© 2010 VMware Inc. All rights reserved Welcome to the Nordic VMUG User Conference
Jul 05, 2015
© 2010 VMware Inc. All rights reserved
Welcome to the
Nordic VMUG
User Conference
2
Design a VMware vCenter ServerAndrew Mauro – VCDX & vExpert
http://vinfrastructure.it/en/
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Credits
vCenter Deep Dive
• Justing King @vCenterGuy
vBrownBag @VMworld 2014 EU
• vCSA pro and cons
VMware KB
Practical experience
Stay up to date with vCenter Server
• http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/
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Requirements, constraints, assumptions
VMware vCenter Server is almost mandatory
• With more than one ESXi
Usually a dedicated system
• 1 service -> 1 server approach
It needs some resources
• Not so «light»
Authentication, Authorization, Accounting
• Delegation with Role based approach
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Design criterias
Design for
• Scale
• Availability
• Manageability
• Security
• …
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Choosing the vCenter
Which version?
Different editions
• Essential, Foundation, Standard
Windows installable vs. Appliance
• There are the same features?
• What about next version?
• There are the same limits?
• Hosts per vCenter: 1.000
• Powered on VMs: 10.000
• Registered VMs: 15.000
• http://vinfrastructure.it/en/2014/01/vmware-vcenter-server-installable-vs-
appliance/
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VMware vCenter Server Components
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Deployment options
Simple install
• Single server
Custom install
• Single or multiple servers
Or vCSA
• Single VA
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Installing vCenter Server 5.5 best practices (2052334)
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Before install
Review the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide
• Documentation Center http://vmware.com/go/docs
Met all minimum software and hardware requirements
• Compatibility Guide http://vmware.com/go/compatibility
• Product Interoperability Matrix http://vmware.com/go/interop
You have configured both a forward and reverse lookup zone
When you plan to authenticate against Active Directory, you have
joined your Microsoft Windows server to the domain
• Other Identity Sources supported with 5.5
• Active Directory as an LDAP server (no more supported)
• OpenLDAP
• KB 2064977
• Local OS
• Local SSO
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Hardware requirements
Simple Install (Minimums)
• 2CPU / 12GB RAM / 100GB Disk /
1Gbps
Custom Install (Minimums)
• Single Sign-On
• 1CPU / 3GB RAM / 2GB Disk / 1Gbps
• vSphere Web Client
• 1CPU / 2GB RAM / 2GB Disk / 1Gbps
• Inventory Service
• 1CPU / 3GB RAM / 5GB Disk / 1Gbps
• vCenter Server
• 2CPU / 4GB RAM / 60GB Disk / 1Gbps
Simple Install (Recommended)
• 4CPU / 24GB RAM / 200GB Disk /
1Gbps
Custom Install (Recommended)
• Single Sign-On
• 2CPU / 4GB RAM / 8GB Disk / 1Gbps
• vSphere Web Client
• 2CPU / 4GB RAM / 8GB Disk / 1Gbps
• Inventory Service
• 1CPU / 8GB RAM / 32GB Disk / 1Gbps
• vCenter Server
• 4CPU / 8GB RAM / 100GB Disk / 1Gbps
Based on an Inventory Size of 400
hosts or 4000 virtual machines
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Design vCenter Server
Which operating system?
For installable v5.5 is needed at least a Windows Server 2008 SP2 64 bit
Single server or multiple servers?
Database?
Physical or virtual?
Management cluster?
• http://vinfrastructure.it/vdesign/vcenter-server-physical-or-virtual/
• Availability?
• Which vSphere services really require vCenter Server?
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Single vCenter Server Design Recommendation
VC Database
vCenter Server Host or VM
vCenter
Server
SSO
Server
Web Client
Inventory Svc
A Datacenter with 1-5 vCenter
Servers
No change to architecture
All services are local
Supports 1-1000 Hosts / 1-
10,000 VMs
Minimum latency across the
components
“Easy to protect”
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Multiple Local vCenter Server Design Recommendations
A Datacenter with more than 5 vCenter Servers
• Same Physical location
• Centralized SSO authentication
• Centralized vSphere Web Client?
• Use VM or host affinity?
• Multi site
• Only with SSO 5.5
vCenter Server 2
vCenter
Server 5.5
Inventory Svc
SSO
Server
Web Client
Database
ServerVCDB1,VCDB2,VCDB3
vCenter Server 3
vCenter
Server 5.5
Inventory Svc
vCenter Server 1
vCenter
Server 5.1
Inventory Svc
Backwards compatible to vCenter Single Sign-On 5.1
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Database
Required databases
• vCenter Server DB
• Stats and tasks will increase this database (choose the right detail!)
• SSO DB
• VUM DB
• …
Database “embedded” or external?
