VMware ESXI - 6.5.1 User Manual
vCenter Server and Host Management
Update 1
Modified on 04 OCT 2017
VMware vSphere 6.5
VMware ESXi 6.5
vCenter Server 6.5
vCenter Server and Host Management
You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:
hps://docs.vmware.com/
The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.
If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:
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Copyright © 2009–2017 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright and trademark information.
VMware, Inc.
3401 Hillview Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94304
www.vmware.com
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Contents
About VMware vCenter Server® and Host Management 9
Updated Information 11
vSphere Concepts and Features 13
1
Virtualization Basics 13
Physical Topology of vSphere Data Center 14
vSphere Software Components 15
Client Interfaces for vSphere 17
vSphere Managed Inventory Objects 18
Optional vCenter Server Components 20
vCenter Server Plug-Ins 21
Using the vSphere Web Client 23
2
Log in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Web Client 24
Log out of vCenter Server Using the vSphere Web Client 24
Use the vSphere Web Client Navigator 24
Customize the User Interface 25
Rearrange the Components of the User Interface 26
Customize the User Interface by Using the Layout Seings Menu 26
Disable the Customizable User Interface Feature 26
Disable the Related Objects Tabs 26
Revert Congure Tab to Manage Tab 27
Install the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in 27
Pause and Resume a Task in Progress 28
Refresh Data 29
Searching the Inventory 29
Perform a Quick Search 29
Perform a Simple Search 30
Perform an Advanced Search 30
Save a Search 31
Load a Saved Search 31
Use Quick Filters 31
Quick Filters Available for vSphere Objects 32
View Recent Objects 33
Congure the vSphere Web Client Timeout Value 34
Remove Stored User Data 34
Drag Objects 35
Export Lists 35
Aach File to Service Request 36
Keyboard Shortcuts 36
Inventory Keyboard Shortcuts 36
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Create a Scheduled Task with a Keyboard Shortcut 36
Conguring Hosts and vCenter Server 39
3
Host Conguration 39
Congure the Boot Device on an ESXi Host 39
Congure Agent VM Seings 40
Set Advanced Host Aributes 40
Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network 41
Edit Time Conguration for a Host 41
Conguring vCenter Server 42
Congure License Seings for vCenter Server 42
Conguring Statistics Seings 42
Congure Runtime Seings for vCenter Server 45
Congure User Directory Seings 45
Congure Mail Sender Seings 46
Congure SNMP Seings 46
View Port Seings 47
Congure Timeout Seings 47
Congure Logging Options 48
Congure Database Seings 48
Verifying SSL Certicates for Legacy Hosts 49
Congure Advanced Seings 50
Send a Message to Other Logged In Users 50
Edit the Seings of Services 51
Start, Stop, and Restart Services 51
Conguring Services in the vSphere Web Client 52
Using Enhanced Linked Mode 61
Conguring Communication Among ESXi , vCenter Server, and the vSphere Web Client 62
Conguring Customer Experience Improvement Program 63
4
Categories of Information That VMware Receives 63
Join the Customer Experience Improvement Program in the vSphere Web Client 63
Organizing Your Inventory 65
5
Create Data Centers 66
Add a Host 66
Create Clusters 67
Create a Folder 68
Tagging Objects 71
6
Migrate Custom Aributes to Tags 71
Create a Tag Category 73
Delete a Tag Category 73
Edit a Tag Category 74
Create a Tag 75
Assign a Tag to an Object 75
Remove a Tag from an Object 75
Delete a Tag 76
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Edit a Tag 76
Add Permissions for Tags and Tag Categories 76
Tagging Best Practices 77
Custom Aributes in the vSphere Web Client 78
Add Custom Aributes in the vSphere Web Client 78
Edit a Custom Aribute in the vSphere Web Client 78
Contents
License Management and Reporting 81
7
Licensing Terminology and Denitions 82
The License Service in vSphere 6.5 83
Licensing for Environments with vCenter Server Systems 6.0 and Later, and 5.5 83
Licensing for Products in vSphere 84
Licensing for ESXi Hosts 84
Licensing for vCenter Server 85
Licensing for Clusters with Enabled vSAN 86
Suite Licensing 86
Licensing for VMware vCloud® Suite 86
Licensing for vSphere® with Operations Management 87
Managing Licenses 87
Create New Licenses 87
Assign a License to Multiple Assets 88
Congure License Seings for an ESXi Host 89
Congure License Seings for vCenter Server 89
Congure License Seings for a vSAN Cluster 90
Set Assets to Evaluation Mode 91
Rename a License 91
Remove Licenses 91
Viewing Licensing Information 92
View Licensing Information About the vSphere Environment 92
View Available Licenses and Features About a Product 93
View the Features that an Asset Uses 93
View the License Key of the License 93
View the Licensed Features for an Asset 94
Generating Reports for License Use in the vSphere Web Client 94
View the License Usage for Multiple Products 94
View License Usage Details for a Single Product 95
Export a License Usage Report 95
Importing License Keys Data from My VMware 96
Import License Keys Data 96
Using CSV les 100
Using Generated Recommendation Reports 101
Working with Tasks 103
8
Managing Tasks 103
View Tasks 103
Schedule Tasks 103
Create a Scheduled Task 104
Change or Reschedule a Task 106
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Remove a Scheduled Task 106
Reboot or Shut Down an ESXi Host 107
9
Managing Hosts in vCenter Server 109
10
Disconnecting and Reconnecting a Host 109
Disconnect a Managed Host 109
Reconnect a Managed Host 110
Reconnecting Hosts After Changes to the vCenter Server SSL Certicate 110
Remove a Host from a Cluster 110
Remove a Managed Host from vCenter Server 111
Migrating Virtual Machines 113
11
Cold Migration 115
Migration with vMotion 116
Host Conguration for vMotion 117
Encrypted vSphere vMotion 119
Virtual Machine Conditions and Limitations for vMotion 120
Migration with vMotion in Environments Without Shared Storage 121
Migration Between vCenter Server Systems 122
Migration with Storage vMotion 124
Storage vMotion Requirements and Limitations 124
