Migrating embedded VMware vCenter Single Sign-On to an external VMware vCenter Single Sign-On deployment

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This article provides the necessary steps to migrate your embedded VMware vCenter Single Sign-on deployment to an external VMware vCenter Single Sign-On deployment to prevent the upgrade to a deprecated topology that is not recommended by VMware for vSphere 6.0.

When all vCenter Server 5.1 and 5.5 components are installed on the same machine, the VMware vCenter Single Sign-on 5.1/5.5 deployment type is embedded. This occurs when vCenter Server is installed using the Simple Install option or if each component is installed manually on the same machine.

When upgrading to vSphere 6.0, several configurations of vSphere 5.1/5.5 will be upgraded to a topology that has been deprecated.

For more information, see the Deprecated topologies section in List of recommended topologies for VMware vSphere 6.0.x (2108548).

This includes, but is not limited to:

Two or more vCenter Server and vCenter Single Sign-On (SSO) services installed on the same machine on the same SSO domain.
An environment with these servers on the same SSO domain:
- One or more vCenter Server and vCenter SSO installed on the same machine
- One or more vCenter SSO installed on a dedicated machine
- One or more vCenter Server on a dedicated machine

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x

Resolution

Migrating from an embedded VMware vCenter Single Sign-On deployment to an external depends on the current topology of your environment. Use the examples below to determine your current VMware vCenter Single Sign-On deployment and the steps required to migrate to an external VMware vCenter Single Sign-On topology prior to upgrading to VMware vSphere 6.0.

A single VMware vCenter Single Sign-On embedded VMware vCenter Server

In this example, you have VMware vCenter Server with VMware vCenter Single Sign-On installed on the same machine with no additional VMware vCenter Servers in the vCenter Single Sign-On domain.

For more information on migrating this topology to an external VMware vCenter Single Sign-On deployment, see Migrating a single VMware vCenter Single Sign-On embedded VMware vCenter Server deployment to an external VMware vCenter Single Sign-On deployment (2127992).

A VMware vCenter Single Sign-On embedded VMware vCenter Server with a VMware vCenter Server node in the same VMware vCenter Single Sign-On domain

In this example, you have VMware vCenter Server with VMware vCenter Single Sign-On installed on the same machine with an additional VMware vCenter Server pointing to the embedded instance of VMware vCenter Single Sign-On.

For more information on migrating this topology to an external VMware vCenter Single Sign-On deployment, see Migrating a VMware vCenter Single Sign-On embedded VMware vCenter with a VMware vCenter Server node in the same VMware vCenter Single Sign-On domain (2128430).

A VMware vCenter Single Sign-On embedded VMware vCenter Server with an additional VMware vCenter Single Sign-On embedded VMware vCenter Server in the same VMware vCenter Single Sign-On domain

In this example, you have VMware vCenter Server with VMware vCenter Single Sign-On installed on the same machine with an additional VMware vCenter Server with VMware vCenter Single Sign-On installed on another machine. Both deployments are a part of the same VMware vCenter Single Sign-On domain.

For more information on migrating this topology to an external VMware vCenter Single Sign-On deployment, see Migrating two VMware vCenter Single Sign-On embedded VMware vCenter Servers in the same VMware vCenter Single Sign-On domain (2130433).

One VMware vCenter Single Sign-On embedded VMware vCenter Server node with an additional external VMware vCenter Single Sign-On node in the same VMware vCenter Single Sign-On domain

In this example, you have VMware vCenter Server with VMware vCenter Single Sign-On installed on same machine with an additional external VMware vCenter Single Sign-On node. Both deployments are a part of the same VMware vCenter Single Sign-On domain.

For more information on migrating this topology to an external VMware vCenter Single Sign-On deployment, see Migrating one VMware vCenter Single Sign-On embedded VMware vCenter Server node with an additional external VMware vCenter Single Sign-On node in the same Vmware vCenter Single Sign-On domain (2130436).