Module 4 Lesson 1: Installing vCenter Server - VMware vSphere 4.1 Study Flash Cards

VMware vCenter Server is a service that acts as a central administration point for ESX/ESXi hosts and their virtual machines connected on a network.

Up to 1,000 host are supported per vCenter Server instance.

Up to 10,000 powered-on virtual machines are supported per vCenter Server instance.

Up to 15,000 registered virtual machines are supported per vCenter Server instance.

• 1. VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)
• 2. VMware High Availablility (HA)
• 3. VMware Fault Tolerance (FT)
• 4. VMware vMotion
• 5. VMware Storage vMotion
• 6. VMwarre Distributed Power Management (DPM)

Up to 10 vCenter Server systems can be joined to a Linked Mode group.

• vCenter Server and its additional modules
• vSphere Client
• vCenter Server database
• Active Directory Domain
• ESX and ESXi managed hosts

The most critical component is the vCenter Server database.

• The database stores:
• inventory objects/items
• security roles
• resource pools
• performance data
• other critical information for vCenter Server

False

Active Directory user accounts and groups if vCenter Server system is an AD member server.

Local server user accounts and groups if vCenter Server system is a stand alone Windows server.

Windows Security

1. Active Directory Interface 2. Additional services (eg... Update Manager, Vmware Converter, Guided Consolidation) 3. Core Services 4. Database Interface 5. Distributed Services 6. ESX/ESXi Management 7. User Access Control 8. vSphere API

1. virtual machine management 2. resources management 3. task scheduling 4. statistics logging 5.alarms and events management 6. virtual machine provisioning 7. host configuration 8. virtual machine configuration

1. VMware vMotion 2. VMware Storage vMotion 3. VMware DRS 4. Storage I/O Control 5. VMware HA 6. Fault Tolerance.

1. VMware vCenter update manager 2.VMware cCenter Converter 3. VMware vCenter Guided Consolidation.

None require additional lecenses.

The Database interface provides access to the vCenter Server database.

vCenter Server provided access to the ESX/ESXi hosts through a vCenter SERVER AGENT.

The Active Directory interface provides access to the domanin user accounts.

VMware vSphere API provides an interface for writing custom applications that access vCenter Server functionality.

Ther user access control component allows the vCenter Server administrtor to define user privileges/permissions to access objects in the inventory.

Optional vCenter Server modules include a server and client component.

After the server component of a module is installed, it is registered with vCenter Server, and the client component (a plug-in) is available to vSphere Client for download.

After a plug-in is installed, the vSphere Client interface might be alter by adding views, tabs, toolbar buttons, and menu options related to the enhanced functionality.

False. Optional vCenter Server vSphere Client plug-ins can only be installed any time AFTER vCenter Server has been installed.

False. Modules and the vCenter Server system can be upgraded independently.

True.

Advantages: 1. vCenter Server is not susceptible to potential outage in the vSphere enviornment. 2. vCenter Server performance is limited ONLY by the capabilities of the server hardware.

Disadvantages: 1. a dedicated physical server class computer is required. 2. vCenter Server machine resource (CPU, memory etc...) upgrades can potentailly cost more and require longer down time.

Advantages: 1. A dedicated physical server class computer is NOT required, vCenter Server can run in a virtual machine on the same ESX/ESXi host as other virtual machines. 2. vCenter Server machine resource (CPU, memory etc...) upgrade cost is greatly reduced and requires much less if any down time. 3. vCenter Server system can benefit from VMware Distributed services eg... VMware HA can provided high availablitiy for the vCenter Server system.

Disdvantages: 1. vCenter Server is susceptible to potential outages in the vSphere enviornment. 2. vCenter Server performance can potentially be limited by the capabilities of the ESX/ESXi host's server shared hardware resurces.

