What’s New in VMware vCenter ™ 5.0 EectiveVirtualizationManagement TECHNICAL MARKETING DOCUMENTATION v 1.0/UpDATED ApRIL 2011
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What’s New inVMware vCenter ™ 5.0
EectiveVirtualizationManagement
T E C H N I C A L M A R K E T I N G D O C U M E N T AT I O N
v 1 . 0 / U p D A T E D A p R I L 2 0 1 1
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What’s New in VMware vCenter 5.0
T E C H N I C A L W H I T E p A p E R / 2
Table of Contents
Introduction 3vSphere Web Client 4
Web Client Capabilities 4
Web Client Technology 6
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 8
Overview 8
Enhanced VMware vCenter Server Availability 10
Enhanced VMware vCenter Server Architecture 10
VMware vCenter Client Integration 11
Application Support 11
Summary 11
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What’s New in VMware vCenter 5.0
IntroductionVirtualization is changing the way business is perormed. With the advent o new and enhanced technologies or
use in virtualized environments, customers are now able to achieve levels o eciency and utilization unheard oin years past. Large-scale environments, such as with cloud-based services, now push the scope o managed
objects to ever-increasing levels. To continue down this road, IT proessionals must have a comprehensive
virtualization management solution.
As a leader in datacenter virtualization and virtualization management, VMware understands these needs. With
the release o VMware vSphere™ 5.0 (“vSphere”), the ollowing new capabilities and technologies are among
those being added to the vSphere platorm to provide enhanced virtualization management:
•vSphereWebClient
•VMwarevCenter™ServerAppliance
•EnhancedVMwarevCenterServeravailability
This paper discusses the enhancements that VMware has provided in these three areas and the associated benets.
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What’s New in VMware vCenter 5.0
vSphere Web ClientHow an administrator interacts with their environment has a great impact on their efectiveness in managing the
environment. With the prolieration o virtualization and cloud-based technologies, the ollowing criticalrequirements are among those that rise to the surace or a management tool that enables the administrator:
•Theabilitytoworkwithinaheterogeneousenvironment
•Aexibleandextensiblefoundationtoenablecustomization
•Readyaccesstoinformation
•Theabilitytomanageahighnumberofobjectsacrossgeographicallyseparateddatacenters
To meet these requirements and to provide a sustainable user interace model in the uture, VMware developed
thevSphereWebClient.
Initsinitialrelease,thevSphereWebClientprovidesaWebinterfacereplacement.Futurereleaseswillbuild
upon this support, eventually becoming the primary client platorm.
vSphere Web Client Capabilities
Outofthebox,thevSphereWebClientprovidesnumerousfeaturesandfunctionalitythatempoweradministrators
toeectivelymanagelarge-scaledistributedenvironments.Thefollowingcoversafewofitskeyfeatures.
GUI Customization
Most user interaces are static in design and attempt to display all the inormation that every user might want.
The problem is that not everyone uses a GUI or the same purposes. In a vSphere environment, there might be
administratorswhoareprimarilytaskedwithmanaginginfrastructureservices,suchasstorageornetworks.In
contrast, there are other administrators who are primarily concerned with the management o virtual machines.
Both types o administrators oten are bombarded by inormation that is not needed by them in the
performanceoftheirdailytasks.
ThevSphereWebClientaddressesthisproblembyenablingtheusertocustomizetheirvisualizationoftheuser
interace in a way that best suits them. It is possible to move inormation presented by the user interace to a
dierentlocationortoeliminateitalltogether.ThevSphereWebClientalsoutilizesaprogressiveinclusion
model or displaying inormation. Applicable inormation will be displayed only as requested by the user instead
o orcing the user to see all the inormation up ront.
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What’s New in VMware vCenter 5.0
Inthisway,thevSphereWebClientprovidestheexibilityforuserstoutilizeasingletoolinamannerthatmakes
them most ecient.
Figure 1. RepositioningUIComponents
Common Task Access
Administratorstendtoperformrepetitivetasksundernormalcircumstances.Beingabletoquicklyperform
thesetaskshelpstoreducefrustrationandimprovesproductivity.ThevSphereWebClientprovidesacontext-
sensitiveareawherethemostcommontaskscanquicklyandeasilybeperformed.
