vSphere Web Client is so bad that my experience managing and supporting VMware has turn to....

[kgottleib]

Purpose of this post is simple and obvious...  bring back development to thick client.  THANKS!

[AlbertWT]

OK, so in the mean time has anyone here know where to tweak or improve the performance of the web client ?

I'm on vSphere 5.1U1 and I can feel it that it is bit slow sometimes.

Does increasing the VCenter vRAM and vCPU also the Java HeapSize of the Tomcat server can improve it or not really.

[admin]

It means that you can edits setting like adding hard disk and network cards. Certain features like SATA controllers are not available.

need to use the web-client if we need to make changes on those.

-- Avinash

[dbringer]

This ridiculous setup of having 'exclusive' functionality in the web client really annoys me.   I have held off up until now from moving past Vsphere SRM 5.5.1.0 because they are actually taking functionality away from the Windows client and forcing users in to the BS web client.

Please VMware turn this around

[Gabrie1]

Increase RAM, CPU and Java Heapsize yes. Also, you can upgrade SSO and Web Client together to 5.5 without upgrading vCenter Server. We've been using a seperate SSO 5.5 / WebClient 5.5 VM and had 4 vCenter Server 5.1's connected to it.

Just watch out with the upgrade path !!! Web/SSO 5.5 GA works with vCenter 5.1 GA through Update 3. But Web/SSO 5.5 Upd2 doesn't work with a mix of vCenter 5.1 GA. We had to first upgrade vCenter to 5.5 GA, then upgrade Web/SSO from 5.5GA to 5.5Upd2 and then at last update vCenter 5.5 GA to Upd2.

Check the compatibility matrix !!!  http://www.vmware.com/go/hcl

[AlbertWT]

many thanks for the clarification and tips Gabrie.

[andreaspa]

So, today VMware announced vSphere 6.0. Duncan Epping summarized it nicely here http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2015/02/03/vsphere-6-0-finally-announced/

Let's hope that the C# client also has gotten new features added as part of the release, otherwise it may be time to start looking at other management solutions or Hypervisors..

[Morgenstern72]

Nothing about the native client in the statement

But "Web Client performance and usability improvements".

VMWare is clearly not listening to it's customers. Hopefully a thrid party company will realize this and release some new management tool.

Well let's see whtat is coming. Maybe HyperV 2015?

[sp4rt4n]

As far as I know, the C# Client is still there but only to manage standalone ESXi-Hosts and isn't able to connect to a vCenter Server ...but I can't give any evidence for that without trying the final GA release of vSphere 6 (which isn't available at the moment).

In my opinion this would be a worse mistake if it's true...

[andreaspa]

According to William Lam, the C# client that comes with 6.0 can connect to both ESXi and VC:

"To clarify, as there’s some miss-information about this. When vSphere 6.0 GA’s, the C# Client will be able to connect to BOTH VC & ESXi" (Source)

I also asked about what features there were, and I got this reply:

"It’s pre-5.5 in terms of accessing new features. Web Client is where you’ll go. But you can now create/basic mgmt w/vHW9-11 VMs"

Now let's hope that 6.0 Update 1 (When it's stable enough to start using) comes with a fully featured non-web client, wether it's written in C# or Java (or any other language for that sake..).

[cajx]

They have to get a real client working ASAP. The web client has NOT gotten better for me after attempting to adapt over time... it makes me hate VMware. HATE HATE HATE HATE. I dread doing even the most basic tasks as they are so slow and laggy... it's m**her f**king ridiculous.

If 6.0 is providing a way away from the web client, it must be 100%!!!

[JMachieJr]

What pisses me off the most is that I am forced to learn the web client in order to take the VCP 5.5 certification exam. Well how and I supposed to learn the web client when it does nothing but crash and run like crap? I can't use it at work and actually learn it because I'd spend all day just trying to get pages to load or get any work done. I have honestly tried to use it so I can learn it for the exam but I give up.