• Two 64-bit CPUs or one 64-bit dual-core processor
• 2.0 GHz or higher Intel or AMD processor*
• 3GB RAM minimum*
• 3GB Disk storage minimum*
• 10/100 Ethernet network connection minimum (Gigabit recommended)

*higher if database runs on the same machine

• Windows XP Pro 64-bit (not recommended for production - but possible Cert exam question answer)
• Windows Server 2003 64-bit
• Windows Server 2008 Standard 64-bit
• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter 64-bit
• Windows Server 2008 R2

False. The vCenter Server system prcessor, memory, and disk minimum requirements do not include additional database requirements. Requirements will be higher than the minimum requirements if the database runs on the server.

• 8 processor cores
• 16GB memory
• 10GB disk space

vCenter Server system must have up to 2GB free disk space to decompress the installation archive

False. Each vCener Server system instance must have a connection to a database to organize all the configuration data.

• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express*
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2**
• Oracle 10g and 11g
• IBM DB2 9.5

• *Maximum of 5 hosts and 50 virtual machines.
• **VMware vSphere 4.1 update 1 only

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express

5 hosts and 50 virtual machines.

False. VMware recommends using one database for Update Manager and another database for vCenter Server.*

* For smaller deployments, you might not need a separate database for Update Manager.

• 1. VMware vCenter Server 4.x Database Sizing Calculator.
• 2. The vCenter Server built-in what-if calculator.

In the vSphere Client select Administration > vCenter Server Settings in the menu bar and click Statistices in the left pane.

• vCenter Server hardware and software requirements
• vCenter Server system belongs to a domain rather than a workgroup
• Create a vCenter Server database
• Assign a static IP address and DNS resolvable host name

Make sure there is no NAT between vCenter Server and the hosts it will manage.

• vCenter Server
• vCenter Client
• vCenter Update Manager
• vCenter Converter
• vCenter Guided Consolidation

• User name and organization
• License key
• Database information (default database or existing supported database*)
• SYSTEM account information (SYSTEM account or user-specified account** for running vCenter Server service)
• Destination folder
• Standalone or join a Linked Mode group
• Ports (443, 80, 902, 8080, 8443, 60099, 389, 636)
• JVM memory (100+ hosts = 1,024 MB, 400+ hosts = 4,096 MB)

• *If you choose to use an existing SQL Server database, you must create a data source name (DSN).
• **The only requirement is that the user-specified account must be an Administrator on the local machine.

• VMware Mount Service for VirtualCenter (guest operating system customization ei.. cloning, deploying from template)
• VMware vCenter Orchestrator Configuration (workflow engine for automating existing manual tasks)
• VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices (Allows configuration of vCenter management services)
• VMware VirtualCenter Server (provides centralized management of VMs and ESX/ESXi hosts)
• VMware VCMSDS (Provides vCenter Server LDAP directory services)

False.

• The VMware Tools Service - is installed when VMware Tools is installed into the guest operating system of a virtual machine.
• VMware Upgrade Helper - a service that VMware Tools uses whenever a virtual machine's hardware is upgraded to a newer version.

The vSphere Client is an interface used to connect remotely to vCenter Server and ESX/ESXi hosts from a Wndows system.

• 1. Use the VMware vCenter Installer.
• 2. Download the client from the main Web page of the vCenter Server system.

True. TCP Port 903

• Host name or IP address of the vCenter Server system.
• Windows account and password (local account or domain account).

• 1. vCenter Storage Monitoring - Allows vCenter Server to monitor and report on storage. This plug-in adds the host's Storage Views tab to the vSphere Client interface.
• 2. vCenter Service Status - This plug-in adds the vCenter Service Status icon to the Administration panel on the vSphere Client's Home page. To display the health status, go to Home > Administration > vCenter Service Status.
• 3. vCenter Hardware Status - Allows vCenter Server to display the hardware status of hosts (CIM monitoring). This plug-in adds the host's Hardware Status tab to the vSphere Client interface.

After the server component of an additional vCenter Server module is installed on the vCenter Server system.

In the vSphere Client menu bar select Plug-ins > Manage Plug-ins.