VMware ESXI - 6.7 Instruction Manual

vCenter Server and Host

Management

17 APR 2018

VMware vSphere 6.7

VMware ESXi 6.7

vCenter Server 6.7

vCenter Server and Host Management

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware website at: https://docs.vmware.com/

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to [e-mail]

VMware, Inc.

3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com

Copyright © 2009–2018 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright and trademark information.

VMware, Inc.

2

Contents

About VMware vCenter Server and Host Management 10

1 vSphere Concepts and Features	11
Virtualization Basics 11
Physical Topology of vSphere Data Center 12
vSphere Software Components 13
Client Interfaces for vSphere 16
vSphere Managed Inventory Objects	17
Optional vCenter Server Components	19
vCenter Server Plug-Ins 21

2 Using the vSphere Client					22
Log in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Client							23
Use the vSphere Client Navigator						23
Customize the User Interface					24
Rearrange the Components of the User Interface							25
Customize the User Interface by Using the Layout Settings Menu 25
Disable the vSphere Web Client Customizable User Interface Feature 25
Disable the Related Objects Tabs 26
Install the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in							26
Pause and Resume a Task in Progress in the vSphere Web Client 27
Refresh Data	27
Searching the Inventory 28
Perform a Quick Search					28
Perform a Simple Search					29
Perform an Advanced Search						29
Save a Search		30
Load a Saved Search				30
Use Quick Filters		31
Quick Filters Available for vSphere Objects 31
View Recent Objects			33
Configure the vSphere Web Client Timeout Value 34
Remove Stored User Data				34
Drag Objects	35
Export Lists	35
Attach File to Service Request 36
Keyboard Shortcuts			36
Inventory Keyboard Shortcuts						36

VMware, Inc.

3

vCenter Server and Host Management

Create a Scheduled Task with a Keyboard Shortcut 37

3 Configuring vCenter Server				38
Configure License Settings for vCenter Server						39
Configuring Statistics Settings			39
Configure Statistics Collection Intervals in the vSphere Web Client 40
Estimate the Effect of Statistics Collection on the Database in the vSphere Web Client 41
Data Collection Levels		41
Configure Runtime Settings for vCenter Server						42
Configure User Directory Settings 43
Configure Mail Sender Settings				44
Configure SNMP Settings		45
View Port Settings	45
Configure Timeout Settings		46
Configure Logging Options		46
Configure Database Settings			47
Verifying SSL Certificates for Legacy Hosts					48
Configure Advanced Settings			48
Send a Message to Other Logged In Users					49
Edit the Settings of Services			50
Start, Stop, and Restart Services				50
Configuring Services in the vSphere Web Client						51
Auto Deploy Service 53
Content Library Service		53
Transfer Service Properties				55
VMware Open Virtualization Format Service						56
Image Builder Service		56
VMware Performance Charts Service					56
VMware vSphere Authentication Proxy					57
VMware vSphere ESXi Dump Collector					58
VMware vSphere Update Manager 58
vAPI Endpoint	58
4 Using Enhanced Linked Mode				62
5 Configuring Communication Among ESXi , vCenter Server, and the
vSphere Web Client		63
6 Configuring Hosts and vCenter Server					64
Host Configuration	64
Configure the Boot Device on an ESXi Host						64
Configure Agent VM Settings				65

VMware, Inc.

4

vCenter Server and Host Management

	Set Advanced Host Attributes					65
	Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network								66
	Edit Time Configuration for a Host 66
7	Configuring Customer Experience Improvement Program 68
	Categories of Information That VMware Receives 68
	Join the Customer Experience Improvement Program in the vSphere Web Client									68
8	Organizing Your Inventory				69
	Create Data Centers		70
	Add a Host 71
	Create a Folder	72
	Create Clusters	72
9	vSphere Tags and Attributes					74
	Migrate Custom Attributes to Tags						75
	Create, Edit, or Delete a Tag Category							76
	Create, Edit, or Delete a Tag				77
	Assign a Tag to an Object			78
	Remove a Tag from an Object				78
	Add Permissions for Tags and Tag Categories								79
	Tagging Best Practices		79
	Custom Attributes in the vSphere Web Client								80
	Add and Edit Custom Attributes						80
10	License Management and Reporting 82
	Licensing Terminology and Definitions							83
	The License Service in vSphere 6.7						84
	Licensing for Environments with vCenter Server Systems 6.0 and Later, and 5.5									85
	Licensing for Products in vSphere						85
	Licensing for ESXi Hosts				85
	Licensing for vCenter Server					87
	Licensing for Clusters with Enabled vSAN								87
	Suite Licensing	88
	Licensing for VMware vCloud® Suite							88
	Licensing for vSphere® with Operations Management 89
	Managing Licenses 89
	Create New Licenses			89
	Configuring License Settings for Assets in the vSphere Web Client 90
	Set Assets to Evaluation Mode						94
	Rename a License		95
	Remove Licenses		95

