Running Multiple Instances of VCenter

[aikora92]

Are multiple licenses required to run Vcenter on different boxes. Suppose I just used the same license file? Then again how would I be able to share the same database for information of ESX hosts, etc... between the two boxes if I am running MSDE?

Also, can someone point me to the appropriate docs for implementation of Vcenter using MS SQL Server?

TIA,

aikora92

[taits]

Are you looking at two VC servers for a DR purpose? Only one VC server can manage one Datacenter at a time. You will need two VC licences if both of the VC servers are up and managing different DataCenters. In a DR situation you can build a standby VC server with the same licence files pointing to the same VC database. But there is a bit involved in letting the ESX servers know that they are now being managed by VC2 instead of VC1.

"VirtualCenter version 2 server supports Oracle, SQL Server, and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express.... NOTE Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express is intended to be used for small deployments of up to 5 hosts and 50 virtual machines." - from the "ESX Server 3 and VirtualCenter Installation Guide" which can be found on http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vi_pages/vi_pubs_35u2.html. This document also details the steps involved in configuring VC using any of the aforementioned databases.

Regards, t

[weinstein5]

Yes you can run two instances of VC but they will require seperate licenses and no they can not share the same MSDE instance . As the other poster asked what are you trying to accomplish?

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[aikora92]

Thanks for you quick response!

Lets say I am not interested in DR but would like to create an additional datacenter at a site location to manage a particular guest. I have no intention of using VMotion or such. In this case would it be possible to use the same Vcenter Enterprise license to manage an additional host. Basically, this means I have the license for the additional host (2cpu) and Vcenter Enterprise manager. the database part is not important in this case as I would be creating essentially a different datacenter.

Thanks,

Aikora92

[weinstein5]

SO I understand you - are you asking if a single VC can manage a remote ESX host and its VMs in a different datacenter either in its VC Datacenter or in a common VC Datacenter - the answer is yes -

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[aikora92]

Well I am concerned about WAN traffic for the Host to communicate with the Vcenter located at another site. is there any documentation discussing if this would be an issue in terms of connectivity and latency?

thanks,

aikora92