vSphere client and vSphere web client

[ajohn123]

Hey all,

Is there any difference between vSphere client and vShpere web client? Which is the best one to install?

[daphnissov]

Yes, there are tons of differences. vSphere Client is the old, legacy C#, Windows-based application that no longer works in vSphere 6.5 and forward. The vSphere web client is a server-side component installed as part of vCenter Server. You simply access it over a web browser.

[Finikiez]

Hi!

vShere client (C# client that you had to install on windows mahine) has been deprecated as of vsphere 6.5

Currently there are

VMware host client - this is a web client installed on ESXi host

VMware Web client (built on flash) - it's automatically installed on vcenter

VMware vsphere client (aks HTML5 client) - it's also automatically installed on vcenter

You don't need to install anything manually.

You can only upgrade host client separately.

[theaaronstrong]

Lots of people grew up with the vSphere Client, which is also known as the C# client, but VMware has been replacing it with vSphere Web Client (Flash). With 6.5 the new vSphere Client HTML5 was introduced. Now the Flash client is being replaced by this new HTML5 client. In 6.7, HTML5 client is not fully featured and the Flash client is still required for certain workflows, but expect it to be replaced by HTML5 in the near future.

It is nice that we no longer need a separate exe to manage the environment.

Some good overall info on 6.7 here: Introducing vCenter Server 6.7 - VMware vSphere Blog