Module 4: vCenter Server

© 2020 VMware, Inc.

Importance
vCenter Server helps you centrally manage multiple ESXi hosts and their virtual machines. If you
do not properly deploy, configure, and manage vCenter Server Appliance, your environment might
experience reduced administrative efficiency or ESXi host and virtual machine downtime.

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Module Lessons
1. Centralized Management with vCenter Server
2. Deploying vCenter Server Appliance
3. vSphere Licensing
4. Managing the vCenter Server Inventory
5. vCenter Server Roles and Permissions
6. Backing Up and Restoring vCenter Server Appliance
7. Monitoring vCenter Server Appliance
8. vCenter Server High Availability

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Virtual Beans: vCenter Server Requirements
Virtual Beans has the following requirements for vCenter Server (the management platform):
• Use Active Directory for user and group authentication.
• Restrict user access to vCenter Server:
— System administrators: Administrative rights to the entire vSphere environment
— Operators: Provision VMs and monitor, and troubleshoot vSphere problems
• When the new data center comes online, manage both data centers from a centralized
management console.
As a Virtual Beans administrator, you are responsible for installing and configuring vCenter
Server, and setting up user access.

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Lesson 1: Centralized Management with
vCenter Server

© 2020 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Describe the vCenter Server architecture
• Recognize how ESXi hosts communicate with vCenter Server
• Identify vCenter Server services

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About the vCenter Server Management Platform
vCenter Server acts as a central
administration point for ESXi
hosts and virtual machines that
are connected in a network:
• Directs the actions of VMs
and hosts
• Runs on a Linux-based
appliance

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About vCenter Server Appliance
vCenter Server Appliance is a prepackaged Linux-based VM that is optimized for running vCenter
Server and associated services.
The vCenter Server Appliance package contains the following software:
• Photon
• PostgreSQL database
• vCenter Server services
During deployment, you can select the vCenter Server Appliance size for your vSphere
environment and the storage size for your database requirements.

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vCenter Server Services
vCenter Server services include:
• vCenter Server
• vSphere Client
• vCenter Single Sign-On
• License service
• vCenter Lookup Service
• VMware Certificate Authority
• Content Library
• vSphere ESXi Dump Collector
When you deploy vCenter Server Appliance, all
these services are included.

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vCenter Server Architecture
vCenter Server is supported by the vSphere Client, the vCenter Server database, and managed
hosts.

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About vCenter Single Sign-On
vCenter Single Sign-On provides authentication
across multiple vSphere components through a
secure token mechanism:
1. User logs in to the vSphere Client.
2. vCenter Single Sign-On authenticates
credentials against a directory service (for
example, Active Directory).
3. A SAML token is sent back to the user's
browser.
4. The SAML token is sent to vCenter Server,
and the user is granted access.

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About Enhanced Linked Mode
With Enhanced Linked Mode, you can log in to a single instance of vCenter Server and manage
the inventories of all the vCenter Server systems in the group:
• Up to 15 vCenter Server instances can be linked in one vCenter Single Sign-On domain.
• An Enhanced Linked Mode group can be created only during the deployment of vCenter
Server Appliance.

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ESXi and vCenter Server Communication
The vSphere Client communicates directly with vCenter Server. To communicate directly with an
ESXi host, you use VMware Host Client.

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vCenter Server Appliance Scalability
Metric vCenter Server Appliance 7.0
Hosts per vCenter Server instance 2,500
Powered-on VMs per vCenter Server instance 40,000
Registered VMs per vCenter Server instance 45,000
Hosts per cluster 64
VMs per cluster 8,000

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Review of Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Describe the vCenter Server architecture
• Recognize how ESXi hosts communicate with vCenter Server
• Identify vCenter Server services

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Lesson 2: Deploying vCenter Server
Appliance

© 2020 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Deploy vCenter Server Appliance into an infrastructure
• Configure vCenter Server settings

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Preparing for vCenter Server Appliance Deployment
Before deploying vCenter Server Appliance, you must complete several tasks:
• Verify that all vCenter Server Appliance system requirements are met.
• Get the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or the static IP of the host machine on which you
install vCenter Server Appliance.
• Ensure that clocks on all VMs in the vSphere network are synchronized.

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vCenter Server Appliance Native GUI Installer
The GUI installer has several
features:
• With the GUI installer, you
can perform an interactive
deployment of vCenter
Server Appliance.
• The GUI installer is a native
application for Windows,
Linux, and macOS.
• The installer has no
dependency on browsers or
plug-ins.
• It performs validations and
prechecks during the
deployment.