CPU Compatibility and EVC 125
CPU Compatibility Scenarios 125
CPU Families and Feature Sets 126
About Enhanced vMotion Compatibility 126
EVC Requirements for Hosts 127
Create an EVC Cluster 127
Enable EVC on an Existing Cluster 128
Change the EVC Mode for a Cluster 128
Determine EVC Modes for Virtual Machines 129
Determine the EVC Mode that a Host Supports 130
Prepare Clusters for AMD Processors Without 3DNow! 130
CPU Compatibility Masks 131
View CPUID Details for an EVC Cluster 132
Migrate a Powered-O or Suspended Virtual Machine 132
Migrate a Virtual Machine to a New Compute Resource 134
Migrate a Virtual Machine to a New Compute Resource and Storage 135
Migrate a Virtual Machine to New Storage 137
Place vMotion Trac on the vMotion TCP/IP Stack of an ESXi Host 138
Place Trac for Cold Migration, Cloning, and Snapshots on the Provisioning TCP/IP Stack 140
Limits on Simultaneous Migrations 141
About Migration Compatibility Checks 142
Automating Management Tasks Using vRealize Orchestrator 145
12
Concepts of Workows 145
Performing Administration Tasks on the vSphere Objects 146
Congure the Default vRealize Orchestrator 147
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Managing Associations of Workows with vSphere Inventory Objects 147
Associate Workows with vSphere Inventory Object Types 147
Edit the Associations of Workows with vSphere Objects 148
Export the Associations of Workows with vSphere Objects 149
Import the Association of Workows with vSphere Objects 149
Working with Workows 150
Run Workows on vSphere Inventory Objects 150
View Information About Workow Runs 151
View Information About the Runs of a Specic Workow 151
View Workows That Are Waiting for User Interaction 152
Searching for Workows 152
Scheduling Workows 153
Workows for Managing Inventory Objects 156
Cluster and Compute Resource Workows 156
Guest Operation Files Workows 157
Guest Operation Processes Workows 157
Custom Aributes Workows 158
Data Center Workows 158
Datastore and Files Workows 158
Data Center Folder Management Workows 159
Host Folder Management Workows 159
Virtual Machine Folder Management Workows 159
Basic Host Management Workows 159
Host Power Management Workows 160
Host Registration Management Workows 160
Networking Workows 160
Distributed Virtual Port Group Workows 161
Distributed Virtual Switch Workows 161
Standard Virtual Switch Workows 161
Resource Pool Workows 162
Storage Workows 162
Storage DRS Workows 163
Basic Virtual Machine Management Workows 164
Clone Workows 165
Linked Clone Workows 165
Linux Customization Clone Workows 166
Tools Clone Workows 166
Windows Customization Clone Workows 166
Device Management Workows 167
Move and Migrate Workows 167
Other Workows 168
Power Management Workows 169
Snapshot Workows 169
VMware Tools Workows 170
Contents
About Headless Systems 171
13
Detecting a Headless System 171
About Serial Mode Dynamic Switching 171
ESXi Serial Port Modes 172
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vCenter Server and Host Management
Dynamic Switching Keystrokes 172
Serial Port Dynamic Switching Using the CLI 172
Controlling the Serial DCUI 173
Index 175
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About VMware vCenter Server® and Host
Management
vCenter Server and Host Management describes how to start and stop the VMware® vSphere Web Client
components, build your vSphere environment, monitor and manage the information generated about the
components, and set up roles and permissions for users and groups using the vSphere environment.
vCenter Server and Host Management also provides brief introductions to the various tasks you can perform
within the system, and it cross-references to the documentation that describes the tasks in detail.
vCenter Server and Host Management covers ESXi and vCenter Server.
Intended Audience
vCenter Server and Host Management is intended for system administrators who are experienced Windows or
Linux system administrators and who are familiar with virtual machine technology and data center
operations.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
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Updated Information
This vCenter Server and Host Management is updated with each release of the product or when necessary.
This table provides the update history of the vCenter Server and Host Management.
Revision Description
04 OCT 2017
EN-002606-00 Initial release.
Updated “Storage vMotion Requirements and Limitations,” on page 124
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vCenter Server and Host Management
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vSphere Concepts and Features 1
VMware vSphere™ uses the power of virtualization to transform data centers into simplied cloud
computing infrastructures and enables IT organizations to deliver exible and reliable IT services.
The two core components of vSphere are VMware ESXi™ and VMware vCenter Server®. ESXi is the
virtualization platform on which you create and run virtual machines. vCenter Server is a service that acts as
a central administrator for ESXi hosts that are connected on a network. With vCenter Server, you can pool
and manage the resources of multiple hosts. vCenter Server provides many features that allow you to
monitor and manage your physical and virtual infrastructure.
Additional vSphere components are available as plugins that extend the functionality of the vSphere
product.
This chapter includes the following topics:
“Virtualization Basics,” on page 13
n
“Physical Topology of vSphere Data Center,” on page 14
n
“vSphere Software Components,” on page 15
n
“Client Interfaces for vSphere,” on page 17
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“vSphere Managed Inventory Objects,” on page 18
n
“Optional vCenter Server Components,” on page 20
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“vCenter Server Plug-Ins,” on page 21
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Virtualization Basics
A virtual machine is a software computer that, like a physical computer, runs an operating system and
applications. The hypervisor serves as a platform for running virtual machines and allows for the
consolidation of computing resources.
