The response and feedback from our customers on the recently released HTML5 Embedded Host Client for ESXi Fling has just been absolutely phenomenal. Having only been released for a little less than two weeks ago, it has also become the #1 Fling on the VMware Labs which is an amazing accomplishment in it itself as well as to the awesome work from both the Engineers: Etienne and George. 

Having said that, both Etienne and George have not stopped and have been quite busy in the last couple of weeks. They have been working adding new features based on feedback from our customers as well as any bug fixes that have been reported. Today, I am please to announce that they have just released version2 of the Embedded Host Client for ESXi which you can find here. If you have v1 installed, you can perform an "update" by running the following ESXCLI command:

[root@mini:~] esxcli software vib update -v /esxui-3015331.vib
Installation Result
Message: Operation finished successfully.
Reboot Required: false
VIBs Installed: VMware_bootbank_esx-ui_0.0.2-0.1.3015331
VIBs Removed: VMware_bootbank_esx-ui_0.0.2-0.1.2976804
VIBs Skipped:

In addition to the new features listed below in v2, I would also like to mention we now have both an installable VIB as well as an offline bundle as some of you have been asking for which will allow you to use vSphere Update Manager (VUM) to automate the deployment of the Embedded Host Client across your ESXi hosts.

What's new in v2:

• Host
  •  Improved host performance monitoring UI
  • Composite CPU/memory figure
• Virtual Machines
  • VM Snapshot support.
  • In-browser VM console full screen support.
  • In-browser VM console 'shrink’ support.
  • Create Wizard: Mac OS guest creation has been enabled.
• Storage
  • Completed file browser (copy/move/delete/create directory/upload/download)
  • Right click on VMX file in browser to register VM
  • Mount/create NFS datastores
  • Create VMFS datastore (currently only on disks that don't have a partition table)
  • Extend VMFS datastore (currently only onto disks that don't have a partition table)
  • Mount/Unmount VMFS datastore
• Networking
  • Firewall ruleset listing (currently read-only)
• General Features
  • Double click title bar to enlarge dialogs and wizards
  • Alt + drag in a dialog or wizard to resize
  • Locale override (we still only support en-US at this stage)
  • Customizable session timeout.

I have already deployed the latest version in my lab and I have to say, the new features rock. One tiny little feature which I really like is a session timeout count down which appears on your browser tab of the Embedded Host Client when left idle.

In my opinion, the attention to details both big and small is what really differentiates this UI from any other that I have used and really provides for a fantastic user experience. Keep up the great work guys!

If you have any feedback, please leave a comment either on my blog or on the Fling site and who knows, your request might just make it into the next release 🙂