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

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

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ipkpjersi
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Thanks for looking into the bug, I am very glad it is fixed now as of the latest fling version (1.21.0).

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banderas20
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Sadly, I agree to the top. It sucks.

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banderas22
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IMHO, some things are not meant to be web based.

NLYNN
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Here we are 3 years later and are now forced to use a flash based web client to manage 6.5 and the HTML web client is still not fully finished. It takes 5 extra clicks to do anything compared to the thick client.

Not sure why you couldn't port the thick client feel to HTML but you pretty much failed and released a buggy piece of shit product.

VMware likes taking our money but doesn't listen to its community. You should really take note of how Veeam is running a company, they listen to its user community.

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decker12
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Just throwing in my $.02 to tell Vmware how much I despise the web client. I have tried and tried to use it and every time I end up going back to the old Vcenter client.

The web client is slow, buggy, clunky, requires extra clicks to do the same things I can do in the older Vcenter client, and I just can't do "real work" with the web client. I can't imagine using only the Vcenter web client to setup a fresh ESXI environment with even the slightest layer of complication to it.

It reminds me of Outlook Web Access - fine for a quick check of your email when you're on someone else's computer, and good for quick replies and making some minor calendar adjustments, but I'd go crazy if I had to use it as an all day replacement for the Outlook executable that comes with Office.

I wish VMware would just get rid of this web client and stop pushing sysadmins to use it. It's not as popular as VMware thinks it is. My last Vmware conference it was a running joke about how they're were going to do a best practices on it but not enough people would have signed up for it.

When I say "I want a standalone program", I don't mean some cobbled together junk that simply replicates the website look/feel/performance but wraps it in an executable. Don't take the existing crappy web client and make it into a slightly less crappy HTML5 version. The whole "administer your ESXI environment from a web page" is the problem. Take the old VCenter client we all know and love and have been trained on for years and modify the options and tabs so every feature works with 6.5.

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banderas22
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When I say "I want a standalone program", I don't mean some cobbled together junk that simply replicates the website look/feel/performance but wraps it in an executable. Don't take the existing crappy web client and make it into a slightly less crappy HTML5 version. The whole "administer your ESXI environment from a web page" is the problem. Take the old VCenter client we all know and love and have been trained on for years and modify the options and tabs so every feature works with 6.5.

I couldn't have expressed it better.

Please, listen to your clients and users.

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hyvokar
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fuck-web-client.jpg

Any change you could fix the math on CPU count on Host Client?

I cannot power on my VM because of this sh*t.

Or better yet. Bring back the thick client.

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hyvokar
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fuck-web-clien2t.jpg

I'm not saying this is the biggest pile of s**t I've run in to in IT, but I cant certainly remember worse.

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hyvokar
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Also, fix the problem where computing resources are not viewed correctly.

fuck-web-client-3.jpg

I've been wondering for some time, does vmware even use their own products? I mean, things like these would surely come in to the light, if they did use them, even for the briefest moment.

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PrescottCollege
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Eventually, companies like VMware start "informing" the customer of what they want, which is really just what the company wants.  VMware certainly has the deep pockets required to make versions of their client that run on Flash, HTML5, C#, and on a Commodore 64 if they wanted.  So why don't they?  Because they don't want to, and what they want is more important than what their customer wants.  Someone up the chain of command has a "vision".  It the same kind of "vision" that someone gets when they hate Microsoft and make the entire company run on Linux and Macs, the same kind of "vision" Blockbuster, Blackberry, and Kodak had.  Every company that decides it will give the customer what the company wants them to have has found themselves being disrupted by someone else's innovation.  This is why Acropolis is disrupting VMware now.

Hey VMware, nobody likes your stupid web interface.  Polish that turd all you want, it'll always be crap.  What, you think you'll make something as good a Nutanix?  You can't, just like your VSAN rip-off didn't.  Two things are going to happen now that you've taken away the C# interface.  One, I'm jumping ship.  I'll go to Acropolis, or Hyper-V if I have to.  Good controls are that important.  Two, I think I'll launch a Kickstarter to make a "universal" C# interface that will replace VMware's defunct C# interface, and plug into others like Hyper-V, KVM, whatever.  After I make a ton of money, I'll do a hypervisor, then application layering, then anything else you idiots have dropped the ball on.  If not me, then someone just like me will do it.  You'll get disrupted and will cease to be relevant.  All because some VP jerk off had to push their agenda onto the loyal customers.

Or you can swallow sadness, realize that your vision is stupid, and restore the C# client.  It's what everybody wants.  Give the customers what they want.  Stop sucking and start rocking.  Be the hero, not the loser.  Just shut up and take our money.  C# Client!

hostasaurus
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I haven't added a me too to this thread in a while so figured it's due after a recent upgrade to 6.5. 

