VMware vCenter on Linux

[tdeg]

What became of VMware vCenter on Linux Technology Preview (vCenter on Linux), did it ever breakout of beta?

http://communities.vmware.com/community/beta/vcserver_linux

[DSTAVERT]

There are lots of "experiments". Whether they ever become products or not depends. Have a look at some other interesting tidbits. http://labs.vmware.com/flings

If anything does become of the Linux vCenter 2.5 beta there will be an official announcement.

[tdeg]

Considering there hasn't been any movment on the beta since 2009, it would be safe to assume it's dead. Good ol' Microsoft being in bed with VMware.

[DSTAVERT]

The vCMA beta sat for quite some time without any changes. The iPad client spurred a number of updates recently so I wouldn't loose hope.

[unsichtbare]

It is unfortunately a huge obstacle to acceptance of VMware by SMBs; the sheer number and cost of Microsoft Licenses required by VMware vSphere and especially View!

And vCenter seems like a perfect candidate to be an appliance too.

[ewilts]

Reading between the lines, we expect ESXi 5 to be announced on July 12.  As part of that announcement, there vSphere Client will be replaced with a web interface (or it could be in addition to) and the vSphere Server will become an appliance.

Whether or not that negates the requirement for a Linux vSphere Server I'm not sure - do people really care what the OS is if it becomes just another appliance?

Now this is all just based on rumor and speculation.  Check back on July 13

[AndreTheGiant]

Be patience and wait for the next version of vSphere...

You can find some rumors about it and could be really interesting

Andre

[tdeg]

Ooooo I get it.  *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*  Thanks.

[mfinn999]

Any new info? I have not seen anything related to Linux in any anouncements.

[tdeg]

mfinn999   Read the vSphere 5 announcement. 

[weinstein5]

It is part of vSphere 5 - It will be an appliance available from VMware - I havenot gotten the full details but I have been told it will have the majority of the functionality of the WIndows vCenter - 

[mfinn999]

So now that we've seen the appliance, is anyone else disappointed that it's a virtual machine? I much prefer having vCenter on a physical machine separate from the hosts it manages.

[unsichtbare]

I see your point. Keeping vCenter physical does have its advantages; while we are at it, we should probably think about keeping the following physical as well:

• AD
• SQL
• Exchange
• IIS / Web
• SAP
• Oracle
• etc.

Keeping vCenter physical runs completely contrary to the entire purpose of Virtualization in the first place.

Physical vCenter	Virtual vCenter
Not tolerant of hardware failure	HA will fail vCenter to new hardware and restart
Must follow physical backup techniques (agent/server)	Can take advantage of virtual backup
Is restricted to physical resources	Can leverage DRS to available maximums
Must access vCenter using conventional RDP/Terminal Services, CItrix, VIew, etc.	In addition to conventional remote access, in an emergency the VIrtual Machine Remote Console is available as well
Potential network access complications and/or firewall issues	Manage vCenter network with ESXi "Management Metwork" on infrastructrue Virtual Switches
Must deal with "Server Team" and "Network Group"  and possibly DBA to impliment/upgrade/maintain	Can keep vCenter entirely within "VMware Group"
Must schedule maintnance window to upgrade hardware	No maintnance window required
Can not be configured to automatically start in sequence with required services (AD, DNS, SQL) in the event of a total outage	Can be part of a vApp which will start in a sequence. Can leverage Virtual Machine startup/shutdown order
Must run full back-up prior to version upgrade	Can use VMware snapshot to protect state of VM during version upgrade