With ESXi 5.5 the vSphere Web Client has become the tool of choice.
But Web Clients impose a lot of problems with different browsers and browser security settings .
Browsers are an additional overhead and extra layers of uncontrolled software around a core functionaltiy.
Ports need to be controlled, firewall issues can arise and plugins can cause a lot of trouble.
It is not security sound to have flash installed on a server and java has also be a source of many security problems.
So I am very reluctant to put those applications on an administrative server.
We have printers and remote access cards which can only be administered through java based web interfacea which do not work anymore with latest java versions.
Thus we need to have special VMs with old java just to be able to administer those devices.
All in all a dedicated piece of software is much more preferred than a so called web enabled thing.
Browser based software is exposed to much more variations in the environment and adds unnecessary complexity compared to a standalone software.
And complexity inherently increases vulnerability and stability issues.
Thus I vote very much in favor of the standalone vSphere client to administer future revisions of ESXi.
I am with you !
I think, based upon the current version of the Web Client, it is a step backwards !!
The whole idea of creating the Web Client was to get ready for the Cloud environment. Most of the cloud services are web based. I really doubt VMware will come back to vSphere Client.
But I really want them to, vSphere client is in everyone's blood and is much better operated than Web Client.
hi guys,
Welcome. I have the same feeling however when we want to use the latest and greatest features of vSphere 5.5 then we have to use webclient. Example: VM Version to 10, dvSwitch 5.5 , LACP etc.
I am getting hang of it the more I am using the more it is becoming easy to use webclient.
To start with use this:
I doubt traditional vSphere client will be revived but I sincerely hope two changes in vSphere Web-client will be made:
1. moving away from flash (to i.e. html5)
2. adding ability to connect to esxi-hosts directly (without vCenter Server)
(and appart from that common clean-up, i.e. increased stability and speed)
I remember similar cries when they got rid of the MUI in favor of Virtual Center.
Does anyone remember the MUI, or am I that old? ![]()
I'm too not a fan of the web client, but looks like have to use it. VMware may stop providing the C# client, it cuts their development efforts to prepare this client for every release. I'm using a nice cheat sheet from Vladan SEGET's website http://www.vladan.fr/vsphere-web-client-cheat-sheet/
Name it a cry, but my point is not web clients in general.
I want usability, security, stability and a lean solution.
If something becomes worse on any of these aspects I regard it as a step into the wrong direction.
The web client needs an installation AND it needs other pieces of software too.
As I stated browsers and especially plugins like flash often have security or stability problems and the whole setup is an increase of complexity.
GTO455 wrote:
I remember similar cries when they got rid of the MUI in favor of Virtual Center.
Does anyone remember the MUI, or am I that old?
Haha, yeah I sure do. Those were the good old days. Interestingly, VMware has come full circle now as it all started with a purely web based management solution (the MUI). With that said, I am the #1 Hater of the current web client, and player president of the Save the Fat Client Foundation.
Most customers could care less about cloudy things (vCD, vCAC, or web client for that matter). Most of us support legacy apps and have lots of vCenters. There is a huge value to the stability, functionally and flow of the fat client. People that praise the web client either work for VMware or they login to their lab to blog and they're done. When you really support this stuff for real, you know the value of the C# client. Of course the exception are the serious power users that are doing cloud stuff at scale and that's awesome, but it's just not what most of the customer base is doing with the product. My 2 cents.
The web client really sucks. It is painfully slow completing day to day tasks for large vcenter installs. We had to re-do our management net security policy just to appease vmware too since we had forbade Flash on those systems. It's even more of a pain if you're using third party products that were written for the desktop client, such as the EMC PowerPath and Storage Viewer plugins. We have a constantly changing environment and it's really annoying to have to flip between the two for various tasks, but it's even more frustrating when you are clicking away in desktop client and then go back to the web client and you have to wait a few seconds for clicks to do anything, or you have to refresh the whole screen because the guest that you know is powered off won't show you the menu options that it should for a powered off guest, etc. Did I say I hate the web interface? lol
It has some benefits and 5.5 is better, but it is definitely still not as stable as the fat client. Hopefully the next release will improve on speed, refreshing of tasks, and reliability. I have had to tinker with increasing memory etc on different areas like inventory service for it to work in a large environment. ![]()
Glad to see I'm not the only one that despises the web client. I thought it might just be an "old dog, new trick" thing. I haven't really used it much.
I certainly fall into the category of not needing all those cloudy things.
We build'em and support'em. We aren't dynamically allocating and re-allocating resources for a highly changing environment.
Keep the Fat Client!
Just one additional gripe that perhaps has a solution I haven't found yet; is there a way to move the right pane to the bottom and let the center pane span all the way over to the right? I like having the alarms and tasks fully visible, so unpinning it and letting it collapse is less than ideal, and I also like to be able to actually see all the data on the performance monitoring screens without having to scroll the stupid middle window over, which is what happens with that right side bar there wasting space.
