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VMware_HA_Archi
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VCSA 6.7 HA with Linked Mode Architecture

Can linked mode vcenter v6.7 (VCSA) be configured with vcenter HA option using Active, Standby and witness node. If yes, please provide the high level architecture. Can it use embedded PSC or external PSC with Load Balancer is required at each site which are linked.

In case of linked mode vCenter (Say between Site 1 & Site 2) VCSA 6.7, with embedded PSC at each site, how failure of VCSA at say Site 1 is handled. Can Site 2 VCSA will be able to manage the VMs which are part of Site 1 VCSA. Will linked mode VCSA provide High Availability in case of 1 VCSA failure of embedded PSCs.       

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HassanAlKak88
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Hello,

Noting that vCenter HA provides an RTO of about 5 minutes for vCenter Server greatly reducing the impact of host, hardware, and application failures with automatic failover between the Active and Passive nodes.

From an architecture perspective, vCenter HA supports both embedded and external Platform Services Controllers.

When using vCenter HA with an external Platform Services Controller deployment, an external load balancer is required to provide high availability to the Platform Services Controller instances.

For more info i recommend to watch the following: vCenter Server High Availability - YouTube

Cheers,

VCIX6-NV|VCP-NV|VCP-DC|

@KakHassan

linkedin.com/in/hassanalkak


If my reply was helpful, I kindly ask you to like it and mark it as a solution

Regards,
Hassan Alkak
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VMware_HA_Archi
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Thanks Hasan for your reply. The youtube link is informative. But my questions are still un-answered. Again putting the questions here.

1. Can linked mode vcenter v6.7 (VCSA) be configured with vcenter HA option using Active, Standby and witness node. If yes, please provide the high level architecture. Can it use embedded PSC or external PSC with Load Balancer is required at each site which are linked.

2. In case of linked mode vCenter (Say between Site 1 & Site 2) VCSA 6.7, with embedded PSC at each site, how failure of VCSA at say Site 1 is handled. Can Site 2 VCSA will be able to manage the VMs which are part of Site 1 VCSA. Will linked mode VCSA provide High Availability in case of 1 VCSA failure of embedded PSCs.      

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sk84
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Expert

I think you are the VMware HA Architect. So you would have to answer the questions.

Just kidding. 😉

But I think you misunderstood something.

(Enhanced) Linked Mode is basically not for reliability. It only offers the possibility to have different fault domains and keep a single pane of glass for management.

For clarification:

You have multiple vCenter and multiple ESXi clusters across different sites. But each of these clusters is connected to only one vCenter. (E)LM can now be used to centralize the user management and see the entire infrastructure if you log on to any vCenter. That way you don't need to maintain the users on every vCenter or PSC and you don't need to log on to several vCenters on each site.

With the normal linked mode (before version 6.7) you have needed an external PSC and external load balancing for the centralized user management. With vSphere 6.7 the Enhanced Linked Mode was introduced, so this works natively with the embedded PSC without external PSC and external load balancer.

But if a vCenter fails in this architecture, the cluster(s) connected to that vCenter will no longer be managed. There is no failover through (Enhanced) Linked Mode.

To make VCSA high available, vCenter HA has been introduced in version 6.5. This feature can be used in combination with (Enhanced) Linked Mode to meet the requirements for high availability, different fault domains and unified management.

--- Regards, Sebastian VCP6.5-DCV // VCP7-CMA // vSAN 2017 Specialist Please mark this answer as 'helpful' or 'correct' if you think your question has been answered correctly.
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