vCenter Server Virtual Appliance features and benefits

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　　http://vmwire.com/tag/vcsa/

• Installed on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 x64.
  
• OVF when deployed is configured with 2vCPUs and 8Gb memory, LSI Logic Parallel, VMXNET 3, 15Gb and 60Gb VMDKs and VMware Tools.
  
• Includes embedded DB2 database that is suitable for evaluation or for environments with less than 5 ESXi hosts or 50 virtual machines (equivalent to Windows vCenter Server + MSSQL Express).
  
• Supports external Oracle database for large environments.
  
• Includes Active Directory (AD) and Network Information Services (NIS) authentication.
  
• vSphere Web Client support is built into the vCenter Server Virtual Appliance. vSphere Web Client is OS agnostic and the interface is highly customisable.
  
• Windows vSphere Client is still supported.
  
• Includes a pre-configured Auto Deploy server therefore reducing operational costs with the installation of Auto Deploy.
  
• Can use NFS mounts to store vCenter Server Virtual Appliance core and log files.
  
• vCSA can act as a syslog server for ESXi system logs.
  
• Can be used as a network collector for ESXi kernel core dumps.
  
• Simplified and rapid deployment, approximately 15 minutes deployment time.
  
• Lower TCO by eliminating Windows OS dependency and licenses.
  
• Reduces operational costs – vCSA is easier to upgrade – just deploy a new appliance and connect to the external Oracle database or
  
• Import configuration data from previous installation.
  
• Patches can be installed using the vCSA web interface.
  

Not yet feature parity with Windows vCenter Server

　　vCenter Server Virtual Appliance provides all features as the Windows vCenter Server but does not support the following features:

• Microsoft SQL as the database for vCenter.
  
• vCenter Server Linked Mode.
  
• vCenter Server Heartbeat.
  
• IPv6.
  

　　For details on what products are supported with the vCSA please see this post.
　　The vCSA supports all vCenter features – DRS, SDRS, HA, Host Profiles, dvSwitches, etc.
　　Secondary architecture features like supported DB, View Composer are not yet at feature parity with the Windows vCenter Server. Not supported yet:

• Microsoft SQL as the database for vCenter – requires stable ODBC driver for Linux that can scale.
  
• vCenter Server Linked Mode – requires ADAM.
  
• vCenter Server Heartbeat – requires Windows.
  
• IPv6.
  
• Single sign-on using Windows session credentials.
  
• VMware View Composer (Linked Clones) – installed on Windows vCenter Server only.
  
• vSphere Storage Appliance – VSA Manager & VSA Cluster Server installed on Windows vCenter Server.
  
• VIX Plugin for vCenter Orchestrator – VMware Tools API only works with Windows vCenter Server.
  

Other VMware products that work with the vCSA:

• vCenter Operations.
  
• vCenter Orchestrator.
  
• vCenter CapacityIQ.
  
• SRM5.
  
• VMware View 5 (no Linked Clones).
  
• Auto Deploy.
  
• vCenter Update Manager.
  
• vMA.
  
• vSphere Client.
  
• vSphere Web Client.
  
• VMware vCloud Director.
  
• PowerCLI.
  
• vSphere Client for iPad & vCMA.