About the author

Related Articles

15 Comments

  1. 1

    Eche Denis

    A big advantage of VCSA is that you don’t have to pay for a Microsoft Licence. It’s very interisting in SMB environnement which is i think the target of Vcsa.

    Interesting article anyway.
    Thanks.

    Reply
    1. 1.1

      viktorious

      True, but if you want to run Update Manager as well you will need a MS license anyway. Run vCenter and Update Manager on the same host and away is your license advantage…right? 🙂

      Thanks for your comment!

      Reply
  2. 2

    Totie Bash

    I run 4 different vSphere 5.1 suite using VCSA, one of the suite has 4 hosts 300 vm’s using the embedded vPostgres database and I never had problem (nothing major) with it. I like it due to ease of patching, just like applying firmware type experience. Compared to the Windows variant that multiple admin can potentially mess with it whether intentionally or accidentally. It could get messed up due to GPO changes by other admins, dba admin changes and also normal windows or database security patches.

    Reply
    1. 2.1

      viktorious

      Sound good! Don’t you have any (support?) issues that this situation is officially not supported? How are you dealing with VUM?

      Reply
  3. 3

    Totie Bash

    VUM, I can install it on separate Windows server but I personally download the zip and patch it manually through ssh console. I have my reasons why I dont use VUM, I just cant see enough reason to use it. I wish VUM is an appliance.

    Reply
  4. 4

    Maarten van Dijk

    Nice article Viktor!

    I just read the blog from Duncan about “VMware has lifted the vCenter appliance (VCSA) limitations from 5 hosts to 500 hosts and from 50 to 5000 virtual machines in the new vSphere 5.5 edition!
    http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2013/08/26/vsphere-5-5-nuggets-vcenter-server-appliance-limitations-lifted/#comments .

    Funny to read actually is a comment on the blog from Ivo Beerens on a limitations post of the current version.
    http://www.ivobeerens.nl/2012/10/22/what-about-vmware-vcenter-server-appliance-vcsa-version-5-1/

    “If anything like version 5, 5 hosts and 50 VM’s aren’t a real limit. I ran 3 times that amount before upgrading to Oracle. You made need to run some Postgress command to increase tablespaces etc.”

    This is interesting and makes me think that this might be longer possible but becomes now official available.

    Last but nu least is the limited support from VMware on VCAP.
    Especially in case of an fallback scenario you need the guaranteed support.

    Reply
    1. 4.1

      viktorious

      Hi Maarten! Thanks for your comment. I think I have to update some of my articles, vSphere/vCloud 5.5 brings some good new addtions/enhancements which will certainly influence your decisions.

      With regards to the VCSA, increasing the maximum number of VMs / hosts is certainly a good thing and will be sufficient for a lot of customers (which makes VCSA a very good option), although you will still need a separate Windows host for Update Manager….

      Reply
      1. 4.1.1

        Maarten van Dijk

        Hi Viktor, Funny detail to know is that once (long time ago) you trained me to become a VCP :). Back to the old days of XTG…
        Cheers!
        Maarten

        Reply
        1. 4.1.1.1

          viktorious

          Checked you on LinkedIn and remember the face 🙂 Nice to hear from you again here!

          Reply
  5. 5

    siraj

    Hey i want to know “Windows vCenter Server 5.5 versus vCenter Server Appliance 5.5″ right now i am using vCenter server 5.1 on windows 2008 R2 with external oracle Database..is it supported to migrate existing Database to appliance?

    please help me…

    Reply
    1. 5.1

      Maarten

      Hi There,
      No it’s not supported to migrate an existing database to the appliance.
      Besides this remember that not all pluggins you use in the vCenter are supported to run in vCenter on the appliance. Take casre about that. Another important thing is that the VUM is not supported as wel through the appliance.

      Reply
  6. 6

    Eiad Al-Aqqad

    The actual numbers for the vCSA end being:

    embedded vPostgress: 100 hosts and 3,000VMs
    External Oracle DB: 1,000 hosts and 10,000 VMs.

    I have quoted these from the maximum guide in my article at: http://www.virtualizationteam.com/server-virtualization/vcenter-server-appliance-5-5-limitations.html

    Reply
    1. 6.1

      viktorious

      Ok thanks, I have updated the article.

      Reply
  7. 7

    AlbertWT

    Viktor,

    I’m planning to migrate from WIndows VCenter Server 5.1 with SQL Server into the virtual appliance VCSA 5.1 and I wonder if there is anything different or caveats when using this VCSA VM ?

    Reply
    1. 7.1

      viktorious

      Hi Albert,

      The migration process is a manual process, as far as I know there’s no tooling for the migration. There something about a fling here: https://flingcontest.vmware.com/posts/the-winner-of-the-2013-vmware-fling-contest-is-dot-dot-dot, but I think this fling is not available yet. If you’re using distributed virtual switches you have to export/import these switches, before you’re moving your ESXi hosts from the old VCS to the new VCSA.

      You will still need a Windows based update manager as explained in this article, same counts for e.g. SRM.

      Good luck!

      Viktor

      Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.