[Gabrie1]

Announcement for the vSphere 6:

- Web Client is still your main tool to manage your environment

- vSphere Windows C# client can now EDIT v8 and below SETTINGS on HW level 9+ VMs.

For example VM with HW level 11. You can now SEE the HW level 11 specific features of the VM but you can only change v8 and below settings. Adding RAM and vCPU for example are HW8 and lower settings and these can be changed. But changing vSphere Flash Read Cache settings is not possible.

Source (see the comments): vSphere 6 - Clarifying the misinformation | VMware vSphere Blog - VMware Blogs

[chrmaier]

Today I got an invitation for a survey about SaaS management. They want to bringt vCenter into the cloud. Now they are completely crazy.

Welcome to Our Survey.

We would like your input on a potential slimmed down Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Web-based administrative interface for your on-premise vCenter Servers, hosted by VMware.  Your answers would be very helpful in determining how we move forward.

Thank you in advance.

[cajx]

Cloud based management of on premise servers? Are they *completely* nuts? NO thank you. VMware leadership is lost. Probably ever since EMC's guy took over, there have been major high level problems with their vision. Somebody needs to wake them up.

[chrmaier]

Yes. I guess that must be the real reason to force this ridiculous web client.

[cajx]

One of the things I don't think they realize is that people are making mistakes with their daily duties that could cost them their career at a company. When you have 10 to 30 seconds of lag between clicks, you lose your train of thought. When you do that, you make mistakes. When you make mistakes, some of them could be big enough to cost you your job. I'm spending more money and having more stress trying to get VMware set correctly after any hardware change than I ever have before. Speaking of stress, I came to work 2 hours early this morning because I thought some of my backups were not working... turns out the web client GUI just bugged out and it was fine. Thanks a LOT web client!!! Here's the thing, it takes SO long to go through the GUI to edit these backups, that I avoid it. So one of these days I'm going to set up something wrong, then not get around to checking the fine details in the GUI and it's going to burn me.

[mcah]

I am sorry but I have to say the same: I TRIED usig the Web Client many times but using it results in lots frustration and is making me quite aggressive! User experience, navigation, performance and ergonomy are just a nightmare! And everything needs much too much space. Even basic things like customization of table rows do not work. After clicking somewhere else all settings are just lost. Want to find out the operating system of a VM? It is not displayed in the preview pane! Want to see what's going on? You have to increase the side bar size but then you are unable to see important other information. And many many times you are just lost in a very strange navigation through the interface. So back is not always back but somewhere else and your current view also changes ... Want to open a context menu? See the funny animations when the menu items are appearing step by step! Who ever designed this it is a good example for how you should never do it. This thing is UNUSABLE! 😞 Please update the standard client and continue supporting it.

[cajx]

One of the cherries on top is when you have to shut down several VMs or something similar where there is a pop up "yes/no" box. No is highlighted, and you can't use your left hand to hit "Y" for yes or even on the arrow keys to move over to the "Yes" option then hit the nearby enter. No, you are forced to do it with the mouse to use up even more moments on a monotonous job to begin with. So many little annoying things like this are amplified due to the very slow interface.

When it comes to browsers, it makes me grate my teeth. Web interface in Firefox is the most stable for me, but over time it gets slower and slower. Chrome is slightly faster, but will suddenly crash for no reason if you use it "heavily" for 10-15 minutes. Really ridiculous.

Yes, completely unusable.

[Morgenstern72]

@mcah: I have the same problem. And on top you do not get a feedback which VM(s) you are going to shutdown/delete. Since the web client sometimes chooses to select a completely different VM this is super dangerous. The native client tells you exactly which VMs are affected.

[Morgenstern72]

Also do not forget the troubles with Flash. I do not use flash anymore on any device, but I am forced to use it for the web client. I tried to have flash uninstalled and use Chrome, but the web client runs very unstable with Chrome, forgets Single Sign On, forgets access rights and so on. Only because of using Flash the web client is ridiculous, especially when promoted as "platform independent". The instability, usage problems and slowness just adds to this really bad product.