Newbie question: Do you have to have 2 vCenter servers for SRM?

[AndyShine]

We've been running ESX for a couple of years and have just started the process of implementing SRM.

I have one (virtual) vCenter server which manages both my production and DR datacenters. It usually runs on my Production cluster though can run on my DR cluster. It can manage all the ESX hosts and see all the iSCSI storage (ie both the production san and the DR san)

Do I have to have a second vCenter server to implement SRM?

The documentation seems to demand it

Thanks

Andrew

[depping · Accepted solution]

Yes you do have to have 2 vCenter Servers.

Duncan

VMware Communities User Moderator | VCP | VCDX

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[AndyShine]

Time to get the cheque book out

Thanks

Andrew

[admin]

Since it may not be clear why you want to vCenter Servers, consider the following scenario:

Your primary datacenter (which has the vCenter Server running inside it) has a severe power outage; however, your DR datacenter is not affected.

By having the DR datacenter controlled by its own vCenter Server, you may recover your running VMs even though your primary datacenter is unavailable.

If you only had one vCenter Server, you would not be able to recovery your VMs (as SRM requires a running vCenter Server).

Hope that helps explain why you need 2 vCenter Servers in order to utilize SRM.