Each virtual machine contains its own virtual, or software-based, hardware, including a virtual CPU,
memory, hard disk, and network interface card.
Software called the hypervisor is installed on the physical hardware in a virtualized data center, and acts as
a platform for virtual machines. ESXi is the hypervisor in a vSphere environment. The hypervisor provides
physical hardware resources dynamically to virtual machines to support the operation of the virtual
machines. The hypervisor allows virtual machines to operate with a degree of independence from the
underlying physical hardware. For example, a virtual machine can be moved from one physical host to
another, or its virtual disks can be moved from one type of storage to another, without aecting the
functioning of the virtual machine.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
Because virtual machines are decoupled from specic underlying physical hardware, virtualization allows
you to consolidate physical computing resources such as CPUs, memory, storage, and networking into pools
of resources. These resources can be dynamically and exibly made available to virtual machines. With
appropriate management software, such as vCenter Server, you can also use several features that increase
the availability and security of your virtual infrastructure.
Physical Topology of vSphere Data Center
A typical VMware vSphere data center consists of basic physical building blocks such as x86 virtualization
servers, storage networks and arrays, IP networks, a management server, and desktop clients.
The vSphere data center topology includes the following components.
Compute servers
Storage networks and
arrays
IP networks
vCenter Server
Industry standard x86 servers that run ESXi on the bare metal. ESXi software
provides resources for and runs the virtual machines. Each computing server
is called a standalone host in the virtual environment. You can group a
number of similarly congured x86 servers with connections to the same
network and storage subsystems. This grouping creates an aggregate set of
resources in the virtual environment, called a cluster.
Fibre Channel SAN arrays, iSCSI SAN arrays, and NAS arrays are widely
used storage technologies supported by VMware vSphere to meet dierent
data center storage needs. The storage arrays are connected to and shared
between groups of servers through storage area networks. This arrangement
allows aggregation of the storage resources and provides more exibility in
provisioning them to virtual machines.
Each compute server can have multiple physical network adapters to
provide high bandwidth and reliable networking to the entire VMware
vSphere data center.
vCenter Server provides a single point of control to the data center. It
provides essential data center services such as access control, performance
monitoring, and conguration. It unies the resources from the individual
computing servers to be shared among virtual machines in the entire data
center. It manages the assignment of virtual machines to the computing
servers and the assignment of resources to the virtual machines within a
given computing server. These assignments are based on the policies that the
system administrator sets.
Computing servers continue to function even in the unlikely event that
vCenter Server becomes unreachable (for example, if the network is severed).
Servers can be managed separately and continue to run the virtual machines
assigned to them based on the resource assignment that was last set. After
connection to vCenter Server is restored, it can manage the data center as a
whole again.
Management clients
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VMware vSphere provides several interfaces for data center management
and virtual machine access. These interfaces include vSphere Web Client for
access through a web browser or vSphere Command-Line Interface (vSphere
CLI).
vSphere Software Components
VMware vSphere is a suite of software components for virtualization. These include ESXi, vCenter Server,
and other software components that fulll a number of dierent functions in the vSphere environment.
N Starting with vSphere 6.5, all vCenter Server services and some Platform Services Controller services
run as child processes of the VMware Service Lifecycle Manager service.
vSphere includes the following software components:
Chapter 1 vSphere Concepts and Features
ESXi
vCenter Server
A virtualization platform that you use to create the virtual machines as a set
of conguration and disk les that together perform all the functions of a
physical machine.
Through ESXi, you run the virtual machines, install operating systems, run
applications, and congure the virtual machines. Conguration includes
identifying the virtual machine’s resources, such as storage devices.
The server provides bootstrapping, management, and other services that
manage your virtual machines.
A service that acts as a central administrator for VMware ESXi hosts that are
connected on a network. vCenter Server directs actions on the virtual
machines and the virtual machine hosts (the ESXi hosts).
vCenter Server is a single Windows or Linux Service and is installed to run
automatically. vCenter Server runs continuously in the background. It
performs its monitoring and managing activities even when no
vSphere Web Clients are connected and when no one is logged on to the
computer where it resides. It must have network access to all the hosts it
manages and be available for network access from any machine where the
vSphere Web Client is run.
You can install vCenter Server in a Windows virtual machine on an ESXi
host, allowing it to take advantage of the high-availability that is provided by
VMware HA. See the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation for details
about seing up this conguration.
vCenter Single Sign-On
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A service that is part of the vCenter Server management infrastructure. The
vCenter Single Sign-On authentication service makes the VMware cloud
infrastructure platform more secure by allowing the various vSphere
software components to communicate with each other through a secure
token exchange mechanism, instead of requiring each component to
authenticate a user separately with a directory service like Active Directory.
When you install vCenter Single Sign-On, the following components are
deployed.
STS (Security
Token Service)
STS certicates enable a user who has logged on
through vCenter Single Sign-On to use any vCenter
service that vCenter Single Sign-On supports
without authenticating to each one. The STS service
vCenter Server and Host Management
issues Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)
tokens. These security tokens represent the identity
of a user in one of the identity source types
supported by vCenter Single Sign-On.
Administration
server
vCenter Lookup
Service
VMware
Directory
Service
The administration server allows users with
administrator privileges to vCenter Single Sign-On
to congure the vCenter Single Sign-On server and
manage users and groups from the
vSphere Web Client. Initially, only the user
administrator@vsphere.local has these privileges.
vCenter Lookup Service contains topology
information about the vSphere infrastructure,
enabling vSphere components to connect to each
other securely. Unless you are using Simple Install,
you are prompted for the Lookup Service URL when
you install other vSphere components. For example,
the Inventory Service and the vCenter Server
installers ask for the Lookup Service URL and then
contact the Lookup Service to nd vCenter Single
Sign-On. After installation, the Inventory Service and
vCenter Server system are registered in vCenter
Lookup Service so other vSphere components, like
the vSphere Web Client, can nd them.