Figure 2.QuickAccesstoCommonTasks
Interrupt-Driven Workfows
Performingataskinalinearfashionisnotalwayspossible.Peopleoftengetinterruptedorsidetrackedwith
more pressing matters or to get some inormation needed to complete the operation. Standard user interaces
requirethatauserquitthetasktheyareperformingandrestartitfromthebeginningwhentheycancomeback
toit.ThisisnotthecasewiththevSphereWebClient.
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What’s New in VMware vCenter 5.0
ThevSphereWebClientaddssupportforinterrupt-drivenworkloads.Thisagilemanagementfeatureenables
administratorstostartatask,pauseiftheygetinterrupted,andreturntoexactlythepointwheretheywere
when they stopped.
Figure 3.Interrupt-DrivenWorkfows
Extensibility
Many third-party vendors provide useul tools and unctionality that complement the capabilities o the vSphere
WebClient.Thisisofgreatbenettotheadministratorbecauseitoersthemtheabilitytoperformamultitude
o actions under a single pane o glass.
ThevSphereWebClientmakesextendingitsfunctionalityeasierthaneverbefore.Practicallyeverythingthata
user can interact with in the user interace can be added to or modied. A rich set o documentation providesdeveloperswiththeinformationneededtoquicklydevelopnewextensionsandfunctionality.
vSphere Web Client Technology
ThefeaturesandfunctionalityofthevSphereWebClientwouldn’tbepossiblewithoutarobustenginecapable
ofprovidingthescaleandexibilityrequired.Thecomponentsofthisrevolutionaryenginearediscussedinthe
ollowing paragraphs.
Architecture
ThevSphereWebClientusesthefollowingstandardthree-tiermodelofoperation:
•vSphereWebClient
ThevSphereWebClientrunsasanAdobeFlex–basedapplicationwithinasupportedWebbrowser.Current
browserssupportedincludeInternetExplorer,onMicrosoftWindows–basedoperatingsystems,andFirefox,onbothWindowsandLinux-basedoperatingsystems.Abrowserplug-inisalsoprovided,whichenablesthe
utilization o a console into the virtual machine.
This empowers any user with a Web-enabled system to manage the environment and decreases the burden on
administrators to manage the deployment o the client sotware to individual systems.
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What’s New in VMware vCenter 5.0
•Applicationserver
The application server is based on the SpringSource dm Server, a completely module-based Java application
server designed to run enterprise Java applications and Spring-powered applications with a high degree o
exibilityandreliability.InsupportofthevSphereWebClient,theapplicationserverprovidesanOpenServicesGatewayInitiative(OSGi)containerandvariousservicesthatenablescalabilityandextensibilityby
third-party vendors.
•VMwarevCenterServerandassociatedservices
VMwarevCenterServeractsastheinformationsourceforthevSphereWebClient.Aninventoryserviceisfed
livedatafromthecoreVMwarevCenterServerprocessandtransmitsthattotheapplicationserverasrequired.
The vSphere Web
Client runs within
a browser.
The application server
provides a scalable
back end.
Flex Client
Back End
The VMware vCenter
Server is in either
single or linked
mode operation.
VMware
vCenter
Server
Figure 4. vSphereWebClientArchitecture
DeploymentandManagement
DeploymentofthevSphereWebClientfortraditionalVMwarevCenterServerenvironmentsdeployed
onWindowsrequirestheinstallationofthevSphereWebClientserverbinaries.ForVMwarevCenter
Server Appliance environments, the components are already installed. The user simply must start the
appropriate service.
DeploymentofthevSphereWebClientinyourenvironmentrequirestheinstallationoftheVMwarevCenter
WebClientserverpackageonahost.TheVMwarevCenterServerAppliancecomesbundledwiththevSphere
WebClientserver,simplyrequiringthattheservicebeenabled.
Oncedeployed,eachVMwarevCenterServerinstancetobeusedwiththevSphereWebClientisregistered
throughaWeb-basedvSphereWebClientadministrationapplicationpageaccessiblefromthehostwherethe
vSphereWebClientserverpackagesarerunning.Nofurthermanagementisrequired.