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vCenter Server Appliance Installation
The vCenter Server Appliance
installation is a two-stage
process:
• Stage 1: Deployment of OVF
• Stage 2: Configuration
The deployment can be fully
automated by using JSON
templates with the CLI installer
on Windows, Linux, or macOS.

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vCenter Server Appliance Installation: Stage 1
Stage 1 begins with the UI phase:
• Accept the EULA.
• Connect to the target ESXi host or vCenter
Server system.
• Define the vCenter Server Appliance name
and root password.
• Select compute size, storage size, and
datastore location (thin disk).
• Define networking settings.
Stage 1 continues with the deployment phase:
• OVF is deployed to the ESXi host.
• Disks and networking are configured.

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vCenter Server Appliance Installation: Stage 2
Stage 2 is the configuration phase:
• Configure time synchronization mode and
SSH access.
• Create a vCenter Single Sign-On domain or
join an existing SSO domain.
• Join the Customer Experience Improvement
Program (CEIP).

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Getting Started with vCenter Server
After you deploy vCenter Server Appliance, use the vSphere Client to log in and manage your
vCenter Server inventory: https://vCenter_Server_FQDN_or_IP_address/ui.

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Configuring vCenter Server Using the vSphere Client
Using the vSphere Client, you can configure vCenter Server, including settings such as licensing,
statistics collection, and logging.

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vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface
Using the vCenter Server
Appliance Management
Interface (VAMI), you can
configure and monitor your
vCenter Server Appliance
instance.
Tasks include:
• Monitoring resource use by
the appliance
• Backing up the appliance
• Monitoring vCenter Server
services
• Adding additional network
adapters

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vCenter Server Appliance Multihoming
With vCenter Server Appliance 7.0 multihoming, you can configure multiple NICs to manage
network traffic.
For example, vCenter Server High Availability requires a second NIC for its private network.

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Demonstration: Deploying vCenter Server Appliance
Your instructor will run a demonstration.

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Review of Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Deploy vCenter Server Appliance into an infrastructure
• Configure vCenter Server settings

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Lesson 3: vSphere Licensing

© 2020 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• View licensed features for vCenter Server or an ESXi host
• Add license keys to vCenter Server

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vSphere Licensing Overview
Licensing vSphere components is a two-step process:
1. Add a license to the vCenter License Service.
2. Assign the license to the ESXi hosts, vCenter Server Appliance instances, and other vSphere
components.

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vSphere License Service
The License Service runs on
vCenter Server Appliance.
The License Service performs
the following functions:
• Provides centralized license
management
• Provides an inventory of
vSphere licenses
• Manages the license
assignments for products that
integrate with vSphere, such
as Site Recovery Manager.

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Adding License Keys to vCenter Server
You must assign a license to vCenter Server before its 60-day evaluation period expires.
Select Menu > Administration > Licenses to open the Licenses pane.

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Assigning the License to the vSphere Component
You can assign a license to an asset, such as vCenter Server.

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Viewing Licensed Features
You assign valid license keys to your ESXi hosts and vCenter Server instance using the Licensing
pane. This pane shows the type of license and available features.

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Lab 4: Working with vCenter

© 2020 VMware, Inc. VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V7] | 4 - 36

Review of Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• View licensed features for vCenter Server or an ESXi host
• Add license keys to vCenter Server

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Lesson 4: Managing the vCenter Server
Inventory

© 2020 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Use the vSphere Client to manage the vCenter Server inventory
• Create and organize vCenter Server inventory objects
• Add data center and organizational objects to vCenter Server
• Add hosts to vCenter Server
• Recognize how to create custom inventory tags for inventory objects

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vSphere Client Shortcuts Page
From the vSphere Client Shortcuts page, you can manage your vCenter Server system inventory,
monitor your infrastructure environment, and complete system administration tasks.

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Using the Navigation Pane
You can use the navigation pane to browse and select objects in the vCenter Server inventory.

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vCenter Server Views for Hosts, Clusters, VMs, and Templates
Host and cluster objects are shown in one view, and VM and template objects are displayed in
another view.

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vCenter Server Views for Storage and Networks
The Storage inventory view
shows all the details for
datastores in the data center.
The Networking inventory view
shows all standard switches
and distributed switches.

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Viewing Object Information
Because you can view object information and access related objects, monitoring and managing
object properties is easy.

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About Data Center Objects
A virtual data center is a logical organization of all the inventory objects required to complete a
fully functional environment for operating VMs:
• You can create multiple data centers to organize sets of environments.
• Each data center has its own hosts, VMs, templates, datastores, and networks.

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Organizing Inventory Objects into Folders
Objects in a data center can be placed into folders. You can create folders and subfolders to
better organize systems.

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Adding a Data Center and Organizational Objects to vCenter Server
You can add a data center, a host, a cluster, and folders to vCenter Server.
You can use folders to group objects of the same type for easier management.

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Adding ESXi Hosts to vCenter Server
You can add ESXi hosts to vCenter Server using the vSphere Client.

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Creating Custom Tags for Inventory Objects
You can use tags to attach metadata to objects
in the vCenter Server inventory. Tags help make
these objects more sortable.
You can associate a set of objects of the same
type by searching for objectives by a given tag.
You can use tags to group and manage VMs,
clusters, and datastores, for example:
• Tag VMs that run production workloads.
• Tag VMs based on their guest operating
system.

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Review of Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Use the vSphere Client to manage the vCenter Server inventory
• Create and organize vCenter Server inventory objects
• Add data center and organizational objects to vCenter Server
• Add hosts to vCenter Server
• Recognize how to create custom inventory tags for inventory objects

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Lesson 5: vCenter Server Roles and
Permissions

© 2020 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Define the term permission in the context of vCenter Server
• Describe the rules for applying permissions
• Create a custom role
• Create a permission

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About vCenter Server Permissions
Using the access control system, the vCenter
Server administrator can define user privileges
to access objects in the inventory.
The following concepts are important:
• Privilege: An action that can be performed
• Object: The target of the action
• User or group: Indication of who can perform
the action
• Role: A set of privileges
• Permission: Gives one user or group a role
(set of privileges) for the selected object

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About Roles
Privileges are grouped into
roles:
• A privilege allows access to a
specific task and is grouped
with other privileges related
to it.
• Roles allow users to perform
tasks.
vCenter Server provides a few
system roles, which you cannot
modify.

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About Objects
Objects are entities on which actions are performed. Objects include data centers, folders,
clusters, hosts, datastores, networks, and virtual machines.
All objects have a Permissions tab. The Permissions tab shows which user or group and role
are associated with the selected object.

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Adding Permissions to the vCenter Server Inventory
To add a permission:
1. Select an object.
2. Select a user or group from a
domain.
3. Select a role.
4. Propagate the permission to
the child objects.

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Viewing Roles and User Assignments
The Roles pane shows which users are assigned the selected role on a particular object.

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Applying Permissions: Scenario 1
A permission can propagate down the object hierarchy to all subobjects, or it can apply only to an
immediate object.

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Applying Permissions: Scenario 2
When a user is a member of multiple groups with permissions on the same object, the user is
assigned the union of privileges assigned to the groups for that object.

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Activity: Applying Group Permissions (1)
If Group1 has the Administrator role and Group2 has the No Access role, what permissions does
Greg have?

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Activity: Applying Group Permissions (2)
Greg has Administrator privileges.
Greg is assigned the union of privileges assigned to Group1 and Group2.

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Applying Permissions: Scenario 3
A user can be a member of multiple groups with permissions on different objects. In this case, the
same permissions apply for each object on which the group has permissions, as though the
permissions were granted directly to the user.

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Applying Permissions: Scenario 4
A user (or group) is given only one role for any given object.
Permissions defined explicitly for the user on an object take precedence over all group
permissions on that same object.

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Creating a Role
Create roles for only necessary tasks.
For example, you can create a Virtual Beans
VM Provisioning role that allows a user to
deploy VMs from a template.
Use folders to contain the scope of
permissions. For instance, assign the Virtual
Beans VM Provisioning role to user
[email protected] and apply it to the
Production VMs folder.

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About Global Permissions
Global permissions support assigning privileges across solutions from a global root object:
• Span solutions such as vCenter Server and vRealize Orchestrator
• Give a user or group privileges for all objects in all object hierarchies

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Labs
Lab 5: Creating and Managing the vCenter Server Inventory
Lab 6: Integrating with Active Directory

© 2020 VMware, Inc. VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V7] | 4 - 50

Review of Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Define the term permission in the context of vCenter Server
• Describe the rules for applying permissions
• Create a custom role
• Create a permission

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Lesson 6: Backing Up and Restoring vCenter
Server Appliance

© 2020 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Create a vCenter Server Appliance backup schedule
• Restore vCenter Server Appliance from backup

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Virtual Beans: vCenter Server Operations
As a Virtual Beans administrator, you are responsible for the maintenance and daily operation of
vCenter Server.
To align with Virtual Beans policies, you perform the following tasks:
• Back up vCenter Server data monthly.
• Make vCenter Server highly available:
— 99.99 percent available (downtime per year of 52.56 minutes)
• Monitor vCenter Server performance to avoid potential problems in the infrastructure.

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About vCenter Server Backup and Restore
vCenter Server backup and restore operations
protect data. These operations work in the
following ways:
• Use the vCenter Server Appliance
Management Interface
• Remove dependency on third-party backup
solutions
• Support FTPS, HTTP, HTTPS, SFTP, FTP,
NFS, and SMB
• Include the option to encrypt backups
• Restore directly from the vCenter Server
Appliance GUI installer
• Restore a vCenter Server instance to a
brand-new appliance

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Methods for vCenter Server Appliance Backup and Restore
You can use different methods to back up and restore vCenter Server Appliance:
• File-based backup and restore:
— Use the vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface to create a file-based backup.
— Restore the backup through the GUI installer of the appliance.
— Schedule the file-based backup and restore.
• Image-based backup and restore:
— Use vSphere Storage APIs - Data Protection with a third-party backup product to perform
centralized, efficient, off-host, LAN-free backups.

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File-Based Backup of vCenter Server Appliance
You can perform a file-based backup manually.

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File-Based Restore of vCenter Server Appliance
Use the vCenter Server Appliance GUI installer
to restore a vCenter Server Appliance to an
ESXi host or a vCenter Server instance.
The restore procedure occurs in stages:
1. A new appliance is deployed.
2. The newly deployed vCenter Server
Appliance is populated with the data stored
in the file-based backup.
When you use the file-based restore method,
reconciliation is automatically performed.

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Scheduling Backups
You can schedule automatic
file-based backups.
The backup scheduler supports:
• A retention policy to keep all
backups or a defined number
of backups
• Daily, weekly, or custom
schedule
Failed backups trigger an alarm
in the vSphere Client.

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Viewing the Backup Schedule
You can view the existing defined backup schedule from the vCenter Server Appliance
Management Interface.
The backup schedule can be edited, disabled, or deleted.

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Demonstration: Backing Up and Restoring a vCenter Server Appliance Instance
Your instructor will run a demonstration.

© 2020 VMware, Inc. VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V7] | 4 - 82

Review of Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Create a vCenter Server Appliance backup schedule
• Restore vCenter Server Appliance from backup

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Lesson 7: Monitoring vCenter Server
Appliance

© 2020 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• View vCenter Server logs and events
• Manage vCenter Server services
• Monitor vCenter Server Appliance for service and disk space usage
• Use vSphere alarms for resource exhaustion and service failures

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vCenter Server Events
The vCenter Server events and audit trails allow selectable retention periods in increments of 30
days:
• User-action information includes the user’s account and specific event details.
• All actions are reported, including file ID, file path, source of operation, operation name, and
date and time of operation.
• Events and alarms are displayed to alert the user to changes in the vCenter Server service
health or when a service fails.

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About Log Levels
You can set log levels to control the quantity and type of information logged.
Examples of when to set log levels:
• When troubleshooting complex issues, set the log level to verbose or trivia. Troubleshoot and
set it back to info.
• For controlling the amount of information being stored in the log files.

Option Description
None Turns off logging
Error (errors only) Displays only error log entries
Warning (errors and Displays warning and error log entries
warnings)
Info (normal logging) Displays information, error, and warning log entries
Verbose Displays information, error, warning, and verbose log entries
Trivia (extended verbose) Displays information, error, warning, verbose, and trivia log entries

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Setting Log Levels
You can configure the amount of detail that vCenter Server collects in log files:
• You can edit the log levels in the vSphere Client.
• More verbose logging requires more space on your vCenter Server system.

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Forwarding vCenter Server Appliance Log Files to a Remote Host
vCenter Server and ESXi can stream their log information to a remote Syslog server:
• You can enable this feature in the vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface.
• With this feature, you can further analyze vCenter Server Appliance log files with log analysis
products, such as vRealize Log Insight.

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vCenter Server Database Health
vCenter Server checks the status of the
database every 15 minutes:
• By default, database health warnings trigger
an alarm when the space used reaches 80
percent.
• The alarm changes from warning to error
when the space used reaches 95 percent.
• vCenter Server services shut down so that
you can configure more disk space or
remove unwanted content.
You can also monitor database space utilization
using the vCenter Server Appliance
Management Interface.

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Monitoring vCenter Server Appliance
The vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface has a built-in monitoring interface.

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Monitoring vCenter Server Appliance Services
You can use the vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface to monitor the health and state
of the vCenter Server Appliance services. You can restart, start, or stop services from this
interface.