Directory service associated with the vsphere.local
domain. This service is a multi-tenanted, multimastered directory service that makes an LDAP
directory available on port 11711. In multisite mode,
an update of VMware Directory Service content in
one VMware Directory Service instance results in the
automatic update of the VMware Directory Service
instances associated with all other vCenter Single
Sign-On nodes.
vCenter Server plug-ins
Applications that provide additional features and functionality to
vCenter Server. Typically, plug-ins consist of a server component and a client
component. After the plug-in server is installed, it is registered with
vCenter Server and the plug-in client is available to the vSphere Web Client
for download. After a plug-in is installed on the vSphere Web Client, it might
alter the interface by adding views, tabs, toolbar buons, or menu options
related to the added functionality.
Plug-ins leverage core vCenter Server capabilities, such as authentication and
permission management, but can have their own types of events, tasks,
metadata, and privileges.
Some vCenter Server features are implemented as plug-ins, and can be
managed using the vSphere Web Client Plug-in Manager. These features
include vCenter Storage Monitoring, vCenter Hardware Status, and vCenter
Service Status.
vCenter Server
database
A persistent storage area for maintaining the status of each virtual machine,
host, and user managed in the vCenter Server environment. The
vCenter Server database can be remote or local to the vCenter Server system.
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Chapter 1 vSphere Concepts and Features
The database is installed and congured during vCenter Server installation.
If you are accessing your ESXi host directly through the vSphere Web Client,
and not through a vCenter Server system and associated vSphere Web Client,
you do not use a vCenter Server database.
tcServer
vCenter Server agent
Host agent
Many vCenter Server functions are implemented as Web services that require
the tcServer. The tcServer is installed on the vCenter Server machine as part
of the vCenter Server installation.
Features that require the tcServer to be running include: lCIM/Hardware
Status tab, Performance charts, WebAccess, Storage Policy-Based services,
and vCenter Service status.
On each managed host, the software that collects, communicates, and
executes the actions received from vCenter Server. The vCenter Server agent
is installed the rst time any host is added to the vCenter Server inventory.
On each managed host, the software that collects, communicates, and
executes the actions received through the vSphere Web Client. It is installed
as part of the ESXi installation.
Client Interfaces for vSphere
You have several ways to access vSphere components through vSphere interface options.
vSphere interface options include:
vSphere Web Client
The vSphere Web Client is a Web application installed on a machine with
network access to your vCenter Server installation. The vSphere Web Client
is the primary interface for connecting to and managing vCenter Server
instances.
VMware Host Client
vSphere Command-Line
Interface
vSphere Client
N Not all functionality in the vSphere Web Client has been implemented for the vSphere Client in the
vSphere 6.5 release. For an up-to-date list of unsupported functionality, see Functionality Updates for the
vSphere Client Guide at hp://www.vmware.com/info?id=1413.
See GUID-60C00C84-A7B3-488C-93F2-9467BDAE61DF#GUID-60C00C84-A7B3-488C-93F2-9467BDAE61DF
for information and instructions about starting and stopping ESXi hosts and vCenter Server.
The VMware Host Client is a Web-based application that you can use to
manage individual ESXi hosts that are not connected to a vCenter Server
system.
For more information about the VMware Host Client, see vSphere Single Host
Management - VMware Host Client.
A command-line interface for conguring an ESXi host.
The vSphere Client, introduced in vSphere 6.5, is an HTML5-based client and
is included with vCenter Server alongside the vSphere Web Client.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
vSphere Managed Inventory Objects
In vSphere, the inventory is a collection of virtual and physical objects on which you can place permissions,
monitor tasks and events, and set alarms. You can group most inventory objects by using folders to more
easily manage them.
All inventory objects, with the exception of hosts, can be renamed to represent their purposes. For example,
they can be named after company departments or locations or functions. vCenter Server monitors and
manages the following components of your virtual and physical infrastructure:
Data Centers
Unlike folders, which are used to organize specic object types, a data center
is an aggregation of all the dierent types of objects used to work in virtual
infrastructure.
Within a data center, there are four separate hierarchies.
Virtual machines (and templates)
n
Hosts (and clusters)
n
Networks
n
Datastores
n
The data center denes the namespace for networks and datastores. The
names for these objects must be unique within a data center. You cannot have
two datastores with the same name within a single data center, but you can
have two datastores with the same name in two dierent data centers.
Virtual machines, templates, and clusters need not be unique within the data
center, but must be unique within their folder.
Objects with the same name in two dierent data centers are not necessarily
the same object. Because of this, moving objects between data centers can
create unpredictable results. For example, a network named networkA in
data_centerA might not be the same network as a network named networkA
in data_centerB. Moving a virtual machine connected to networkA from
data_centerA to data_centerB results in the virtual machine changing the
network it is connected to.
Managed objects also cannot exceed 214 bytes (UTF-8 encoded).
Clusters
A collection of ESXi hosts and associated virtual machines intended to work
together as a unit. When you add a host to a cluster, the host’s resources
become part of the cluster’s resources. The cluster manages the resources of
all hosts.
If you enable VMware EVC on a cluster, you can ensure that migrations with
vMotion do not fail because of CPU compatibility errors. If you enable
vSphere DRS on a cluster, the resources of the hosts in the cluster are merged
to allow resource balancing for the hosts in the cluster. If you enable vSphere
HA on a cluster, the resources of the cluster are managed as a pool of
capacity to allow rapid recovery from host hardware failures.
