Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Using the Navigator
The lefthand column of the vSphere Web Client is the Navigator. As stated on the Getting
Started tab, the Navigator is an “aggregated view of all objects in the inventory.” The top of the
navigator shows you exactly where you are in the various screens that vCenter Server provides
and also displays a chronological history so you can jump back to a prior screen.
If you click any item in the navigation bar with a “greater than” arrow next to it, the menu
slides sideways and displays just the subitems of the selected item (generally this will change
the content area too). When you click an item without the arrow, the Navigator menu doesn't
change, but it does change the content area. A key point about the vSphere Web Client and
vCenter Server is that the menu options and tabs that appear within the application are context
sensitive, meaning they change depending on what object is selected or active. You'll learn more
about this topic throughout the chapter.
Now that you understand how to navigate using the vSphere Web Client, you're ready to
start creating and managing the vCenter Server inventory.
Creating and Managing a vCenter Server Inventory
As a vSphere administrator, you will spend a signii cant amount of time using the vSphere Web
Client. You will spend a great deal of that time working with the various inventory views avail-
able in vCenter Server, so it's quite useful to i rst explain them.
Understanding Inventory Views and Objects
Every vCenter Server has a root object, the datacenter object, which serves as a container for
all other objects. Prior to adding an object to the vCenter Server inventory, you must create at
least one datacenter object (you can have multiple datacenter objects in a single vCenter Server
instance). The objects found within the datacenter object depend on which inventory view is
active. The Navigator provides a quick and easy reminder of which inventory view is currently
active by displaying the four main inventory trees as tabs at the top. In the Hosts And Clusters
view, you will work with ESXi hosts, clusters, resource pools, and VMs. In the VMs And
Templates view, you will work with folders, VMs, and templates. In the Storage view, you will
work with datastores and datastore clusters; in the Networking view, you'll work with vSphere
Standard Switches and vSphere Distributed Switches.
vCenter Server Inventory Design
If you are familiar with objects used in Microsoft Windows Active Directory (AD), you may recognize
a strong similarity in the best practices of AD design and the design of a vCenter Server inventory.
A close parallel can even be drawn between a datacenter object and an organizational unit because
both are the building blocks of their respective infrastructures.
You organize the vCenter Server inventory differently in different views. The Hosts And
Clusters view is primarily used to determine or control where a VM is executing or how
