VIrtual Center server running as a virtual machine: on a shared datastore or isolated datastore

[nics30]

We are going to provision a virtual machine and install virtual center server 2.5 on it (connected it to our SAN)

Can someone tell me which is better?Assigning a dedicated data store to the virtual machine or using shared storeage?

I have already read the article which talks about the benefits of shared datastores vs isolated datastores but I am interested in knowing which would be easier from a virtual center server perspective.

[java_cat33]

I'd put it on a shared datastore - that's how I always do it for vCenter implementations. Use dedicated datastores only when justified - E.G for heavy hitting I/O VM's.

You shouldn't run into any issues running vCenter on a shared datastore as long as it's configured and managed correctly etc.

[cybulsk]

I think an argument can be made for both methods though in the end it depends on your deployment. Depending on your SAN one method won't likely be more difficult than another to implement, personally I have chosen to keep the vCenter VM on a shared datastore. However I will note that I once had a SAN issue that caused scsi locks on the datastore which housed my vCenter VM. All of the VMs on this datastore became intermittently unresponsive and vCenter was unusable. This made it much more difficult to diagnose the problem I was having. This certainly was not a vmware problem but ever since I have always kept a physical box for cold failover of vCenter.

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[Datto]

Also, outside of shared LUN or individual LUN you may want to put tthe Shares level for CPU resources and Memory resources to High for your VC if you run your VC in a VM. That way, if there's contention for resources the VC will get enough shares to operate. Also, if you have more than say a max of 5 ESX hosts in your VC I'd be sure to put the SQL database for VC on its own server rather than using the Lite vesion of SQL that comes delivered with VC.

Datto