Since VMware introduced the vSphere Web Client there is a common question: Which vSphere client should I use? The answer simple: You need both!
There are many new features within vSphere 5.1 which are only available through the Web Client. But there are also many reasons to use the old C# Client: Some features and plugins are not implemented in the Web Client Client. There is no doubt that you need both clients to configure your vSphere 5.1 environment. But which client should you use for day-to-day work or for configuration tasks that are available in both clients?
This post has been updated to include vSphere 5.5 Features
Which Client should a use for simple configuration tasks and day-to-day work?
Most people are working with the C# client since many years. So any configuration tasks are much more intuitive and fluent when using the old client. But there are many great features like "Work in Progress", better search, host profile automation and many more improvements in the Web Client that can really lighten your workload. There are also some ambiguous configuration tasks like distributed port groups. You get a different result when creating portgroups with different clients. So my advice is:
- Use the Web Client for configuration tasks and day-to-day work whenever possible!
- Be careful when using the C# client because you sometimes get different results!
- Learn the Web Client! It is way better when you know it as good as the C# Client!
When you are using the C# Client because you are under time constraints and you think it's faster - Go PowerCLI :-)
Which Features are only available with one client?
This table shows the configuration tasks or features that require the use of a specific client. At least now you should know why you still need both clients at the moment.
Connect direct to an ESXi Host | ||
Custom Attributes | ||
Tags | ||
Maps | ||
Single Sign On | ||
Work In Progress | ||
Pre-emptive Searching | ||
Save Searches | ||
vCenter Orchestrator Workflow Ingegration | ||
VM Hardware Version 9 | ||
vSphere Update Manager | ||
vSphere Data Recovery (VDR) | ||
vSphere Data Protection (VDP) | ||
vSphere Replication | ||
Log Browser | ||
Virtual Distributed Switch Configuration Export | ||
Virtual Distributed Switch Health Checks | ||
Virtual Distributed Switch Elastic Port Groups | ||
VXLAN Networking | ||
Enhanced vMotion (shared nothing) | ||
vSAN Configuration | ||
Upload Files to vSAN Datastore | ||
Big Data Extensions | ||
vSphere Flash Read Cache | ||
VM Hardware Version 10 | ||
Manage >2TB VMDK |
Please do not hesitate to comment when there are any changes to the Web Client or additional considerable differences.
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You don't mention VMware SRM (site recovery manager that work only in the c# client and do not work in the web client.
this chart needs to be updated!!
This chart only reflects vSphere 5.5. Since vSphere 6.0 you should switch to the Web Client, with the next release you have to.