Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The vSphere Client is a Windows-only application that allows for connecting directly to an
ESXi host or to a vCenter Server installation. The only difference in the tools used is that con-
necting directly to an ESXi host requires authentication with a user account that exists on that
specii c host, while connecting to a vCenter Server installation relies on Windows users for
authentication. Additionally, some features of the vSphere Client—such as initiating vMotion,
for example—are available only when connecting to a vCenter Server installation.
Learning a New User Interface
For those who are already used to the vSphere Client, things can feel a little awkward, but learn-
ing the new web-based client for vCenter is certainly necessary. While you will be able to perform
more traditional tasks in the vSphere Client, the Web Client helps you unlock the full potential
when using vSphere 5.5. We'll focus primarily on the vSphere Web Client in this topic unless we
are directly administering the hosts (as is the case in this chapter) or when using vSphere Client
plug-ins that are not currently available in the vSphere Web Client.
You can install either of the vSphere Clients with the vCenter Server installation media.
Figure 2.11 shows the VMware vCenter Installer with the vSphere Client option selected.
Figure 2.11
You can install
the vSphere Client
directly from the
vCenter Server
installation media.
In previous versions of VMware vSphere, one of the easiest installation methods was to
simply connect to an ESX/ESXi host or a vCenter Server instance using your web browser.