Here's how my day is going vmware.  I have one simple task I'd like to perform this morning, and that's deploy a VM from an OVA file.  Want to know how that's going?

Well, my normal browser, Chrome, can't do it.  Chrome doesn't support Adobe Flash, and the half broken HTML5 interface doesn't support OVA files.  I'm on a Mac.  I can't install Flash even if I wanted to because our corporate policy forbids Adobe Flash on our workstations.  Okay, let me RDP to a Windows server where we've permitted Flash usage solely for this f'ing vmware nightmare.  Oh, the latest IE has Adobe Flash built in now, but it's not quite the same Adobe Flash as, well, Adobe Flash, so no it won't actually work even if you turn off all the IE security BS, turn off ActiveX filter, trust the necessary URL's.  I wasted 20 minutes figuring out how to even get the enable flash add-on to show up in the IE add-ons list to even get to the point of discovering it doesn't work.  Okay let's install FireFox since it seems to be the last browser that will actually still run Adobe Flash; good move vmware, your entire product is dependent on a random open source web browser continuing to be available, and a company/product (Adobe) whose security track record is about as piss poor as they come.

So I've got Firefox installed.  Cool, now I'm allowed to download Flash instead of being told it's built in and I don't need it.  And oh joy, that worked, but wait, we're not done yet, I still can't deploy an f'ing OVA file because now I need to install the Client Integration Plugin.  Fantastic, now I've installed so much crap on my computer I've recreated the fat client in a web browser, minus the reliability, minus the ease of use, minus the speed.

Are you f'ing kidding me?

adamjg
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Yep I've been through the same thing.  I refuse to install Firefox. VMware themselves stated that the web browser was faster on Chrome and IE and slower on Firefox.  They can't just change their minds based on what part of their software doesn't work.

I ran into the same thing. Before last Thursday I couldn't even migrate to 6.5 because the version I was on wasn't supported. That's another topic entirely, but really VMware?  Put updates out as "critical" and then say "oh wait, you updated your vCenter to 6.0 U3?  Yeah you can't upgrade to 6.5, it's not supported."  Ridiculous.

I opened a case with support and the guy had to re-do the cert within the client integration plugin, and it took almost 2 hours on the phone.  I asked him to escalate the case to a PR and he refused. He said there was an internal KB article but he wasn't allowed to share that, and as far as engineering is concerned, it's a browser issue and not a VMware issue.  Yeah, so the client integration plugin magically stopped working on all computers and browsers in our environment and it's not a problem with the client integration plugin.

However, all that said, I don't really care for the C# client. Of the 3 (C#, HTML5 and flash web), I actually prefer the usability of the flash web client, if it would actually work.  The HTML5 has some issues and the interface isn't all that great to work with. I would rather not have them bring back something like the C# client.  Instead, I expect them, as the leader in the industry, to write a piece of software that works.

dennisluvm
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All versions of Chrome should support Adobe Flash.  In recent versions of Chrome, they've changed the way you run it.

After going to your VC, on the top left in the browser address bar, between the refresh button and the "http(s)", click on this (it may be an 'info' icon, a lock reading 'Secure', or similar).

In the resulting dropdown, find 'Flash' (should be halfway down), then change the setting to "Always allow on this site"

I've attached a screenshot for reference.  The mouse arrow shows the area you have to click first.

Please let me know if that would work.

We've also been working hard on upgrading the new HTML5 based vSphere Client, and if you're able to upgrade to 6.5U1, it currently supports a subset of the OVA spec.  If you're able to test the Fling out to see if the OVA works, that might be informative: vSphere HTML5 Web Client

Also, if you are able to provide us the OVA for testing purposes, we can try to make sure it works in our next release.

Also, vSphere 6.5 should not require the Client Integration Plugin.  If you're seeing such a message when trying to deploy an OVA, please attach a screenshot here.

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adamjg
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Hey Dennis, thanks for the reply.  I know we've been through these types of issues in other threads.  My issue isn't that Chrome doesn't allow flash, it's that the client integration plugin failed to work until support went through and fixed the client cert within the CIP install.  Now I have the only machine in the company that can deploy an OVA using a web client.

OVA deployment doesn't work in the version of the fling that I'm on. I posted this on the fling page and opened up bug #185 last month but haven't received a reply.  I don't know if I would say it's all OVAs, but I've tried at least 5 from different vendors, so I'm assuming it isn't the OVA that is the issue.

I know you guys are using the 6.5 upgrade as your get out of jail free card, but it's a pretty involved process. It was just released on Friday, and prior to that all upgrades from 6.0 U3 failed (not to mention they weren't supported). With vacations coming up in August I would guess I'm looking at October before an upgrade in production is a reality.

