The Global Console provides a graphical user interface for configuring and administering Global Managers, Adapter Platform Servers, Domain Managers, and externally running VMware Smart Assurance adapters such as the SNMP Trap Adapter and the VoIP Notification Trap Adapter. In addition, when the Global Console is attached to the Global Manager, a user can browse the discovered topology in various forms, including maps, and to view notifications about problems that impact availability and performance.

In a VoIP Management Suite deployment, the Global Console is the graphical user interface for VoIP Availability Manager but not for VoIP Performance Manager or VoIP Performance Reporter. (VoIP Performance Manager and VoIP Performance Reporter have their own graphical user interfaces.) The Global Console can be configured to open a web-browser Java-based graphical user interface to view VoIP Performance Manager data.