With the release of ESXi 6.0 Update 2, one of the cool things with this release is VMware has included as RTM the Host Client which is written in HTML5 and allows administrators to have quick and easy access to host management capabilities without having access to vCenter server or the vSphere web client. Let’s take a look at the VMware ESXi 6.0 Update 2 Host Client a little closer.
VMware ESXi 6.0 Update 2 Host Client
The Host client is accessible by simply accessing your VMware host over an HTTPS browser session. Click the Open the VMware Host Client link to launch the Host Client.
This should look similar/familiar as it looks a lot like the vCenter web UI (don’t cringe)…better things to say.
A prompt for sending data to VMware CEIP program.
A lot of the functionality you would expect to manage your ESXi host is available and there (shut down, reboot, and other actions).
In the host configuration settings you have several options here to manage, including licensing, services, security & users, NTP, etc.
As you can see here, you have a view of Virtual Machines, Storage, and Networking.
If you were wondering from the Actions drop down, you can select several options similar to the tabbed versions – Manage with vCenter Server, create/register VM, shutdown, reboot, services, maintenance mode, lockdown mode and creating a support bundle. All of these can be very helpful if you are in a situation where you need to manage the host in this fashion and didn’t have access to vSphere client, or the vCenter webui.
Impressions
One thing I will say about the Host Client is that it is extremely fast! It is VERY responsive to just about anything you want to do and hopefully gives us a good idea of where things are headed with future releases of the vCenter server Web UI management that we all love to hate. Performance has always been my (and I think everyone else’s) gripe with using the web ui. This is a huge reason many still lean on the vSphere client IMO.
For basic tasks and being able to accomplish several things without having to have access to the vSphere client and web ui, the Host Client is definitely a great addition to the vSphere administrator’s arsenal of tools and utilities.
