Log in to vCenter Server by using the vSphere Client to manage your vSphere inventory.

In vSphere 6.5 and later, the vSphere Client is installed as part of the vCenter Server on Windows or the vCenter Server Appliance deployment. This way, the vSphere Client always points to the same vCenter Single Sign-On instance.

Procedure

  1. Open a web browser and enter the URL for your vCenter Server instance: https://vcenter_server_ip_address_or_fqdn
    Note: If you are upgrading from an earlier version of vCenter Server, clear the web brower's cache and cookies. Clearing the cache and cookies fixes certain formatting issues that you might encounter in the vSphere Client interface. Refer to your web browser vendor's documentation for information on clearing the cache and cookies.
  2. Select Launch vSphere Client (HTML5). To use the vSphere Web Client, select Launch vSphere Web Client (Flex).
    You can instead open a web browser and enter the URL for the vSphere Client: https://vcenter_server_ip_address_or_fqdn/ui. To use the vSphere Web Client, enter the URL: https://vcenter_server_ip_address_or_fqdn/vsphere-client.
  3. Enter the credentials of a user who has permissions on vCenter Server, and click Login.
  4. If a warning message about an untrusted SSL certificate appears, select the appropriate action based on your security policy.
    Option Action
    Ignore the security warning for this login session only. Click Ignore.
    Ignore the security warning for this login session, and install the default certificate so that the warning does not appear again. Select Install this certificate and do not display any security warnings for this server and click Ignore.

    Select this option only if using the default certificate does not present a security problem in your environment.

    Cancel and install a signed certificate before proceeding. Click Cancel and ensure that a signed certificate is installed on the vCenter Server system before you attempt to connect again.
  5. To log out, click the user name at the top of the vSphere Client window and select Logout.

Results

The vSphere Client connects to all the vCenter Server systems on which the specified user has permissions, allowing you to view and manage your inventory.