Datastores
A virtual representation of underlying physical storage resources in the data
center. A datastore is the storage location for virtual machine les. These
physical storage resources can come from the local SCSI disk of the ESXi
host, the Fibre Channel SAN disk arrays, the iSCSI SAN disk arrays, or
Network Aached Storage (NAS) arrays. Datastores hide the idiosyncrasies
of the underlying physical storage and present a uniform model for the
storage resources required by virtual machines.
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Chapter 1 vSphere Concepts and Features
Folders
Hosts
Networks
Folders allow you to group objects of the same type so you can easily
manage them. For example, you can use folders to set permissions across
objects, to set alarms across objects, and to organize objects in a meaningful
way.
A folder can contain other folders, or a group of objects of the same type:
data centers, clusters, datastores, networks, virtual machines, templates, or
hosts. For example, one folder can contain hosts and a folder containing
hosts, but it cannot contain hosts and a folder containing virtual machines.
Data center folders form a hierarchy directly under the root vCenter Server
and allow users to group their data centers in any convenient way. Within
each data center is one hierarchy of folders with virtual machines and
templates, one with hosts and clusters, one with datastores, and one with
networks.
The physical computer on which ESXi is installed. All virtual machines run
on hosts.
A set of virtual network interface cards (virtual NICs), distributed switches
or vSphere Distributed Switches, and port groups or distributed port groups
that connect virtual machines to each other or to the physical network
outside of the virtual data center. All virtual machines that connect to the
same port group belong to the same network in the virtual environment,
even if they are on dierent physical servers. You can monitor networks and
set permissions and alarms on port groups and distributed port groups.
Resource pools
Templates
Virtual machines
vApps
Resource pools are used to compartmentalize the CPU and memory
resources of a host or cluster. Virtual machines run in, and draw their
resources from, resource pools. You can create multiple resource pools as
direct children of a standalone host or cluster and then delegate control over
them to other individuals or organizations.
vCenter Server provides, through the DRS components, various options in
monitoring the status of the resources and adjusting or suggesting
adjustments to the virtual machines using the resources. You can monitor
resources and set alarms on them.
A master copy of a virtual machine that can be used to create and provision
new virtual machines. Templates can have a guest operating system and
application software installed. They can be customized during deployment
to ensure that the new virtual machine has a unique name and network
seings.
A virtualized computer environment in which a guest operating system and
associated application software can run. Multiple virtual machines can
operate on the same managed host machine concurrently.
vSphere vApp is a format for packaging and managing applications. A vApp
can contain multiple virtual machines.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
Optional vCenter Server Components
Optional vCenter Server components are packaged and installed with the base product, but might require a
separate license.
Optional vCenter Server features include:
vMotion
Storage vMotion
vSphere HA
vSphere DRS
A feature that enables you to move running virtual machines from one ESXi
host to another ESXi host without service interruption. It requires licensing
on both the source and target host. vCenter Server centrally coordinates all
vMotion activities.
A feature that allows you to move the disks and conguration le of a
running virtual machine from one datastore to another without service
interruption. It requires licensing on the virtual machine's host.
A feature that enables a cluster with High Availability. If a host fails, all
virtual machines that were running on the host are promptly restarted on
dierent hosts in the same cluster.
When you enable the cluster for vSphere HA, you specify the number of
hosts you want to be able to recover. If you specify the number of host
failures allowed as 1, vSphere HA maintains enough capacity across the
cluster to tolerate the failure of one host. All running virtual machines on
that host can be restarted on remaining hosts. By default, you cannot turn on
a virtual machine if doing so violates required failover capacity. See the
vSphere Availability documentation for more information.
A feature that helps improve resource allocation and power consumption
across all hosts and resource pools. vSphere DRS collects resource use
information for all hosts and virtual machines in the cluster and gives
recommendations (or migrates virtual machines) in one of two situations:
Initial placement – When you power on a virtual machine in the cluster
n
for the rst time, DRS either places the virtual machine or makes a
recommendation.
Load balancing – DRS aempts to improve resource use across the
n
cluster by performing automatic migrations of virtual machines
(vMotion) or by providing a recommendation for virtual machine
migrations.
vSphere DRS includes distributed power management (DPM) capabilities.
When DPM is enabled, the system compares cluster-level and host-level
capacity to the demands of virtual machines running in the cluster. Based on
the results of the comparison, DPM recommends (or implements) actions
that can reduce the power consumption of the cluster.
Storage DRS
A feature that enables you to manage multiple datastores as a single compute
resource, called a datastore cluster. A datastore cluster is an aggregation of
multiple datastores into a single logical, load-balanced pool. You can treat
the datastore cluster as a single exible storage resource for resource
management purposes. You can assign a virtual disk to a datastore cluster,
and Storage DRS nds an appropriate datastore for it. The load balancer
20 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 1 vSphere Concepts and Features
takes care of initial placement and future migrations based on workload
measurements. Storage space balancing and I/O balancing minimize the risk
of running out of space and the risk of I/O bolenecks slowing the
performance of virtual machines.
vSphere Fault Tolerance
vCenter Server Plug-Ins
vCenter Server plug-ins extend the capabilities of vCenter Server by providing more features and functions.
Some plug-ins are installed as part of the base vCenter Server product.
vCenter Storage
Monitoring
vCenter Hardware
Status
vCenter Service Status
Some plug-ins are packaged separately from the base product and require separate installation. You can
update plug-ins and the base product independently of each other. VMware modules include:
vSphere Update
Manager (VUM)
vSphere Fault Tolerance provides continuous availability for virtual
machines by creating and maintaining a Secondary VM that is identical to
the Primary VM. This Secondary VM is continuously available to replace the
Primary VM in a failover situation.
