Can we repoint embedded PSC to external - After upgrade from windows vCenter 5.5 to 6.5 VCSA

[davidstanleigh]

hi there,

I am currently in the process of ugprading my vcenter environment which consists of 2 windows vcenters with simple install, 1 single sso and 2 sites, linked mode.

Want to upgrade to VCSA 6.5 using the migration assistant tool to 2 vcenters with embedded PSC, my question is the following,

Can I repoint to an external PSC my two vcenters after I do the upgrade or can only be done before?

Have done some reading with VMware PDFs (second sceen attached) and some indicate to perform the migration to an external PSC first and then updgrade, but there is an upgrade topology VMware web tool (screen attached) that indicates we can repoint afterwards,

thanks for the assistance,

David

[daphnissov]

As of 6.5 U2, an embedded PSC is now officially supported for ELM so there's no need to repoint to an external PSC. In fact, the concept of the external PSC has effectively been deprecated in favor of the embedded PSC model. Thus, do your upgrade but just skip that repointing step.

[davidstanleigh]

thanks for they reply,

I am currently using linked mode in 5.5, so after the upgrade I want to point to an external PSC in order to configure enhanced linked mode, but I want to do it after upgrading to 6.5. To have at the end two vcenter and 1 or 2 PSC with one SSO, so want to know if it is supported to repoint after the upgrade. As the documentation found (screens attached) shows in one it cant be done and the other says it can.

By the way, what is ELM?

Regards
David

[daphnissov]

ELM = Enhanced Linked Mode. This is the version of linked mode enabled by the vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) which, surely, is the platform to which you will be upgrading. Absolutely do not upgrade from 5.5 on Windows to 6.5 on Windows. As I said earlier (and now that you know that ELM is linked mode still), there's no need to repoint to an external PSC if you upgrade to 6.5 U2.

[davidstanleigh]

Ok I see yes, ELM, thanks

I am upgrading from windows 5.5 to 6.5 VCSA,

Do you have any url or pdf reference that ELM is now supported in 6.5 U2? cannot seem to find in VMware's documentation.

Many thanks,

David

[daphnissov · Accepted solution]

Do you have any url or pdf reference that ELM is now supported in 6.5 U2? cannot seem to find in VMware's documentation.

Yes indeed.

[davidstanleigh]

thanks you saved me a lot of work and investigation.

Regards

David

[TomHowarth]

the quick answer to your question is yes you can repoint to an external PSC, however as already mentioned, the need to do so has been depreciated.  the builtin ability of vCSA HA protect all services and the spliting out of the PSC component will only complicate your design.  there is really only one use case in vSphere 6.5 for having an external PSC is Enhance Linked mode and with the release of 6.7 that need has been removed.

I know it seems odd because VMware made a great hohar about external PSC's when they released it,but we are where we are and External PSC's are currently out of design flavour.

[TomHowarth]

thanks for that Chip I missed that too

[davidstanleigh]

Thanks for the information. Dont want to complicate the design, will keep it simple.

Regards

David