Decentralize or centralize VC server design?

[vmwareluverz]

i have to deploy two data centers using VI3.5 farms and would like to know if it is better to run VC in centralize model? What's the benefits and why we use this model? Any technical guides how to deploy this successful from firewall, networking, database perspectives.? Websites or links for docs..

[kjb007]

Running vc in a centralized model allows you to share templates, and makes it easier to migrate. You also have one management interface to control your environment.

On the other hand, if your datacenters are geographically separated, then you risk performance for convenience.

If I had the speed and networking available, I would run one, but if not, I would run two. Also, if I did not have any reason to ever share templates/vm's between the two datacenters, I would keep the management separated and use two vc's as well.

-KjB

[gary1012]

Cost is another consideration. You'll need two VC servers with OSs and DBs in a decentralized model. Sizing is another. The sizing is something akin to 50 concurrent VIC connections, 200 managed hosts, and 2000 VMs (might be slightly off on these numbers so don't treat them as gospel...).

[gary1012]

I forgot to post the common ports... See the attached.

[weinstein5]

biggest advantage to a single vc server is only one spot to check up on your environment - downside is going to depend on the reliability of your netwrok between the datacenters - if it is not good then you run the risk of losing data collection and your hosts becoming disconnected.- with seperate VC servers you will be assured of connectivity -

For configurin the firewall check out pg 175 of

[Chris_Howard]

Another reason to use separate VCs for each site is for DR.

In the event of the site runnning VC being unavailable, it's one less thing to worry about recovering, especially if VMware is part of your DR strategy.

Site Recovery Manager needs an instance of VC at both the protected and recovery sites.

If you found this helpful please consider the use of the Helpful /Correct buttons to award points. Thanks !!

[azn2kew · Accepted solution]

Like kjb007 has mentioned, there is pros and cons to both centralize/decentralize VC servers. If you have high enterprise bandwidth between two sites and all networking is in place and secure, centralize VC server saves you money for extra licences and reduce amount of administrative on remote site as well. Bring up another VC server is very easy and quickly process all you have to concerns is make sure your VC database is backup daily and fine tune performance and than have latest .lic file for it. Other than that you can simply restore/rebuild VC in 20 minutes.

I suggest you read more details about Virtual Center on has bunch of good collections to work it and here are some of it.

VirtualCenter:

VirtualCenter Technical Best practices -

Bulletproof VirtualCenter (VMworld 2007) -

VirtualCenter Monitoring and Performance Statistics -

VirtualCenter 2.0 The Technical Insights -

Operation timeout -

Managing remote servers -

Running VirtualCenter in a Virtual Machine -

Installing VirtualCenter on a VM, good idea? -

VirtualCenter, License and Database on one server - http://communities.vmware.com/message/664591

VirtualCenter and License server on ESX Server - http://communities.vmware.com/message/700188

Using MSCS to Cluster VirtualCenter -

Template Usage and Best Practices -

Virtual Center and remote ESX servers -

VirtualCenter over the WAN -

Managing Vmware VirtualCenter Roles & Permissions -

Changing SMTP subject lines for email alerts -

VI Client slowness connecting to VC Server -

Running VC on a VM in production -

Beware Patch2 -

Patch2 -

Inventory cleared after Patch2 -

Virtual Infrastructure Web Access Administrator's Guide -

Using VM Remote Console over NAT'd Network -

VC hangs at Retrieving Chart Data when viewing past performance data -

Testing SMTP with Telnet for VirtualCenter email communication -

How to delay loading of specific services if running the database server on the VC server -

VirtualCenter slow to open VM remote console (solution) -

VirtualCenter 2.0.2 Upgrade thread -

Upgrading from VC 2.0.x to VC 2.0.2 and ESX 3.0.x to 3.0.2 -

ESX Server 3.0.x Hosts Shown as Disconnected after Upgrading a VirtualCenter 2.0.x Release -

After Installing VirtualCenter 2.0.2, VirtualCenter May Fail to Start -

"Please insert the Disk:1" Alert Dialog Box Appears when Upgrading from VirtualCenter 2.0.1 to 2.0.2 -

Deleting vpxuser to resolve issue with ESX hosts appearing as disconnected in VC -

VirtualCenter 2.0.2 Update 1 Release Notes -

Problems with WebAccess after VirtualCenter 2.0.2 Update 1 upgrade - http://communities.vmware.com/thread/110156

After upgrading to VirtualCenter 2.0.2, Update 1 or Update 2 the VMware VirtualCenter 2 Welcome page does not render completely -

Sending VirtualCenter logs to Local7 -

SSH Console Plugin-in for VirtualCenter -

VirtualCenter - Database:

VirtualCenter Database Sizing Calculator -

SQL Questions relative to VirtualCenter -

Converting VirtualCenter on Access to SQL Server 2000 -

Reclaiming space in SQL Server databases -

SQL Server database as a VM Guest -

SQL 2005 support -

SQL 2005 Express edition support -

SQL 2005 support -

VirtualCenter 2.X Using Database Views -

Move SQL database to another SQL server - and

Truncate SQL Transaction logs -

How to manage MSDE 2000 or SQL Express 2005 with Osql -

DBAMgr - free GUI utility to manage MSDE -

Statistic Rollup Stored Procedures - Optional Parameters -

VirtualCenter Statistics Rollup Stored Procedure Fix -

VirtualCenter Database Maintenance: SQL Server -

Monitor the Virtual Infrastructure Database for authentication attempts - New - 5/1/08

VirtualCenter Database Performance for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - New - 5/1/08

How can I purge old data from the database used by VirtualCenter Server - New - 5/1/08

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

iGeek Systems Inc.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

[vmwareluverz]

thanks for the info guys that is a lot of links to read and vmware-land.com is really cool but lots of good stuff. i'll check out pros/cons between the two and implement the VC server but most likely would be decentralize than since two offices are far across and have their own IT staffs so seperating ESX data centers would be good thanks all.