VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5

5.2 5.1 5.0 4.5
Deutsch Français Italiano 日本語 English

Deployment Model for vCenter Server for the Management Domain

The management domain is managed by a single vCenter Server instance. You determine the size of this vCenter Server and its storage foot print according to the number of ESXi hosts in the management domain clusters and the number of virtual machines you plan to run on these clusters.

Deployment Type

You allocate vCenter Server appliances according to the requirements for workload isolation, scalability, and resilience to failures.
Design Decisions on the Deployment Model for the Management Domain vCenter Server
Decision ID
Design Decision
Design Justification
Design Implication
VCF-MGMT-VCS-CFG-001
Deploy a dedicated vCenter Server appliance for the management domain of the VMware Cloud Foundation instance.
  • Isolates vCenter Server failures to management or tenant workloads.
  • Isolates vCenter Server operations between management and tenants.
  • Supports a scalable cluster design where you can reuse the management components as more tenant workloads are added to the SDDC.
  • Simplifies capacity planning for tenant workloads because you do not consider management workloads for the VI workload domain vCenter Server.
  • Improves the ability to upgrade the vSphere environment and related components by enabling for explicit separation of maintenance windows:
    • Management workloads remain available while you are upgrading the tenant workloads
    • Tenant workloads remain available while you are upgrading the management nodes
  • Supports clear separation of roles and responsibilities to ensure that only administrators with granted authorization can control the management workloads.
  • Facilitates quicker troubleshooting and problem resolution.
  • Simplifies disaster recovery operations by supporting a clear separation between recovery of the management components and tenant workloads.
  • Provides isolation of potential network issues by introducing network separation of the clusters in the SDDC.
Requires a separate license for the vCenter Server instance in the management domain.

Sizing Compute and Storage Resources

When you deploy the vCenter Server appliance, you select to deploy the appliance with a size that is suitable for the scale of your environment. The option that you select determines the number of CPUs and the amount of memory of the appliance. By default, the vCenter Server appliance in the management domain is deployed in small size.
Compute Resource Specifications of vCenter Server
vCenter Server Appliance Size
Management Capacity
Number of vCPUs
Memory
Tiny
Up to 10 hosts or 100 virtual machines
2
12 GB
Small
Up to 100 hosts or 1,000 virtual machines
4
19 GB
Medium
Up to 400 hosts or 4,000 virtual machines
8
28 GB
Large
Up to 1,000 hosts or 10,000 virtual machines
16
37 GB
X-Large
Up to 2,000 hosts or 35,000 virtual machines
24
56 GB
When you deploy the vCenter Server appliance, the cluster on which you deploy the appliance must meet minimum storage requirements. You determine the required storage not only according to the size of the environment and the storage size, but also according to the disk provisioning mode.
Storage Resource Specifications of vCenter Server
Appliance Size
Management Capacity
Default Storage Size
Large Storage Size
X-Large Storage Size
Tiny
Up to 10 hosts or 100 virtual machines
579 GB
1992 GB
4279 GB
Small
Up to 100 hosts or 1,000 virtual machines
694 GB
2046 GB
4304 GB
Medium
Up to 400 hosts or 4,000 virtual machines
908 GB
2140 GB
4468 GB
Large
Up to 1,000 hosts or 10,000 virtual machines
1358 GB
1958 GB
4518 GB
X-Large
Up to 2,000 hosts or 35,000 virtual machines
2283 GB
2383 GB
4620 GB
Design Decisions on Sizing the Management Domain vCenter Server
Decision ID
Design Decision
Design Justification
Design Implication
VCF-MGMT-VCS-CFG-002
Deploy an appliance for the management domain vCenter Server of a small deployment size.
A vCenter Server appliance of a small-deployment size is sufficient for managing the anticipated number of ESXi hosts and virtual machines in the management domain of the VMware Cloud Foundation instance.
If the size of the management environment increases, you might have to increase the vCenter Server appliance size.
VCF-MGMT-VCS-CFG-003
Deploy the appliance of the management domain vCenter Server with the default storage size.
The default storage capacity that is assigned to a small-size appliance is sufficient to manage the management appliances that are required for the VMware Cloud Foundation instance.
None.

Content feedback and comments