vcenter

What’s new in the vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) 6.0

What’s new in the vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) 6.0:

  • ISO with an easy guided Installer
  • Different deployment options possible during the guided installer such as:
    • Install vCenter Server
    • Install Platform Services Controller
    • Install vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Controller (default)
  • Scripted install. Values can be specified in a template file
  • Embedded vPostgres database. As external database Oracle is supported.
  • IPv6 Support
  • Enhanced Linked mode support
  • VMware Data Protection (VDP) support for backup and recovery
  • Based on a hardened Suse Linux Enterprise 11 SP3 (64-bit)
  • The minimum (Up to 20 hosts and 400 VMs) appliance requirements for the VCSA are:
    • 2 vCPU
    • 8 GB memory
    • ~ 100 GB diskspace
  • Is has the same feature parity as vCenter Windows:

scalability

What are we missing:

  • Still no Microsoft SQL database support.
  • Possibility to separate roles of the vCenter
  • VMware Update Manager is not included in the appliance. Still need an additional Windows Server for VMware Update Manager (VUM)
  • Clustering of the vCenter Server Appliance

 

2015-02-02_11h45_45 2015-02-02_11h46_18 database IP psc single size vcsa console

 

Unable to connect from the vSphere Client or PowerCLI on Windows XP or Windows 2003 to a vCenter Server 5.5

In my lab environment I still have a Windows XP with the vSphere Client 5.5 installed. When I try to connect with the vSphere Client or vSphere PowerCLI it faisl to connect to the vCenter Server 5.5 or vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 5.5. The following errors appears (The OS has a Dutch language installed):

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PowerCLI error:

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In the release notes of vSphere 5.5 this is a known issue:

vSphere 5.5 uses the Open SSL library, which, for security, is configured by default to accept only connections that use strong cipher suites. On Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, the vSphere Client and vSphere PowerCLI do not use strong cipher suites to connect with vCenter Server. The error No matching cipher suite is shown on the server side, and the handshake fails on the vSphere Client or vSphere PowerCLI side.

There are three workarounds for this:

  • Using Windows hotfixes on the Windows XP / 2003 OS
  • Adjusting the vCenter Server configuration
  • Adjusting the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) configuration

In the following steps I will  adjust the vCenter Server Appliance configuration:

  • Open a SSH connection to the VCSA
  • login the appliance (by default this is root and with the passsword vmware)
  • Navigate to the /etc/vmware-vpx directory
  • Edit the vpxd.cfg file with for example the VI editor (i = insert)
  • Add the following <cipherList>ALL</cipherList> between the <ssl> section (see screenshot below):

<ssl>
…
…
</ssl>

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  • Save the changes and quit the VI editor  (wq!)
  • Restart the vCenter Server service by using the following command: “service vmware-vpxd restart”

After the modification I was able to use the vSphere Client and PowerCLI to connect to the vCenter Server Appliance.

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For more information see KB article 2049143 found here, link

Upgrading Single Sign-On 5.1 to vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 post task

With vCenter Single Sign-On (SSO) 5.5 there is no requirement for a SQL database anymore. SSO 5.5 uses a own VMware Directory Service (VMdir) database. So after the upgrade to SSO 5.5,  the Single Sign-On 5.1  database and users can be removed. This is a manual process. In SQL Management Studio remove the SSO (RSA) database and the “ RSA_DBA” and “ RSA_USER” users created.

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