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cmsJustin
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VI3 Single-server installation order

We recently purchased an HP DL380 G5 server along with VI3. I want to get to the point where I have an ESX server with 1 VM with SQL on it and 1 VM with VirtualCenter. Within the next 6-9 months we will have another DL380 and an EqualLogic SAN, but not yet. My question is, what order do I do this in? Please also take into consideration the license files. My predicament is:

ESX requires VirtualCenter and the license server. (Or can I do some trickery to get around this temporarily without getting host-based licenses?)

VirtualCenter requires SQL.

SQL requires ESX before I can install it.

I'd like to avoid setting up temporary VMs or DBs outside my little environment if possible.

HP DL380 G5

2x4 2.66Ghz Xeon

16gb RAM

10x1gb NICs

2x72gb 15k SAS RAID1 (72gb) (Partition table below)

6x146gb 10k SAS RAID5 (730gb) (VMFS)

Mount Type Size Switch

/boot ext3 256 asprimary

/ ext3 8192 asprimary

swap 1600 asprimary

vmkcore 128

/var ext3 2048

/var/log ext3 2048

/tmp ext3 2048

/opt ext3 2048

vmfs3 grow

Any help is really appreciated. I can't wait to get this all up and running to play with!

[cmsJustin.blogspot.com|http://cmsjustin.blogspot.com] [Twitter.com/JustinCampbell|http://www.twitter.com/JustinCampbell]
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oreeh
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Exactly.

And your monitoring (hopefully) should tell you about failures within seconds - so you have enough time to react.

View solution in original post

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bjmoore
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You'll need to use a host-based license to get your VirtualCenter VM up and running. Just load ESX on your server, use the Virtual Infrastructure client to connect directly to the server and install the host based license. Set your VC VM up and just change the target for the licensing server to your VC VM.

cmsJustin
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But will VMware let me request a server-based license file after I already redeemed a host-based one?

[cmsJustin.blogspot.com|http://cmsjustin.blogspot.com] [Twitter.com/JustinCampbell|http://www.twitter.com/JustinCampbell]
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admin
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Is not recommended to set up the licence server in a VM because if this VM goes down you will not be able to restart it (after grace period). To start a VM the licence server must be available. My recommendation is to keep host-based licenses.

Message was edited by:

jfrichard

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oreeh
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Yes

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cmsJustin
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When we have 2 servers we will be using HA, would it be ok to move it to the VirtualCenter VM at that point?

[cmsJustin.blogspot.com|http://cmsjustin.blogspot.com] [Twitter.com/JustinCampbell|http://www.twitter.com/JustinCampbell]
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esiebert7625
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Yes you can switch your license types at any time....see this....

Understanding VI3 Licensing: Server and Host-based licensing models - http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=1013698

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oreeh
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You can run the license server (and the VC server) in a VM.

ESX hosts "cache" the license for a period of time (30 days AFAIR).

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oreeh

14 days as Eric just pointed out

There even is a whitepaper from VMware covering VC / license server as a VM.

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esiebert7625
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Thats not true at all about the license server...

ESX servers will run up to 14 days without a license server.

From the install guide:

The server-based licensing mechanisms used by VMware software are designed to prevent the license server from being a single point of failure. If your license server stops being available, all VirtualCenter licensed features continue to operate indefinitely, relying on a cached version of the license state. For ESX Server licensed features, there is a 14 day grace period during which hosts continue operation, relying on a cached version of the license state, even across reboots. After the grace period expires, certain ESX Server operations, such as powering on virtual machines, become unavailable.

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cmsJustin
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Ok, so my order will be:

1: Install ESX with host-based license file

2: Use VI client to connect to ESX server and create SQL VM

3: Use VI client to connect to ESX server and create VirtualCenter VM

4: Setup server-based license on VirtualCenter VM

5: Point ESX to the VirtualCenter VM for licensing and remove the host-based license file

And all should be well in the event of a failure for up to 14 days.

[cmsJustin.blogspot.com|http://cmsjustin.blogspot.com] [Twitter.com/JustinCampbell|http://www.twitter.com/JustinCampbell]
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oreeh
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Exactly.

And your monitoring (hopefully) should tell you about failures within seconds - so you have enough time to react.

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esiebert7625
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Looks good to me

cmsJustin
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Wanted to give you both a correct but I couldn't Smiley Sad

Thanks for all your help guys! And yes I think if any of our servers went down even without monitoring someone would notice well before 2 weeks Smiley Wink

Thanks again!

[cmsJustin.blogspot.com|http://cmsjustin.blogspot.com] [Twitter.com/JustinCampbell|http://www.twitter.com/JustinCampbell]
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esiebert7625
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No problem, good luck!

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