easy way to manage VMware ESXi on Mac OS X

I'm a VMware guy, running a dozen of ESXi ... and i'm also a mac user and I've had it with launching VMware Fusion to boot my Win7 to work on vSphere client...

Am I missing something? Sys Admins and Solution Architects are using Linux/Mac more and more ... Is there anyway that i can do that without having to rely on rdesktop and other unreliable workarounds?

If you've got access to vCenter, then you can administer your servers via the vCenter Web Access page. Otherwise, if you have any Windows VMs then you could install the vSphere client in there and remote-desktop into it as a standalone application.

For Mac OS X, no. The only Apple management option is the iPad management app that VMware released a short while ago.

FYI, if all you need is basic control from OSX, check out Orbit-VM https://code.google.com/p/orbit-vm/

It's aim is to provide an open source, cross-platform GUI for managing vSphere 4 servers.

However, I use this to manange my ESXi 5 box and it works great on Mountain Lion!

No need for esx client. Here's the ultra-unix-geek answer: ssh to esx host, run vim-cmd power.on , or any number of actions available for the vim-cmd. ..sometimes they even work! How's that for geeky.

Basically VMware is Windows now. They have the microsoft philosophy of 'dumbing down' everything. They been doing it with vmware for years. It used to be completely manageable by anyone with unix/linux skills. Now its an almost completely dumbed down - windoze-afied linux, with a completely crippled shell.

My advice: switch to KVM (RHEV for ex.), escape vmware vendor lock-in, save up to 40% on expenses, and have a real 'nix OS that you can manage. :) Peace, out.