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Embedded Host Client Fling v3 released!

10.23.2015 by William Lam // 8 Comments

I just wanted to give everyone a quick heads up that version 3 of the awesome Embedded Host Client Fling has just been released! In addition to all the new features and bug fixes which you can find more details below, there is now also an offline bundle for ESXi 5.x as well as ESXi 6.x which can then be used to distribute to your vSphere environment using vSphere Update Manager. One of my favorite features in this new release is the ability to edit or delete existing disk partitions which is super handy when repurposing existing disk devices for use with VSAN. You can find the download on the Embedded Host Client Fling page here.

Screen Shot 2015-10-23 at 10.03.53 AM
If you have v1 or v2 installed, you can perform an "update" by simply running the following ESXCLI command:

[root@mini:~] esxcli software vib update -v /esxui-signed.vib
Installation Result
Message: Operation finished successfully.
Reboot Required: false
VIBs Installed: VMware_bootbank_esx-ui_0.0.2-0.1.3172496
VIBs Removed: VMware_bootbank_esx-ui_0.0.2-0.1.3015331
VIBs Skipped:

What's new in v3 - 

  • VM
    • Answer question support
    • Upgrade virtual hardware to the latest supported by the host
    • Hot edit VM settings
    • VM table column configuration (show/hide columns), remembered across browser refresh
    • VM startup/shutdown priority (simple increase/decrease)
  • Host
    • Change host power management policy, advanced power configuration
    • Generate IP/FQDN certificate signing request and import new certificate
    • Join a host to an active directory domain controller
  • Storage
    • Disk device partition editor
    • Adapter rescan for new LUNs
    • Disk device rescan for new VMFS volumes
    • Clear a disk's partition table
    • Disk device partition diagram
    • Increase datastore size onto disk that already contains a partition table
  • Performance charts
    • Ability to change performance chart colors (two choices: default VMware colors and high contrast colors)
    • Added Network and Disk charts to Host performance UI
    • Improve VM performance UI, still missing some charts
    • Improved performance UI on tablets
      • Always hide the top legend in the chart
      • Hide the focus widget to increase vertical space
  • General
    • In-app update tool: provide a URL to a new version of the VIB, refresh the browser, et voila!
    • For tabbed UIs, the selected tab is remembered as you navigate around the UI to avoid un-necessary clicks
    • Better scrolling performance on tablets (tested on iPad)
    • Hide-able navigator allowing more space on tablets
    • Shortcut buttons to Host, Host Manage, Host Monitor, VMs, Storage, Networking when navigator is collapsed
    • Improved Actions menu behavior on tablets:
      • Menu navigation no longer hides the actions menu
      • Added an explicit close button on actions menus
      • A second press on the Actions button will close the menu
  • Bugfixes
    • VM table sizing with small number of VMs
    • In-browser consoles:
      • Will now attempt to reconnect when losing a connection to a powered on VM
      • Reverting to a powered-on snapshot while a console is open to that VM will reconnect the console

Categories // ESXi Tags // embedded host client, ESXi, Fling, HTML5, vum, web access

ESXi Embedded Host Client Fling updated to v2

08.26.2015 by William Lam // 13 Comments

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.

Screen_Shot_2015-08-24_at_9.23.29_AM_stream
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 🙂

Categories // ESXi Tags // embedded host client, ESXi, Fling, HTML5, vum, web access

New HTML5 Embedded Host Client for ESXi

08.11.2015 by William Lam // 61 Comments

How many of you remember the old WebAccess interface that came with classic ESX 2.0? I know I sure do! It was a very useful interface that allowed administrators to easily manage their ESX hosts through a web browser that provided basic VM creation, troubleshooting and most importantly initial bootstrap configurations for greenfield deployments where a vCenter Server may not be available yet.

Screen Shot 2015-07-17 at 8.07.56 AM
I have always felt that having a simple web interface that customers can just point their browser to an ESX(i) host after an installation would be the most intuitive from a user experience standpoint. About a year ago, I was involved in a project with two VMware Engineers, Kevin Christopher and Jehad Affoneh, when we worked on an early prototype of an optimized Embedded Host Client for ESXi. We socialized the prototype across many different teams at VMware and the overwhelming feedback was super positive. Earlier this year, with the help of the ESXi PM and the Engineering team, they decided to take the concept of the prototype to the next level and really turn it into something that could really be used by customers.

UPDATE: (08/25/15) - v2 has just been released, be sure to take a look at this blog post for more details.

Today, I am very happy to announce the release of a new VMware Fling: HTML5 Embedded Host Client for ESXi which is currently distributed as a simple installable VIB. The Fling currently only supports ESXi 6.0 (however, there is a workaround ESXi 5.x which you can find below). In this first release, the Free ESXi Hypervisor is not supported, but the plan is to add support for this in a future update. Here is a list of some of the supported operations in this first release:

  • VM operations (power on, off, reset, suspend, etc.)
  • Creating a new VM, from scratch or from OVF/OVA (limited OVA support)
  • Configuring NTP on a host
  • Displaying summaries, events, tasks and notifications/alerts
  • Providing a console to VMs
  • Configuring host networking
  • Configuring host advanced settings
  • Configuring host services
  • License management

Once the VIB is installed, which does not require a system reboot, you simply just point your web browser to the following URL: https://[ESXI-HOST]/ui and login with an administrator account.

embedded-host-client-0
One of my favorite features of the Embedded Host Client is the integrated VM Console which is accessible directly within the browser and does not require any additional plugins or installers. I do want to mention that the VM Console feature is currently only available when installed onto an ESXi 6.0 host. One other caveat that I would like to point out is that for customers who wish to try the Embedded Host Client on ESXi 5.5 or on ESXi 6.0 host which have been upgraded from an ESXi 5.x environment, the following workaround is required:

ESXi 5.x or ESXi 6.0 (upgraded from ESXi 5.x) workaround:

Step 1 - SSH to your ESXi host and open the following configuration file:

/etc/vmware/rhttpproxy/endpoints.conf

Step 2 - Remove the following line and save the changes

/ui                      local            8308                             redirect       allow

Step 3 - Restart the reverse proxy by running the following command:

/etc/init.d/rhttpproxy restart

Step 4 - Open a browser to the following URL: https://[ESXI-HOST]/ui/ and note the additional trailing "slash" at the end of the URL. This is mandatory else the Embedded Host Client page will not properly load.

Note: This only applies to ESXi 6.0 hosts which have been upgraded from ESXi 5.x or pre-ESXi 5.5 Update 3 systems. You may also noticed translation errors when running the Fling on pre-ESXi 6.0, this is expected. For the best experience, we recommend using ESXi 6.0 or waiting until ESXi 5.5 Update 3 is released which will resolve this problem.

Having spent the last couple of months working with both of the Engineers: Etienne Le Sueur and George Estebe, I was able to help provide feedback and usability enhancements and I think you will really like what is there in this first release. I do want to stress that this is in no way, shape or form a comprehensive replacement for the existing vSphere C# Client functionality, but I think it could be a good start if the feedback from customers is positive. I really hope you do give this a try in your lab environment and please let us know what features and capabilities we should add next. There is a variety of way you can provide feedback by leaving a comment on this blog post, leaving a comment on the Flings page.

Big thanks goes out to both George and Etienne who took on the challenge and did a fantastic job on the Fling!

Categories // ESXi Tags // embedded host client, ESXi, Fling, HTML5, web access

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William is Distinguished Platform Engineering Architect in the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Division at Broadcom. His primary focus is helping customers and partners build, run and operate a modern Private Cloud using the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform.

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