Allows you to review information on storage use and to map relationships
visually between all storage entities available in vCenter Server.
Uses CIM monitoring to display the hardware status of hosts that
vCenter Server manages.
Displays the status of vCenter services.
Enables administrators to apply updates and patches across ESXi hosts and
all managed virtual machines. Administrators can create user-dened
security baselines that represent a set of security standards. Security
administrators can compare hosts and virtual machines against these
baselines to identify and remediate systems that are not in compliance.
vShield Zones
vRealize Orchestrator
An application-aware rewall built for vCenter Server integration. vShield
Zones inspects client-server communications and communications between
virtual machines to provide detailed trac analytics and application-aware
rewall partitioning. vShield Zones is a critical security component for
protecting virtualized data centers from network-based aacks and misuse.
A workow engine that enables you to create and run automated workows
in your vSphere environment. vRealize Orchestrator coordinates workow
tasks across multiple VMware products and third-party management and
administration solutions through its open plug-in architecture.
vRealize Orchestrator provides a library of workows that are extensible.
You can use any operation available in the vCenter Server API to customize
vRealize Orchestrator workows.
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22 VMware, Inc.
Using the vSphere Web Client 2
Use the vSphere Web Client to connect to vCenter Server systems and manage vSphere inventory objects.
Use of the vSphere Web Client requires a supported Web browser.
VMware has tested and supports the following guest operating systems and browser versions for the
vSphere Web Client.
Table 2‑1. Supported Guest Operating Systems and Browser Versions for the vSphere Web Client .
Operating system Browser
Windows 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Internet Explorer 10.0.19 and later.
Mozilla Firefox: 39 and later.
Google Chrome: 34 and later.
Mac OS Mozilla Firefox: 39 and later.
Google Chrome: 34 and later.
Later versions of these browsers are likely to work, but have not been tested.
The vSphere Web Client requires the Adobe Flash Player version 16 to 23 to be installed with the
appropriate plug-in for your browser.
VMware, Inc.
This chapter includes the following topics:
“Log in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Web Client,” on page 24
n
“Log out of vCenter Server Using the vSphere Web Client,” on page 24
n
“Use the vSphere Web Client Navigator,” on page 24
n
“Customize the User Interface,” on page 25
n
“Install the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in,” on page 27
n
“Pause and Resume a Task in Progress,” on page 28
n
“Refresh Data,” on page 29
n
“Searching the Inventory,” on page 29
n
“Use Quick Filters,” on page 31
n
“View Recent Objects,” on page 33
n
“Congure the vSphere Web Client Timeout Value,” on page 34
n
“Remove Stored User Data,” on page 34
n
“Drag Objects,” on page 35
n
23
vCenter Server and Host Management
“Export Lists,” on page 35
n
“Aach File to Service Request,” on page 36
n
“Keyboard Shortcuts,” on page 36
n
Log in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Web Client
Log in to vCenter Server by using the vSphere Web Client to manage your vSphere inventory.
In vSphere 6.0 and later, the vSphere Web Client is installed as part of the vCenter Server on Windows or the
vCenter Server Appliance deployment. This way, the vSphere Web Client always points to the same vCenter
Single Sign-On instance.
Procedure
1 Open a Web browser and enter the URL for the vSphere Web Client:
https://vcenter_server_ip_address_or_fqdn/vsphere-client.
2 Enter the credentials of a user who has permissions on vCenter Server, and click Login.
3 If a warning message about an untrusted SSL certicate appears, select the appropriate action based on
your security policy.
Option Action
Ignore the security warning for this
login session only.
Ignore the security warning for this
login session, and install the default
certificate so that the warning does
not appear again.
Cancel and install a signed
certificate before proceeding.
Click Ignore.
Select Install this and do not display any security warnings for
this server and click Ignore.
Select this option only if using the default certicate does not present a
security problem in your environment.
Click Cancel and ensure that a signed certicate is installed on the vCenter
Server system before you aempt to connect again.
The vSphere Web Client connects to all the vCenter Server systems on which the specied user has
permissions, allowing you to view and manage your inventory.
Log out of vCenter Server Using the vSphere Web Client
Log out of your vSphere Web Client to disconnect from the vCenter Server system.
Procedure
Click the user name at the top of the vSphere Web Client window and select Logout.
u
Use the vSphere Web Client Navigator
You can use the navigator to browse and select objects in the vSphere Web Client inventory as an alternative
to the hierarchical inventory tree.
Unlike the inventory tree, which presents hierarchical arrangements of parent and child objects arranged in
the Hosts and Clusters, VMs and Templates, Storage, and Networking views, the navigator presents a
graph-based view of the inventory. You can navigate from an object to its related objects, regardless of type.
Procedure
1 From the vSphere Web Client Home, click vCenter Inventory Lists.
2 Under vCenter Inventory Lists, click one of the object categories to view objects of that type.
For example, click Hosts to view hosts in the vSphere Web Client inventory.
24 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 2 Using the vSphere Web Client
3 Click an object in the list once to display information about the object in the center pane of the
vSphere Web Client.
4 (Optional) Click the object again to open it.
Opening an object brings it to the top of the navigator and displays related object categories beneath it.
For example, opening a host allows you to see the child resource pools, virtual machines, vApps,
datastores, standard networks, distributed switches, and distributed port groups associated with this
host.
5 To access additional information and actions, click one of the tabs in the center pane.
Option Description
Getting Started
Summary
Monitor
Configure
Related Objects tabs
View introductory information and access basic actions.
