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Avaakaford
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎08-28-2017 04:00 PM

vCenter HA , HA VLAN need to stretched across different sites?

HI Guys ,

Need info regards vCenter HA Portgroup.

I want to keep 3 instances ( Active, passive & witness ) on 3 different sites. is the vCenter HA needs to streched across 3 sites ? can i keep different portgroups for 3sites or atleast for witness?.

appriciated for your response.

Thanks
Ajay(DCV-6)

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7 Replies
Madhuin
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
‎08-28-2017 10:50 PM

Hi Ajay,

This is possible

Please follow this KB : Deploying vCenter High Availability with network addresses in separate subnets (2148442) | VMware KB 

If it is useful, plz mark answer as correct or helpful.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks & Regards

Madhukumar J, VCP50,

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Disclaimer: Any views or opinions expressed here are strictly my own. I am solely responsible for all content published here. Content published here is not read, reviewed or approved in advance by VMware and does not necessarily represent or reflect the views or opinions of VMware.

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pradeepdocument
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎08-28-2017 11:41 PM

Hi ,

You can follow below steps for creating vCentre HA passive witness nodes.

Create the vCenter HA Passive and Witness nodes by cloning the vCenter Server Appliance

Clone a Passive Node

  1. From Management vCenter Server, clone the Passive Node from the Active Node customizing the. Provide a name for the virtual machine (for example: vcha-peer).
  2. Select the Cluster, ESXi host, and datastore for the Passive node.
  3. Select Customize the Operating System and Power on virtual machine after creation and click Next.
  4. Select the Create New Customization Specification icon and provide a name (For example: vcha-passive-spec).
  5. Complete the wizard with the information gathered earlier.

    Notes:
    • The Computer Name must be the same as Active node's hostname/DNS hostname and the Domain name must be specified separately.
    • Ensure to choose the same Time Zone as vCenter's Active node, even if they are in different geographical areas.
    • Clone customization defaults the NIC1 and NIC2 IP addresses to DHCP. These will need to be changed to static and the IP's gathered earlier entered.

  6. Click Finish.
  7. Select the newly created Customization Specification from the list and click Next.
  8. Review the settings and click Finish to begin the clone operation of the Passive node

Clone a Witness Node

  1. From Management vCenter, clone and customize the Witness from the Active Node. Provide a name for the virtual machine (for example vcha-witness).
  2. Select the Cluster, ESXi host, and datastore for the Witness node.
  3. Select Customize the Operating System.

    Note: Do not select Power on virtual machine after creation this time.

  4. Click Next and select Create New Customization Specification and provide a name (for example, vcha-witness-spec)
  5. Complete the wizard with the information gathered earlier.

    Notes:
    • The Computer Name must be the same as Active node's hostname/DNS hostname and the Domain name must be specified separately.
    • Ensure to choose the same Time Zone as vCenter's Active node, even if they are in different geographical areas.
    • Witness nodes do not use the Management NIC and it will not need to be configured. Edit the vCenter HA Network interface and provide the same info as provided during vCenter HA configuration wizard.

  6. Click Finish.
  7. Select the newly created Customization Specification from the list and click Next.
  8. Review the settings and click Finish to begin the clone operation of the Witness node.
  9. Optional: Once the Witness node has finished cloning, edit the settings of the virtual machine and lower the vCPU count to 1 and the Memory to 512MB. This will save resources in the cluster and will not affect the performance of the vCenter Server.
  10. Power on the Witness Node virtual machine.
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Avaakaford
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎08-29-2017 04:46 AM

Hi Madhuin,

Really appreciated for your response . I'm looking for VCenter HA portgroup setup on physical side.

when we clone Passive & witness from Active , NIC2 is same for all the 3 nodes . Can we use different VLAN /VCenter HA port group for 3 different nodes .

i have 3 sites (site A,SiteB &Site C) . Active , passive & Witness shares each site . is it possible to share Active , Pasauce & witness on different sites with different HA port groups

Thanks

Ajay ( DCV-6)

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Avaakaford
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎08-29-2017 04:48 AM

Hi Pradeep,

Really appreciated for your response . I'm looking for VCenter HA portgroup setup on physical side.

when we clone Passive & witness from Active , NIC2 is same for all the 3 nodes . Can we use different VLAN /VCenter HA port group for 3 different nodes .

i have 3 sites (site A,SiteB &Site C) . Active , passive & Witness shares each site . is it possible to share Active , Pasauce & witness on different sites with different HA port groups

Thanks

Ajay ( DCV-6)

Reply
0 Kudos
Avaakaford
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎08-29-2017 05:51 AM

Hi Madhuin,

The KB article refers to different subnets for NIC1 & NIC 2 for vCenter appliance during HA Setup. I'm looking for Different subnets for NIC2 for Active,Passive & Witness vCenters , which are located in 3 different sites .

Thanks

Ajay (VCP6-DCV)

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shwethalakshman
Contributor
Contributor
‎08-29-2017 07:31 AM

Hi Ajay,

To be specific about different sites, vCenter HA is not a DR solution. The latency between the 3 hosts should be less than 10ms.

Regards,
Shwetha

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Madhuin
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
‎08-30-2017 04:56 AM

Hi Ajay,

This is what is there in KB

See if this help for you

Active node(Site A): NIC1=10.112.x.x

                    NIC2=192.168.10.1

Passive node(Site B): NIC1=10.110.x.x

                       NIC2=192.168.10.2

Witness node(Site C) : NIC1=10.111.x.x

                       NIC2=10.168.10.3

1) All nodes (Active ,passive & Witness) are in different sub nets,

2) Make sure NIC2 connected to all the 3 nodes are reachable each other by creating common gateway VM or using NSX or follow the Additional Routing Configurations mentioned in KB article

Deploying vCenter High Availability with network addresses in separate subnets (2148442) | VMware KB

3) Make sure latency between each site is 10ms 

4) Make sure Active and Passive node share the same hostname in DNS entry ( 2 IPs mapping to same FQDN)

Let me know if you still need some help.

If it is useful, plz mark answer as correct or helpful.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks & Regards

Madhukumar J, VCP50.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: Any views or opinions expressed here are strictly my own. I am solely responsible for all content published here. Content published here is not read, reviewed or approved in advance by VMware and does not necessarily represent or reflect the views or opinions of VMware.

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