Separate or combined vCenter Server for vSphere and View?

[dacdev]

Hi. Apologies if this has already been covered.

I have implemented vSphere 4.0.1 with vCenter Server 4.0.1 on a physical server and a remote SQL database, with 4 ESX4 hosts & a dedicated volume on a shared datastore.

I now have to implement View 4.0.1 as well into this environment, using a separate dedicated volume on the same shared datastore and 4 other ESX 4 hosts.

What I think I want to do is manage both vSphere and View environments using the same vCenter Server by creating a second Datacenter for the View 4 hosts.

Is this a good or bad idea?

Thanks

[schepp]

It is a good Idea, because otherwise you would have to buy another vCenter license

Since you only got a small infrastructure you should be ok because you won't hit the limits of VMs and Hosts of vCenter.

Regards

[dacdev]

Thanks schepp. I hadn't thought of the licence issue.

[piaroa]

+1 for the good idea. You save on licensing, on maintenance, etc.

It's a good idea to have a backup of you vCenter in case things go wrong when integrating View with vCenter.

If this post has been helpful/solved your issue, please mark the thread and award points as you see fit. Thanks!

[hicksj]

There are also good reasons to separate the two environments. My thoughts are noted in this recent discussion thread: http://communities.vmware.com/message/1594353#1594353

Depending on how you license View, running an alternate vCenter may not cost you anything and provides some flexibility.