btw, please stop telling me that I am not suppose to use Express since vmware supported it for small deployment which is exactly our kind of environment. Also, vmware has clarified that we do NOT need a domain to have vCenter working.
There are only 2 says to do anything. The right way and the WRONG way. What you are doing is the WRONG way.
If you want to continue, that's fine. But whenever you ask a question and you expect and answer we will CONTINUE to remind people on how to do things the RIGHT way, because this is a SHARED community. Other people will see these responses, and someone will be under the mistaken impression that it's "OK" to use SQL Express, it is NOT.
VM Ware says you can use it for SMALL environments, meaning introductory, meaning TESTING, meaning try before you buy. Anyone with any semblance of organization or company will NOT use Express, they will use regular versions of SQL. So this message you posted tells me you don't understand how to work with SQL, and the fact that you are defensive tells me you are stubborn, and you are not interested in doing things the correct way, so it won't matter what advice we give, you won't listen to reason anyway..
So you should NOT use Express, if you are having a problem, get help from SQL experts, not just downgrade to a version you understand. Get a book on SQL and maybe you can understand basic principles like remote connections, SQL CPU affinity and Database throughput and memory usage and maybe you will understand why it's a bad idea to run SQL Express, and NOT run SQL local to vCenter.
That's why people keep telling you NOT to use Express. Maybe you should take the hint, let someone else that's more qualified setup the SQL environment if you don't know how to do it.
It's not multiple points of failure, it's load sharing, and it's the proper way to run SQL. The problem is you prefer easy than correct, and later on this will be a problem, so if you don't learn it NOW you won't EVER get it right. You should learn the proper way before you get yourself in a critical situation.
Do I install x86 or x64 version of SQL Express into Windows Server 2008 r2 for vCenter usage?
64-bit is recommended (for full versions of SQL)
Is it possible to backup vCenter SQL Server 2005 database and import into SQL Express 2005? Is it compatible?
No, you cannot import.
And yes 32-bit ODBC is still a requirement
which result in having a situation whereby we can't afford to shutdown neither the VM or the ESX for patching. A chicken and egg issue.
Another area you overlooked and didn't properly plan or implement. It's in the manual, don't put SQL VM in your cluster you are managing from vCenter. Common sense and Documented in the manual.
