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

.