Session: INF5975
Transforming software delivery with software appliances
- Accelerat
- e time to value
- Simplify software management
- Performance
- Security
- Reduced total cost of ownership (TCO)
vCSA
- Security hardened Suse OS (SLES 11 SP3)
- vCenter server and vPostgreSQL DB in a single VM
- Appliance shell and UI support for appliance configuration
- vCenter 6.0 appliance is ‘enterprise ready’
- Same scalability as Windows vCenter deployment
- Full support for linked mode
Windows and appliance are nearly at same performance at medium and large inventories
vCSA Deployment Configurations
- Embedded and external PSC deployment modes
- PSC abstracts common services such as SSO, licensing, certs, etc.
- Convert from embedded to external PSC mode in 6.0 U1 (repointing)
- vCenter Windows to vCSA migration tool is available as a fling
- Can upgrade from vCSA 5.1 and 5.5 to 6.0 (U1)
vCSA Configuration
- Network settings – DNS, hostname, IP, etc.
- Time zone and NTP
- Enable/disable services
- Security considerations: SSH, password expiration, AD domain, firewall, log files, SNMP, etc.
- Do NOT install third party agents on vCSA
Backup/Restore
- Backup both embedded PSC and external PSC configurations
- Works with VADP
- Supports third party backups like NetBackup and CommVault
High Availability
- Use VMware HA – Time tested. Protects against host and hardware failure.
- vCenter Server watchdog
- Attempts to restart processes, and will restart the service or VM
- Ensures application level availability
Monitoring
- vCenter Server Appliance Management
- Appliance GUI in 6.0 U1
- Generate support bundles
- Monitor appliance resources and vCenter services
- Receive SNMP trap notifications
vCenter server appliance management – security
- Manage SSO users and groups
- Password policies and management
- Built-in certificate store and out of box certificate management
Patching
- Easily apply product and third party patches (OS, Postgres, JRE)
- Connect directly to VMware update repository or create custom repository
