The

vSphere Client

is a user interface for general management tasks. All administrative functions are available through the

vSphere Client

.

The

vSphere Client

is a cross-platform application that can connect only to

vCenter Server

. It has a full range of administrative functionality and an extensible plug-in-based architecture. Typical users are virtual infrastructure administrators, help desk, network operations center operators, and virtual machine owners.

The

vCenter Server Management Interface

is an interface for configuring, monitoring, and patching

vCenter Server

.

The

vCenter Server Management Interface

runs in a browser that connects to port 5480 of

vCenter Server

. The

vCenter Server Management Interface

provides access to all the service APIs of

vCenter Server

.

The

Direct Console User Interface

(

DCUI

) provides access to basic operations for

vCenter Server

management and set up.

The

DCUI

provides access to a subset of management functions. It provides direct access to

vCenter Server

if the

vSphere Client

and the

vCenter Server Management Interface

become unavailable.

After the

vCenter Server

startup is complete, the

DCUI

displays basic CPU, memory, and network information on the operator console. The root user can use the

DCUI

screen to configure network interfaces, DNS, and super administrator password.

You can use the

vCenter Server

appliance Bash shell to access all

vCenter Server

commands and plug-ins that you use for monitoring, troubleshooting, and configuring the

vCenter Server

instance through the API. For more information about the appliance Bash shell, see

vCenter Server Configuration

.

The Data Center CLI (DCLI) is a CLI client of the

vSphere Automation

APIs. Almost all methods that are available in the

vSphere Automation

APIs are available as DCLI commands. For more information about DCLI, see

DCLI User's Guide

.

PowerCLI

contains modules of cmdlets based on Microsoft PowerShell. The main

PowerCLI

module provides cmdlets for automated administration of the vSphere environment.

PowerCLI

, the most popular vSphere automation tool, provides alternative, and often more user-friendly, methods to consume the vSphere APIs. The vSphere Automation SDK for PowerShell that was introduced with VMware

PowerCLI

12.4, enables you to prepare data structures and call the vSphere REST APIs directly from PowerShell. It uses the

Initialize-

and

Invoke-

cmdlet prefixes to prepare data structures and call API endpoints. This approach keeps the REST workflow intact but transfers it to a PowerShell interface. For more information, see the

Managing the vSphere Automation API with VMware PowerCLI

chapter in the

PowerCLI User's Guide

.

The vSphere API is exposed as a Web service, running on VMware vSphere server systems. The API provides access to the vSphere management components - the managed objects that you can use to manage, monitor, and control life-cycle operations of virtual machines and other virtual infrastructure components, such as data centers, datastores, networks, and so on. For more information about the vSphere Web Services API, see the

vSphere Web Services API Reference

.