Книга: Mastering VMware® Infrastructure3

The Bottom Line

The Bottom Line

Understand the features and role of VirtualCenter. If ESX Server 3.0 is the heart and soul of the virtual infrastructure, then VirtualCenter is the equivalent of the brain that keeps it all moving. VirtualCenter keeps the management capabilities within a defined framework and allows for controlled, detailed delegation of permissions assignment to meet a company's management needs. Access control strategies maintain the principle of least privilege, while VMotion and DRS maintain performance levels and resource fairness.

The VirtualCenter inventory will be a living entity in your virtual world; it will change regularly in response to the changing demands of the network and the consistently changing management practices of today's IT environments. There is no single way to design or implement a VirtualCenter inventory, just as there is no single design implementation that will stand the test of time. Be open to change and to utilizing the dynamic nature of VirtualCenter to allow your infrastructure to be flexible, scalable, and secure.

Install and configure a VirtualCenter database. VirtualCenter can use Oracle, SQL Server, or MSDE as its back-end database platform. Production environments will not be supported unless running on Oracle or SQL Server, reserving MSDE for nonproduction, demonstration, or evaluation purposes.

Master It Configure a SQL Server 2000 database to support VirtualCenter.

Master It Configure a SQL 2005 database to support VirtualCenter.

Install and configure a VirtualCenter Server. VirtualCenter and the VirtualCenter License Server should be installed on the same server. For web access to VirtualCenter, the Apache Tomcat service can be installed and enabled.

Use VirtualCenter topology maps. VirtualCenter topology maps offer a graphical display of the relationships that exist between hosts, virtual machines, datastores, and networks.

Plan a VirtualCenter deployment. The VirtualCenter application is a proxy that acts on the ESX Server hosts that are in the inventory. Ensuring availability of the VirtualCenter application requires planning the redundancy and availability of the back-end database and the application itself. 

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