VMware, Inc.

5

vCenter Server and Host Management

	Viewing Licensing Information			96
	View Licensing Information About the vSphere Environment									96
	View Available Licenses and Features About a Product								97
	View the Features that an Asset Uses					97
	View the License Key of the License					98
	View the Licensed Features for an Asset 98
	Generating Reports for License Use in the vSphere Web Client									99
	View the License Usage for Multiple Products in the vSphere Web Client										99
	View License Usage Details for a Single Product in the vSphere Web Client 100
	Export a License Usage Report in the vSphere Web Client									100
	Synchronizing Licenses with Your My VMware Account							101
	Synchronize Licenses 101
	Using CSV files 107
	Using Generated Recommendation Reports						108
	vCenter Server Domain Repoint License Considerations							110
11	Working with Tasks		111
	View Tasks 111
	Schedule Tasks	111
	Create a Scheduled Task 112
	Change or Reschedule a Task				114
	Remove a Scheduled Task			115
12 Managing Hosts in vCenter Server						116
	Disconnecting and Reconnecting a Host					116
	Disconnect a Managed Host 116
	Reconnect a Managed Host			117
	Reconnecting Hosts After Changes to the vCenter Server SSL Certificate										117
	Remove a Host from a Cluster			117
	Remove a Managed Host from vCenter Server						118
	Reboot or Shut Down an ESXi Host				118
13	Migrating Virtual Machines			120
	Cold Migration	122
	Migration with vMotion		123
	Host Configuration for vMotion				124
	Encrypted vSphere vMotion			127
	Virtual Machine Conditions and Limitations for vMotion								129
	Migration with vMotion in Environments Without Shared Storage 130
	Migration Between vCenter Server Systems						131
	Migration with Storage vMotion			133

Storage vMotion Requirements and Limitations 133

VMware, Inc.

6

vCenter Server and Host Management

CPU Compatibility and EVC 134
CPU Compatibility Scenarios	135
CPU Families and Feature Sets 136
About Enhanced vMotion Compatibility 136
EVC Requirements for Hosts	137
Create an EVC Cluster 137

Enable EVC on an Existing Cluster	138
Change the EVC Mode for a Cluster	139
Determine the EVC Mode of a Virtual Machine		140
Determine the EVC Mode that a Host Supports		141
Prepare Clusters for AMD Processors Without 3DNow! 141
CPU Compatibility Masks 142
View CPUID Details for an EVC Cluster 143
Migrate a Powered-Off or Suspended Virtual Machine in the vSphere Web Client 143
Migrate a Virtual Machine to a New Compute Resource 146
Migrate a Virtual Machine to a New Compute Resource and Storage in the vSphere Web Client 148
Migrate a Virtual Machine to New Storage in the vSphere Web Client			151
Place vMotion Traffic on the vMotion TCP/IP Stack of an ESXi Host			152
Place Traffic for Cold Migration, Cloning, and Snapshots on the Provisioning TCP/IP Stack 154
Limits on Simultaneous Migrations 156
About Migration Compatibility Checks	157

14 Automating Management Tasks Using vRealize Orchestrator						159
Concepts of Workflows 159
Performing Administration Tasks on the vSphere Objects			160
Configure the Default vRealize Orchestrator		161
Managing Associations of Workflows with vSphere Inventory Objects						162
Associate Workflows with vSphere Inventory Object Types					162
Edit the Associations of Workflows with vSphere Objects				163
Export the Associations of Workflows with vSphere Objects					163
Import the Association of Workflows with vSphere Objects					164
Working with Workflows	165
Run Workflows on vSphere Inventory Objects 165
View Information About Workflow Runs		166
View Information About the Runs of a Specific Workflow				167
View Workflows That Are Waiting for User Interaction			167
Searching for Workflows 168
Scheduling Workflows	169
Workflows for Managing Inventory Objects		172
Cluster and Compute Resource Workflows 172
Guest Operation Files Workflows 173
Guest Operation Processes Workflows		174

VMware, Inc.

