@sysadmtuturials Thank you very much! after pouring over dozens of VMware KBs and other peoples guides, was still struggling to get our setup working. Skimmed through your video and had our setup working and configured in less than 10 minutes.
Great video! and you explained it pretty clearly as well. Thanks a lot! I haven't really researched but I am assuming that the steps are going to be the same on 7.0 U3 as well.
Thanks for your videos. Really helped a novice admin with upgrades. Have 2 vCenters running 6.7 U3. Ran the commands and get the Error: Failed to determine deployment type for the Node. Please verify. Is there a way to add a node type parameter?
Thanks for a very good tutorial about this. I have a question about what type of license du you need for this setup. Saw somewhere that you need Standard or better for this. Is that a fact?
Hi Mackanman72, you're welcome. You need to have vCenter Standard. ELM is not supported on Foundation or Essentials license. Check out this link, there is a feature comparison table: blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2018/10/vcenter-server-licensing-options.html
Hi Sonu, thanks for the feedback. Have a read of this article it explains what linked mode is: docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/com.vmware.vcenter.install.doc/GUID-91EF7282-C45A-4E48-ADB0-5A4230A91FF2.html
Hi Masala, thanks for your comment. If the 2 vcenters are already joined and working correctly then this is what will happen. If vcenter A from site A goes down, you will still be able to log into vcenter B in site B and see all site B's resources, however you won't be able to see site A's resources until vcenter A comes back online.
good video, thanks. I can see from the execute mode that all services appear to stop and start from the source vcenter B. What about the services on vCenter A? Do those services restart as well?
Great job! Question: With Enhanced Linked Mode can I shut down one of the vcenters and put an esxi host in maintenance mode or for that I need to shut down both vcenters?
Hi Alex, once you have enhanced linked mode you can reboot vcenters and put hosts in maintenance mode as you would if you were not running enhanced linked mode. When you say shut down I'm guessing you only mean temporarily and not permanently shut it down ?
Hi, in my case all vcenter servers showed up in vc-b both through gui and cli, but in vc-a it's shown only through cli do you know what could be the problem? Thank you.
Very nice explained, How is the IP and network setup configured on the two VCSAs? I think it would give a deeper view on how to plan and configure the setup if this was explained in a future video. Thank you and keep up the good work mate. :)
Thanks Magnus for the feedback. The IP connectivity can be layer 2 (same subnet) or it can be across layer 3 (different subnets routed). As long as the 2 vcenters can communicate with one another, it will work.
Thank you for your demo, it is definitely very helpful. I would like to ask, if I have 2 VCSA 6.7 and we have set it up in Enhanced Linked Mode to link to each other, and if I upgrade both VCSA to version 7, is the enhanced mode congratulation still there in both VCSA 7, or I need to re-configure the Enhanced Linked Mode in VCSA 7?
Hi Chong Yan Yan, you're welcome. Thanks for subscribing :) To answer your question, yes. However do bother your VCSA 6.7 server contain embedded platform services controllers or are you using external PSC ?
@@sysadmintutorials Thank you for your prompt response. I have also read out your other tutorials and they are very helpful too. My current VCSA 6.7 has external PSC setup, I understand in VCSA there will be only embedded PSC available.
Hi Chong, in that case you need to upgrade and convert your external PSC to vcsa 7 embedded PSC. Have a read through this article, this guy went through the same exercise. If you can stage it in a lab first and get all the steps you need written down, I would prefer that. However if you don't have a lab environment then make sure you have good backups and snapshots and are able to rollback if something goes wrong: Check this out --> nextlevelsddc.com/vcenter-upgrade-with-enhanced-linked-mode/
@@sysadmintutorials Thank you for the article, it definitely helps as I do not have a lab environment available so I was hardly trying to picture the possible steps to be gone through. And thanks again for all the greatful tutorials you have posted! I The way you explain is very detailed, fun and clear.
