Components of the
vSphere Client Architecture
The vSphere Client architecture enables
administrators to manage vSphere environments of varying scale and complexity with a single
user interface. It supports environments ranging from a single vCenter Server to a number of
vCenter Server instances in Enhanced Linked Mode or Hybrid Linked Mode.
The user interface component runs in a browser,
managing and displaying HTML5 views. It communicates with the vsphere-ui service,
requesting HTML and Javascript files with vSphere inventory data, authenticating as
needed. The user interface also manages a sandbox for each active plug-in and provides
client library services to the plug-in user interface.
The vsphere-ui service is an OSGi Java application
server that runs on every vCenter Server node. The vsphere-ui service communicates with
all of the services provided by vCenter Server by using a variety of API styles and
protocols. The vsphere-ui service maintains an authenticated session connection as a
client of each of the services.
The vsphere-ui service also provides REST and Web
Sockets APIs to the vSphere Client user interface running in the browser. The service
supports authentication for users of the vSphere Client by redirecting the browser to a
login user interface provided by the VMware vCenter Single Sign-on service.