4.3.1 VMware vCenter Server Management Services
vCenter Server nodes provide the management plane for the VMware ESXi™ hosts within each data center. When deploying vCenter Server nodes, you have many options. This solution architecture will not address all design options for vCenter Server. For more information about VMware Cloud Provider Program deployment options for vCenter Server, see
Architecting a VMware vSphere Compute Platform for the VMware Cloud Provider Program.
The following example highlights some of the key design considerations for this solution:
• A vCenter Server is to be deployed in both data centers—one to manage the end-customer vSphere clusters and another to manage the VMware Cloud Provider’s clusters.
• The vCenter Server nodes are configured using Enhanced Linked Mode (see
Enhanced Linked Mode) to allow sharing of licenses, permissions, roles, policies, and tags between vCenter Server systems.
• SSO is configured to connect to multiple active directory sources—to the provider AD for management and to the end-customer AD for customer management and access.
Figure 3. vCenter Server Design
Note Enhanced Linked Mode is a requirement for long-distance vSphere vMotion migration to be executed through the VMware vSphere Web Client user interface. If this raises security concerns, separate SSO domains can be leveraged and vSphere vMotion operations can be executed through API only.