7

vCenter Server and Host Management

	Custom Attributes Workflows					174
	Data Center Workflows		174
	Datastore and Files Workflows					175
	Data Center Folder Management Workflows								175
	Host Folder Management Workflows						176
	Virtual Machine Folder Management Workflows									176
	Basic Host Management Workflows						176
	Host Power Management Workflows						177
	Host Registration Management Workflows							177
	Networking Workflows		177
	Distributed Virtual Port Group Workflows							178
	Distributed Virtual Switch Workflows						178
	Standard Virtual Switch Workflows						179
	Resource Pool Workflows			179
	Storage Workflows	180
	Storage DRS Workflows			180
	Basic Virtual Machine Management Workflows									181
	Clone Workflows	183
	Linked Clone Workflows			183
	Linux Customization Clone Workflows 184
	Tools Clone Workflows		184
	Windows Customization Clone Workflows							185
	Device Management Workflows 185
	Move and Migrate Workflows					186
	Other Workflows	186
	Power Management Workflows					187
	Snapshot Workflows 188
	VMware Tools Workflows			189
15	About Headless Systems			190
	Detecting a Headless System			190
	About Serial Mode Dynamic Switching						190
	ESXi Serial Port Modes		191
	Dynamic Switching Keystrokes					191
	Serial Port Dynamic Switching Using the CLI								191
	Controlling the Serial DCUI				192
16	Troubleshooting Overview			193
	Troubleshooting vCenter Server				193
	Guidelines for Troubleshooting					194
	Identifying Symptoms		194
	Defining the Problem Space				194

VMware, Inc.

8

vCenter Server and Host Management

Testing Possible Solutions	195
Troubleshooting with Logs	195

vCenter Server Upgrade Fails When Unable to Stop Tomcat Service 197

Microsoft SQL Database Set to Unsupported Compatibility Mode Causes vCenter Server

Installation or Upgrade to Fail	198
Troubleshooting the vSphere Web Client		198
vCenter Server System Does Not Appear in vSphere Web Client Inventory 198
Unable to Start the Virtual Machine Console 199
Troubleshooting vCenter Server and ESXi Host Certificates				200
New vCenter Server Certificate Does Not Appear to Load				200
vCenter Server Cannot Connect to Managed Hosts 200
Cannot Configure vSphere HA When Using Custom SSL Certificates					200
Troubleshooting Hosts 201
Troubleshooting vSphere HA Host States			201
Troubleshooting vSphere Auto Deploy		206
Authentication Token Manipulation Error			213
Active Directory Rule Set Error Causes Host Profile Compliance Failure 214
Unable to Download VIBs When Using vCenter Server Reverse Proxy					214
Troubleshooting Licensing 216
Troubleshooting Host Licensing	216
Unable to Power On a Virtual Machine		217
Unable to Configure or Use a Feature		218

VMware, Inc.

9

About VMware vCenter Server and Host

Management

vCenter Server and Host Management describes how to use the VMware® vSphere Web Client components, configure and manage hosts, migrate virtual machines, and manage licenses in your vCenter Server 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.

VMware, Inc.

10

vSphere Concepts and Features

1

VMware vSphere® uses the power of virtualization to transform data centers into simplified cloud computing infrastructures, enabling IT organizations to deliver flexible and reliable IT services.

The two core components of vSphere are VMware ESXi™ and VMware vCenter Server®. ESXi is the hypervisor 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 allows 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:

nVirtualization Basics

nPhysical Topology of vSphere Data Center

nvSphere Software Components

nClient Interfaces for vSphere

nvSphere Managed Inventory Objects

nOptional vCenter Server Components

nvCenter Server Plug-Ins

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.

