Services bundled with vCenter Server Appliance

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 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

Table of Contents

• Services included in vCenter Server Appliance
• Services that are not included in vCenter Server Appliance
• Limitations of vCSA

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 do 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

• Location of vCenter Server log files