• SQL Express is limited to 5 hosts or 50 VMs
• Due to the internal limitation
vCSA
• Actually there are some limits using the embedded (v)Postgres
• In 5.5:
• Max 100 hosts or
• Max 3000 VMs
• What about next version?
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Availability of vCenter Server
Different HA solutions
• Cold standby?
• VMware HA and/or Application HA?
• VMware FT?
• Single vCPU limit
• Guest clustering?
• VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat
• EOA since June 2, 2014
• KB 1024051
• Supported vCenter Server high availability options
Database?
• vCenter Server 5.5 in vSphere 5.5, VMware introduced support for using
Microsoft SQL Cluster Service for use as a back end database
• KB 2059560
• Enabling Microsoft SQL Clustering Service for VMware vCenter Server 5.5 database
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Backup of vCenter Server
A good backup solution
• Basically the entire database
• KB 2012138
• Backing up the vCenter Server database running on
Microsoft SQL or SQL Express server
• But not only
• KB 1029864
• Manually backing up and restoring the VMware vCenter Server 4.x and 5.x ADAM
instance data
• KB 2057353
• Backing up and restoring the VMware vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 configuration
• SSL Certificates?
For the vCSA?
• KB 2062682
• Backing up and restoring the vCenter Server Appliance Inventory Service database
• Or manage it as a black-box
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SSO
KB 2058239
• Installing vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 on a Microsoft Windows platform
Choose the right password
• KB 2060746
• Installing vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 fails if the password for
[email protected] contains certain special character
• Avoid & ; “ ‘ ^ \ !
Improved architecture in SSO 5.5
• Multi-master
• Built-in replication
• Site awareness
• Multi Tenant
• Database
• There is no database!
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SSO
Type of deployment
• vCenter Single Sign-On for and additional vCenter in an existing site
• Merges Lookup Services – For SSO HA, requires load balancer
• vCenter Single Sign-On for and additional vCenter with a new site
• Configures new Lookup Services – For multiple vCenter Server deployments
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Web Client
Always deploy the Web Client
• Multiplatform
• Internet Explorer / FireFox / Chrome fully supported on Windows and Mac
• Faster or slower?
• Sometimes it will become the only client
• In the rare case SSO goes wrong, users can log into and troubleshoot
But check plugin compatibility
And still have the old vSphere Client
And not suitable for mobile devices
• VMware vSphere Mobile Watchlist
• https://communities.vmware.com/
community/vmtn/vsphere/vsphere-mobile
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vCenter Server Inventory Service
Maintains a cache of the vCenter Server inventory (VMs, Hosts, …)
Reduces the load on VPXD by offloading client requests
Installs locally to vCenter Server (although can be separated)
• Suggested to keep it locally
• Separate spindles or SSD (better)
• vFRC (requires a virtual vCenter Server and VH10)
Enables use of Tags
• Remember to backup Inventory service data files to provide recovery of tags
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vCenter Server AppliancevCSA
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vCenter Server Appliance
Pro
• It’s a VA with all-in-one (included the Web Client)
• Simple and smaller (OVA is smaller than ISO)
• Faster to deploy (or re-deploy)
• Does not require a Windows license
Cons
• Not the same features
• Not compatible with other components (ie: VUM)
Virtual Appliance
• Angels or daemons?
• http://vinfrastructure.it/2012/06/virtual-appliance-angels-o-demons/
• VA are bricks but also are (or must be considered) black-boxes
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Linked Mode
Windows only (ADAM/AD-LDAP) based
• Max 10 vCenters
• Max 3.000 hosts
• Max 30.000 powered on VMs
• Max 50.000 registered VMs
No way with vCSA
• What about next version?
• Do you really need Linked Mode?
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Scalability consideration?
Actually vCSA is a monolithic VM
• optional can have an external DBMS
SSO and other platform services are not sharable
• Can be used a Windows Server with vCenter components
• What about next version?
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VA Deployment
Faster than the Windows version
Could be faster?
Could be easiest?
Guided or scripted installation?
• What about next version?
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VA patching
The vCSA upgrade process is quite easy
• Single point, single updade/upgrade
But could be better?
What about security patches at the OS level?
Multiple repositories or patch levels?
• What about next version?
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VM sizing
KB 2005086 for version 5.5
• Very small inventory
• 10 or fewer hosts, 100 or fewer virtual machines
• at least 8 GB
• Small inventory
• 10-50 hosts or 100-1500 virtual machines
• at least 16 GB
• Medium inventory
• the maximum inventory supported with the embedded database; 50-100 hosts or
1500-3000 virtual machines
• at least 24 GB
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Thank youAndrew Mauro – VCDX & vExpert
http://vinfrastructure.it/en/
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Enjoy The Day!
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