VMware, Inc.

11

vCenter Server and Host Management

ESXi is the hypervisor in a vSphere environment. The hypervisor is installed on physical or virtual hardware in a virtualized data center, and acts as a platform for virtual machines. 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 affecting the functioning of the virtual machine.

Because virtual machines are decoupled from the 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 flexibly made available to virtual machines. With the vCenter Server management platform, you can increase the availability and security of your virtual infrastructure.

Physical Topology of vSphere Data Center

A typical VMware vSphere data center consists of physical building blocks such as x86 virtualization servers, storage networks and arrays, IP networks, a management server, and desktop clients.

The vSphere data center includes the following components.

ESXi Hosts	Industry standard x86 servers that run ESXi on the bare metal. ESXi
	software provides resources for and runs the virtual machines. You can
	group a number of similarly configured 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.
Storage networks and	VMware vSphere uses Fibre Channel SAN arrays, iSCSI SAN arrays, and
arrays	NAS arrays to meet different data center storage needs. With storage area
	networks, you can connect and share storage arrays between groups of
	servers. This arrangement allows aggregation of the storage resources and
	provides more flexibility in provisioning them to virtual machines.
IP networks	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	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 configuration. It unifies 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
	ESXi hosts 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.

VMware, Inc.

12

vCenter Server and Host Management

Compute servers continue to function even if vCenter Server becomes unreachable (for example, if the network is severed). The ESXi hosts 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 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, vSphere Client, or vSphere CommandLine 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 fulfill several different functions in the vSphere environment.

Note 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:

ESXi	The hypervisor runs virtual machines. Each virtual machine has a set of
	configuration and disk files that together perform all the functions of a
	physical machine.
	Through ESXi, you run the virtual machines, install operating systems, run
	applications, and configure the virtual machines. Configuration includes
	identifying the virtual machine’s resources, such as storage devices.
	The server provides bootstrapping, management, and other services that
	manage your virtual machines.
vCenter Server	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 ESXi hosts.
	vCenter Server is a single Windows or Linux Service and is installed to run
	automatically. The vCenter Server service 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.

VMware, Inc.

13

vCenter Server and Host Management

You can install vCenter Server on a Windows virtual machine or physical server, or deploy the vCenter Server Appliance. The

vCenter Server Appliance is a preconfigured Linux-based virtual machine optimized for running vCenter Server and the vCenter Server components. You can deploy the vCenter Server Appliance on ESXi hosts 5.5 or later, or on vCenter Server instances 5.5 or later.

Starting with vSphere 6.0, all prerequisite services for running

vCenter Server and the vCenter Server components are bundled in the VMware Platform Services Controller. You can deploy vCenter Server with an embedded or external Platform Services Controller, but you must always install or deploy the Platform Services Controller before installing or deploying vCenter Server. See the vCenter Server Installation and Setup documentation for details about setting up this configuration.

vCenter Single Sign-On 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. The vCenter Single Sign-On authentication service uses 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 STS certificates enable a user who has logged on Token Service) through vCenter Single Sign-On to authenticate to

any vCenter service that vCenter Single Sign-On supports. The STS service issues Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) tokens. These security tokens represent the identity of a user in each of the vCenter Single Sign-On identity sources.

Administration The administration server allows users with vCenter server Single Sign-On administrator privileges to configure

the vCenter Single Sign-On service and manage users and groups from the vSphere Client. Initially, only the user [e-mail] has these privileges.

vCenter Lookup vCenter Lookup Service contains topology Service information about the vSphere infrastructure,

enabling vSphere components to connect to each other securely. Unless you are using Simple Install,

VMware, Inc.

14

vCenter Server and Host Management

VMware

Directory

Service

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 find vCenter Single Sign-On. After installation, the Inventory Service and vCenter Server system are registered with the vCenter Lookup Service so other vSphere components, like the vSphere Client, can find 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 Client for
	download. After a plug-in is installed on the vSphere Client, it might alter
	the interface by adding views, tabs, toolbar buttons, or menu items 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 Client Plug-in Manager. These features
	include vCenter Storage Monitoring, vCenter Hardware Status, and vCenter
	Service Status.
vCenter Server	Persistent storage for maintaining the status of each virtual machine, host,
database	and user managed in the vCenter Server environment. The vCenter Server
	database can be remote or local to the vCenter Server system.
	The database is installed and configured during vCenter Server installation.
	If you are accessing your ESXi host directly through the
	VMware Host Client, and not through a vCenter Server system and
	associated vSphere Client, you do not use a vCenter Server database.

