vSphere HTML5 Web Client
With ESXi 6.0 update 2 we were treated to a HTML-based web host client. This meant we were no longer confined to using the Windows (“C++”) client for host management, however it was still necessary to use the Flash-based web client for managing a vCenter infrastructure. The vSphere HTML5 Web Client is the solution to this- providing a HTML5, standards-based, web front end to a VMware virtual infrastructure. The product is currently in the “Fling” stage- so it’s out there to try but not quite finished to “production” standards yet.
In my Homelab environment, installation was simple- I downloaded and deployed the OVA from the Flings website and then followed the comprehensive instructions on the vSphere Blog. Within a few minutes I had the client up and running and it sits alongside the existing host client and flash-based vCenter client (via VCSA) so all my existing management interfaces are preserved.
With the news that the “fat” C++ based Windows client will be depreciated in the next release of vSphere having started being phased out in version 5.5, I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes.