Help With Lab- vCenter

hooky13

Hello Everyone -

I have been studying for the VCP550 for a few months now, passed the class back in May as well. Reading through the official cert book as well as the sybex book and also doing the cbt nugget vids. My issue is with setting up my lab environment for the exam. I am having trouble for some reason getting vCenter Server download.... I log into my vmware account go to the trial downloads and I feel like i can find everything except vCenter to download? Is vCenter attached to something else? Could someone post a direct link or let me know what I am missing. Would greatly appreciate it!!

Thanks in advance!

scott28tt

You should see it available to download here: https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=vsphere6

(well the vSphere 6 version anyway)

hooky13

Ok, so that is what I wasnt understanding..vCenter doesnt have its "own" download. It comes bundled with vSphere package.


THANKS!!

Deathmage

Typically once you deploy your ESXi hosts and you navigate to the host via a web browser you can then download vCenter.

DevilWAH

Vcenter and esxi host hyper-visor are two separate down loads.

Vcenter is a server that managed a group of physical server running the esxi hypervisor.

you can run a single ESXi host stand alone you do not need to have vcenter installed, vcenter allows you to do things like move virtual servers between hosts while they are up and running, allows you to group the resources of hosts in to single management resources and gives some fault tollerence, for example if a single host fails it will reboot the virtual machines on another host still running.

for the trial version you do not get vcenter it is a single host solution, it is not correct to think of it as "bundled". the client you use to manage a single esxi host or a vcenter installation is the same. When as Deathmage says you navigate to the host and download vCenter, this is not quite correct. what you are downloading is the vmware management console.

However managing a single host is identical to the management of vcenter, the only difference is a full vcenter you will see mutiply hosts, while the trial version you only see a single host.

VMware has a number of products, the three main one are

ESXi host - installed per host and is waht does the actualy virtulisation work, can be used as a single stand alone host or clustered.

Vcenter - a server (often installed as a virtual machine or can be on a physical server) that manages the configuration of mutiply hosts, it is pretty much a single management pane in to all your guest and these days is often deployed as a linux based applience.

vmware management console - either a downloaded client you install or since version 5.5 the primary management console is web based, in version 6 there are many things you have to do via the web console and in future version the downloadable console will be retired.

There are many other products that form part of vsphere but those three are the primary ones that are needed before any thing else can be installed.

hooky13

DevilWAH wrote: »

Vcenter and esxi host hyper-visor are two separate down loads.

Vcenter is a server that managed a group of physical server running the esxi hypervisor.

you can run a single ESXi host stand alone you do not need to have vcenter installed, vcenter allows you to do things like move virtual servers between hosts while they are up and running, allows you to group the resources of hosts in to single management resources and gives some fault tollerence, for example if a single host fails it will reboot the virtual machines on another host still running.

for the trial version you do not get vcenter it is a single host solution, it is not correct to think of it as "bundled". the client you use to manage a single esxi host or a vcenter installation is the same. When as Deathmage says you navigate to the host and download vCenter, this is not quite correct. what you are downloading is the vmware management console.

However managing a single host is identical to the management of vcenter, the only difference is a full vcenter you will see mutiply hosts, while the trial version you only see a single host.

VMware has a number of products, the three main one are

ESXi host - installed per host and is waht does the actualy virtulisation work, can be used as a single stand alone host or clustered.

Vcenter - a server (often installed as a virtual machine or can be on a physical server) that manages the configuration of mutiply hosts, it is pretty much a single management pane in to all your guest and these days is often deployed as a linux based applience.

vmware management console - either a downloaded client you install or since version 5.5 the primary management console is web based, in version 6 there are many things you have to do via the web console and in future version the downloadable console will be retired.

There are many other products that form part of vsphere but those three are the primary ones that are needed before any thing else can be installed.

Wow, that was a VERY in depth reply. Thank you for that. I completely understand what vCenter is and how it compares to the other VMware products that wasnt the issue. I was just having the issue of finding the correct download link for the trial as I am setting up a lab environment and most certainly need to practice more with vcenter.

I am good now though, someone posted the link and I was able to obtain it, thanks again for taking the time to write that!

Cheers!

DevilWAH

No worries Good to know its all sorted. I was hoping just to clarify a few things for others that might come across this post looking for answers about vmware. I thought the replay about installing esxi and downloading vcenter from it might lead to some confusion for other people who come across the post

scott28tt

DevilWAH wrote: »

for the trial version you do not get vcenter it is a single host solution, it is not correct to think of it as "bundled". the client you use to manage a single esxi host or a vcenter installation is the same. When as Deathmage says you navigate to the host and download vCenter, this is not quite correct. what you are downloading is the vmware management console.

You can evaluate vSphere, or even vSphere with Operations Management - both of those "trials" would include a download of either the vCenter Server Appliance or vCenter Server to install on Windows.

Things are different if you register for and download the free vSphere Hypervisor - that's just ESXi with no vCenter Server.

The link I posted above is for the vSphere evaluation.

DevilWAH

scott28tt wrote: »

You can evaluate vSphere, or even vSphere with Operations Management - both of those "trials" would include a download of either the vCenter Server Appliance or vCenter Server to install on Windows.

Things are different if you register for and download the free vSphere Hypervisor - that's just ESXi with no vCenter Server.

The link I posted above is for the vSphere evaluation.

indeed but the idea you download vcenter from an esxi host as was suggested was misleading.

hooky13

Thanks for all the help guys. Much appreciated:D