Meanwhile we keep on keeping on. If I need to deploy an OVA for a major app upgrade (like our call system, which is why I opened the case with VMware last week), I just hope it works. Administration of software from a multi billion dollar company for a healthcare organization shouldn't be guess work. It needs to work all the time.

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wsanders11
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I hesitate to bump this thread, but since it's pegged, what the heck:

July 2017 UI opinions:

  Sadly, the HTML client included in 6.5 is still a pathetic imitation of the capabilities of the Flash client and is NOT worth upgrading to 6.5 for. It doesn't have any more capabilities than the add-on HTML appliance for 6.0.

  However, the Flash client is much improved in 6.5 and actually runs on Firefox without crashing all the time. Might be worth upgrading to if you run Firefox in Linux and are annoyed by how crashy the older versions are.

  vRO is completely useless for anything except shuffling VMs en-masse into folders and resource pools, and perhaps mass shutdown/startup operations if you don't know Powershell well enough to use the PowerCLI interface.

  There is a Terraform provider for vCenter, but it can't do much except create VMs and assign them to folders. (It knows nothing of Resource Pools, for example.) The Terraform provider is worth improving; I'm considering jumping in and trying my luck as a contributor.

We are finding the Powershell PowerCLI to be the best interface. Even for a longtime Linux pro like me, Powershell is a nice thing and worth learning, if only for this reason. You may need to license a Windows VM for this if you don't have a convenient Windows host; it will run on any recent version and has zero overhead. That's a small amount of Microsoft Kool-Aid to drink given that the PowerCLI client works well.

wsanders

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dennisluvm
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Hi wsanders,

We appreciate the feedback.  A few comments:

a) "It doesn't have any more capabilities than the add-on HTML appliance for 6.0." - It sounds like you're referring to the Fling appliance (available here: vSphere HTML5 Web Client ), and the fact that the Fling has newer bits/more features than the 6.5 supported release.  This will almost certainly continue to be the case going forward, as the Fling bits represent our latest and greatest vSphere Client code, while supported releases take an additional period of time for integration with other components and then testing of the whole package.

We just last week released vSphere 6.5U1, which includes a significant update in the supported feature-set. You can find more information about the updates to the client in this blog post: Second vSphere Client (HTML5) update in vSphere 6.5U1 - VMware vSphere Blog

b) We're very happy to hear you enjoy the improvements in Flash client for vSphere 6.5.  We made significant investments into making these improvements in order to bring the Flash based Web Client up to as strong of a product as possible while the HTML5 based vSphere Client is coming up to speed.

And one ask.  The most important thing we can use from users like you is feedback on what next most important features are missing.  Of course the longterm goal is to have the new vSphere Client cover all features and functionality, but the more information we get the faster we can reach that end goal.  The best places to provide feedback are through the vSphere Client's builtin feedback tool (smiley face in top right corner), or the comments section of the Fling page.

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philips66
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Just want to add my 2 cents here. I've been bringing a co-worker up to speed on supporting our VMware environments and he didn't believe that the pathetic performance we get is because of the pathetic Web client! Didn't take long to prove it...

I have completely given up on trying to use Chrome, and now only use IE 11. Even though I already went through and setup all of our vcenter url's in IE settings as trusted sites etc, it still take 3 or 4 attempts at logon to just get a logon screen.

Instead of lame attempts to act like things are about to get better, I wonder if VMware is doing anything at all to bring a thick client back? The problem isn't the people who are complaining, for example I've been doing this for decades, I know how to get things to work. The problem itself is your thick client, and it's created a 2ndary issue, the whole company seems to not care about this!

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hostasaurus
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Thanks dennisluvm​ was able to get it working in Chrome; have now deleted Adobe and Firefox.

Re the OVF thing, this was an EMC product and they have apparently not updated the OVF to be compatible with 6.5.  I was able to deploy it to a standalone 6.0 server with the fat client, shut it down, then boot it back up after migrating into the 6.5 cluster.  In 6.5, trying to deploy the OVF via flash-based client will generate:

An invalid argument "OvfEnvironmentTransport" was specified.

I had planned to upgrade remaining systems to 6.5 but will keep one around in case we have a need to deploy OVF's that way.

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Kahonu84
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​YAYYYYYYYYYY!! Another workaround.. What flavor is the Kool-Aide this time??

adamjg
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Use Chrome, Chrome is the best, Firefox is the slowest.

Use IE, Chrome doesn't work, Firefox is still slow.

Use Firefox, IE and Chrome no longer work.

The best was when support told me this wasn't a problem for VMware to fix because it was a browser issue.

Now the answer is upgrade to 6.5.

Cue circus music.

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