In addition to the desktop client there is also a vSphere web client available (at least since 5.5). Beware that in the future (past version 6.0) the desktop client might be discontinued and the vSphere web client might become the default to interact with the servers. The vSphere Web Client (Flex/Flash version) is already ahead of the legacy C# client in terms of feature parity. The vSphere Client (HTML5) version will take quite some time to achieve feature parity, and VMware is not able to project this at the moment. VMware has goals of having a better C# Client Replacement by the first half of 2016. Aug 23, 2019 The vSphere Client is a cross-platform application that can connect only to vCenter Server. It has a full range of administrative functionality and an extensible plug-in-based architecture. Typical users are virtual infrastructure administrators, help desk, network operations center operators, and virtual machine owners. VMware vSphere 6.0 is available exclusively on the vSphere ESXi hypervisor architecture. ESXi is the latest hypervisor architecture from VMware and, as of the vSphere 4.1 release, VMware’s recommended best practice when deploying VMware vSphere. Users can upgrade to ESXi (from ESX) as part of an upgrade to vSphere 6.0.
Just installing a fancy new VMware ESXi host(s) won’t do you any good if you can’t manage it. You need to set up the VMware vSphere Client or the vSphere web client!
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install and set up each type of vSphere client. You will learn which client types exist and how to select the right one for the respective scenario.
Keyboard shortcuts allow you to navigate quickly or perform a task in the vSphere Client. Provide Feedback with the vSphere Client You can use the improved feedback tool in the vSphere Client to provide timely feedback to our developers. Start, Stop, and Restart Services In the vSphere Client, you can start, stop, and restart services that are.
Determining Client Compatibility
When you need to connect to and manage VMware ESXi, you must first know what version of ESXi you’re connecting to. Not every version of the vSphere client will work with every version of ESXi.
As of v6.5, VMware no longer releases an installable client or C# client as it’s sometimes referred to. Instead, they’ve moved to a web-based client for subsequent versions.
Before setting up a VMware vSphere client, be sure to check the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix. You’ll see below an example of checking the compatibility of the VMware v6.0 U3 client with each ESXi version using the matrix.
The VMware vSphere Client is always backward compatible within the same major version. For example, version 6.0 U3 will also work for all 6.0.0 releases.
Setting up the VMware vSphere 6.0 Client
Once you know the vSphere client compatibility with your version of ESXi, it’s time to set up the client. For this tutorial, you’ll learn how to set up the vSphere 6.0 U3 installable client, the last available installable client version.
The installable client was around from v4.1 to v6.0 and is still used today. But know that the installable (C#) client will not work with ESXi v6.5 and above.
Prerequisites
- Windows 10 or later matching the following prerequisites – The VMware vSphere client is supported on other platforms, but this tutorial will be focusing on Windows.
- VMware ESXi v4.1 to v6.0
Installing the vSphere Client
To install the vSphere client, download the vSphere 6.0 U3 client, run the installer and accept all defaults. No extra customization is necessary.
Connecting to an ESXi Host
Now that you’ve installed the vSphere client, it’s time to connect to an ESXi host. To do that:
1. Run the VMware vSphere Client shortcut that should now be on your desktop.
2. On the connection page, enter your ESXi host’s IP address or hostname along with the User name and Password. This tutorial will use the root user to log in, but this high-privileged account is unnecessary.
3. Next, click Ignore to skip past the Certificate Warnings. The client displays this warning because the certificate on the ESXi host is not trusted. If the host right after “The certificate received from” matches what you expect your ESXi host to be, the connection is safe.
To prevent this certificate warning from popping up each time you connect to your host, click on the Install this certificate and do not display and security warnings… checkbox.
If everything worked as expected, you should now see the administration interface, as shown below.
Setting up the VMWare vSphere Web Clients
Once you get past using ESXi v6.0 U3, you can’t run the installable client anymore. Instead, you must use the vSphere web client.
The type of vSphere client will vary by the version of vCenter Server you’re running but accessing the client is nearly identical for all versions.
The following instructions apply equally to the vSphere web-based clients below with the exception of the URL you must access.
- vSphere 6.7 Web Client – https://<esxi_host>/vsphere–client
- VMware vSphere Host Client for vSphere 7.0 – https://<esxi_host>/vsphere–client
- VMware HTML5 Web Client for vSphere 7.0 – https://<vcenter_host>/ui
Prerequisites
- A web browser matching the following prerequisites.
- A licensed vCenter Server (excluding the vSphere Host Client for vSphere 7.0)
- VMware ESXi v.6.5 to v7.0
Connecting to an ESXi Host or VMware Cluster
Since the web client requires no installation, you can hop straight to connect to your ESXi host, cluster, or vCenter server. To do so:
Open your favorite web browser and navigate to either https://<esxi_host>/vsphere–client or https://<vcenter_host>/ui depending on your vSphere version.
Provide a User name and Password with access to the vCenter Server and click on Login.
If everything worked as expected, you should now be in the Web Client’s main interface, as shown below.
Conclusion
You should now know how to manage any vSphere environment or individual ESXi host using a vSphere client. Whether you’re unfortunate enough to be running an older version of vSphere or you can use the latest HTML5 client, you should know now know how to connect to your virtualization environment.
Now that you’re in your VMware environment, you can explore all of the features that VMware has to offer, such as vMotion or vSphere High Availability, to name a few!
More from Adam The Automator & Friends
All administrative functions are available through the vSphere Client .
The vSphere Client is a cross-platform application that can connect only to vCenter Server. It has a full range of administrative functionality and an extensible plug-in-based architecture. Typical users are virtual infrastructure administrators, help desk, network operations center operators, and virtual machine owners.
Users can use the vSphere Client to access vCenter Server through a Web browser. vSphere Client uses the VMware API to mediate the communication between the browser and the vCenter Server .
The vSphere Client introduces some productivity enhancements and usability improvements. Watch the following video to learn about the usability improvements to working with virtual machine hard disks.
What's New in the vSphere Client
Starting with vSphere 6.7 Update 1, you can have the following options in the vSphere Client.
Vsphere Client 6.7
- You can use the quick action icons to perform common virtual machine tasks. The icons are displayed next to the virtual machine name on the top of each virtual machine management tab. You have the following quick action options.
- Power On
- Shut Down Guest OS
- Launch Console
- Edit Settings
- Take Snapshot
You can install and use the VMware AppDefense plug-in to protect your applications and ensure endpoint security. The AppDefense plug-in becomes available with the VMware vSphere Platinum license. If you have the vSphere Platinum license, the AppDefense panel appears on the Summary tab for any virtual machine in your inventory. From that panel, you can install, upgrade, or view details about the AppDefense plug-in. For more information about VMware AppDefense, see the AppDefense documentation.
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