I have a question. For the source vcenter admin password is that vcenter a or b that you're entering first? In which order are you entering the server passwords?
Quick question if I have 5 regional vCenters and one Enterprise vCenter can I use this method to have all the regional vCenters point to the Enterprise vCenter?
Hi David, when you say regional vcenters are you talking about location, as in branch vcenters and your main or largest vcenter is in your head office ?
already three vcenters are in enhanced linked mode. Now I want to add a fourth, how I would do this? vCenters are 6.7 Update3 and all have embedded platform service controllers. Appreciate your inputs.
Hi there DB, you can add up to 15 vcenters in enhanced linked mode. Did you join the previous 3 or have you taken over management of this cluster from someone previously ?
@@sysadmintutorials taken over management of the cluster from someone else, is the procedure to add a 4th appliance to the existing three the same like you showed in the video?
Hello. Is it possible to have different versions of vCenter in a linked mode? For example, link 6.5 and 6.7 together. Can you share VMware article as I am not seeing one online. Thanks!
Hi Rajiv, this is direct from the article link below: "Mixed-version environments are not supported for production. Use these environments only during the period when an environment is in transition between vCenter Server versions." docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/com.vmware.vcenter.upgrade.doc/GUID-FDF1D082-36EB-41EB-9D97-A48D33A1D843.html
I have one vcenter 6.7 U3 with an external PSC that I want to join to our main vcenter 6.7 U3i with an embedded PSC. Can this still be done? If so, what would the syntax be for the cmsso-util command?
Hi Sean, what's the possibility of converting your vcenter 6.7 U3 external PSC deployment to an embedded one, since VMware are deprecating external PSC's moving forward ?
Thanks for your video, i manage to link two vc's using you videso but I am not able to unlink it now, how can we unlink two vcenters, what is the command ?
Hi Isha, yes you can unlink the vcenter servers. Please make sure you are running vcenter 6.7 update 1 as a minimum. You can follow this VMware KB artricle: docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/com.vmware.vcenter.install.doc/GUID-9CB77874-D032-4C94-99AA-5340CB922F57.html#GUID-9CB77874-D032-4C94-99AA-5340CB922F57
Hi Arnaud, yes I have checked this for you. You can replace the certificate, the only caveat is that it can't be a wildcard certificate. To replace the certificate you can use certificate-manager within the vcsa cli
Hi Chadwick, It's more important to have the major builds the same i.e. 6.7 and 6.7. You would run into that scenario when you go through upgrades, where 1 vcenter will be on a different version to the other, until it has been upgraded.
Hi Nhuong, yes as long as the vcenters have network connectivity between them. You can join up to 15 vcenters. Please read through this specific part relating to vcenter linked mode for all your pre-reqs - docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vcenter.install.doc/GUID-4394EA1C-0800-4A6A-ADBF-D35C41868C53.html
Thanks for the great video.I repeated the steps mentioned and during the execute phase , I am seeing a new step after "Authz Data import " Starting Authz Data import ... Done Starting WCP service import phase... ...ERROR:root:Failed to add solution user to sso group.
Hi Vijay, thank you. Are you using an administrator account for both sides ? The administrator user needs to be admin of sso not only full rights to vcenter.
@sysadmtuturials Thank you very much! after pouring over dozens of VMware KBs and other peoples guides, was still struggling to get our setup working. Skimmed through your video and had our setup working and configured in less than 10 minutes.
Hi Pip, you're welcome, that's great to hear. Happy I was able to help out :)
Great video! and you explained it pretty clearly as well. Thanks a lot! I haven't really researched but I am assuming that the steps are going to be the same on 7.0 U3 as well.
Excellent Tutorial, i performed similar steps on my production environment and repointed successfully. Thank you so much SysadminTutorials!!
