Question

Vmware Vcenter 5 Appliance for Linux

Answer 1

Vcenter 5 for Linux

In the previous versions of vSphere, when we wanted to install a vCenter instance (Vicente for the Colleagues) to centrally manage our vSphere Hosts, we had to have a server (physical or virtual) of Windows 2003 or 2008 that could not be a controller domain, and perform the installation of the vCenter service. This installation should also be accompanied by a database that could be on the same server or on a different computer.
In version 5 of vSphere we can choose between the classic vCenter installation, on a Windows server and a manual installation, or use the new vCenter Appliance that works on Linux.

This Appliance is really very interesting since you do not need any kind of knowledge about Linux because once deployed the Appliance , it is already installed in the absence of a few configuration steps to start adding Hosts. Naturally, we must add to this the saving that does not require a Windows Server license for the vCenter service.

Cons / Limitations

The truth is that not everything is pink in the new Appliance. There are some limitations that, depending on the infrastructure, can become quite significant until you reach the point of not choosing to use the Appliance.
Then I leave a comparison table between the Windows vCenter and vCenter on Linux, along with its main features:

As we have seen, the new vCenter Appliance is very, very good with the exception of the following scenarios:

-Infrastructure with several vCenter linked with Linked Clone (to manage several vCenters from the same console)

- Infrastructure with VSSA (vSphere Storage Appliance)

-Infrastructure with VMware View (it is not possible to install the View Composer on the vCSA)

Here's the Login Window VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5

It should also be mentioned that if we are currently using any version of SQL, Express or Standard, these versions are not supported in vCSA. Either we migrate the BBDD or directly we use the BBDD that brings the Appliance embedded.

Another point in favor is that it includes in an embedded form the web server for the vSphere Web Client (Google Chrome not supported).

With this we have seen the advantages and not advantages of this version of VCenter 5 for Linux platforms. Which I think is very good, since I'm not a Linux administrator, but I understand that it has its advantages.

Ricardo Quagliano

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