VMware, Inc.

15

vCenter Server and Host Management

tcServer	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.
vCenter Server agent	On each managed host, the software that collects, communicates, and runs
	the actions received from vCenter Server. The vCenter Server agent is
	installed the first time any host is added to the vCenter Server inventory.
Host agent	On each managed host, the software that collects, communicates, and runs
	the actions received through the vSphere Client. It is installed as part of the
	ESXi installation.

Client Interfaces for vSphere

You can access vSphere components through the vSphere Client, the vSphere Web Client, the VMware Host Client, and the vSphere Command-Line Interface.

vSphere Client	The vSphere Client, introduced in vSphere 6.5, is an HTML5-based client
	and is included with vCenter Server alongside the vSphere Web Client. The
	vSphere Client is the primary interface for connecting to and managing
	vCenter Server instances.
	Instructions in this guide reflect the vSphere Client (an HTML5-based GUI).
	You can also use the instructions to perform most of the tasks by using the
	vSphere Web Client (a Flex-based GUI).

VMware, Inc.

16

vCenter Server and Host Management

Tasks for which the workflow differs significantly between the

vSphere Client and the vSphere Web Client have duplicate procedures that provide steps according to the respective client interface. The procedures that relate to the vSphere Web Client, contain vSphere Web Client in the title.

vSphere Web Client The vSphere Web Client is a web application installed on a machine with network access to your vCenter Server installation.

VMware Host Client

vSphere Command-

Line Interfaces

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.

vSphere supports multiple command-line interfaces for configuring virtual machines, ESXi hosts, and vCenter Server.

Note In vSphere 6.7, most of the vSphere Web Client functionality is implemented in the vSphere Client. For an up-to-date list of the unsupported functionality, see Functionality Updates for the vSphere Client.

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.

Note Managed object names cannot exceed 214 bytes (UTF-8 encoded).

vCenter Server monitors and manages the following inventory objects:

Data Centers	Unlike folders, which are used to organize specific object types, a data
	center is an aggregation of all the different types of objects used to work in
	virtual infrastructure.
	Within each data center, there are four separate hierarchies.
	n Virtual machines (and templates)
	n	Hosts (and clusters)
	n	Networks
	n	Datastores

VMware, Inc.

17

vCenter Server and Host Management

	The data center defines 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 different 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 different 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.
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. vCenter Server manages
	the resources of all hosts in a cluster as one unit.
	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 physical storage resources in the data center. A
	datastore is the storage location for virtual machine files. In an on-premises
	SDDC, 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 Attached Storage (NAS) arrays. For both on-
	premises and cloud SDDCs, vSAN datastores hide the idiosyncrasies of
	the underlying physical storage and present a uniform model for the
	storage resources required by virtual machines.
Folders	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.

VMware, Inc.

18

vCenter Server and Host Management

	Data center folders form a hierarchy directly under the root vCenter Server
	and allow users to group their data centers. 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.
Hosts	The physical computer on which ESXi is installed. All virtual machines run
	on hosts or clusters.
Networks	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 different physical servers. You can monitor networks
	and set permissions and alarms on port groups and distributed port groups.
Resource pools	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 each resource pool to other individuals or organizations.
	If DRS is enabled, vCenter Server provides various options for 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.
Templates	A template is 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 settings.
Virtual machines	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.
vApps	vSphere vApp is a format for packaging and managing applications. A vApp
	can contain multiple virtual machines.

Optional vCenter Server Components

Optional vCenter Server components are packaged and installed with the base product, but might require a separate license.

VMware, Inc.