Hi Umesh, thanks for stopping by and that I could help you out. You're welcome
Can we do separation of 2 VC's?i pls create video and share..thanks
It is definitely a good video it answered my question about Enhanced Linked Mode, its configuration, and how it works. Thank you
hi David, thanks for the feedback, glad the video was able to help you out.
Was asking this question for so long. Thanks for the answer.
Hi Puff, you're welcome
Excellent Tutorial, answered my questions and everything worked great when i put it into practice
Hi Bill, excellent, great work!!
Thanks for your videos. Really helped a novice admin with upgrades. Have 2 vCenters running 6.7 U3. Ran the commands and get the Error: Failed to determine deployment type for the Node. Please verify. Is there a way to add a node type parameter?
Turns out had to edit the host file so the Domains could see each other
Thanks for a very good tutorial about this. I have a question about what type of license du you need for this setup. Saw somewhere that you need Standard or better for this. Is that a fact?
Hi Mackanman72, you're welcome. You need to have vCenter Standard. ELM is not supported on Foundation or Essentials license. Check out this link, there is a feature comparison table: blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2018/10/vcenter-server-licensing-options.html
Thank you for the video! Keep em coming!!
Thanks Javier, will do :)
This is an excellent tutorial and made complicated thing go easy. If I want to add the third vcenter into it, is still the same process?
well explained. thank you. why do we need to vcenter link mode, what are main technical advantages of it
Hi Sonu, thanks for the feedback. Have a read of this article it explains what linked mode is: docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/com.vmware.vcenter.install.doc/GUID-91EF7282-C45A-4E48-ADB0-5A4230A91FF2.html
Hi. What if vcenter A goes down? We wouldnt be able to get into any vcenter. Correct? What do we do in that situation? Restore? Thanks.
Hi Masala, thanks for your comment. If the 2 vcenters are already joined and working correctly then this is what will happen. If vcenter A from site A goes down, you will still be able to log into vcenter B in site B and see all site B's resources, however you won't be able to see site A's resources until vcenter A comes back online.
good video, thanks. I can see from the execute mode that all services appear to stop and start from the source vcenter B. What about the services on vCenter A? Do those services restart as well?
Worthy Thanks Man, thumps up
Thanks Rishi, glad you liked it :)
Great job! Question: With Enhanced Linked Mode can I shut down one of the vcenters and put an esxi host in maintenance mode or for that I need to shut down both vcenters?
Hi Alex, once you have enhanced linked mode you can reboot vcenters and put hosts in maintenance mode as you would if you were not running enhanced linked mode. When you say shut down I'm guessing you only mean temporarily and not permanently shut it down ?
Great Tutorials. Love them!
Thank you Boniface, you're welcome
Hi, in my case all vcenter servers showed up in vc-b both through gui and cli, but in vc-a it's shown only through cli do you know what could be the problem?
Thank you.
Excellent video! With this can you use vmotion under the both vcenter? How is it works ?
Hi Renan, thank you. Yes you can if the vmotion networks can talk with each other via layer 2 or layer 3
Do tags and categories have the same tagId and catetoryId across vCenters ( A and B ) after they are joined?
Very nice explained, How is the IP and network setup configured on the two VCSAs? I think it would give a deeper view on how to plan and configure the setup if this was explained in a future video. Thank you and keep up the good work mate. :)
Thanks Magnus for the feedback. The IP connectivity can be layer 2 (same subnet) or it can be across layer 3 (different subnets routed). As long as the 2 vcenters can communicate with one another, it will work.
At 9:03, what is 'VMware-2019'? Is that the Administrator password?
Hi Gustavo, yes that is correct.
Thank you for your demo, it is definitely very helpful. I would like to ask, if I have 2 VCSA 6.7 and we have set it up in Enhanced Linked Mode to link to each other, and if I upgrade both VCSA to version 7, is the enhanced mode congratulation still there in both VCSA 7, or I need to re-configure the Enhanced Linked Mode in VCSA 7?
