vCenter Appliance with DRS with only two hosts?

[Wombat99]

Hi there,

I read all the docs I was able to find and wasn't able to find a solution to the following scenario:

1) We have two data centers in different cities. Each data center consists of only one ESXi 6.7 host.

I am trying to use the vCenter appliance to maintain and patch the two ESXi hosts. Currently, vCenter is installed on one of the two hosts.

vCenter can patch the ESXi host on which it isn't installed, but it can't patch the host on which it is running, because that host needs to be in maintenance mode to be patched. The solution appears to be "DRS", but based on what I am reading that seems to require setting up a cluster of at least three hosts per data center Which we don't have.

Can you think of a solution that I am missing and would allow me to use host A to patch host B and use host B to patch host A?

2) How do I mirror / backup the other VMs between hosts in different data centers? Again, from what I read that appears to require setting clusters or vSan with at least three hosts per data center. I don't need automatic failover between sites, it is fine if activating the backup site requires some manual admin labor, but I can't even figure out how to do so in principle. Just as long as the data stores containing the VMs stay in sync between the primary and the backup site.

Big thanks!

--Marc

[IRIX201110141 · Accepted solution]

Forget "DRS" in first place.

To patch a Host it needs to go into Maintanence Mode which means no running VMs on it. So your VCSA needs to move and i see 3 solutions

1. Use svMotion to bring it onto the other Site

2. Add 3rd.  Host to one Site and create a 2 node Cluster. You need a shared storage and can perform a normal vMotion to move VMs and VCSA around

3. Mix of both with mean add 3rd. Host as another standalone on one site and perform a svMotion

1 and 3 needs vSphere Standard because of svMotion. For 2. you need vSphere Essentials Plus or better because of vMotion.

About the replication...

1. VM replication with vSphere Replication(there is also SRM) or much better as part of must Backup Solutions something like Veeam Backup&Replication

2. Replication on Storage level with async. or sync. replication

Regards

Joerg