19

vCenter Server and Host Management

Optional vCenter Server features include:

vMotion	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.
Storage vMotion	Allows you to move the disks and configuration file of a running virtual
	machine from one datastore to another without service interruption. It
	requires licensing on the virtual machine's host.
vSphere HA	Enables a cluster with High Availability. If a host fails, all virtual machines
	that were running on the host are promptly restarted on different 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.
vSphere DRS	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:
	n Initial placement – When you power on a virtual machine in the cluster
	for the first time, DRS either places the virtual machine or makes a
	recommendation.
	n Load balancing – DRS attempts to improve resource use across the
	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 that are 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	Allows you to manage multiple datastores as a single 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 flexible storage resource for resource
	management purposes. You can assign a virtual disk to a datastore cluster,
	and Storage DRS finds an appropriate datastore for it. The load balancer

VMware, Inc.

20

vCenter Server and Host Management

	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 bottlenecks slowing the
	performance of virtual machines.
vSphere Fault	vSphere Fault Tolerance provides continuous availability for virtual
Tolerance	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.

vCenter Server Plug-Ins

vCenter Server plug-ins extend the capabilities of vCenter Server by providing additional features and functions.

Some plug-ins are installed as part of the base vCenter Server product.

vCenter Storage	Allows you to review information on storage use and to map relationships
Monitoring	visually between all storage entities available in vCenter Server.
vCenter Hardware	Uses CIM monitoring to display the hardware status of hosts that
Status	vCenter Server manages.
vCenter Service Status	Displays the status of vCenter services.

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	Enables administrators to apply updates and patches across ESXi hosts
Manager (VUM)	and all managed virtual machines. Administrators can create user-defined
	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.
vRealize Orchestrator	A workflow engine that enables you to create and run automated workflows
	in your vSphere environment. vRealize Orchestrator coordinates workflow
	tasks across multiple VMware products and third-party management and
	administration solutions through its open plug-in architecture.
	vRealize Orchestrator provides a library of workflows that are extensible.
	You can use any operation available in the vCenter Server API to
	customize vRealize Orchestrator workflows.

VMware, Inc.

21

Using the vSphere Client

2

Use the vSphere Client to connect to vCenter Server systems and manage vSphere inventory objects. Use of the vSphere Client requires a supported Web browser.

VMware has tested and supports the following guest operating systems and browser versions for the vSphere Client.

Table 2 1. Supported Guest Operating Systems and Browser Versions for the vSphere Client .

Operating system	Browser
Windows 32-bit and 64-bit	Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 and later.
	Mozilla Firefox: 56 and later.
	Google Chrome: 62 and later.
Mac OS	Mozilla Firefox: 56 and later.
	Google Chrome: 62 and later.

Later versions of these browsers are likely to work, but have not been tested.

This chapter includes the following topics:

nLog in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Client

nUse the vSphere Client Navigator

nCustomize the User Interface

nInstall the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in

nPause and Resume a Task in Progress in the vSphere Web Client

nRefresh Data

nSearching the Inventory

nUse Quick Filters

nView Recent Objects

nConfigure the vSphere Web Client Timeout Value

nRemove Stored User Data

nDrag Objects

VMware, Inc.

22

vCenter Server and Host Management

nExport Lists

nAttach File to Service Request

nKeyboard Shortcuts

Log in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Client

Log in to vCenter Server by using the vSphere Client to manage your vSphere inventory.

In vSphere 6.5 and later, the vSphere Client is installed as part of the vCenter Server on Windows or the vCenter Server Appliance deployment. This way, the vSphere Client always points to the same vCenter Single Sign-On instance.

Procedure

1Open a Web browser and enter the URL for the vSphere Client: https://vcenter_server_ip_address_or_fqdn/ui. To use the vSphere Web Client, enter the URL: https://vcenter_server_ip_address_or_fqdn/vsphere-client.

2Enter the credentials of a user who has permissions on vCenter Server, and click Login.

3If a warning message about an untrusted SSL certificate appears, select the appropriate action based on your security policy.

Option	Action
Ignore the security warning for this	Click Ignore.
login session only.
Ignore the security warning for this	Select Install this certificate and do not display any security warnings for
login session, and install the default	this server and click Ignore.
certificate so that the warning does not	Select this option only if using the default certificate does not present a security
appear again.	problem in your environment.
Cancel and install a signed certificate	Click Cancel and ensure that a signed certificate is installed on the vCenter
before proceeding.	Server system before you attempt to connect again.

