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vSphere HTML 5 Web Client Fling

November 10, 2016 HTML5 Web Client No comments

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vSphere HTML 5 Web Client

The vSphere HTML5 Web Client is here! It is written using HTML5 and Javascript

The following features are available at the moment

  • VM Power Operations (common cases)
  • VM Edit Settings (simple CPU, Memory, Disk changes)
  • VM Console
  • VM and Host Summary pages
  • VM Migration (only to a Host)
  • Clone to Template/VM
  • Create VM on a Host (limited)
  • Additional monitoring views (Performance charts, Tasks, Events)
  • Global Views (Recent tasks, Alarms–view only)

This Fling has been designed to work with your existing vSphere 6.0 environments. The new client is deployed as a new VM from the downloadable OVA.  Currently the installation instructions are command line-based, but VMware are working on a GUI installation and plan to release it as an update to this Fling once it is ready.

Download and Information

https://labs.vmware.com/flings/vsphere-html5-web-client

System requirements

  • 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 14 GB
  • An existing VC6.0 installation (VCSA or Windows). The H5 client appliance will need 4 GB RAM, 2 vCPUs and the hard disk will grow up to 14 GB
  • Recommended browsers: Chrome, Firefox, IE11. Others may work, with some functional or layout issues.
  • Windows vCenter: Was tested with a vCenter on Windows Server 2012 R2, but should work with other versions as well.

Instructions

Note: I have a Windows 2012 R2 server running vCenter Server 6 and a Windows 2012 R2 server running an external PSC version 6. There are different instructions for running different vCenter/PSC setups.

First of all download the H5 Client Deployment Instructions and Helpful Hints.

  • Download the OVA and server-configure.bat

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 11.35.34

  • In vCenter, go to File > Deploy OVF Template

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  • Check OVF Template details

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  • Accept the License Agreement
  • Put in a name and Location

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  • Choose a host and cluster

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 12.10.15

  • Select the Resource Pool if any

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  • Choose your storage

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  • Check Disk Format

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  • Check VM Networking and choose a Port Group

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  • Choose IP Address allocation

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  • Put in an IP address

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  • Click Finish

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  • I then had to create an IP Pool in vCenter
  • Click on the Datacenter object > IP Pools

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  • Click on the tabs and fill in the relevant information. In my case I needed to add some DNS and Association information to associate this resource pool with my networks and in particular the network my HTML 5 client is going to be on

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  • Power on the VM
  • If you click on the console, you should see the below screen

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 14.09.20

  • SSH or WINScp as root into the H5 client appliance VM (Note: Username is root and password is demova)
  • Create the following folders

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 12.37.00

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  • Copy the provided ‘server-configure.bat’ to any directory on the vCenter and PSC for Windows. (This file is one of the Fling downloads on the top left) NOTE: If you have installed vCenter into any folder other than default (%PROGRAMFILES%), the script may not find the appropriate files. You will need to edit the file and replace the two references to %PROGRAMFILES% with the appropriate path so that the “KEYTOOL” and “VECS_CLI” paths line up. These two variables are at the top of the file.
  • You may also need to change this at the end of the file to the correct path (this is for the ds.properties file): SET CLIENT_DIR=%PROGRAMDATA%\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-client
  • My PSC was all installed on the C Drive but I had my vCenter installed on the D Drive so I had to change the file below which is highlighted in yellow to my correct path

html5fling1

  • Run the server-configure.bat on your PSC server as Administrator
  • The store.jks and webclient.properties file will be created
  • Ignore the Creating ds.properties error message

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 15.11.17

  • Copy the files store.jks and webclient.properties which are generated to the below locations
  • /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/store.jks
  • /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/vsphere-client/webclient.properties
  • In the Windows VC machine, open an Administrator Command Prompt and run the ‘server-configure.bat’ script. The following files will get generated:

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 15.18.12

  • Copy the ds.properties file to H5 client virtual appliance at the following location
  • /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/config/ds.properties
  • Log into the H5 appliance and run this command to start the server:
  • /etc/init.d/vsphere-client start

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  • It should come up and say started in xxx seconds

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  • Once the installation steps above are completed, point your browser to this URL, and log in with your normal vCenter credentials:
  • https://H5_Appliance_Address:9443/ui

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