Installed ESXi 6.0 on a MacMini and trying to use WebClient ?

[PaSavICT]

Hi,

We are experimanting with ESXi 6.0. So we downloaded it and installed it on a MacMini 6,2. Not supported i know, but it is running.

HAve multiple OS X Yosemite VMs running under it.

I have a Win7 installment running VMware vSphere Client to manage the ESXI server.

I want to also use the WebClient from my Mac, but i can't get it to run.

What do i forget ?

[paolomic]

You can't use the web client unless you install vCenter server or deploy the virtual appliance. 

The web client is part of VC.  Without it, you can only use the VI client from a Windows box

[PaSavICT]

And i don't think VC is a free product like the ESXi server ? We are stil doing research to possibilities.

[paolomic]

VC is not free.  You can play with it for 60 days for free however.  You can safely remove the host from it once your trial is done without causing any issues with your ESXi box and virtual machines.

There's no other option.  I am in the same situation.  We run ESXi on mixed hardware including Apple devices.  I manage everything and use a Mac myself.

To be perfectly honest, in my humble opinion the web client is junk.  Its slow and you have to do so many more clicks to achieve simple tasks.  The Windows C# client is far superior.  Even to this day I still RDP into a Windows host to run the VI client.

I haven't tried the new web client with VC 6.0 as we're not going to upgrade for quite some time (I need my backup vendor to catch up with the 6.0 support first).  I've heard its much better than the one from 5.5 but i'm not holding my breath

[PaSavICT]

So we have to look at the VMware vSphere Essentials Kits. To start with.

Just been looking to the options. Do i think this correctly with this kit ? I can get up to use 3 MacPro's with both a dual processor ?

So maximum of 12 Core's per MacPro is usable ?

[paolomic]

I'm not 100% certain on the new licensing model VMware has put out.  I would double check with a sales rep to be certain. 

From reading the description on that bundle it does sound like you can manage 3 hosts and get the licensing for VC as well.  Also looks like it is a one time purchase and doesn't need to be renewed every year, only the support part needs to be renewed if you wish to open tickets.  It sounds like a really good deal to be honest.

It sounds like this would work well for you, but double check with sales

[paolomic]

The only thing with this kit is that it's very basic.  You won't get the advantage of vMotion (assuming you're going to cluster these hosts together).  If you just need basic management, this will work.  If you need a bit more, look at the Essentials Plus kit.

It does not look to be any core limitations for these bundles, just processors.  So i think you can have max 2 processors x 3 servers with as many cores as you can stuff in those boxes

[RichardBush]

You can use the VMware host client on a mac. Thats what i use to manage the hosts if my Vcenter is down.

Info here: http://sjston.blogspot.hk/2015/03/omg-vsphere-client-for-mac.html

Just browse to the IP address of your ESXI host from your mac.

*** I ve just realised on the release version of ESXI this isn't there anymore.. must have been removed by vmware ?

Rich

[paolomic]

Mind blown

WOW

Thanks for that link

[PaSavICT]

For now we are looking in virtualising OS X servers for sale, This sounds then as good enough. But i also think, for now it would work with the Free version of ESXi and the windows client.

First see if we can manage to get this system setup and sold.

[RichardBush]

It looks like this isn't in the GL.

R

[PaSavICT]

Cool, just downloaded the package, but this was not showing on my installed version. I use 6.0.0. The link was not working anymore. Can you please sent me the package ?

[abamark]

Hi there,

I also would like to get the vSphere Host Client Installer for Mac

can someone give a link to this ?

Thank you!

BR,

Aba