VMware announced Windows vCenter and vSphere Web Client EOL < ProVirtualzone

VMware announced Windows vCenter and vSphere Web client EOL (End of Life). VMware announced this week that will discontinue the Windows vCenter version in the next vSphere release (maybe vCenter 7.0 or 6.6 don’t know the next numbered release) and also plan to discontinued vSphere Web Client. So next version of vSphere is the last for Windows vCenter Server and also vSphere Web Client. VMware will not launch any more versions or updates after the last one. Consequentially vSphere Web Client will not be included in the next vSphere releases.

Let us start with:

Windows vCenter Server

The first version of Windows vCenter is from May 2009 and was the version 4.0. Before was called VirtualCenter v2.5 that last for five years and was discontinued in 2012 with the version 2.5 U6b. vCenter 4.0 for Windows did survive for four years, until 2013 when was abandoned in the version 4.1 U3a.

The vCenter Linux version(appliance) only arrive in August 2012 with the vCenter version 5.0.

vCenter was and still is, in my opinion, the best Virtual Management tool. As been improved from a Windows Server(physical or Virtual) with a need a DB(SQL or Oracle back then), to a VMware Appliance that no longer requires a second server for the DB. Since now is embedded in the vCenter Appliance with the DB vPostgres and can also support external Oracle Databases.

So removing Windows vCenter, it’s not a bad thing. We will get rid of Windows VMs and also a need for a mandatory SQL/Oracle database.

For large environments and a proper implementation Windows vCenter always would need 4 Windows VMs (vCenter, vCenter Services, VMware Update Manager and DB. This last one we could use a Linux VM). This means 4 VMs to support, to manage, to apply security updates, patches, plus the vCenter update itself and also Windows Licenses.

With the vCenter Appliance, we only need to update the vCenter Appliance (will automatic apply OS updates and also VMware updates) and the DB (if we have an external Oracle DB and not an embedded vPostgres DB).

So the EOL(End of Life) of Windows vCenter Server is not a bad thing, but an improvement of the vCenter itself and is management.

If still have any Windows vCenter Server in our environment, is time to start planning to migrate to a vCenter Linux Appliance.

HERE you can check the official information from VMware.

vSphere Web Client

Like Windows vCenter server, VMware also announced this week that vSphere Web Client would be launched one last time in the next vSphere numbered version.

After removing vSphere C# Client in May 2016 (something I did not agree because I think is still the best tool, better than Web Client) now is time for flash version vSphere Web Client. That I agree.

This Flash/Flex client version has been a real pain to work. The Flash version was, and still is not, a good option. Acrobat Flash, like Java, is very weak in security (more Java of course) and we need to have updates on those tools all the time. Even the performance (and several issues) was not good. Adobe is also announcing that will deprecate Flash and move to HTML5.

After VMware launched a vSphere Client with HTML5. At initial state was launched as a Fling VMware now is officially part of vSphere 6.5 update 1 and this will replace vSphere Web Client in the future.

Knowing vSphere Client HTML5 version is not a bad option(better than Web Client). The problem is that doesn’t have all features in it. So all the nice things that we can do with vSphere C# Client and even Web Client. Is still not 100% with the features and the task options that we can perform with those two tools.
VMware promises that when vSphere Web Client is entirely deprecated (meaning, after the next vSphere version), all tasks will be fully feature supported.

So if you are like me that still did not move to vSphere Client, and still using vSphere C# Client or vSphere Web Client, then is time to start thinking to move to the new vSphere Client. If you don’t have vSphere 6.5 update 1, you can download the tool from the Fling page.

HERE you can check the official information from VMware.

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