UpgradeswillconsistofremovalofthevSphereWebClientserverbinariesandtheinstallationofthenewpackages.
UsingthevSphereWebClient,ITdepartmentsmustbeconcernedonlyaboutupdatingasinglesysteminstead
o pushing out new sotware to every user o the client. This signicantly decreases the overhead and
management costs typically associated with such sotware deployments.
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What’s New in VMware vCenter 5.0
VMware vCenter Server ApplianceThevSphereWebClientisonlyonecomponentneededtomanageavirtualizedenvironment.Theotherpieceof
thepuzzleisVMwarevCenterServer.
VMwarecustomershaveexpressedadesiretoenhancethepatchingandupgradeprocessofVMwarevCenter
Server as well as to reduce the costs associated with deploying it within a Windows-based environment.
Toaddresstheseneeds,VMwareisintroducingtheVMwarevCenterServerAppliancewithvSphere5.0.Withit,
customers can simpliy deployment and conguration, streamline their patching and upgrade process, and
reducetheirTCOforVMwarevCenterServer.Thisenablescompaniestorespondtobusinessneedsfaster.
Overview
TheVMwarevCenterServerAppliance(VCSA)consistsofaprepackaged64-bitSUSELinuxEnterpriseServer11
virtualmachinethathostsaVMwarevCenterServerinstance.BynotrelyingonaWindows-basedOS,
customerscaneliminatethelicensingcoststypicallyassociatedwithrunningVMwarevCenterServer.
VMwareVCSAisdistributedasacompressed.vmxorasan.ovflewithsparsedisksthatdecreasestheoverallsizeoftheappliancetoamere3.6GB.Deployingthe.ovfleissimple.Ittypicallytakesonlyabout5minutes.
Oncedeployed,VMwareVCSArunslikeanyothervirtualmachineintheenvironment.
AWeb-baseduserinterfaceprovidesaconvenientmeanstocongureallaspectsofaVMwareVCSAinstance,
including the ollowing ones:
•Services–Itprovidesameanstocongureservicessuchassyslog,netdump,AutoDeploy,andthevSphereWebClient.
•Authentication–ItenablesthecongurationofauthenticationservicesthroughMicrosoftActiveDirectoryorNIS.
•Network–CongurationofIPv4networkingsettings,includingproxies,canbeperformed.
•System–Aspectssuchasthetimezonecanbecongured.
•Upgrades–UpgradessimplyconsistofdeployinganewVMwarevCenterServerAppliance.Built-inconguration
migration utilities are provided to securely import conguration data rom a previous installation.
Figure 5. VMwarevCenterServerApplianceAdministrativeInterace
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What’s New in VMware vCenter 5.0
TheVMwarevCenterServerAppliancerequiresadatabasetostoreallitsrequiredinformation.TheVMware
VCSAispackagedwithanembeddeddatabasethatsupportsuptovehostsand50virtualmachines.When
deployingVMwareVCSAinlargerenvironments,itsupportsconnectingtoanexternalOracledatabase.
Conguredwithanexternaldatabase,itcansupport300hostsand3,00064-bitvirtualmachines.Thesehost
requirementlimitsareconsistentwithVMwarevCenterServer.
AftertheVMwarevCenterServerAppliancehasbeendeployedandcongured,itperformsexactlyliketheWindows-
basedversionofVMwarevCenterServer,withtheexceptionthatLinkedModeisnotcurrentlysupported.
BesidesprovidingsupportforvSphere5.0,VMwareVCSAisabletomanagevSphere4.0and4.1hosts.This
exibilityprovidesadministratorswiththeoptiontouseitintheseenvironmentsuntiltheyareabletoupgrade.
Becauseitisanappliance,VMwareVCSAalsoinheritsallthebenetsofbeingvirtualized.Thisentailstheability
toleveragevSphere®HighAvailability(vSphereHA)forhighavailabilityandsnapshots,foraneasybackup-and-
recoveryoption.ItalsomeansthatVMwareVCSAiscompletelyself-contained,sothereisnoneedtologinand
manage the appliance. This represents a signicant reduction in management responsibilities or an administrator.
