Multi Site PSC changes in 6.5U2 ????

[Almero]

Good morning team .

I noticed you can now have some level of Enhanced Linked Mode between vCenters with EMBEDDED PSCs .

I recon this is aligned to the simplified VCHA design .

vCenter Embedded Linked Mode for a vCSA with Embedded PSC | Victor Virtualization

A > Would you recommend this over the normal External ( multi site , single SSO domain ) approach we have been following since 6.0 ?

B > Anybody done this in production ? Any issues?

C > Some Forums suggest that there is a degraded level of Replication occurring in this embedded multi site PSC model . Any comments ?

Line 4 here >

https://www.bnelabs.com/deploy-vcenter-server-6-5-appliance-register-secondary-psc/

D > Future Upgrading problems with this model ? All I know is we cannot currently upgrade in place to VCSA 6.7GA irrespective of PSC model.

E > Future problems should be go for Hybrid VMware Cloud on AWS ?

Any real life inputs would be greatly appreciated , as the VMware KBs have a total on one line on this on the PSC topology guide .

VMware Knowledge Base

I will go test this in LAB , and report back here , I am sure I am not the only one blindsided by this .

[Almero]

Hi Guys , just wanted to share my LAB tests .

I still have not found new formal KBs indicating this is supported/recommended ( Multi site , with Embedded PSCs )

The testing thus far did unlock some answers .

I set up 2 "logical" DCs .

Each with a vCenter 6.5.U2 EMBEDDED PSC .

Findings >

1> Enhanced linked mode works at is would with external PSCs

2> Embedded appears to the be the suggested way should you want to stretch to Vmware Cloud on AWS .

3> Global permissions work as they would before

4> Adding Windows Integrated AD integrated identify source on VC1/DC1 , automatically showed up on VC2/DC2 as expected .

4> There IS replication occurring on PSC level . I was unable to get vcdrepadmin to show partners etc due to me changing my vSphere.local to lab.local . The command appears to only take administrator under -u , and assumes you have the default vsphere.local SSO domain .

There is one catch though , still requires further testing .

When you build your first PSC , you can enter a site name , like DC1 .

When you join the ""DC2"" embedded PSC to the the DC1 one you cannot enter a site name .

The result looks like this in JXexplorer ( wish I could get vcdrepadmin to work )

Note i have not hashed out any server names as its pure isolated internal homelab .

You can see , DC1 , and then the "'default-first-site'' 

Services >

ELM still works >