Users in the vSphere Environment
Last Updated December 16, 2024

Users and roles control who has access to vSphere components and what actions each user can perform.
User management is discussed in detail in the
vSphere Security
documentation.
vCenter Server
and
ESXi
systems authenticate a user with a combination of user name, password, and permissions. Servers and hosts maintain lists of authorized users and the permissions assigned to each user.
Privileges define basic individual rights that are required to perform actions and retrieve information.
ESXi
and
vCenter Server
use sets of privileges, or roles, to control which users can access particular vSphere objects.
ESXi
and
vCenter Server
provide a set of pre-established roles.
The privileges and roles assigned on an
ESXi
host are separate from the privileges and roles assigned on a
vCenter Server
system. When you manage a host by using a
vCenter Server
system, only the privileges and roles assigned through the
vCenter Server
system are available. You cannot create
ESXi
users by using the
vSphere Client
.