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atbnet
Expert
Expert

vCenter 4.1 as a Virtual Machine - Is it supported (including DvSwitches)?

As I remember vCenter server 4.0 was supported as a virtual machine however there were several caveats to this...

Namely this being if using distributed virtual switches (especially for the vCenter server VM) and the vCenter VM failed you would be unable to bring the vCenter server back on the network. Because vCenter controls DVS and the DVS information is stored in the VMFS datastores it was recommened generally in the expert community as best practice to keep vCenter physical if using DVS.

Is anyone aware of any changes in vCenter server 4.1 that alleviate this issue?

Main reason being now an upgrade to 4.1 requires x64 OS it would be best as a VM due to licensing and also available storage.

I cannot find any official documentation on this so please if there is some point it out to me...

Any info apprecated on this.

Thanks



Andy BSc (Hons)

VCP 3/4 / vExpert / MCP / MCTS / TCSP

Help, Guides and Info http://www.VMadmin.co.uk

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Andy Barnes
VCP / VCA-DT / MCITP:EA / CCIA
Help, Guides and How Tos... www.VMadmin.co.uk

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5 Replies
kgmartin
Contributor
Contributor

Andy,

Did you ever find any additional information on this?

I have recently migrated a client to dVS, thier vCenter was physical.  However, I have another client that is interested and their vCenter is virtual.

Any info you have would be great.

Thanks

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RaBalder
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi....

We got into trouble with VirtualCenter on a VM and having VC connected to a DSV. This was 1-2 years ago.

Had to use a complex procedure to get vc online. Then it could be moved to a dsv.

Had to go back to using standard switches for the cluster where VC-VM is running. It was simpler than the procedure to start the vc-vm.

Elsewhere we do use DSV.

Still run with this setup and don't know about if vc on dsv is supported in v4 or v5.

(((Have played with the idea of putting VC-VM on a standard switch together with the management-traffic. Then have a DSV for all other VM's. Would be a bit easier to manage than all vms on standard-swithces)))

Regards,

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fabro
Contributor
Contributor

Hi there!

First of all VMware vCenter is well supported on a virtual enviroment. I've been using that configuration since version 4.0 at least.

I don't know if there's an official recommendation around but I would say that it's better to keep vCenter out of any DSV configuration, personaly I use a traditional vSwitch to keep the Management and vMotion Network (I know that this is a waste of resources 'cause you cannot share the nics with DSV).

DSV is administered via vCenter. If you have any problem with your virtual vCenter you can always access through the ESX admin console and restart the virtual machine, but It's not a good idea to troubleshoot a DSV there.

Regards,

Fabro.

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kgmartin
Contributor
Contributor

Fabro, RaBalder,

Thanks to you both for your responses.

That's what I was leaning toward and just wanted to see if there was more information out there somewhere.

Thanks again.

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GreatWhiteTec
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Still same gotchas. I run my vCenters on vDS and when there are issues I simply create a vSwitch, migrate a NIC from vDS to vSwitch and migrate the vCenter and SQL server to the new vSwitch. I know is extra work, but the issues are rare if you run a tight ship. In my opinion, this is better than having vSwitches when you can run vDS.

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