I personally find the Web UI a little slow for managing VMware Server 2.0 on my home lab and also prefer to use an interface more like the one I use at work when managing our vCenter and ESX hosts. So here is how to use the VMware Infrastructure Client to manage VMware Server 2.0. For this to work, ensure you use an older version of the Infrastructure Client. The one that comes with ESX 3.0 / 3.5 hosts seems to work well. The newer vSphere Client doesn’t work and gives you an error message when you try to login.
1. Grab a copy of the Virtual Infrastructure client and install it on the machine you are accessing your VMware Server Host from. I had trouble finding a download link, so I needed to pull it off an old ESX 3.5 host.
2. Install the client, then run it. At the login prompt enter the full web UI address of your VMware Server Host in the IP Address / Name section. So if you were trying locally on your host, you could enter https://localhost:8333 or from a remote machine use the IP address in the format https://x.x.x.x:8333
3. Enter your user name and password and hit “Login”. This should load up your VMware Server 2.0 server in the infrastructure client. Enjoy!
