The Bottom Line - Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5 - page 754

vMotion, vSphere DRS, vSphere HA, and vSphere FT are all enabled and made possible by
vCenter Server. vCenter Server provides scalable authentication and role-based administra-
tion based on integration with Active Directory.
Master It Specii cally with regard to authentication, what are three key advantages of
using vCenter Server?
Solution First, vCenter Server centralizes the authentication so that user accounts don't
have to be managed on a per-host basis. Second, vCenter Server eliminates the need to
share the root password for hosts or to use complex coni gurations to allow administra-
tors to perform tasks on the hosts. Third, vCenter Server brings role-based administra-
tion for the granular management of hosts and VMs.
Plan a vCenter Server deployment. Planning a vCenter Server deployment includes select-
ing a backend database engine, choosing an authentication method, sizing the hardware
appropriately, and providing a sufi cient level of high availability and business continuity.
You must also decide whether you will run vCenter Server as a VM or on a physical system.
Finally, you must decide whether you will use the Windows Server-based version of vCenter
Server or deploy the vCenter Server virtual appliance.
Master It What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of running vCenter
Server as a VM?
Solution Some of the advantages include the ability to easily clone the VM for backup
or disaster-recovery purposes, the ability to take snapshots to protect against data loss or
data corruption, and the ability to leverage features such as vMotion or Storage vMotion.
Some of the disadvantages include the inability to cold clone the vCenter Server VM, cold
migrate the vCenter Server VM, or edit the virtual hardware of the vCenter Server VM.
It could also add additional recovery complexity if there was an outage on the infrastruc-
ture running the vCenter Server VM.
Master It What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using the vCenter
Server virtual appliance?
Solution Some of the advantages include a potentially much easier deployment (just
use the Deploy OVF Template option and perform post-deployment coni guration instead
of installing Windows Server, installing prerequisites, and i nally, installing vCenter
Server), more services available with a single deployment, and no Windows Server licens-
ing requirements. Disadvantages include a lack of support for linked mode groups and
no support for external SQL Server databases.
Install and coni gure a vCenter Server database. vCenter Server supports several
enterprise-grade database engines, including Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. Depending
on the database in use, there are specii c coni guration steps and specii c permissions that
must be applied in order for vCenter Server to work properly.
Master It Why is it important to protect the database engine used to support vCenter
Server?
Solution Although vCenter Server uses Microsoft Active Directory for authentication,
the majority of the information managed by vCenter Server is stored in the backend