vSphere Client 6.x for ESXi 5.1/5.5/6.0?

[JarryG]

I think should be possible, but I'm asking just to be sure. I have a few ESXi-servers, which I manage directly with the traditional "fat" client (not web-client). Up to now, they are all 5.1, with the latest patch applied, and I'm using 5.1 client. Now some of them are going to be updated to 5.5, and one even to 6.0. So my question is:

Can I use the latest 6.x client to manage ESXi-servers of all three versions (6.0, 5.5 and 5.1)?

[DavoudTeimouri · Accepted solution]

You have to install vSphere Client for each version, vSphere Client 6.x is not compatible with older ESXi.

You can check it on this portal:VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes

[a_p_]

DavoudTeimouri already answered the question. However, I just want to add that you can have multiple vSphere Clients installed on the same system. When you start the client, it's actually a launcher application that asks for the credentials. This launcher application will then determine the version of the vCenter Server and/or ESXi host to which you want to connect, and load the required vSphere Client version.

André

[JarryG]

That's worse than I thought. No backward compatibility at all. Anyway, thanks for info...

Very interesting page, and very dissapointing for me. I see I can not even upgrade 5.1u3 to 5.5(any), only to 6.0. Why VMware removed this possibility after 5.1u2? OMG, that's crazy. I see I'm going to get even more severe headache...

[Fitz_82]

IMO your matrix page is broken or has a bug.  I selected the client and the hypervisor for a compatibility check, which at first shows they are compatible, but that's just a trick, you have to pay close attention and see the versions of the client specified do not include the latest version.  So when I selected the latest version specifically I got "No Results".  I would have expected to see "Incompatible", or "Not Supported".  Very sad to see "No Results".

What's the difference between "Incompatible" and "Not Supported"?

[serveradminist2]

yes you can.