vCenter Server is used to manage ESX/ESXi hosts, it also enables us to use enterprise ready features such as DRS, HA, FT, vMotion, svMotion, sDRS, vDR, Update Manager and so on. vCenter server is not free and you need to license the server in order to use it. We can however download a 60 day trial version.

As mentioned above, in order to take advantage of all these enterprise ready features we need to install vCenter server and then add the ESX/ESXi host to it for management. With vSphere 5, we now have two flavors of vCenter, the regular vCenter server we install on Windows and a vCenter Server appliance (vCSA) that comes prepackaged as an OVF (Open Virualized Format). One of the main differences between the two is that the vCSA is installed on Linux and the regular vCenter server runs on Windows. In this particular guide, I will show you how to install vCenter Server on Windows.

vCenter Server requires a database where it keeps all the configuration information about the ESX/ESXi hosts, alarms/events, HA/DRS information, scheduled task, and VM info. The database of vCenter server is very important and regular backups should be scheduled. Although the database is not required for ESX/ESXi hosts to function, it is required for features like vMotion, DRS, etc.

Depending on the size of deployment, you’ll need to determine where you want to place the database, whether it be local on the same server as vCenter or on a remote server. In my experience I’ve done both installations. However keep in mind that if you’re going to be installing SQL server on the same server as vCenter than the hardware specs below will need to be improved. Also for large deployments it is best to use a separate database server from my experience. There’s also a neat feature in vCenter that allows you to make estimate storage requirements for the database based on number of hosts plus number of VMs. This setting can be found under the “Management” category and it is called “vCenter Server Settings”

The minimum recommended hardware specs are as follows:

vCenter Server version 5 U1 supports the following databases:

Supported Operating System:

• Windows Server 2008 SP2 64bit
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows Server 2003 SP2 64bit
• Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2