Hi Chong Yan Yan, you're welcome. Thanks for subscribing :)
To answer your question, yes. However do bother your VCSA 6.7 server contain embedded platform services controllers or are you using external PSC ?
@@sysadmintutorials Thank you for your prompt response. I have also read out your other tutorials and they are very helpful too. My current VCSA 6.7 has external PSC setup, I understand in VCSA there will be only embedded PSC available.
Hi Chong, in that case you need to upgrade and convert your external PSC to vcsa 7 embedded PSC. Have a read through this article, this guy went through the same exercise. If you can stage it in a lab first and get all the steps you need written down, I would prefer that. However if you don't have a lab environment then make sure you have good backups and snapshots and are able to rollback if something goes wrong:
Check this out --> nextlevelsddc.com/vcenter-upgrade-with-enhanced-linked-mode/
@@sysadmintutorials Thank you for the article, it definitely helps as I do not have a lab environment available so I was hardly trying to picture the possible steps to be gone through. And thanks again for all the greatful tutorials you have posted! I The way you explain is very detailed, fun and clear.
Thanks Chong for the great feedback, really appreciate it :)
Thanks for this!
You saved my day , Thank you
awesome, you're welcome :)
Awesome Tutorial. Thank you!
Hi Soheil, thank you for your comment and feedback :)
I have a question. For the source vcenter admin password is that vcenter a or b that you're entering first? In which order are you entering the server passwords?
Hi Donnell, can you let me know at what time in the video you are referring too please ?
Quick question if I have 5 regional vCenters and one Enterprise vCenter can I use this method to have all the regional vCenters point to the Enterprise vCenter?
Hi David, when you say regional vcenters are you talking about location, as in branch vcenters and your main or largest vcenter is in your head office ?
I have already two vcenters are elm mode. Now I want to add third one ...how I would to re ponit to which vcenter or sso domain
Hi Lets Rock, are your vCenters 6.7 Update 1 or above and with embedded platform services controllers ?
already three vcenters are in enhanced linked mode. Now I want to add a fourth, how I would do this? vCenters are 6.7 Update3 and all have embedded platform service controllers. Appreciate your inputs.
Hi there DB, you can add up to 15 vcenters in enhanced linked mode. Did you join the previous 3 or have you taken over management of this cluster from someone previously ?
@@sysadmintutorials taken over management of the cluster from someone else, is the procedure to add a 4th appliance to the existing three the same like you showed in the video?
Hello. Is it possible to have different versions of vCenter in a linked mode? For example, link 6.5 and 6.7 together. Can you share VMware article as I am not seeing one online. Thanks!
Hi Rajiv, this is direct from the article link below: "Mixed-version environments are not supported for production. Use these environments only during the period when an environment is in transition between vCenter Server versions."
docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/com.vmware.vcenter.upgrade.doc/GUID-FDF1D082-36EB-41EB-9D97-A48D33A1D843.html
Hi Can you also use it for a different domain? And if yes what will change in the procedure and commands?
Hi, I wouldn't change domains during this procedure. Is your question that you want to change from the vsphere.local domain ?
I got VCenter 6.7 U1 installed on Windows. is there a way to perform same steps as in this video without using the VCSA ssh shell obviously?
Hi Domenico, unfortunately it is not supported on vCenter for Windows. You will first need to migrate your vCenter to VCSA.
my pre-chek is ok, but the execution failed. Which log can I look at?
Hi there, you can have a look at the logs in /storage/domain-data
Same here, gets 90% through the installer then fails when starting services again
So shit how it fails and doesn’t tell you why
I have one vcenter 6.7 U3 with an external PSC that I want to join to our main vcenter 6.7 U3i with an embedded PSC. Can this still be done? If so, what would the syntax be for the cmsso-util command?
Hi Sean, what's the possibility of converting your vcenter 6.7 U3 external PSC deployment to an embedded one, since VMware are deprecating external PSC's moving forward ?
