You can access vSphere components through the vSphere Client, the vSphere Web Client, the VMware Host Client, and the vSphere Command-Line Interface.

vSphere Client
The vSphere Client, introduced in vSphere 6.5, is an HTML5-based client and is included with vCenter Server alongside the vSphere Web Client. The vSphere Client is the primary interface for connecting to and managing vCenter Server instances.

Instructions in this guide reflect the vSphere Client (an HTML5-based GUI). You can also use the instructions to perform the tasks by using the vSphere Web Client (a Flex-based GUI).

Tasks for which the workflow differs significantly between the vSphere Client and the vSphere Web Client have duplicate procedures that provide steps according to the respective client interface. The procedures that relate to the vSphere Web Client, contain vSphere Web Client in the title.

vSphere Web Client
The vSphere Web Client is a web application installed on a machine with network access to your vCenter Server installation.
VMware Host Client

The VMware Host Client is a Web-based application that you can use to manage individual ESXi hosts that are not connected to a vCenter Server system.

For more information about the VMware Host Client, see vSphere Single Host Management - VMware Host Client.

vSphere Command-Line Interfaces
vSphere supports multiple command-line interfaces for configuring virtual machines, ESXi hosts, and vCenter Server.
Note: In vSphere 6.7 Update 1, almost all of the vSphere Web Client functionality is implemented in the vSphere Client. For an up-to-date list of any remaining unsupported functionality, see Functionality Updates for the vSphere Client.