Dell VxRail™ Appliance 4.7x Administration Guide

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VxRail deployment options for VMware vCenter server

Your VxRail can join an existing customer-supplied vCenter server during its initial configuration. This allows you to use a remote central vCenter server to manage multiple VxRails from a single pane of glass.

A customer-supplied vCenter server can be installed as internal to the VxRail cluster or as external to the VxRail cluster. Depending on the vCenter server location and source, the scope of VxRail management may differ as described in the following table.

Table 1. VxRail vCenter Server deployment optionsVxRail vCenter Server deployment options
vCenter server source	Cluster type	Deployed internal to VxRail cluster	Deployed external to VxRail cluster	VxRail scope of management
Supplied by VxRail	Regular	Default and preferred	Not supported	Single VxRail cluster
	Stretched	Supported	Not supported	Single VxRail cluster
	vSAN 2-node	Not supported	Not supported	Not supported
Supplied by the customer	Regular	Supported	Supported	Multiple clusters
	Stretched	Supported	Supported and preferred	Multiple clusters
	vSAN 2-node	Not supported	Default	Multiple clusters

The customer-managed VMware vCenter Server can be:

Physical or virtual
Windows or VMware vCenter Server Appliance
Embedded, or non-embedded deployed with an external PSC

To join an existing customer-managed VMware vCenter Server, provide an existing datacenter and a non-conflicting cluster name during the initial configuration of VxRail. The VxRail joins the datacenter as a new vSAN cluster with the specified cluster name.

NOTE:The following considerations apply when using your VxRail with an customer-managed VMware vCenter Server:

Ensure that the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server version to be used is listed in the VxRail and external vCenter interoperability matrix (KB 520355).
You must provide an appropriate vCenter server license.