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Monthly Patch Updates for vCenter Server Appliance
VMware provides monthly security patches for
vCenter Server Appliance:
• Critical vulnerability patches are delivered on
a monthly release cycle.
• Important and low vulnerabilities are
delivered with the next available vCenter
Server patch or update.
You can configure the vCenter Server Appliance
to perform automatic checks for available
patches in the configured repository URL at a
regular interval.

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Review of Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• View vCenter Server logs and events
• Manage vCenter Server services
• Monitor vCenter Server Appliance for service and disk space usage
• Use vSphere alarms for resource exhaustion and service failures

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Lesson 8: vCenter Server High Availability

© 2020 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Recognize the importance of vCenter Server High Availability
• Explain how vCenter Server High Availability works
• Identify vCenter Server High Availability requirements

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Importance of Keeping vCenter Server Highly Available
High availability is an important
characteristic for many VMware
and third-party solutions that
depend on vCenter Server as
the primary management
platform:
• vCenter Server is the
foundation for the virtual
desktop infrastructure.
• Backup and disaster recovery
solutions rely on vCenter
Server.

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About vCenter Server High Availability
vCenter Server High Availability protects
vCenter Server Appliance against both
hardware and software failures.
vCenter Server High Availability forms a cluster
of nodes:
• Active node: Runs the active vCenter Server
Appliance instance
• Passive node: Automatically takes over the
role of the Active node if a failure occurs
• Witness node: Provides a quorum to protect
against a split-brain situation
vCenter Server High Availability is built in to
vCenter Server Appliance and is included with
the standard license.

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Scenario: Active Node Failure
If the active node fails, the passive node takes over the role of the active node. The cluster is
considered to be running in a degraded state.

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Scenario: Passive Node Failure
If the passive node fails, the active node continues to operate normally. However, the cluster is
considered to be running in a degraded state.

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Scenario: Witness Node Failure
If the witness node fails, the active node continues to operate normally. However, the cluster is
considered to be running in a degraded state.

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Benefits of vCenter Server High Availability
vCenter Server High Availability provides many benefits:
• vCenter Server Appliance is made more resilient.
• Protection against hardware, host, and application failures is provided.
• Recovery occurs in minutes. End-to-end downtime is minimized.
• Active-passive architecture provides transparent failover:
— Recovery point objective: No data loss.
— Recovery time objective: Within minutes.
• One-click automated high availability is set up.
• Nodes can be geographically distant (less than 10 milliseconds latency).
• No shared storage is required.
• No third-party technologies are required.

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vCenter Server High Availability Requirements
Component Requirements
ESXi • Version 6.0 or later.
• Minimum of three ESXi hosts is recommended.
vCenter Server • Version 6.5 or later.
Appliance • Deployment size small or larger is required to meet the RTO.
• Enough disk space to collect and store support bundles for all three nodes
on the active node.
Network connectivity • Network latency between the three nodes must be less than 10
milliseconds.
• The vCenter HA network must be on a different subnet than the
management network.
Licensing • A single vCenter Server Standard license.

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Demonstration: Configuring vCenter Server High Availability
Your instructor will run a demonstration.

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Review of Learner Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Recognize the importance of vCenter Server High Availability
• Explain how vCenter Server High Availability works
• Identify vCenter Server High Availability requirements

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Virtual Beans: vCenter Server Maintenance and Operations
As a Virtual Beans administrator, you plan to maintain vCenter Server and keep it up and running.

Virtual Beans Requirement Plan

Back up vCenter Server data • Use the VAMI to schedule monthly backups of vCenter Server.
monthly. • Because the NFS protocol is supported, you can use one of the
NFS filesystems in your data center to store the backups.
Make vCenter Server highly • Configure vCenter Server High Availability to protect against
available. vCenter Server failures.
• Because recovery time is minimal, you are confident that 99.99
percent availability (downtime per year of 52.56 minutes) can be
achieved.
Monitor vCenter Server • Use the vSphere Client and VAMI daily to monitor vCenter Server
regularly. health and performance.

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Key Points
• vCenter Server Appliance uses the Photon operating system and the PostgreSQL database.
• You use the vSphere Client to connect to vCenter Server instances and manage vCenter
Server inventory objects.
• A permission, defined in vCenter Server, gives one user or group a role (set of privileges) for a
selected object.
• You can use the vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface to monitor appliance
resource use and perform a file-based backup of the appliance.
• vCenter Server High Availability is built in to vCenter Server Appliance and protects the
appliance from both hardware and software failures.
Questions?

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