VMware Host Client 1.0 and vSphere HTML Client Fling

May 11, 2016

vSphere 5.x provided a web-based client user interface, the vSphere Web Client, for connecting to the vCenter Server and managing you vSphere environment; however, it did not provide a web-based client for connecting directly to an ESXi host. Instead, whenever you needed to manage an ESXi host directly, you had to use another tool, such as the vSphere Client (the thick client).

VMware recently announced that beginning with vSphere 6.0 Update 2, a new HTML 5 based ESXi host client is shipped that can be used to connect directly to and manage an ESXi host. The client is embedded into ESXi. Immediately following the installation of ESXi 6.0 U2, you should be able to use a supported web browser to browse to the host’s management IP address (or https://host-ip-address/ui/#/host) and logon using the root account. The client will allow you manage the ESXi host and virtual machines with a feature set similar to what you would expect using the vSphere Client to manage a host directly in vSphere 5. Because you are connected directly to a specific ESXi host, you should not expect to be able to perform functions that require vCenter Server, such as vMotion operations.

To gain familiarity with this tool in vSphere version prior to 6.0 Update 2, you can experiment with this Host Client VMware Fling. Don’t forget that Flings should not be used in production environments.

Another useful and interesting Fling is vSphere HTM5 Web Client which is effectively a new version of the vSphere Web Client, but uses HTML5 instead of Adobe Flash. Apparently, this will eventually evolve and become part of the actual product, but for now the Fling is available for non-production use. It gives you the opportunity to gain familiarity now and provide feedback. The Fling does not contain the full feature set that the eventual product will contain, but it does provide these features: