VMware Infrastructure Client Window Page 1 of 11

VMware Infrastructure Client Window

VMware Infrastructure Client Window

This section introduces VMware Infrastructure Client features that you use when you manage
virtual machines through your ESX Server host or the VirtualCenter Server. It discusses the
following topics:
• Layout of the VI Client Window
• VI Client Window Components
• Menu Bar
• Pop-Up Menus
• Navigation Bar
• Toolbar
• Panel Sections
• Status Bar
• Console Menu
• Accessing VI Client Functions
• Information Elements
• Symbol Information Elements
• Attribute Elements
• List Elements
• Chart Elements

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Layout of the VI Client Window

Layout of the VI Client Window

The VI Client adapts to the server it is connected to and displays options appropriate to the
environment.
The default VI Client layout is a single window with a menu bar, navigation bar, toolbar,
status bar, and panel sections. Pop-up menus are available for most objects.

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : VI Client Window Components

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VI Client Window Components

Menu Bar Provides access to all VI Client functions.

Pop-Up Provides direct access to many of the menu bar

Menus options.

Navigation Provides shortcut buttons that load the matching

Bar toolbar and panel into the VI Client window.

Toolbar Provides buttons for the most commonly used

actions.

Panel The inventory panel displays a hierarchical list of VI

Sections Client resources.
The information panel displays information about a
selected resource. The type of information
displayed depends on which tab is selected in the
panel.

Tabs The tabs displayed in the information panel provide

you with ways to view or act on the information
associated with a selected object. See Working with
Inventory Tabs.

Status Bar Contains icons to view recent tasks or triggered

alarms.

Status Displays details about the recent tasks or triggered

Panel alarms.

Console Provides access to functions on the pop-out virtual

Menu machine console.

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Menu Bar

Menu Bar
Certain menu options are available only when the VI Client is connected to a VirtualCenter
Server.

Menu Information Displayed

File Which objects are acted on.

Edit Options relevant to the selected object.

View Which panels are visible.

Inventory Options relevant to the object selected in the

inventory panel.

Administration Configuration options that apply across the

VMware Infrastructure environment.

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Help Online help options, links to the VMware Web

site, and product version information.

Menu actions, from either the menu bar or a pop-up menu, apply to the selected object. If no
object is selected, no menu actions are available.
To print, use the Print Screen function in Windows or export the VirtualCenter data to
another format and print from another application.
Note: A save option is not available. The VI Client is similar to a browser. Most changes to
configuration are saved between sessions.

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Pop-Up Menus

Pop-Up Menus
Pop-up menus are available from most objects in the inventory and information panels.
To view a pop-up menu, right-click the selected object, or press Shift+F10.

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Navigation Bar

Navigation Bar
The navigation bar provides shortcut buttons that load the matching toolbar and panel into
the VI Client window. The navigation bar combines and displays associated tasks and
information.
Navigation bar buttons represent VI Client functional areas. The buttons vary, depending on
whether the VI Client is connected to a VirtualCenter Server or an ESX Server. When a
button is selected, it remains selected to indicate the current view.

Button Information Displayed

Inventory A view of all the monitored objects in

VirtualCenter, including datacenters, resource
pools, clusters, networks, datastores, templates,
hosts, and virtual machines. For information about
the inventory panel and the information panel, see
Panel Sections.
The Inventory button provides four views of the
objects:
Hosts and Clusters shows all objects except
networks and datastores.
Virtual Machines and Templates shows virtual
machines and template objects, including the
object that they are organized under.
Networks shows network objects, including the
object that they are organized under.
Datastores shows datastore objects, including the
object that they are organized under.

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To view the Inventory button options

Do one of the following:
• Click the arrow on the Inventory navigation
bar button to see the inventory group options.
• Choose View > Inventory and select an
inventory object.
The Show All Virtual Machines option hides or
shows all virtual machines in the Hosts and
Clusters and Virtual Machines and Templates
views.

Scheduled A list of activities and a means to schedule those

Tasks activities. Available only through a VirtualCenter
Server.

Events A list of all events that occur in the VirtualCenter

environment. Available only through the
VirtualCenter Server.
To display all events, use the Navigation option.
To display only events relative to an object, use
the object-specific panel.

Admin A list of environment-level configuration options

that provide configuration access to roles,
sessions, licenses, diagnostics, and system logs.
When the VI Client is connected to an ESX Server,
only the Roles and System Log tabs appear.

Maps A visual representation of the status and structure

of the VMware Infrastructure environment,
including hosts, networks, virtual machines, and
datastores.

To change the look of the navigation bar, right-click the navigation bar, and choose the
appropriate option.

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Toolbar

Toolbar
The toolbar provides buttons for the most commonly used actions. The toolbar buttons that
appear depend on the navigation task and inventory object selected. Some toolbar options
might be unavailable depending on the object selected.
To view or hide a toolbar, choose View > Toolbars.
To change the look of the toolbar, right-click the toolbar, and choose the appropriate option.

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Toolbar : Toolbar Icons

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Toolbar Icons
Backward and forward navigation

Add a datacenter

Add a folder

Add a cluster

Add a host

Create a virtual machine

Create a resource pool

Power off the virtual machine

Power on the virtual machine

Suspend the virtual machine

Reset or reboot the virtual machine

Connect to a virtual floppy drive image

Connect to a virtual DVD/CDROM drive

image

Take a snapshot of a virtual machine

Revert to a snapshot

Access the Snapshot Manager

Start the VM Console

Add a role

Clone a role

Export diagnostic data

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Toolbar : Additional Icons

Additional Icons
Datacenter

Folder

Host

Virtual machine

Template

Powered on virtual machine

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Resource pool

Datastore

Network

Edit settings for a cluster

Edit settings for a virtual machine

Edit settings for a resource pool

Enter or exit maintenance mode

Host is in maintenance mode

Clone a virtual machine

Convert virtual machine to template

Convert template to virtual machine

Import a template

Migrate a host

Refresh

Export a chart or map

Display pop-out performance chart

Alarm

Critical

Warning

Information

New task

Scheduled event

Terminate

Reconfigure HA host

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Panel Sections

Panel Sections
The panel section, the area between the toolbar and status bar, is the primary information
and action display area.
The content of this display area varies, depending on the navigation bar button selected.
Some navigation bar options display only the information panel. Others have information
divided into two panels: the inventory panel and the information panel. All options display
the status panel.
Inventory panel

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Displays a hierarchical list of VI Client objects when the Inventory or Maps button is
selected from the navigation bar.
Information Panel
Displays lists and charts. There are several information panels:
• One panel each for Scheduled Tasks and Events buttons.
• Multiple panels for Inventory and Admin buttons, divided into tabbed elements. Tabs
for the Inventory button vary depending on the object selected in the inventory panel.
• A topology map-based panel for the Maps button.
Status Panel
The status panel above the status bar displays recent tasks and triggered alarms.
Your choices for the panels are persistent across VI Client sessions. If you run multiple VI
Client sessions using different user names, settings from the last session determine the
values for the next VI Client session.

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Panel Sections : Using Panels

Using Panels
You can perform various actions in and to the panels.
• To select an object, click the object in either the inventory panel or the information
panel.
• To resize a panel, click on the side of a panel and drag it to an appropriate size.
• To hide or display columns in the status panel, right-click a column name in the panel
and choose the columns to show or hide.
• To hide the status panel, click the Close (X) button.
• To display the status panel, click either the Tasks or Alarm icon in the status bar.

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Status Bar

Status Bar
The status bar appears at the bottom of the window and contains icons to view recent tasks
or triggered alarms. Depending on the object selected, it shows which entries are being
displayed.
It also shows the user name of the logged-in user.
The Tasks button displays tasks that are currently running or recently completed, including a
progress bar indicating the percentage complete of each task.
The Alarms button displays the name and status of each triggered alarm.
The status panel above the status bar displays recent tasks and triggered alarms.
To hide or view the status bar
Choose View > Status bar.
Hiding the status bar also hides the status panel.

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Console Menu

Console Menu
The console of a virtual machine is available through a connected server.
To view the virtual machine console
1. Click Inventory.
2. In the information panel, select a virtual machine.
3. Click the Console tab.

To pop out the virtual machine console, click the pop-out icon in the navigation bar to
display a copy of the Console window separate from the VI Client.
The pop-out virtual machine Console window has its own set of menu items. The embedded
Console has similar menu items but does not include all the pop-out Console menu items.
The pop-out Console contains these menus:
File contains only the Exit command.
View contains the following commands, which are not in the embedded Console:
Autofit Window, Fit Window Now, Fit Guest Now, Full Screen
VM contains the following commands, which are reached in the embedded Console through
the Inventory > Virtual machine menu path:
Power On, Power Off, Suspend, Reset, Shut Down Guest, Restart Guest, Snapshot,
Migrate, Clone, Clone to Template, Convert to Template, Add Alarm, Add Permission,
Send Ctrl+Alt+del, Answer Question, Report Performance, Install/Upgrade VMware Tools,
Edit Settings, Rename, Remove from Inventory, Delete from Disk

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Accessing VI Client Functions

Accessing VI Client Functions

Many VI Client functions, or commands, are reachable in multiple ways:
• From the Menu Bar
• By right-clicking an object and choosing an option from one of the Pop-Up Menus
• From the Navigation Bar
• From the Toolbar
• From the Commands portion of the Summary tab of a selected object
However, for brevity only one path to reach a particular function is listed for each Help topic.
You might find you prefer a different path, such as using pop-up menus instead of the menu
bar.

Related Topic
Performing Actions on Objects

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Information Elements

Information Elements

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Information elements include:

• Symbol Information Elements
• Attribute Elements
• List Elements
• Chart Elements

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Information Elements : Symbol Information Elements

Symbol Information Elements

Monitoring data appears in the form of tables and charts. Color, icons, and time lines are
used for easy viewing and analysis.

Color Depending on the location of the colored icon, the

coding color indicates status or power state. The color options
are red, yellow, and green. Color conditions are
propagated up the object hierarchy. For example, if a
virtual machine displays a red status icon, the host on
which the virtual machine resides also displays a red
status icon.

Icons Used in conjunction with color mapping to add a visual

representation of the associated text. Icons for virtual
machine power states are the same as those used with
other VMware virtualization platform products, such as
VMware Workstation.

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Information Elements : Attribute Elements

Attribute Elements
Attributes are information about the resources that are being monitored and managed for all
the managed hosts and virtual machines in your VMware Infrastructure environment. The
status and states of attributes appear on the various inventory panels.
You can use custom attributes to associate your own information with the resources in
VirtualCenter. After you create the attributes, set their values on each virtual machine or
managed host, as appropriate. The values are stored with VirtualCenter. You can use the new
attributes to filter information about your virtual machines and managed hosts.
Note: Custom attributes are available only when connected to a VirtualCenter Server.

Related Topic
Setting Custom Attributes

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Information Elements : List Elements

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List Elements
The following information lists are generated and tracked by your VI Client activity.

Tasks Planned activities that are scheduled or initiated

manually. Tasks generate event messages, which
indicate any issues associated with the task.

Events Messages that report VI Client activity. Event messages

are predefined in the product.

Alarms Specific notifications that occur in response to selected

events. Some alarms are defined by product default.
Additional alarms can be created and applied to
selected inventory objects or all inventory objects.

Logs Stored reference information related to selected event

messages. Logs are predefined in the product. You can
configure whether selected logs are generated.

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Information Elements : Sorting Lists

Sorting Lists
You can sort lists by doing the following:
• To sort a list, click a column heading to sort the list by entries in that column. The
current selection does not change.
• To change between ascending and descending order, click the triangle in the column
heading.
• To choose items in a list, click an individual item. Use Shift+click or Ctrl+click to choose
multiple items.
• To show or hide columns in a list, right-click the column header and choose the column
name from the list.

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Information Elements : Filtering Lists

Filtering Lists
You can also filter a list to sort and include only selected items. A filter is sorted by a key
word. Choose the columns to include in the search for the keyword.
A list is updated based on whether filtering is on or off. For example, if you are on the
Virtual Machines tab, you filtered the list, and the filtered text is powered on, you refer
only to the list of virtual machines whose state is set to powered on. If the state of any of
these virtual machines changes, they are removed from the list. New virtual machines that
are added are also being filtered. Filtering is persistent for the session.
To filter a list
1. Click the arrow next to the filter box and select or deselect the column to filter.
Filtering is inclusive, not exclusive. If the keyword is found in any of the selected
columns, the line item is included in the list.

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2. Type text in the Filter field to specify search criteria.

The Filter field does not support Boolean expressions or special characters and is not
case sensitive.
The search starts.
To change a filter, enter new criteria in the field.
To remove a filter, click Clear or delete the entry in the filtering field.
The VI Client displays all items in the list.

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VMware Infrastructure Client Window : Information Elements : Chart Elements

Chart Elements
Each chart contains data relative to the selected object in the inventory panel. The charts
display the data across time.
Each resource has a summary graph and one graph per instance of that resource. For
example, the processor usage resource has one graph per processor and net usage has one
graph per NIC. View only one set of resource graphs at a time.
The graphs for a virtual machine show the shares allocated to that virtual machine as a
percentage of the managed host processors.

Related Topic
Customizing the Performance Chart Options

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