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iMahmoud
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Can I connect my current vCenter server to another vCenter server? or can I allow a vCenter server to manage my ESXi Hosts that managed by another vCenter server?

Can I connect my current vCenter server to another vCenter server?

Can I allow a vCenter server to manage my ESXi Hosts that managed by another vCenter server?

if yes, what level of access needed to access the host or the vCenter server?

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Jimmy15
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Can I connect my current vCenter server to another vCenter server? Yes

Can I allow a vCenter server to manage my ESXi Hosts that managed by another vCenter server? No. But but both Virtual Centers can be managed from one single console.

if yes, what level of access needed to access the host or the vCenter server? When adding a vCenter Server instance to a Linked Mode group, the installer must be run by a domain user who is an administrator on both the machine where vCenter Server is installed and the target machine of the Linked Mode group

Below points are helpful before planning for linked mode:

The following requirements apply to each vCenter Server system that is a member of a Linked Mode group:

■vCenter Server does not support Linked Mode groups that contain both version 5.x and pre-5.0 versions of vCenter Server. Similarly, vCenter Server does not support Linked Mode groups that contain both version 5.1.x and 5.0.x versions of vCenter Server. vCenter Server 5.0.x can be joined in a Linked Mode group only with other instances of vCenter Server 5.0.x. vCenter Server 5.1.x can be joined in a Linked Mode group only with other instances of vCenter Server 5.1.x. After all vCenter Servers in the group are upgraded to version 5.0.x or all vCenter Servers in the group are upgraded to version 5.1.x, you can rejoin them.

■Make sure that all vCenter Servers in a Linked Mode group are registered to the same vCenter Single Sign On server.

■To join a Linked Mode group the vCenter Server must be in evaluation mode or licensed as a Standard edition. vCenter Server Foundation and vCenter Server Essentials editions do not support Linked Mode.

■DNS must be operational for Linked Mode replication to work.

■The vCenter Server instances in a Linked Mode group can be in different domains if the domains have a two-way trust relationship. Each domain must trust the other domains on which vCenter Server instances are installed.

■When adding a vCenter Server instance to a Linked Mode group, the installer must be run by a domain user who is an administrator on both the machine where vCenter Server is installed and the target machine of the Linked Mode group.

■All vCenter Server instances must have network time synchronization. The vCenter Server installer validates that the machine clocks are not more than five minutes apart. See Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network.

Regards

Pankaj Sharma


regards



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Sateesh_vCloud
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May I know more details of

"connect my current vCenter server to another vCenter server"

ESXi host can't be managed from two vCenter servers

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow me @ www.vmwareguruz.com Please consider marking this answer "correct" or "helpful" if you found it useful T. Sateesh VCIX-NV, VCAP 5-DCA/DCD,VCP 6-NV,VCP 5 DCV/Cloud/DT, ZCP IBM India Pvt. Ltd
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Kisan_VMware
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Hi,

Question is not clear, but my understanding is if link mode is enabled then we can manager another vCenter server from current vCenter server and esxi host as well from single console.

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HariRajan
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Hi Mahamoud ,

Please find the  inline comments here.

Can I connect my current vCenter server to another vCenter server?

#1 in one sense it is yes and let me outline the scenario here.

1. If you have 2 vCenters and you need to bring it in to single glassy view ."A Linked Mode group allows you to log in to any single instance of vCenter Server and view and manage the inventories of all the vCenter Server systems in the group.You can join multiple vCenter Server systems to form a Linked Mode group. You can configure a Linked Mode group during vCenter Server installation or after vCenter Server is installed"

#2 Can I allow a vCenter server to manage my ESXi Hosts that managed by another vCenter server?

Certainly NO , each esxi host should binded to only one vcenter .

if yes, what level of access needed to access the host or the vCenter server?

Not applicable .

if this comments satisfy your question please click on the correct answer button .

Thanks & Regards in Plenteous . Hari Rajan
Jimmy15
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Can I connect my current vCenter server to another vCenter server? Yes

Can I allow a vCenter server to manage my ESXi Hosts that managed by another vCenter server? No. But but both Virtual Centers can be managed from one single console.

if yes, what level of access needed to access the host or the vCenter server? When adding a vCenter Server instance to a Linked Mode group, the installer must be run by a domain user who is an administrator on both the machine where vCenter Server is installed and the target machine of the Linked Mode group

Below points are helpful before planning for linked mode:

The following requirements apply to each vCenter Server system that is a member of a Linked Mode group:

■vCenter Server does not support Linked Mode groups that contain both version 5.x and pre-5.0 versions of vCenter Server. Similarly, vCenter Server does not support Linked Mode groups that contain both version 5.1.x and 5.0.x versions of vCenter Server. vCenter Server 5.0.x can be joined in a Linked Mode group only with other instances of vCenter Server 5.0.x. vCenter Server 5.1.x can be joined in a Linked Mode group only with other instances of vCenter Server 5.1.x. After all vCenter Servers in the group are upgraded to version 5.0.x or all vCenter Servers in the group are upgraded to version 5.1.x, you can rejoin them.

■Make sure that all vCenter Servers in a Linked Mode group are registered to the same vCenter Single Sign On server.

■To join a Linked Mode group the vCenter Server must be in evaluation mode or licensed as a Standard edition. vCenter Server Foundation and vCenter Server Essentials editions do not support Linked Mode.

■DNS must be operational for Linked Mode replication to work.

■The vCenter Server instances in a Linked Mode group can be in different domains if the domains have a two-way trust relationship. Each domain must trust the other domains on which vCenter Server instances are installed.

■When adding a vCenter Server instance to a Linked Mode group, the installer must be run by a domain user who is an administrator on both the machine where vCenter Server is installed and the target machine of the Linked Mode group.

■All vCenter Server instances must have network time synchronization. The vCenter Server installer validates that the machine clocks are not more than five minutes apart. See Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network.

Regards

Pankaj Sharma


regards



PS: Mark kudos or correct answer as appropriate 🙂
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iMahmoud
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Guys,

My concern is: While asking for third party NOC service, our hosting company asked us  to monitor our Hypervisor, then they said they will need to connect our Hypervisor to their vCenter server to monitor our system

I already have a vCenter server installed and managing my hosts.

I would like to know how is this will happen?

Does Hypervisor can be managed through two vCenter servers?

What level of access they need to be able to discover our vCenter server or our host?

please advise urgently as I'm afraid of their reach to our data.

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gcsc
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If you link both vCenters in Link Mode when you log into your vSphere client you will see both vCenters and the datacentres and clusters in them. You will also be able to manage the VMs on both once you have set up the user permissions.

vSphere 5.5 Documentation Center

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