Having vSphere 4.1 reside on a VM

[Brandon7a]

If I virtualize my vSphere server and that server would some how get deleted or corrupted how would I restore the image of vSphere?

My VCDB is on our SQL 2005 VM.

Thanks

[clayinatl]

as long as you keep the vcenter db on a separate machine, you can simply rebuild the server from a template, reinstall vcenter and point it to the sql instance, everything will be as is.  anything else installed there (Update Manager, etc.) will also have to be reinstalled.

[idle-jam]

infact it's faster to do a repair boot from the CD or doing a fresh installation. it's much faster that way as much of the settings are stored in vcenter server.

[Virtuadude]

It is always recommended to keep a backup of the VCDB.

And if you do not have a very large datacenter the only loss will be of performance logs and resource pool information and cluster settings.

resource pool and Cluster configuration can be done easily.

Regards,

Deepak

[Brandon7a]

I'm still not understanding on how would I log into the client to rebuild the vSphere server if that server has crashed?

[clayinatl]

you will need to log onto a single host since you won't have vcenter.  build a vm manually, or copy from an existing server.  templates will not be available without vcenter.  then once the os is up, load vcenter, point to db server and off you go.

[Brandon7a]

When you say "log onto a single host" do you mean log into an ESX server through VMware Web Access?

[Virtuadude]

No.   I mean a Windows VM or Windows box.

The vi client may not be up but you can always access the VMs being hosted using RDP.

[Virtuadude]

Loging in a vi client and creating a new vm is no big deal.

You can use any vm and rdp to it or use a physical win box and install vi client. Create new vm install vcenter

Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

[Virtuadude]

And also using VI client you can access the host.

Just install the VI client to any windows machine

[Brandon7a]

I forgot I can log into any ESX host using the client. So If vSphere would get deleted, I would simply log into any ESX host through the client, create a new server, update the OS, and then install a fresh copy of vSphere?

[clayinatl]

if by "and then install a fresh copy of vSphere" - you mean vCenter - then yes, that's it.

[ElevenB2003]

Correct. If you don't have the vSphere client, simply point your browser to one of your hosts' IP/Hostname and download from that page.  Once you've got the client, point the client to a host and login with local crediantials since you won't be able to use AD credentials.

[Virtuadude]

You got the point. It's very simple to bring the vSphere VM up. And even better if you already have a backup of the VCDB

[Brandon7a]

One last question on this topic. Since I will be creating a new server for vSphere (virtual), will I have to configure anything on my ESX hosts to tell them my vSphere server changed names and IP? Also, by having vSphere as a VM, can I get by with one network connection? Do I have to configure extra network connections on that VM?

Thanks