VMware ESXi Host Client Re-Born

VMware has launched a new March beta with a new addition to the package – ESXi Host client. As many confused people on reddit (including me) were asking questions why this? And the reason is pretty simple and it is not new.

Here is a quote from VMware, which dates from 2021:

The UI components of the existing VMware Host Client are built using the Angular JS web framework which latest stable release 1.7 has entered a long-term support phase on the 30th of June 2018. Effectively, starting from the 1st of January 2022 Angular JS will no longer be supported by Google. The subsequent releases of the Angular framework (Angular 4 and later) are not compatible with Angular JS. In order to maintain the supportability and stability of the VMware Host Client, VMware cannot rely on updates to a newer version of the framework.
In order to respond to the threat of relying on unsupported technology, VMware has initiated the migration of the UI components of the Host Client from Angular JS to the latest version of the Angular web framework (Angular 9). The migration will remove the dependency on Angular JS-related technologies and will replace these with the latest version of the Clarity platform (Clarity 3).

As a result, the need for workaround, saying a new solution has been launched. Many admins will most likely say that this makes VMware to go back in time like 10 years, when we had the fat, windows client but hey, this little app works like a charm! Fast and no installation needed. I just tested the beta and it's just simple executable to launch, the app does not even needs to install on your system.

MAC OS, Windows and two Linux versions are currently in the beta so you can freely test them out.

So far, you can use the host client to deploy a VM from OVF template, enter maintenance mode, reboot or so. The VM operations allow you to do all the usual operations you'd expect at the VM level. Start, stop, take snapshot etc…

I'd still add a possibility to change theme/colors as some users might prefer dark theme or so. Also the colors of the Capacity and Usage does not really match the logo (blue) colors. We feel that there is clearly “work-in-progress” mode…

Other than that, the fact that now you cannot play with ESXi FREE hypervisor in the lab (even though myself I'm not affected because I'm a vExpert and have a 365 days NFR licenses for VMware vSphere) I'd foresee a migration of many home lab users and SMBs to other hypervisor's platforms such as Proxmox or XCP-NG which are very viable alternatives.

However, the problem of backups reminds me that things might not be that easy due to regulations. Some organizations might needs to keep backups for 10 or more years and as such they have to maintain their backup infrastructure, as well as their production infrastructure on the same solution for the years to come. A typical vendor lock-in.

A solution to this is to install a side-by-side alternative environment, and slowly start migrating your non-essential VMs, familiarize with your alternative platform and test backup solutions. One of the backup solutions you can test is for example Nakivo that has recently announced a Proxmox support.

VMware ESXi Host Client Re-Born

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