4To logout, click the user name at the top of the vSphere Client window and select Logout.

The vSphere Client connects to all the vCenter Server systems on which the specified user has permissions, allowing you to view and manage your inventory.

Use the vSphere Client Navigator

You can use the navigator to browse and select objects in the vSphere 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.

VMware, Inc.

23

vCenter Server and Host Management

Procedure

1From the vSphere Client Home, click Global Inventory Lists.

2Under Global Inventory Lists, click one of the object categories to view objects of that type. For example, click Hosts to view hosts in the vSphere Client inventory.

3Click an object in the list once to display information about the object in the center pane of the vSphere 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.

5To access additional information and actions, click one of the tabs in the center pane.

Option	Description
Getting Started	View introductory information and access basic actions.
Summary	View basic status and configuration for an object.
Monitor	View alarms, performance data, resource allocation, events, and other status
	information for an object.
Configure	Configure settings, alarm definitions, tags, and permissions.
Related Objects tabs	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 Client to improve your experience while you perform your tasks.

After you customize the user interface, vSphere Client saves the individual user interface customization.

nRearrange the Components of the User Interface

You can rearrange the panes in the vSphere Web Client user interface. You can move the panes and Navigator sidebar around the content area to enhance your personal experience by customizing the vSphere Web Client user interface. You change the interface at any time.

nCustomize 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 different panes.

nDisable the vSphere Web Client Customizable User Interface Feature

You can disable the vSphere Web Client customizable user interface feature by changing the webclient.properties file of vCenter Server or vCenter Server Appliance.

VMware, Inc.

24

vCenter Server and Host Management

nDisable the Related Objects Tabs

You can disable the related object tabs by changing the webclient.properties file.

Rearrange the Components of the User Interface

You can rearrange the panes in the vSphere Web Client user interface. You can move the panes and Navigator sidebar 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

1In a Web browser, log in to vSphere Web Client.

2Drag the pane you want to move to an appropriate place.

While you drag the pane, 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 pane 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 different panes.

Procedure

1In a Web browser, log in to vSphere Web Client.

2Click the user name at the top of the vSphere Web Client window and select Layout Settings.

3In the Layout Settings window, select the panes that you want the UI to display.

4Click OK to save the changes.

Disable the vSphere Web Client Customizable User Interface

Feature

You can disable the vSphere Web Client customizable user interface feature by changing the webclient.properties file of vCenter Server or vCenter Server Appliance.

Procedure

1Connect to the vCenter Server or vCenter Server Appliance by using any remote console, and optionally use SSH.

2Navigate to the webclient.properties file and open it in a text editor.

Option	Description
vCenter Server	installation_directory\VMware\CIS\cfg\vsphere-
	client\webclient.properties
vCenter Server Appliance	/etc/vmware/vsphere-client/webclient.properties

VMware, Inc.

25

vCenter Server and Host Management

3On a new line, enter docking.disabled=true and save the file.

Disable the Related Objects Tabs

You can disable the related object tabs by changing the webclient.properties file.

Procedure

1Connect to the vCenter Server or vCenter Server Appliance by using any remote console, and optionally use SSH.

2Navigate to the /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/webclient.properties file and open it in a text editor.

3Edit the file to include the line show.relations.in.categorized.tabs=false.

If the line is present but commented out, remove the comment indicator.

4Restart the vSphere Web Client service.

Install the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in

The VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in provides Integrated Windows Authentication and Windows-based smart card functionality.

In the vSphere 6.5 release, the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in replaced 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 conflicts if both plug-ins are installed.

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 first disable Protected Mode and enable pop-up windows on your Web browser. Internet Explorer identifies 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 vCenter Server Installation and Setup documentation.

Prerequisites

If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, disable Protected Mode.

Procedure

1Open a Web browser and type the URL for the vSphere Client.

2At the bottom of the vSphere Client login page, click Download Enhanced Authentication Plug-in.

VMware, Inc.

26

vCenter Server and Host Management

3If the browser blocks the installation either by issuing certificate errors or by running a pop-up blocker, follow the Help instructions for your browser to resolve the problem.

