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zenking
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How many vCenter servers do we need?

Sorry, I've been searching but can't put this all together. We have VI3 with esx 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5 on 3 hosts connected to an iscsi san in one building. We've been running that for a couple of years. I believe we have upgrade protection, so we should be able to upgrade them to vsphere, but we can't really down the hosts for the upgrade until we move some VMs.

We just got 3 new hosts and a new iscsi san that we are putting in another building, and we've installed esxi 4.1 on those hosts. We are planning to keep the 2 clusters separate, so the hosts in bldg 1 won't access the san in bldg 2 and vice versa. The iscsi connections between hosts and san are using 10.x addresses.

I know I can't use virtualcenter 2.5 for the new hosts. Do we need a new copy of vcenter for the new hosts, or can we migrate virtualcenter from the old hosts to vcenter on the new hosts and use the one copy of vcenter for everything, even with the 2 separate sans? Our current copy of virtualcenter is running on an xp vm on the san in bldg 1. I have a copy of 64 bit xp on one of the new hosts waiting for a copy of vcenter.

Thanks for any help.

VMWare Environment: vSphere 7.0, EQ PS6210 SANs, Dell R730 Hosts, dedicated Dell switches w/ separate vlans for vmotion and iscsi.
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taylorb
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You should be able to manage them all with one Vcenter as long as the connection speed between the building is decent.  We have a remote site hundreds of miles away that we manage a small ESX implementation on with a Vcenter here at our main site.  The connection is 10Mbps and there is really no noticeable slowdown in general operation.  Of course if we tried to migrate a VM across the 10MB pipe to a datastore at the remote site, it would take a lot longer, but it still works fine.

All the operations, SAN connections, networks, VM files, data, etc, are on the individual hosts.   The Vcenter just sends management commands and collects stats, so it really doesn't matter how many SANs or sites you have as long as communication doesn't time out.  The only reason I could see for needing multiple Vcenters would be for the number of elements, like if you had over 1000 VMs or something.

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taylorb
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You should be able to manage them all with one Vcenter as long as the connection speed between the building is decent.  We have a remote site hundreds of miles away that we manage a small ESX implementation on with a Vcenter here at our main site.  The connection is 10Mbps and there is really no noticeable slowdown in general operation.  Of course if we tried to migrate a VM across the 10MB pipe to a datastore at the remote site, it would take a lot longer, but it still works fine.

All the operations, SAN connections, networks, VM files, data, etc, are on the individual hosts.   The Vcenter just sends management commands and collects stats, so it really doesn't matter how many SANs or sites you have as long as communication doesn't time out.  The only reason I could see for needing multiple Vcenters would be for the number of elements, like if you had over 1000 VMs or something.

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zenking
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Excellent, that's what I was hoping. Next question: Best way to migrate my virtualcenter on 32 bit xp vm to vcenter on 64 bit xp vm?

I guess I need to gather more info to determine whether we should keep the current db or start fresh. We have vmotion, drs and HA enabled, but all of the VM options under DRS and HA are default. DRS automation level is Fully Automated, and HA is set to Do not allow constraint violations. I'm guessing there's no need to keep the current db.

VMWare Environment: vSphere 7.0, EQ PS6210 SANs, Dell R730 Hosts, dedicated Dell switches w/ separate vlans for vmotion and iscsi.
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vRick
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Zenking,

From an administrative stand point it is best to have only one vCenter. VMs and hosts can’t be moved from one vCenter to another without shutting them down and loosing historical data about their operations. You can't manage both vCenters in one vSpere client without Active Directory's help which "adds moving parts" and complexity. Use one vCenter for both unless the speed of your link prevents it (see http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/VMW-WP-Performance-vCenter.pdf ). Although vCenter connectivity and management doesn’t require it if you want to vMotion between the two buildings you will need at least a 1 Gb link.

You can’t manage ESX(i) 4.1 with your current vCenter but you can migrate the information from your 2.5 vCenter to 4.1 vCenter then manage both 3.5 and 4.1 ESX(i) servers. Refer to the VMware upgrade guide and Compatibility guide for background info.

The migration from vCenter 2.5 to 4.1 is handled by a batch file on the installation DVD (yes ESX is now on DVD). You back up a few items, run the batch file that collects configuration info into a folder. Then copy the folder to the prospective vCenter server and run another batch that inputs the configuration into the setup wizard. Of course the actual procedure is a little more involved but it is fully laid out in the document.

I encourage you to move to ESXi because the next major release will only be ESXi (no ESX). This can be done as part of your project or as a separate project.

Rick Merriken, MCSE, MCT, CNE, CNI, VCI
Connectioneers, Inc.
410 740-6696

zenking
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Yup, we installed ESXi on the new hosts. Would vCenter be on the DVD? If so, I'll need to hunt it down. I tried downloading vcenter, but got a message that I can't without a license. We have the license for the virtualcenter we're going to upgrade, so that's a bit of a catch 22 unless vcenter is on my ESXi disk.

VMWare Environment: vSphere 7.0, EQ PS6210 SANs, Dell R730 Hosts, dedicated Dell switches w/ separate vlans for vmotion and iscsi.
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vRick
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vCenter can be downloaded from the VMware download center. You don't need a license (just a registration) to download the software because you can get an evaluation copy for free good for 60 days. Just add your license code during or after the install. It is downloaded as an ISO (or zip of the ISO). Be aware you should follow all the procedures in the upgrade guide including the agent test. A new agent will be installed on all managed servers. If there is a compatibility problem with the hardware it could cause a problem with the ESX(i) server. Run the test first. Also your ESX3.5 hardware must meet the 4.1 requirments. Mainly be 64 bit (and the bios configured for 64 bit) with longmode turned on. Also virtualization assist must be on if you want to run and 64 bit VMs or use FT.

BTW vSphere doesn't use a license server just a key. If you will be staying with 3.5 you will need the license server installed on the new vCenter.

Rick

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zenking
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Here is the error I get when I try to download.

Download


VMware vCenter Server 4.1 Update 1 and modules

Sorry, at the moment you are         not authorized to download VMware vCenter Server 4.1 Update 1 and modules.         You have the following options:       
  • If you have a valid serial number of                                                                 VMware vCenter Server 4.1 Update 1 and modules and you have not registered it, please register it here,           so you can get download access.
  • If you want to get more information about            VMware vCenter Server 4.1 Update 1 and modules, please contact the VMware Sales department per            email or telephone 1-877-4-VMWARE.
VMWare Environment: vSphere 7.0, EQ PS6210 SANs, Dell R730 Hosts, dedicated Dell switches w/ separate vlans for vmotion and iscsi.
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vRick
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I assume you logged in with a previously registered id. First if you have licensing for vCenter 4.1 then you need to straighten this our with VMware. I have not run into his error with a new registration. If you were new to VMware and created a new registration with a previously unregistered e-mail as a new customer I believe you would be able to download a demo. Then add the licence you purchased within 60 days.