. Click to show. Copy and paste the ticket string and replace webmksTicket

You can also get a webmksTicket from the ESXi host, but the MOB must be enabled on the ESXi host, as described in KB 2108405, https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2108405.

Once you know the managed object ID (moid) of the virtual machine, you can quickly get another ticket at the following URL. Replace NN with the VM number: 

 https://vCenter.Server.IP.Address/mob/?moid=vm-NN&method=acquireTicket
If you have Windows PowerShell with PowerCLI installed, you can get a ticket as follows: 
PowerCLI C:\> $vm.ExtensionData.AcquireTicket("webmks")

Acquire MKS Ticket with vSphere API

You can get the webmksTicket using a programming language that the Web Services SDK supports, such as Java or C#.

The acquireTicket method creates and returns a one-time credential used to establish a connection to a virtual machine. The webmks ticket type verifies a remote mouse-keyboard-screen connection. It requires VirtualMachine.Interact.ConsoleInteract privilege.

The following Java code returns an MKS ticket, given the managed object reference of a virtual machine and ticket type webmks. 

public
VirtualMachineTicket acquireTicket(final ManagedObjectReference vmMoRef, String ticketType)
throws Exception {
   VirtualMachineTicket vmTicket = null;
   vmTicket = super.getPortType().acquireTicket(vmMor, ticketType);
   return vmTicket;
}

To acquire the MKS ticket with vCloud Director, you can use a REST API call such as: 

POST https://vcloud.example.com/api/vApp/vm-NN/screen/action/acquireMksTicket

Run the HTML Console Sample Code

The sample HTML code should reside on a machine with an HTTP server, in a directory prescribed for Web service. Communicating machines must have accepted security certificates from each other. To use the HTML console, navigate to the location of the sample code.

Once the remote console starts, log in to the virtual machine on its ESXi host, if a login session was not already started.

When you are finished with the HTML Console, you can disconnect and destroy the WMKS component. Both happen automatically when the HTML sample code page is closed.