So near and yet so far! Once I'd configured my MAAS machines to use the https+unverified VMWare option I was able to see whether they were powered on or off. But I was still not able to Power them On or Off through MAAS (or more importantly Commission them). It turned out that this option is not available in the free ESXi - the rackd.log told all:
'Current license or ESXi version prohibits execution of the requested operation.'
So near and yet so far! Once I'd configured my MAAS machines to use the https+unverified VMWare option I was able to see whether they were powered on or off. But I was still not able to Power them On or Off through MAAS (or more importantly Commission them). It turned out that this option is not available in the free ESXi - the rackd.log told all:
'Current license or ESXi version prohibits execution of the requested operation.'