Key vCenter functions and capabilities
vCenter performs the following three main functions:
Visibility: vCenter allows configuring hosts and VMs and monitoring their performance. It provides an in-depth visibility into configuring all critical components on every level of your virtual infrastructure. Administrators can use events, alerts, and the scheduler. vCenter allows managing environment securely with users, groups, and roles.
Scalability: Visibility is scalable across multiple hosts and virtual machines.
Automation: With vCenter Server alerts, you can trigger actions. Orchestrator allows automation of hundreds of actions.
The main features of vCenter are:
vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA): It allows you to quickly deploy vCenter Server and manage vSphere using a Linux-based virtual appliance.
vSphere Web Client: It allows you to manage vSphere from any supported web browser:
For vSphere Web Client 5.0: Internet Explorer 7, 8 and Mozilla Firefox 3.6
For vSphere Web Client 5.1: Internet Explorer 7, 8, and 9; Mozilla Firefox 3.6 or later; Google Chrome 14 or later.
Hardware monitoring: Using the CIM SMASH technology, it provides information about physical and virtual server health and alarms when hardware failure occurs, including fan, system board, or power supply failure.
Storage maps and reports: It provides information about storage usage, connectivity, and configuration.
Customizable topology views: It provides visibility into storage infrastructure and assistance in diagnosis and troubleshooting of storage issues.
Host profiles: It allows simplifying the host configuration and monitor compliance.
vCenter Single Sign-On: It provides users the ability to log in once and then access all instances of vCenter Server and vCloud Director without the need for further authentication. This is a new feature in vCenter 5.1 and requires at least one vCenter 5.1 server.
Resource management: It allows managing resource shares for CPU, memory, disk, and networking bandwidth; modifying allocations while virtual machines are running; and enabling applications to dynamically acquire more resources when needed.
Dynamic allocation of resources: It provides the ability to continuously monitor resource utilization and automatically reallocate available resources among virtual machines according to predefined rules.
Energy efficient resource optimization: It reduces power consumption by consolidating workloads and putting hosts in the standby mode and brings back powered-down hosts online when more resources are needed.
Automatic restart of virtual machines: It provides an easy and cost-effective failover solution.
Fine-grained access control: It allows securing environments with groups and fine-grained permissions.
Microsoft Active Directory or Network Information Service (NIS) integration.
Custom roles and permissions: It enhances security and flexibility for user-defined roles.
Audit trails: It maintains a record of configuration changes and allows exporting reports for event tracking.
Session management: It allows discovering and, if necessary, terminating VMware vCenter Server user sessions.
Patch management: It provides the ability to install updates and upgrades through automated scanning and patching of online VMware ESXi hosts.
VMware vCenter Orchestrator: It simplifies management by providing the ability to automate over 800 administrative tasks.
VMware vCenter Multi-Hypervisor Manager: It extends centralized management to Hyper-V hosts. This feature can be added by installing an additional plugin, which can be downloaded from the Download VMware vSphere 5.1 Update 1 page.
VMware vCenter Operations Manager Foundation: It provides additional visibility into performance and health of the vSphere infrastructure.
Linked Mode: It provides additional scalability and visibility across multiple vCenter Server instances with roles, permissions, and licenses only replicated across the infrastructure.