View basic status and conguration for an object.
View alarms, performance data, resource allocation, events, and other
status information for an object.
Congure seings, alarm denitions, tags, and permissions.
Tabs with lists of the objects related to the object that you selected. For
example, if you select a host, the tabs that you see are VMs, Resource
Pools, Datastores, and Networks.
Customize the User Interface
You can customize the look and feel of vSphere Web Client to improve your experience while you perform
your tasks.
After you customize the user interface, vSphere Web Client saves the individual user interface
customization.
Rearrange the Components of the User Interface on page 26
n
You can rearrange the sidebars in the vSphere Web Client user interface. You can move the sidebars
and Navigator pane around the content area to enhance your personal experience by customizing the
vSphere Web Client user interface. You change the interface at any time.
Customize the User Interface by Using the Layout Seings Menu on page 26
n
You can customize the user interface of vSphere Web Client by choosing to hide or display dierent
sidebars.
Disable the Customizable User Interface Feature on page 26
n
You can disable the customizable user interface feature by changing the webclient.properties le of
vCenter Server or vCenter Server Appliance.
Disable the Related Objects Tabs on page 26
n
You can disable the related object tabs by changing the webclient.properties le.
Revert Congure Tab to Manage Tab on page 27
n
You can revert the tab back to the former Manage tab presentation in the
vSphere Web Client by editing the webclient.properties le.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
Rearrange the Components of the User Interface
You can rearrange the sidebars in the vSphere Web Client user interface. You can move the sidebars and
Navigator pane around the content area to enhance your personal experience by customizing the
vSphere Web Client user interface. You change the interface at any time.
Procedure
1 In a Web browser, log in to vSphere Web Client.
2 Drag the sidebar you want to move to an appropriate place.
While you drag the sidebar, you see two types of arrows. Single arrows move as you drag from one part
of the UI to another. Both single and double arrows indicate the target position of the sidebar you want
to move.
Customize the User Interface by Using the Layout Settings Menu
You can customize the user interface of vSphere Web Client by choosing to hide or display dierent
sidebars.
Procedure
1 In a Web browser, log in to vSphere Web Client.
2 Click the user name at the top of the vSphere Web Client window and select Layout .
3 In the Layout Seings window, select the sidebars that you want the UI to display.
4 Click OK to save the changes.
Disable the Customizable User Interface Feature
You can disable the customizable user interface feature by changing the webclient.properties le of
vCenter Server or vCenter Server Appliance.
Procedure
1 Connect to the vCenter Server or vCenter Server Appliance by using any remote console, and optionally
use SSH.
2 Navigate to the webclient.properties le and open it in a text editor.
Option Description
vCenter Server
vCenter Server Appliance
3 On a new line, enter docking.disabled=true and save the le.
installation_directory\VMware\CIS\cfg\vsphereclient\webclient.properties
/etc/vmware/vsphere-client/webclient.properties
Disable the Related Objects Tabs
You can disable the related object tabs by changing the webclient.properties le.
Procedure
1 Connect to the vCenter Server or vCenter Server Appliance by using any remote console, and optionally
use SSH.
2 Navigate to the /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/webclient.properties le and open it in a text editor.
26 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 2 Using the vSphere Web Client
3 Edit the le to include the line show.relations.in.categorized.tabs=false.
If the line is present but commented out, remove the comment indicator.
4 Restart the vSphere Web Client service.
Revert Configure Tab to Manage Tab
You can revert the tab back to the former Manage tab presentation in the vSphere Web Client by
editing the webclient.properties le.
In vSphere 6.5, the Manage tab for an object (vCenter Server, Datacenter, Cluster, Host, Virtual Machine,
and so on) is renamed to . Within the tab, the subtabs are removed and replaced with a
aened menu. You can use the tab to perform the same tasks that you performed with the
former Manage tab.
If you want to revert this tab's presentation back to the Manage tab's presentation, edit the
webclient.properties le to turn o this change.
N Certain changes to the vSphere Web Client are not controlled by this changed ag. For example, the
Permissions tab style cannot be reverted.
Procedure
1 Log in to the vCenter Server you want to make this change.
Use SSH to log in to a Linux-based vCenter Server.
n
Use RDP to log in to a Windows-based vCenter Server.
n
2 Edit the webclient.properties le and change the navigation.tabMode.convertSecondaryToToc ag
from true to false.
For a Linux-based vCenter Server, the webclient.properties le is located in
n
the /etc/vmware/vsphere-client directory.
For a Windows-based vCenter Server, the webclient.properties le is located in the
n
C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-client folder.
3 Log o from vCenter Server and log in to the corresponding vSphere Web Client.
Example: Example webclient.properties Configuration
If you changed the webclient.properties le to revert to the Manage tab presentation, the lines will resemble
the following:
# Flag to enable the use of a single TOC view for the configuration of inventory objects.
navigation.tabMode.convertSecondaryToToc=false
To turn the tab back to the tab presentation, change false to true.
Install the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in
The VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in provides Integrated Windows Authentication and
Windows-based smart card functionality.
In this vSphere 6.5 release, the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in replaces the Client Integration
Plug-in from vSphere 6.0 releases and earlier. The Enhanced Authentication Plug-in provides Integrated
Windows Authentication and Windows-based smart card functionality. These are the only two features
carried over from the previous Client Integration Plug-in. The Enhanced Authentication Plug-in can
function seamlessly if you already have the Client Integration Plug-in installed on your system from
vSphere 6.0 or earlier. There are no conicts if both plug-ins are installed.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
Watch the video "vSphere Web Client after the Client Integration Plug-in Removal" for more information
about the workow changes to the vSphere Client:
vSphere Web Client after the Client Integration Plug-in Removal
(hp://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid2296383276001?
bctid=ref:video_web_client_after_cip_removal)
Install the plug-in only once to enable all the functionality the plug-in delivers.
