Answer - This is a very general question that would require a full post to explain however there are explanation on VMware's site. I believe there is an acredidation you can test for and acquire to show you know the product. I don't know if you'd get this on top of getting certified or if you're certified it's redundant.
a. Q If I want to test or find compatibility what do I need to do?
Answer - Go to the software manufacturer and you should easily find compatibility information with VMWare... A lot of large and small companies that I researched had full articles explaining their compatibility and willingness to support their product running on virtual servers. This year Microsoft even gave in and broadcasted their new decision to support VMWare. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/957006
b. Q What is hardware mapping?
c. If I convert a server to a virtual machine is it possible to keep the original physical machine in
in tact and ready to start back up once I've finished testing the virtual version?
i. this is more of a schematics / planning question, whether it's virtual or not the issue is with
the Mac address and how it correlates or interacts w/ the rest of the network.
2. VMWare virtual center
a. Q How can I supply contingency with virtual center? Meaning... it's currently installed and
operating on one server, what happens to the cluster and everything else if the server is
down for any reason?
Answer
This is now included in VMWare VSphere 4 so I feel the information that I've posted below is now obsolete. The quick answer is VMWare's Virtual Center is very difficult to recover from in the event of a hard disk or server failure and I strongly suggest you use the newer version instead of an old version if this is important to you. It's not that you can't recover, it's that it's terribly difficult and manual vs. automated and simple with the new version. Before the new version came out I even noticed Citrix pointing out this issue as a "single point of failure" (even though you stay up and running in the event of a virtual center server going down). Sorry Citrix :).
All the information I posted below is old and only meant to show archived documentation. I wrote this disclaimer 07-21-09
Here's the most recent info and I'm pasting the information in case this person removes their article at some point. My only concern about what's noted in this paragraph is that I don't see a specification that you can move clusters. I only see you can "steal" hosts. I would prefer an option that ensures HA, DRS, VMotion is working properly and I'll have to test this to see if that works or not.
03-27-09 update - Sure enough when I try to add one of the hosts that's already managed by the other virtual center I get this message
"The host is already being managed by IP Address:
Only one VirtualCenter Server may manage this host. If you succeed in adding the host to this VirtualCenter Server, the host will lose its connection to its original management server. Are you sure you want to continue?"
This is only after creating a datacenter in the new virtual center which isn't the same "datacenter" that's arleady setup so I'm not able to move or "steal" the cluster / settings which means i'd have to manually reconfigure them. This isn't a huge deal I wouldn't think however it is a concern. I am going to see if I can actually figure out how to move the cluster and everything else from one machine to another because I need to understand the importance of an actual cluster made for redundancy or perhaps a simple VM which according to the article below that's okay. If it's a VM then I can actually move it to any other hardware i'd like and not only that the redundancy is somewhat built in because of the server contingency w/ the cluster. It just seems a little strange that I'm having to manage something from within itself.
"I get questions from customer who want to setup some kind of redundancy for Virtual Center Server. Some run Virtual Center Server right in a VM but want a physical standby in case they loose the host, others want a cluster solution. This post hopefully answers a few questions you might have about doing this.
You can install another instance of Virtual Center, no problem. If the current VC server is unavailable just add the hosts to the new VC server. You will get a prompt that they are already managed by a VC but you can click OK and “steal” them. This prevents two VCs from managing one host and causing issues with the database.
You can also setup VC in a cluster. Virtual Center Server (the windows service) can be clustered using industry standard solutions, and only 1 license is required when only one instance is active at any given time. Active / Passive clustered configurations can be installed and configured to point to the same Virtual Center database (but only one instance should be active at any given time).
Active / Passive instances of the Virtual Center Management server will also require the following configuration settings to be equivalent-
Both should point to the same database (same ODBC connection setup)
Both should be set to the same “Virtual Center Server ID” (configured through the File->VC Settings menu).
Both should use the same public/private SSL keys (contained in the “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware\VirtualCenter\SSL” directory)
If VC WebService is enabled, both should use the same configuration file (located at “C:\DocumentsAndSettings\AllUsers\ApplicationData\VMware\VMwareVirtualCenter\VMA\vmaConfig.xml”) "
Below is the old info that I found however it proved to be terribly difficult w/ regard to detaching and attaching the database however I was using SQL Express version so it's possible this doesn't work so well in that scenario.
Answer - Contingency is only available through third party tools. The linked item is an interesting comparison or bitch session from Citrix people about this "single point of failure". Not sure which third party tools you'd use but I'm assuming windows clustering would suffice. Possibly just having Virtual center as a VM would work? I am guessing there's a way to do that and better ways or worse ways. I'll look further. In the meantime I found how you can move your Virtual Center from one server to another.
Here's how per this post
"
- Take backup of Server A sql database
- Stop all VMware services on Server A
- Detach Virtual Center database on Server A
- Stop all VMware services on Server B
- Delete the Virtual Center database on Server B (database was empty and was created for the installation of Virtual Center on the new server.
- Copy the database files from Server A to Server B
- Attach the database on Server B
- On your Virtual Center user account grant them DBO access to the newly attached database
- Start the VMware services on Server B
- Launch the VI Client form Server B
- You will notice that after a few minutes the ESX hosts will show disconnected because they still think they are being managed by the old Virtual Center Server
- Right-click and remove the ESX hosts from the cluster
- Add the ESX hosts back to the cluster
- Adding the ESX hosts back to the cluster does not put the VM's into any Resource Pools (Hosts and Clusters View) or Folders (VM and Templates View). Move VM's back to the correct Resource Pools and Folders
- On each ESX host ensure that the licensing information looks correct
- Test vMotion
- Add templates back to inventory
- Move SysPrep files from old Virtual Center Server to new Virtual Center Server
- Test deploying VM from template. This did not work for me. I received the error message "The virtual center server is unable to decrypt passwords stored in the customization specification" I had to export the customizations (did this before I moved the server) edit the XML file in a text editor and search for the phrase "
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