Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Using the vSphere Web Client for Administration
With the release of vSphere 5.1, VMware started shipping two different clients to use with
vCenter Server. The older, more traditional client is a .NET Windows-only application, while the
newer is a server-side installation for administering vSphere from a web browser. While not all
browsers are supported, the following browsers are certii ed and supported with the vSphere
Web Client:
Microsoft Internet Explorer, 7, 8, and 9
Mozilla Firefox 3.6 and later
Google Chrome 14 and later
Additionally, to use the vSphere Web Client, you must have Adobe Flash Player version 11.1
or later installed.
Which Client to Use
Now that there are two possible client choices to manage your vCenter Server, you need to decide
which client to use day to day. Any new features that are part of the vSphere 5.5 release are not
available from the vSphere Client, so that would indicate that the vSphere Web Client is the one
to use. But what happens if your storage vendor has a vSphere Client plug-in that has not been
updated to work with the vSphere Web Client? Well, in some cases you may not have a choice other
than to use the older client, but over time the crossover period will fade away and only the vSphere
Web Client will be used. Prior to vSphere 5.5, we would have stated that the vSphere Client was still
the one to use, but now that vendors have had time to update things and features are presented
only through the vSphere Web Client, it's our opinion that we're on the other side of the curve.
As stated in Chapter 2, previously the vSphere Web Client was not as feature rich as the tra-
ditional vSphere Client, but with the release of vSphere 5.5, this has changed. From vSphere 5.1
onward, VMware stated that it was no longer adding features to the .NET vSphere Client: Only
the vSphere Web Client would gain new feature capabilities, so it's dei nitely the one to use.
As you read through the rest of this topic, you can assume that unless we specify the vSphere
Client, the vSphere Web Client is the default choice and the one you should be using.
Understanding the vCenter Inventory Service
The Inventory Service is tightly integrated with the vSphere Web Client, and in fact, the
Inventory Service exists to ensure that the vSphere Web Client performs well. One way to think
of the Inventory Service is that it's like a proxy server; it sits between the source (the vCenter
Server itself) and the requester (the vSphere Web Client). The Inventory Service reduces trafi c to
and from the vCenter Server by caching information in its own database.
Not only does the vCenter Inventory Service cache queries and results for the vSphere Web
Client, it can also be installed on a separate server to ensure an appropriate level of resources.
The reasoning behind this is again solely for performance and scalability benei ts.
 
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