If you install the plug-in from an Internet Explorer browser, you must rst disable Protected Mode and
enable pop-up windows on your Web browser. Internet Explorer identies the plug-in as being on the
Internet instead of on the local intranet. In such cases, the plug-in is not installed correctly because Protected
Mode is enabled for the Internet.
For information about supported browsers and operating systems, see the vSphere Installation and Setup
documentation.
Prerequisites
If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, disable Protected Mode.
Procedure
1 Open a Web browser and type the URL for the vSphere Web Client.
2 At the boom of the vSphere Web Client login page, click Download Enhanced Authentication Plug-
in.
3 If the browser blocks the installation either by issuing certicate errors or by running a pop-up blocker,
follow the Help instructions for your browser to resolve the problem.
4 Save the plug-in to your computer, and run the executable.
5 Step through the installation wizard for both the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in and the
VMware Plug-in Service which are run in succession.
6 When the installations are complete, refresh your browser.
7 On the External Protocol Request dialog box, click Launch Application to run the Enhanced
Authentication Plug-in.
The link to download the plug-in disappears from the login page.
Pause and Resume a Task in Progress
You can pause many tasks in the vSphere Web Client and later resume them from the Work in Progress
pane.
Procedure
1 In a dialog box or wizard, click the minimize buon.
The task is paused and minimized to the Work in Progress pane. Any changes that you have made in
the dialog box or wizard are saved, but not yet applied to the object you are working with.
2 When you are ready to resume the task, click it in the Work in Progress pane.
The dialog box or wizard opens and you can resume the task from where you left o.
28 VMware, Inc.
Refresh Data
You must manually refresh the data in the vSphere Web Client to see changes made to objects by other users
during your session.
For performance reasons, the vSphere Web Client does not continuously refresh data on all objects in the
inventory. All changes that you make during your current session are immediately reected in the client
user interface. Change made by other users or in other sessions are not reected until you manually refresh
the data.
Procedure
u
To update all data in the current vSphere Web Client view, click the refresh icon ( ).
The client view is updated. The date and time of the last refresh are displayed next to the refresh icon.
Searching the Inventory
With vSphere Web Client, you can search the inventory for objects that match specied criteria. You can
search the inventories of all vCenter Server systems connected to the same Platform Services Controller or to
Platform Services Controllers.
Chapter 2 Using the vSphere Web Client
You can only view and search for inventory objects that you have permission to view.
N If your permissions change while you are logged in, the search service might not immediately
recognize these changes. To ensure that your search is performed with up-to-date permissions, log out of all
your open sessions and log in again before you perform the search.
Perform a Quick Search on page 29
n
A quick search checks all types of objects for the specied search term within the name or other
properties of the object.
Perform a Simple Search on page 30
n
A simple search checks all types of objects for a specied search term within the object name.
Perform an Advanced Search on page 30
n
With Advanced search, you can search for managed objects that meet multiple criteria.
Save a Search on page 31
n
You can save search queries so that you can retrieve them to rerun later.
Load a Saved Search on page 31
n
You can load a saved search query to rerun the search.
Perform a Quick Search
A quick search checks all types of objects for the specied search term within the name or other properties
of the object.
Procedure
1 Type the search term in the search box at the top right of the client window.
Multiple search terms in a quick or simple search are treated as if they are connected by ORs. For
example, searching for example machine nds all objects with names containing either "example" or
"machine".
The search results appear below the search box as you type. The number of items displayed is limited to
10.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
2 (Optional) To display an item in the inventory, click that item in the search results.
3 (Optional) To see more search results or more details about the search results, click Show All Results.
a (Optional) To see additional information about the object, select an object in the results table.
b (Optional) To display that item in the inventory, double-click any item in the search results.
The search results are listed in a table. If diering types of objects are found, the table contains tabs for
each type of object. For example, if a search nds hosts and datastores, the following tabs appear:
Datastore, showing only datastore results and Host, showing only host results.
Perform a Simple Search
A simple search checks all types of objects for a specied search term within the object name.
Procedure
1 From the vSphere Web Client Home screen, click New Search
2 Type the search term in the search box and press Enter.
Multiple search terms in a quick or simple search are treated as if they are connected by ORs. For
example, searching for example machine nds all objects with names containing either "example" or
"machine".
The search results are listed in a table. If diering types of objects are found, the table contains tabs for
each type of object. For example, if a search nds hosts and datastores, the following tabs appear:
Datastore, showing only datastore results and Host, showing only host results.
3 (Optional) To see additional information about the object, select the object in the results table.
4 (Optional) To display an item in the inventory, double-click that item in the search results.
Perform an Advanced Search
With Advanced search, you can search for managed objects that meet multiple criteria.
For example, you can use specic strings to search for virtual machines residing on a particular host.
Procedure
1 From the vSphere Web Client Home, click New Search and then click Advanced Search.
2 Select the type of object to search for from the Search for drop-down menu.
3 Select how to combine the search criteria.
Option Description
any
all
4 Select a property to search for from the drop-down menu.
The search returns results that match any of the specied criteria.
The search returns only results that match all the specied criteria.
The properties available depend on the type of object you are searching for.
5 Select the relationship between the search term and the property from the drop-down menu.
The options available in this step depend on the property selected in the previous step. For example, if
you select a Name property, the options available are contains, is, and is not.
6 Type or select the search term.
7 (Optional) To add additional search criteria, click Add new criteria and repeat step 4 to step 6.
30 VMware, Inc.
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