Difference between Vsphere Appliance and Vsphere that comes with ESXi

[jholston]

I'm a bit confused about the naming differences between the two. It sounds like they're used interchangeably, so I've been getting lost trying to troubleshoot issues with my appliance. 

From my understanding, ESXi has a vsphere/vcenter web portal with limited functionality, and there is a vsphere/vcenter appliance vm that provides the additional functionality and a separate web portal. 

Is this right? Also, how do I tell the two apart when I'm looking up information?

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

Both, ESXi and vCenter Server have a built-in web interface for management.
Since vCenter Server can manage multiple ESXi hosts, it indeed offers more features, which wouldn't make sense for a single host.

André

[jholston]

Ok, I think I get it now.

So vCenter Server refers to the appliance that can manage multiple hosts, and vSphere is the web portal that runs in both ESXi and vCenter.

[a_p_]

Yes exactly.

[virtualinca · Accepted solution]

Look, you have a vCenter which is used as a central management tool of your vSphere environment (ESXi, Datacenter, Cluster, VMs, etc) through a single pane of glass. You connect to it using vSphere Client (HTML5 Client). 

If you don't have a vCenter or you simply want to manage or check one single ESXi host, you can connect to the ESXi with Host Client (also as HTML5 client) which exists on the ESXi.

That's the difference... using Host Client vs vSphere Client (vCenter) is basically that you have fewer options and can see/configure less. If you need more info on this I can write you more or send you the needed links/url's.

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