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sc_21111
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Linked mode question

We have the following configuration

The first Vcenter 6.0 appliance installed in one site with embedded PSC and SSO .

A second vcenter 6.0 appliance installed in a second site with embedded PSC and joined to the first site's SSO .

Question is about the availability of the SSO .

If the appliance in the first site ,which is the SSO, is unavailable will the second vcenter appliance unable to autenticate at all , so being useless ?

Given this situation what can be done to solve the issue ?

The second vcenter can be removed and reinstalled , if needed, since is not on production .

If needed which are the correct steps in order to remove the second vcenter appliance and PSC from the SSO domain ?

thanks

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Nick_Andreev
Expert
Expert

In Platform Service Controller architecture, there're no primary or secondary PSCs. They all synchronize data between each other and are essentially peers.

What matters is which PSC a particular vCenter is connected to. In your scenario vCenter at site A is connected to PSC at site A and vCenter at site B is connected to PSC at site B. If PSC at site A fails, the only vCenter affected is vCenter at site A. vCenter at site B will still be up and running and use PSC at site B to perform authentication.

I would like to bring your attention, however, to the fact that linked-mode with embedded PSCs is not a recommended topology by VMware. In multi-site configuration you should be using external PSCs. Refer to the following KB for more information:

List of recommended topologies for VMware vSphere 6.0 (2108548) | VMware KB

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VCIX-DCV, VCIX-NV, VCAP-CMA | vExpert '16, '17, '18
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parmarr
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

vCenter Deployment Modes blogs, you can choose the best topology which suites your environment.https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2015/03/vsphere-datacenter-design-vcenter-architecture-changes-v... also refer the KB 2108548

Sincerely, Rahul Parmar VMware Support Moderator
sc_21111
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks NIck

given the fact that the vcenter in site A is not easily recreated to be split from its PSC is there any real problem we can run into with this configuration ?

Is there a way to migrate from our configuration to one which would be recommended ?

We are implementing vsphere replication , so we thought enhanced linked mode would be a better design , should instead go for two separate SSO domain and sites ?

How can we remove the SITE B PSC and VC from the SSO DOmain ?

thanks

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Nick_Andreev
Expert
Expert

  1. Repointing to external PSC is actually not that hard, you can find instructions here:  Reconfigure a Standalone vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller to a vCenter S...
  2. There's no need for a second SSO domain.
  3. ELM will still work with embedded PSC, the only problem is that if you have an issue and open a support ticket, VMware may not support you.
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If you found my answers helpful please consider marking them as helpful or correct.
VCIX-DCV, VCIX-NV, VCAP-CMA | vExpert '16, '17, '18
Blog: http://niktips.wordpress.com | Twitter: @nick_andreev_au
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