A couple of months ago I wrote an article about the vSphere 5.1 web client, which is a full featured web based management client for your vSphere environment. The web client is desginated to replace the Windows vSphere Client in the future. You probably already noticed that certain configuration options are only available in vSphere web client. I thought it would be a good idea to summarize the most important options here as a continuation on the previous article. So, here we go:
- Single Sign On – The single sign on feature of vSphere 5.1 can only be configured through the web-client. Single sign on the centralized authentication\authorization solution for vSphere 5.1, vCloud Director, vShield, etc.
No shared storage vMotion – The option to vMotion a virtual machine without shared storage is only available in the web client through the “migrate” option. The Windows vSphere Client will display the progress of the process tough.- LACP nic teaming – LACP nic teaming (so not the IP based teaming option) can only be configured through the web client. On top of this vDS health check, export/restore configuration and diagram filtering can only be executed from the web client.
- vSphere replication – vSphere Replication enables you to replicate virtual machines to another host/cluster. You will need to deploy a vSphere replication vApp before you can use this feature. Enabling virtual machines for vSphere replication is the next step and completed in the vSphere web client.
- Integration with vCenter Operations – Although the Windows vSphere Client lets you display the vCenter Operations interface, the vSphere Web Client allows you to click open an object with “Open in vCenter Operations”. This will directly display the object in the correct vCenter Operations context.
On top of this some plugins only work in conjunction with the vSphere Web Client, such as:
- Integration with vCenter Orchestrator (vCO), vCO workflows are displayed in the vSphere webclient and can also be executed from the webclient.
- The Virtual Infrastructure Navigator (VIN) is tightly integrated with the vSphere Web Client showing the inter-application relations.
Also note that some plugins only work in the “old” vSphere Windows client. VMware Update Manager can only be managed through the Windows client and also for Site Recovery Manager you will need the Windows client. Don’t forget to check if your 3rd party plugins are vSphere webclient compatible; if this is not the case you will need the vSphere Windows client here as well.
Also check this article Justin King and don’t forget to read part 1 of this walkthrough.
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