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What’s New in VMware vCenter 5.0
Enhanced VMware vCenter Server AvailabilityBeingtheprimarymanagementpointofaVMwareenvironment,theavailabilityofVMwarevCenterServeris
criticalwhenconstructingahighlyavailableenvironment.ForcustomerswhochoosetodeployVMwarevCenterServeronphysicalWindowshosts,providingavailabilityisthefunctionofVMwarevCenterServerHeartbeat.
WiththereleaseofVMwarevCenterServerHeartbeat6.4,severalenhancementshavebeenincorporated.
These include an enhanced architecture to improve accessibility o the secondary server and integration with the
VMwarevCenterclientformanagement.
EnhancedVMwarevCenterServerArchitecture
VMwarevCenterServerHeartbeat6.4providesanenhancedarchitecturethatenablesboththeactiveand
passive servers to be represented as unique entities within Microsot Active Directory. This enables the
assignmentofauniqueIPaddresstobothservers,makingthemaccessiblethroughthenetworkatalltimes.
With both servers readily accessible, administrators can easily perorm maintenance actions such as patching or
upgrades on either server at any time.
Inthisnewarchitecture,theVMwarevCenterServerinstancewillbeassociatedwithavirtualIPaddress.Whena
failoverisrequired,thisvirtualIPaddressfollowstheactiveVMwarevCenterServerinstance.Bydoingso,users
mustbeawareonlyofasolitaryaddresstoconnectto,butthisenablesgreaterexibilityinperforming
maintenance operations.
VCENTER.VMWARE.COM
PRIMARY SERVER
SERVER1.VMWARE.COM
SECONDARY SERVER
HEARTBEAT
CHANNEL
WAN
LAN
MONITORING
REPLICATION
FAILOVER
SWITCHBACK
Data
OS
SERVER2.VMWARE.COM
VMware
vCenter Server
Data
OS
VMware
vCenter Heartbeat
VMware
vCenter Server
VMware
vCenter Heartbeat
Figure 6. ArchitectureoVMwarevCenterHeartbeat
MaintenanceactionscannowbeperformedwithminimaldowntimefortheVMwarevCenterServerinstance.
Patches can be applied to the passive host through its unique IP without afecting the active host. The VMware
vCenterServerinstancecanthenbefailedoverfromtheactiveservertothepassiveserverinpreparationfor
patching the active server. In the event that the maintenance activity causes an issue with a host, administrators
cansimplyfailtheVMwarevCenterServerinstancebacktotheotherhostuntiltheproblemisrectied.
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What’s New in VMware vCenter 5.0
VMwarevCenterClientIntegration
WiththereleaseofVMwarevSphere5.0andVMwarevCenterServerHeartbeat6.4,administratorscanleverage
theVMwarevCenterServerclientasasinglepaneofglassforVMwarevCenterServerHeartbeatoperations.
AnewvSphereClientplug-inprovidesadministratorswiththeabilitytomonitorandperformmanagementfunctionsrightfromtheclient.VMwarevCenterServerHeartbeatoperationaltasksandalarmsarenow
registeredwithVMwarevCenterServer.ThisenablesuserstoviewthisinformationdirectlyfromtheVMware
vCenterClient.
Application Support
InadditiontoprovidingavailabilityforVMwarevCenterServer5.0,VMwarevCenterHeartbeatalsonow
providesfortheavailabilityofVMwareViewComposerandMicrosoftSQLServer2008R2.ThisenablesVMware
vCenterHeartbeattoprotectothercriticalVMwareservicessuchasVMwareView™aswellastheSQLdatabase
providingsupportforVMwarevCenterServer.
SummaryThe VMware commitment to ensuring ease o deployment, increased availability, and ease o use has brought
signicant enhancements to vSphere 5.0. These enhancements provide the tools and services that
administrators need to efectively manage a business-ocused virtualized computing environment.
Administratorsoftheseenvironmentscanresteasywiththeknowledgethatastheycontinuetogrowand
develop their inrastructure, they have tools that will grow with them.
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