vCenter Server Running On Server 2008 R2 yet?

[hillda01]

Hi,

I'm shortly going to be looking at deploying vCenter 4 and moving all my VM's from 3.5 to vSphere but wondered if Server 2008 R2 is supported and working yet?

I've looked at the support matrix and it says Server 2008 but not R2 yet...

Hope someone's got the answer.

Regards

Dave.

[MattG]

The compatibility matrix is the definitive answer. So unfortunately 2008 R2 is still not support for vCenter.

-MattG

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[hillda01]

Is it just the R2 portion that isnt supported yet or is it the x64 bit that isnt...

Also is there any date from VMWare yet as to when it will be supported?

Regards

Dave.

[MattG]

R2.

From what i understand R2 is actually a different code base then 2008, so i would imagine it requires more in depth testing then a normal incremental upgrade.

2008 is based on Vista code base

2008 R2 is based on Windows 7 code base

-MattG

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

[hillda01]

Ah...

That would make sense, I suppose I could install Server 2008 Std x64 and then upgrade to R2 later when it is supported...

[mark_chuman]

FYI, we have been running a linked vCenter infra for 6 months on windows, 2008, 64bit (not R2) and it's been working fine. Target windows firewall first during any troubleshooting, I've had to open entries for say tomcat to SQL server that for some reason the install did not open. Are you going linked mode or stand alone?

[schepp]

Windows 2008 64 Bit is supported ( I use it myself )

Windows 2008 R2 is only available in 64 bit. There is no 32 Bit version.

Windows 2008 R2 is not supported as vCenter Server until now, but it's possible to install vCenter on R2 with a little workaround.

http://virtual.bist.be/?p=104

[hillda01]

I've never heard of linked mode and stand alone mode...

What are they all about

[mark_chuman]

Linked mode is the first step in VMware moving vCenter towards a true federated, enterprise model platform. Linked mode became available in vCenter 4.0 and it allows you to "link" together multiple vCenter servers (I think limit now is 10) together. For example with Virtual Center 2.5 users in our environment had to log into different VC servers depending on what virtual resource they needed. This wasted time and caused confusion as much time was spent just finding the correct VC server to login to. With linked mode in 4.0 the user just logs into on place (any of the linked vCenter servers) and is presented with the entire infrastructure. The biggest gain is a centralized management gateway.

Linked mode is much more complex on the back-end and requires more time during troubleshooting problems.

[s1xth]

W2K8 R2 is not a 'SUPPORTED' OS for vCenter Server. Does it work? Yes. Will VMware support you if you have problems? No. (they may help to a point but they are not obligated since its not supported on 4.0). vSphere 4.5 WILL fully support R2 and this has been confirmed by many VMware SE's. Also SQL 2008 R2 will be supported as a backend database.

Blog: www.virtualizationbuster.com

Twitter: s1xth

[chouse]

As of vCenter 4.1, Windows Server 2008 R2 is supported as an OS where vCenter can be installed. http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_compatibility_matrix.pdf

[shirishh2712]

Virtual center can be managed in two ways:

1. Standalone Mode

2. Linked Mode

in standalone mode only one VC is accessed and managed at a time.

Whereas in linked mode which is available in Vsphere 4.0 onwards, the administrator can access at max of 10 VC's at a time from a single VC window, and this makes managing multiple VC's convinient and also cheap.

[shirishh2712]

Thats perfectly correct, the VC is supported on server 2008, and not yet on latest server 2008 R2,

though it is possible to install VC on 2008 R2 with workaround(which i will post soon), but that is not supported by vmware as of now.

The best way is install on server2008 as of now and then patch it up with R2 in next month or so when it is officially supported by vmware.

[chouse · Accepted solution]

As of vCenter 4.1, Windows Server 2008 R2 is supported as an OS where vCenter can be installed.

[hhmz]

I agree with chouse.