Is a seperate PSC required for a DR site?

[Process153]

Hi all,

Was wondering if a separate platform services controller installation would be required if we went with an embedded upgrade from 5.5 to 6.5.  Most likely we would go for an appliance install on both our production and DR sites.  We only have two sites.

Thanks for any replies

[Mattallford]

Hi there,

Just to confirm, can you describe your current environment and then your desired end state? Do you currently have 2 x 5.5 vCenter Servers running all services on a single server in each site? Are these in the same SSO domain? I'm not sure what you mean by 'if we went with an embedded upgrade from 5.5 to 6.5', but then you mention wanting a separate PSC, which would imply an external deployment.

A common configuration for two sites is to have a PSC node in each site and a vCenter server in each site. The VC server is pointed to the local PSC, and it is all in the same vSphere SSO domain.

Cheers, Matt.

[Process153]

Hi Matt,

Apologies, was a rushed question   We have two clusters, one production, one DR both in the same SSO domain.  We are planning to upgrade Vcenter 5.5 to 6.5 for both sites.  From what I have read so far, an embedded installation (PSC and VCenter server on the same host)  seems ideal and I think we will go with installing the new version of vcenter as an appliance (in each sites) rather than on a windows VM. I was under the impression that one PSC "could" support several sites but reading further, that might not be the case!

[cesprov · Accepted solution]

A separate PSC isn't "required" but it would be desirable.  It sounds like you currently have an embedded PSC in your main site.  Since both are in the same SSO domain, then it's doubtful you currently have two embedded PSCs as two embedded PSCs can't sync with one another.  Which means your DR site may be using the main site's PSC.  If that's the case, if you lose the main site, you may lose your ability to log in to your DR vCenter which kind of defeats the purpose.  While you don't have to, you should look into migrating your embedded PSC at the main site to an external PSC and sync it with the embedded one.  Then change the main site's vCenter to use that new external PSC.  Then install a new PSC at the DR site and sync it with the main site's PSC.  Lastly set the DR vCenter to use the DR site's new PSC.  That way if you lose either site, both will still be able to log in to the local vCenter using the local PSC.

I should add that you may not need to migrate the embedded PSC at the main site to an external one first.  As long as you don't install the one at the DR site as an embedded one also, they should be able to sync.  But ideally your environment should have an external PSC on both sides.

[Process153]

Thank you! That does clear up a few things.