vDS and datacenters

[bunny101]

Good afternoon, all!

I'm looking into configuring vDS instances in my datacenters.  However, I'm a little unclear on what, precisely, a "datacenter" constitutes in this context.  Here's the outline:

I have two physical locations separated by about 30 minutes and connected by an MPLS circuit.  Hosts, networks and VMs are managed by a single vCenter in my main datacenter.  The remote DC networks have different subnets, with Cisco routers on the two MPLS ends. There is no appreciable difference in the VMs running in the two locations; that is, there are mail servers, database servers and so on running on both sides.  Other than the different subnets, it's pretty much a duplicate of the main DC.

In this scenario, would a single vDS be workable, or would I need to install a second vCenter server, move the hosts to the new center and define separate vDS instances for each physical location?

This may be an easy answer, but I haven't found it yet.......need to work on my Google-fu....

Thanks to all for looking!

Gregg

[Texiwill]

Hello Greg,

The Control plane for vDS is vCenter. So in order to do something that far away they have to be managed by one vCenter and be part of the same virtual datacenter.  Could it be done, yes. Should you is another question.  Long distance vMotion may even work.

The real question is what problem are you trying to solve?

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky
VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009-2016

Author of the books 'VMWare ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise: Planning Deployment Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2011 Pearson Education. 'VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment', Copyright 2009 Pearson Education.

Virtualization and Cloud Security Analyst: The Virtualization Practice, LLC -- vSphere Upgrade Saga -- Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast