Do we have to install the SQL protection part, or is it optional?

[hennish]

Hi. I've been reading the docs and KBs around protecting a vCenter Server that has its SQL database externally.

What I can't seem to make out in the docs is whether it's a supported configuration to only protect the vCenter Server, and not its SQL Server.

My customer has the vCenter Server SQL database on a SQL Server cluster that hosts many other databases, so we can't install any third party software on those servers.

Can we simply run the Heartbeat installation on the vCenter Server and skip the SQL part?

[rcporto]

Yes, you can protect only the vCenter Server services and leave the SQL part to DBAs protect, for exemple with SQL Server Failover Clustering, but remember that only the version 5.5 of vCenter Server support SQL Server Failover Clustering.

[hennish]

Thanks. Do you have a definitive reference for this, or is it just something that we have to learn?