4Save the plug-in to your computer, and run the executable.

5Step through the installation wizard for both the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in and the VMware Plug-in Service which are run in succession.

6When the installations are complete, refresh your browser.

7On 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 in the vSphere Web Client

You can pause many tasks in the vSphere Web Client and later resume them from the Work in Progress pane.

Procedure

1In a dialog box or wizard, click the minimize button.

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.

2When 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 off.

Refresh Data

You must manually refresh the data in the vSphere Client to see changes made to objects by other users during your session.

For performance reasons, the vSphere Client does not continuously refresh data on all objects in the inventory. All changes that you make during your current session are immediately reflected in the client user interface. Change made by other users or in other sessions are not reflected until you manually refresh the data.

Procedure

uTo update all data in the current vSphere Client view, click the refresh icon (). The client view is updated.

VMware, Inc.

27

vCenter Server and Host Management

Searching the Inventory

With vSphere Client, you can search the inventory for objects that match specified criteria. You can search the inventories of all vCenter Server systems connected to the same Platform Services Controller or to Platform Services Controllers.

You can only view and search for inventory objects that you have permission to view.

Note 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.

nPerform a Quick Search

A quick search checks all types of objects for the specified search term within the name or other properties of the object.

nPerform a Simple Search

A simple search checks all types of objects for a specified search term within the object name.

nPerform an Advanced Search

You can conduct an advanced search in the vSphere Web Client to search for managed objects that meet multiple criteria.

nSave a Search

You can save search queries in the vSphere Web Client so that you can retrieve them to rerun later.

nLoad a Saved Search

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 specified search term within the name or other properties of the object.

Procedure

1Type the search term in the search box at the top of the vSphere 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 finds 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.

2(Optional) To display an item in the inventory, click that item in the search results.

VMware, Inc.

28

vCenter Server and Host Management

3(Optional) To see more search results or more details about the search results, click 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 differing types of objects are found, the table contains tabs for each type of object. For example, if a search finds hosts and virtual machines, the following tabs appear: Hosts, showing only host results and Virtual Machines, showing only virtual machine results.

Perform a Simple Search

A simple search checks all types of objects for a specified search term within the object name.

Procedure

1From the vSphere Client Home screen sidebar menu, click New Search

2Type 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 finds all objects with names containing either "example" or "machine".

The search results are listed in a table. If differing types of objects are found, the table contains tabs for each type of object. For example, if a search finds hosts and virtual machines, the following tabs appear: Hosts, showing only host results and Virtual Machines, showing only virtual machine 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

You can conduct an advanced search in the vSphere Web Client to search for managed objects that meet multiple criteria.

For example, you can use specific strings to search for virtual machines residing on a particular host.

Procedure

1From the vSphere Web Client Home, click New Search and then click Advanced Search.

2Select the type of object to search for from the Search for drop-down menu.

3Select how to combine the search criteria.

Option	Description
any	The search returns results that match any of the specified criteria.
all	The search returns only results that match all the specified criteria.

VMware, Inc.

29

vCenter Server and Host Management

4Select a property to search for from the drop-down menu.

The properties available depend on the type of object you are searching for.

5Select 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.

6Type or select the search term.

7(Optional) To add additional search criteria, click Add new criteria and repeat step 4 to step 6.

8(Optional) To add an additional search, click Add another object type and repeat step 2 to step 7.

9Click Search.

Search results are displayed in the details pane and in the navigator.

10(Optional) To see item details without leaving the context of the search, click on the item in the navigator.

11(Optional) To display an item in the inventory, double-click on the item in the details pane.

Save a Search

You can save search queries in the vSphere Web Client so that you can retrieve them to rerun later.

Procedure

1In the vSphere Web Client, enter a query for either a simple or advanced search.

2Click Save.

3Type a name for the search and click OK.

The search query you entered is saved. You can reload that query later and repeat the search.

Load a Saved Search

You can load a saved search query to rerun the search.

The vSphere Web Client saves search queries, not search results. When you load a saved search, the search query is run again and new results are displayed.

Procedure

1From the vSphere Web Client Home, click Saved Searches.

2Click the saved search.

The search runs and the results are displayed.

VMware, Inc.

30