Services bundled with vCenter Server Appliance
search cancel

Services bundled with vCenter Server Appliance

book

Article ID: 320261

calendar_today

Updated On:

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information on the services that are included with vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA). It also provides information on the services that are not included with vCSA and its limitations.

Environment

  • VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0.x
  • VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.x
  • VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.1.x
  • VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.0.x

Resolution

Services included in vCenter Server Appliance

Autodeploy
  • An Autodeploy service is bundled with vCSA.
  • The Autodeploy service is automatically registered as a vCenter Server Extension.

Syslog Collector Service

  • The Syslog Collector Server is installed by default, but is not registered as a vCenter Server Extension. To collect the required logging information, you must log into the console or connect to vCSA using SSH and manually collect the log files generated.

ESXi Dump Collector Service

  • The ESXi Dump Collector Server is installed by default, but is not registered as a vCenter Server Extension. To collect the required core dump information, you must log into the console or connect to vCSA using SSH and manually collect the log files generated.

vSphere Web Client

  • The vSphere Web Client Service is bundled with the vCenter Server Appliance. Unlike the standalone version of this server, the service need not be configured to connect to vCSA. By default, the service is aware of vCenter Server on the appliance.

Services that are not included in vCenter Server Appliance

vCenter Update Manager
  • There is no Linux-based equivalent to Update Manager. You can install the Windows-based Update Manager on a Windows guest and register the Update Manager plug-in when connected to the vCSA with a vSphere Client.

vCenter Converter Standalone

  • There is no Linux-based equivalent to Converter Standalone. You can install the Windows-based Standalone Converter on a Windows guest and import converted machines connecting to the vCSA as a destination.

vSphere vCLI

  • The vCLI is not included as part of vCSA. If you want vCLI in an appliance, use the vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) Appliance. 

vSphere PowerCLI

  • PowerCLI and all other PowerCLI extensions require PowerShell, which runs only on Microsoft Windows-based systems. For more information, see the vSphere PowerCLI Documentation.

Limitations of vCSA

  • vCSA supports connection between vCenter Server and vCenter Server components by IP address only if the IP address is IPV4-compliant. To connect to a vCenter Server system in an IPv6 environment, you must use the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or host name of the vCenter Server. The best practice is to use the FQDN, which works in all cases, instead of the IP address, which can change if assigned by DHCP.
  • vCSA does not support Linked Mode. This is because the Microsoft ADAM dependency is provided by Microsoft Windows-based platforms.
  • The vCSA 5.0 GA uses an embedded DB2 Express database.
  • The vCSA 5.0 Update 1b, vCSA 5.1, 5.5, and 6.0 all use an embedded vPostgres database. The appliance can also connect to supported Oracle databases.

    • Oracle RAC is supported on these versions:
      • vCSA 5.1 running version 11.2.0.3.0 or higher.
      • vCSA 5.5 and 6.0 running version 11.2.0.4.0 or higher.

    • vCSA 5.1, 5.5 and 6.0 does not support Microsoft SQL database connectivity.

  • Security Support Provider Interface (SSPI) is only supported with a Kerberos mechanism when vCSA is in a Windows domain.

Additional Information