@@sysadmintutorials it's a VxRail deployment. Not sure if it works with embedded or not. I would have to verify.
Hi Sean, I'm pretty sure it will work ok, but yeah best to check. Plus you save 1 extra VM :)
Fantastic , AWESOME
Hi Ahmed, thank you, glad you liked it
Hello, It is possible to run vmotion of a virtual server from vCenter A to vCenter B, to migrate virtual servers.
Hi Jose, yes as long as the 2 vmotion networks can talk to each other, i.e. via layer 2 or layer 3
Thanks for your video, i manage to link two vc's using you videso but I am not able to unlink it now, how can we unlink two vcenters, what is the command ?
Hi Isha, yes you can unlink the vcenter servers. Please make sure you are running vcenter 6.7 update 1 as a minimum. You can follow this VMware KB artricle: docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/com.vmware.vcenter.install.doc/GUID-9CB77874-D032-4C94-99AA-5340CB922F57.html#GUID-9CB77874-D032-4C94-99AA-5340CB922F57
Can we have this done for vsphere 6.5 and 6.7 u3 these are existing env now trying to deprecate 6.e which was on old hardware
Hi Raj, sorry to join 2 existing vcenters together with embedded platform services controllers you need to be on vcenter 6.7 update 1 minimum
Is it possible to change machine ssl certificate to custom certificates after vcenters are in linked mode?
Hi Arnaud, are you looking to change esxi, vcenter or both ?
@@sysadmintutorials Just Hybrid mode. so vCenter in this case.
Hi Arnaud, yes I have checked this for you. You can replace the certificate, the only caveat is that it can't be a wildcard certificate. To replace the certificate you can use certificate-manager within the vcsa cli
Is the vCenter must same? I have 2 vCenter, one is 6.7 U3f, another one is U3b
Hi Chadwick, It's more important to have the major builds the same i.e. 6.7 and 6.7. You would run into that scenario when you go through upgrades, where 1 vcenter will be on a different version to the other, until it has been upgraded.
Hi You,
If i have two vcenter but it another localtion. Can you share solution ?
Hi Nhuong, yes as long as the vcenters have network connectivity between them. You can join up to 15 vcenters. Please read through this specific part relating to vcenter linked mode for all your pre-reqs - docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vcenter.install.doc/GUID-4394EA1C-0800-4A6A-ADBF-D35C41868C53.html
Thanks for the great video.I repeated the steps mentioned and during the execute phase , I am seeing a new step after "Authz Data import " Starting Authz Data import ... Done
Starting WCP service import phase... ...ERROR:root:Failed to add solution user to sso group.
Do you have a resolution for this ?
Hi Vijay, thank you. Are you using an administrator account for both sides ? The administrator user needs to be admin of sso not only full rights to vcenter.
Thank you. Great video! Is it possible to link Vcenter 6.7 u3 with 6.5 u1?
Thanks for the feedback :), is it an existing setup with both vCenter's already deployed ? If so you need to be on at least 6.7 Update 1
If you have a broken enhanced Link Mode, how do you repair?
Hi Stephen, thanks for your comment, what's the error messages and do you see any indicators in the vcenter logs ?
Also is it the the root passwords or the SSO passwords you're entering?
Hi Donnell, can you let me know at what time in the video you are referring to as I enter both
@@sysadmintutorials I figured it out. I'm good thx.
Nice. thanks!
You're welcome
Excellent.. Thanks
Most welcome Muniraj
Can you link 3 or more vCenters?
Hi Ayanna, with vCenter 6.7 you can join up to 15
For this do we need to have the vcenters to be on the same vsphere version?? 6.7u1 atleast?
Hi Raj, for exsiting vcenters to connect in enhanced linked mode, yes you will need a minimum of 6.7 update 1
Thank you bro
You're welcome WizReef
Hi! Can i check can we use the same method to do vCenter 6.5U2B to ELM to vCenter 7.0U3C