Dell EMC VxRAIL vCENTER Technisches Handbuch

1 | vCenter Planning Guide

DELL EMC VxRAIL™ vCENTER SERVER

PLANNING GUIDE

ABSTRACT

This planning document provides guidance for various vCenter

Server deployment options supported on VxRail Appliances.

February 2019

WHITE PAPER

2 | vCenter Planning Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Intended Use and Audience........................................................................................................................................................................ 3

vCenter Server.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

vCenter Server with an Embedded PSC ........................................................................................................................................... 3

vCenter Server with an External PSC................................................................................................................................................ 3

VxRail Appliances............................................................................................................................................................................................ 4

VxRail vCenter Server Options............................................................................................................................................................. 4

VxRail vCenter Server.............................................................................................................................................................................. 5

Use Cases.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5

Limitations............................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Customer Supplied vCenter Server.................................................................................................................................................... 5

Notes .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

VMware vSphere Recommended Topologies for vCenter Server ............................................................................................. 7

VxRail vCenter Server Deployment Details .......................................................................................................................................10

VxRail vCenter Server............................................................................................................................................................................10

Requirements.......................................................................................................................................................................................10

Customer Supplied vCenter Server..................................................................................................................................................10

Requirements.......................................................................................................................................................................................10

Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................................................................12

3 | vCenter Planning Guide

Intended Use and Audience

This guide discusses various VMware vCenter Server™deployment scenarios supported to manage your

VxRail Clusters. It is intended for customers, Dell EMC Sales Teams and field engineers involved in selling,

planning and installing VxRail, including Dell EMC sales and support personnel.

vCenter Server

vCenter Server is the centralized platform for managing a VMware environment. It is the primary point of

management for both server virtualization and vSAN and is the enabling technology for advanced capabilities

such as vMotion, Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and HA. vCenter scales to enterprise levels where a

single vCenter can support up to 1000 hosts (VxRail nodes) and 10,000 virtual machines. vCenter supports a

logical hierarchy of datacenters, clusters, and hosts, which allow resources to be segregated by use cases or

lines of business and allow resources to be moved as needed dynamically. This is all done from a single

interface.

vSphere 6.0 introduced vCenter Server with embedded Platform Services Controller (PSC) as well as vCenter

Server with an external PSC. The following components are included in the vCenter Server installations:

•The PSC group of infrastructure services contains vCenter Single Sign-On, License service, Lookup

Service, and VMware Certificate Authority.

•The vCenter Server group of services contains vCenter Server, vSphere Web Client, Inventory Service,

vSphere Auto Deploy, vSphere ESXi Dump Collector, VMware vSphere Syslog Collector on Windows

and VMware Sphere Syslog Service for the vCenter Server Appliance.

vCenter Server with an Embedded PSC

vCenter Server with an External PSC

For details, refer to vCenter Server Installation and Setup for VxRail 4.7.0+, vSphere Installation and Setup

Guide VMware vSphere 6.5 for VxRail 4.5.0+, or vSphere Installation and Setup Guide Update 2 VMware

vSphere 6.0 for VxRail 3.5 and VxRail 4.0.x.

The vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller

are deployed on a single virtual machine or physical server.

The vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller are

deployed as separate virtual machines or physical servers.

The Platform Services Controller can be shared across several

vCenter Server instances. You can install a Platform Services

Controller and then install several vCenter Server instances

and register them with the Platform Services Controller. You

can then install another Platform Services Controller,

configure it to replicate data with the first Platform Services

Controller, and then install vCenter Server instances and

4 | vCenter Planning Guide

VxRail Appliances

VxRail was jointly developed by Dell EMC and VMware and is the only fully integrated, pre-configured, and

tested HCI appliance powered by VMware Virtual SAN (vSAN). Managed through the vCenter Server interface,

VxRail provides a familiar vSphere experience that enables streamlined deployment and the ability to extend

the use of existing IT tools and processes.

VxRail Appliances are managed using VxRail Manager software for hardware and appliance maintenance

tasks as well as software lifecycle management. VxRail Manager incorporates ESRS and other serviceability

capabilities. Additionally, VxRail Appliances are discoverable and visible in Dell EMC Vision™ Intelligent

Operations.

The VxRail software bundle is preloaded and licensed onto hardware and consists of the following

components (specific software versions not shown):

•VxRail Manager

•VMware vCenter Server

•VMware vRealize Log Insight™

•VMware vSAN™

•EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS)/VE

Also preloaded is VMware vSphere®; however, licenses are required and can be purchased through Dell EMC,

VMware or your preferred VMware reseller partner.

The VxRail Clusters also include licenses for software that can be downloaded, installed and configured:

•Dell EMC Recover Point for Virtual Machines (RP4VM) - 15 Full Licenses per G-series appliance chassis

or 5 Full Licenses per all other single node VxRail series appliances

VxRail is fully compatible with other software in the VMware ecosystem, including VMware NSX. Refer to the

VMware Product Interoperability Matrices for specific versions of NSX supported on specific versions of

vSphere.

VxRail vCenter Server Options

The initial releases of VxRail deployed a vCenter Server Appliance on the VxRail Appliance. The license for

this vCenter Server Appliance was included with VxRail. This vCenter Server deployment has been referred to

as “internal” vCenter Server or “embedded” vCenter Server. For consistency, the term used throughout this

guide will be VxRail vCenter Server. VxRail orchestrates the deployment and lifecycle management of the

VxRail vCenter Server. This VxRail vCenter Server can only manage the VxRail Cluster on which it is deployed.

Beginning with release 3.5, a VxRail Appliance can optionally join a compatible vCenter Server environment,

hosted outside of the VxRail Cluster. This allows for a central vCenter Server instance to manage multiple

VxRail Clusters. Each VxRail environment appears within vCenter Server as a cluster of hosts configured with

a vSAN datastore. This has been referred to “external” vCenter Server or “existing” vCenter Server. For

consistency, the term used throughout this guide will be Customer Supplied vCenter Server. This instance of

vCenter Server must exist before you deploy the VxRail Appliance and requires a separate customer provided

license. The Customer is responsible for deployment, configuration and lifecycle management of the Customer

Supplied vCenter Server.

Log Insight is a configuration option only if VxRail vCenter Server is used.

For day-to-day VM management, customers manage the VMware stack on the VxRail Appliance

directly through vCenter Server.

5 | vCenter Planning Guide

A VxRail Cluster’s virtual infrastructure is managed by a single vCenter Server instance, either VxRail vCenter

Server or Customer Supplied vCenter Server. At this time, when a VxRail Appliance is deployed, the vCenter

deployment type is selected and is difficult to change. If a customer wants to make a change, for VxRail 3.5

and 4.0.1 it would require a factory reset and all data would need to be wiped from the VxRail appliance and

reinstallation would be required. Migrating a VxRail 4.0.2 vCenter Server to a Customer Supplied vCenter

requires an RPQ. Starting with VxRail 4.0.301 your Dell EMC service team can do this procedure.

VxRail vCenter Server

As part of a VxRail deployment, a vCenter Server instance with an external Platform Service Controller is

configured. The vCenter Server and the PSC are separate Linux-based virtual machines. Both the VxRail

vCenter Server and PSC are deployed on the VxRail Appliance cluster it is managing and cannot be moved off

the cluster after deployment.

The VxRail vCenter license is for the VxRail vCenter Server and is not transferable to be used for a Customer

Supplied vCenter Server. As such, it can be considered a limited or restricted use vCenter Server license as will

be seen by the use cases supported and the list of limitations below.

Use Cases

A VxRail vCenter Server is an ideal choice for:

•Small configurations

•Standalone environments

Limitations

•The VxRail vCenter Server will only manage its own VxRail Cluster.

▪It cannot manage other VxRail Clusters.

▪It cannot manage any other ESXi hosts.

▪It cannot be used as a Customer Supplied vCenter Server.

•Enhanced link mode is not supported.

•Single Sign-On domain cannot be customized and will be vsphere.local.

Prior to VxRail 4.5.200, VxRail vCenter Server does NOT support these:

•With Stretched clusters in case of an Inter-Switch Link (ISL) failure, all virtual machines that are not on

the same site as the vCenter will be powered off. Thus, special attention is needed when planning to

deploy an internal vCenter.

•Prior to VxRail 4.5.200, the VxRail vCenter Server does NOT support encryption.

Customer Supplied vCenter Server

The figure below shows an example where multiple VxRail clusters are part of a Customer Supplied vCenter

environment. Each cluster appears as a separate cluster within vCenter. In addition to centralized

management, being part of the same vCenter environment allows VMs to be easily migrated into and between

vSAN environments for optimal workload balance and simplifies VxRail Appliance upgrades and expansion.

The Customer Supplied vCenter Server provides more configuration options and is recommended.

6 | vCenter Planning Guide

Use Cases

A Customer Supplied vCenter Server solution is required when:

•Enhanced link mode is desired.

•VxRail is being added to an existing VMware platform and a single management instance is desired.

•Multiple VxRail Clusters will be deployed and a single management interface is desired.

Prior to VxRail 4.5.200, Customer Supplied vCenter Server solution is required when:

•Stretched clusters are part of the solution.

•vSAN encryption is desired. When enabling Data At Rest Encryption (DARE) in a vSAN cluster the Key

Management Server (KMS) must be external to the vSAN cluster.

Limitations

•VxRail Manager does not upgrade the Customer Supplied vCenter Server. Before an upgrade of VxRail

Appliance software, please refer to the release notes to verify the required vCenter Server release number.

It may be necessary to upgrade the Customer Supplied vCenter Server prior to the VxRail upgrade.

•The virtual machine name and IP address of the Customer Supplied vCenter Server and PSC cannot be

modified after VxRail deployment.

•Prior to VxRail 4.7, special approval is required if the Customer Supplied vCenter Server is hosted on a

VxRail Cluster.

▪The VxRail Cluster Shutdown function will require you to power off all VMs manually. We highly

recommend the vCenter be backed up to a remote site in case of vSAN failure.

Notes

•The Customer is responsible for the Customer Supplied vCenter Server license.

•Log Insight is not activated when using a Customer Supplied vCenter Server.

•Only one public IP address for the vCenter HA network is supported.

The Customer Supplied vCenter Server deployment can be a physical server or a virtual server running

on either a vCenter Server Appliance or in a Windows environment with embedded or external PSC.

7 | vCenter Planning Guide

VMware vSphere Recommended Topologies for vCenter Server

VMware provides a list of recommended topologies for VMware vCenter Server deployments. For vSphere

6.5, the vCenter Server topologies are described in VMware KB article 2147672. For vSphere 6.0 the vCenter

Server topologies are described in VMware KB article 2108548. The following table indicates for each

topology whether a VxRail vCenter Server or a Customer Supplied vCenter Server could support this topology.

Recommended Topology

VxRail vCenter

Server

Customer Supplied

vCenter Server

* requires a vCenter Server

license

Limitations:

Does not support Enhanced Linked Mode

Does not support PSC replication

No.

If a customer wants

an embedded PSC,

they cannot use the

VxRail vCenter

Server.

Yes.

A customer would be

required to have a Customer

Supplied vCenter Server with

an embedded PSC deployed

to achieve this topology.

Yes.

Note: there is only

one vCenter Server

Yes.

1 Single Sign-On domain

1 Single Sign-On site

More than 1 vCenter Server(s) with PSC on a different machine

No.

Yes.

1 Single Sign-On domain

1 Single Sign-On Site

1 vCenter Server with embedded PSC

1 Single Sign-On domain

1 Single Sign-On site

1 vCenter Server with PSC on a different

machine

8 | vCenter Planning Guide

1 Single Sign-On domain

2 or more Single Sign-On sites

2 or more vCenter Server with external PSCs

No.

Yes.

1 Single Sign-On domain

1 Single Sign-On site

2 or more external PSC(s)

1 or more vCenter Server with external PSCs using 1 third-party load

balancer

No.

Yes.

1 Single Sign-On domain

2 Single Sign-On sites

2 or more external PSCs per Single Sign-On Site

1 or more vCenter Server with external PSC(s)

2 third-party load balancers (1 per site)

No.

Yes.

9 | vCenter Planning Guide

1 Single Sign-On domain

2 Single Sign-On sites

2 or more external PSCs per Single Sign-On site

1 or more vCenter Server with external PSC(s)

No.

Yes.

1 Single Sign-On domain

1 Single Sign-On site

vCenter Server with PSC on same vCenter Server Appliance

3 vCenter Server Appliances are used (1 Active, 1 Passive, and 1 Witness

connected to the vCenter HA network).

Limitations:

Does not support Enhanced Linked Mode

Does not support PSC replication

No.

Only vCenter Server 6.5,

which requires VxRail 4.5.x.

NOTE: Only one public IP

address for the vCenter HA

Network is supported.

1 Single Sign-On domain

1 Single Sign-On site

2 or more external PSCs

vCenter Server connected to PSC using 1 third-party load balancer

3 vCenter Server Appliances are used (1 Active, 1 Passive, and 1 Witness

connected to the vCenter HA network).

No.

Only vCenter Server 6.5,

which requires VxRail 4.5.x

NOTE: Only one public IP

address for the vCenter HA

Network is supported.

10 | vCenter Planning Guide

VxRail vCenter Server Deployment Details

The following provides the high-level details of each deployment option. It is important to understand the

pre-requisites before deployment. This document covers the requirements related to vCenter Server only. See

the Dell EMC VxRail Network Guide for complete VxRail implementation requirements.

VxRail vCenter Server

Please note that the vCenter license included with the VxRail Appliance is for use of the VxRail vCenter Server

only and is not transferable for use as a Customer Supplied vCenter Server.

Requirements

This scenario requires:

•A reserved vCenter Server hostname

•A reserved IP address for the VxRail vCenter Server

•A reserved PSC hostname

•A reserved IP address for the new VxRail vCenter Server Platform Service Controller

•DNS names to be configured correctly.

Customer Supplied vCenter Server

When deploying a VxRail Appliance into an existing VMware virtualization infrastructure, it makes sense to

use the Customer Supplied vCenter Server that is managing the current environment to also manage the VxRail

Appliance. This allows a remote central vCenter Server to manage multiple VxRail clusters in a single

management instance.

The Customer Supplied vCenter Server can be:

•Standalone with an embedded PSC or external PSC

•A vCenter Server Appliance virtual machine or vCenter Server for Windows

•Using Enhanced Linked Mode

Requirements

•Prior to VxRail 4.5.200, the Customer Supplied vCenter can NOT be hosted on the VxRail Cluster it is

managing.

•Starting with VxRail 4.5.200, the Customer Supplied vCenter Server can be hosted on the VxRail Cluster it is

managing.

•The Customer Supplied vCenter Server version must be identical to the VxRail vCenter Server version. Check

the VxRail Release Notes for to determine the proper version numbers. In addition, the ESXi version of the

cluster hosting the Customer Supplied vCenter should be identical to the ESXi host version of the VxRail

Cluster.

Starting after vCenter Server 6.5, VMware plans to deprecate vCenter Server for Windows with the next numbered release (not update release) of

vSphere.

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