With the release vSphere 6, a number of changes related to vCenter Server architecture for both the Windows installable version and the VMware vCenter® Server Appliance™ were made. For this reason, some design aspects and the deployment use cases have changed from previous releases. However, some considerations remain the same, such as database placement, choosing between a physical or virtual deployment, and designing an effective highly available architecture. From the perspective of achieving long distance vSphere vMotion, the key requirement is that both vCenter Server instances are part of the same SSO/Platform Services Controller domain. Because both source and destination vCenter Server instances are in the same SSO domain, using the new Enhanced Linked Mode feature found in vSphere 6, both vCenter Server instances are visible in the VMware vSphere Web Client, and both are available to be selected either as a source or destination for a long distance vSphere vMotion operation.

The following Platform Services Controller deployment depicts a hybrid cloud architecture that meets Rainpole.com’s design requirements for a Platform Services Controller domain that spans an on-premises and VMware Cloud Provider Program hosting service provider’s data center. This architecture meets the requirement to maintain a single SSO domain to facilitate long distance vSphere vMotion migration of virtual machines through the vSphere Web Client user interface.

However, going beyond the vSphere Web Client user interface allows further extended vSphere vMotion capabilities in that the operational teams have the ability to live migrate a running virtual machine between two vCenter Server instances that are not part of the same SSO domain. This extended functionality is only available when addressing the vCenter Server API interface, but it truly removes the boundaries for a vSphere virtual machine, and extends further into a new world of virtual machine mobility. For instance, use cases might include customers who want to migrate virtual machine workloads from their on-premises data center into a completely different vSphere environment, such as one hosted by a VMware Cloud Provider Program service provider. As previously mentioned, this functionality is only currently available through the vSphere API because there is no user interface wizard for this operation. For further information refer to the Relocation Functional Spec document at http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.wssdk.apiref.doc%2Fvim.vm.RelocateSpec.html.