Missing Datacenter, host, and cluster option

[abramenko]

I just installed esx 4.1, and am having a hard time finding how to add a datacenter, host, or a cluster.  The only thing that shows in vsphere client is the host.  No option to even add another.  Any ideas?

[sflanders]

Are you connecting the vSphere client directly to the ESX host? If so, you will not be able to add datacenters, clusters, etc as those are vCenter Server functions. You will need to create / open vSphere client to a vCenter Server instance in order to perform those functions.

[abramenko]

Interesting.  How come?  I mean when running the server and connecting with vsphere to the esx, why would it matter?  Also what would be the best way to install this, on esx, or on a seperate non virtualized server?

[sflanders · Accepted solution]

Can you explain your configuration a bit more?

> Interesting.  How come?  I mean when running the server and connecting with vsphere to the esx, why would it matter?

Running the server - do you mean ESX?

Connecting with vSphere - do you mean the vSphere client?

> Also what would be the best way to install this, on esx, or on a seperate non virtualized server?

Do you mean vCenter Server? If so, either works, but the best practice is to install it on ESX.

vCenter Server is the management component for ESX/ESXi hosts. The notation of Datacenters, Clusters, and multiple hosts is only present in vCenter Server. ESX/ESXi is a single hypervisor and only have notations of VMs, networks, and datastores (i.e. functions local to the host). Hope this helps.

[abramenko]

This helps more than you know.  Thanks very much.  I understand now.  I was thinking that, vmserver was a whole separate server installation.  I know what I am doing now.  Once again, I appreciate the help.