The other day we received this question from a customer via Twitter:
We thought a few more of you might have the same questions so we decided we would take the opportunity to explain the differences between vCenter server and vCenter appliance and under what situation which one should be opted for, over the other.
The vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) is a preconfigured Linux-based virtual machine optimized for running vCenter Server and associated services. Versions 5.0.1 and 5.1 of the vCSA uses PostgreSQL for the embedded database instead of IBM DB2, which was used in vCenter Server Appliance 5.0 The vCSA embedded postSQL DB supports 5 hosts / 50 virtual machines, with an Oracle DB the vCSA can support 1000 hosts and 10,000 vms. If you configure your vCSA to use an external instance of Single Sign On (SSO), the external SSO instance must be hosted on another vCenter Server Appliance; it cannot be hosted on a Windows machine.
vCenter Server can be installed on a windows Guest OS and can be connected to Oracle or Microsoft SQL. SSO can be installed on the same Guest OS or can be on a different machine. It should be noted that patching of of the vCenter Appliance is not supported.
Below is a table listing more of the differences between the products.
| Features | vCenter Server | vCenter Server Appliance |
| Guest OS | Any Supported Guest OS | Preconfigured Linux-based virtual machine (64-bit SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11) |
| Database | Supported Versions SQL Server and Oracle. | PostgreSQL (built-in ) can have 5 hosts and 50 Virtual Machines.Supported External Oracle database. |
| System Requirement | 2 vCPU and 4 GB RAM | 2 vCPU and 4 GB RAM |
| Platform | Physical or virtual machine | Virtual Appliance |
| Installation | Using binary provided in .zip or .ISO | Deploying OVF |
| Update Manager | Can be installed on same vCenter Server or on separate Guest OS. | Separate install |
| Single Sign On (SSO) | Can be installed on same vCenter Server or separate Guest OS. | Pre-installed. |
| Networking | IPv6 and IPv4 Support | IPv4 Support |
| Linked Mode | Supported | Not Supported |
| SRM (Site Recovery Manager) | Compatible with SRM | Compatible with SRM |
| vSphere Web Client | Can be installed on same vCenter server or separate machine. | Pre-Installed. |
| Syslog Server | Can be installed on vCenter Server or separate server and configured using plug-in. | Pre-installed and does not have plug-in. |
| ESXi Dump collector | Can be installed on vCenter Server or on a separate Guest OS. | Pre-installed and does not have plug-in. |
| Multi-site SSO | Supported | Not Supported. Basic SSO only. |
| VSA (vSphere Storage Appliance | Supported | Not Supported |
| VMware View | Supported | Not Supported |
I’d like to know what others are trending to? Appliance seems good for a smaller shop. We use View as well, so looks like a no go for us.
I’m looking forward to the next release.. i’m guessing/hoping the vCSA will support MSSQL and match the feature set of the installable.
Like the installable vSphere client, i think the next version of the installable vCenter will be the last.
Long live appliances!
I don’t think the comparison is acurate. The appliance does support IPv6, the config options are in the web UI (not even necessary to work on OS level). Also the system requirements are outdated, the official docs state much higher memory requirements. 4 GB is only possible after a lot of tweaking….
I am not sure if it is correct that if you use external Oracle that you can get a supported config of 1000 hosts and 10,000 VMs. You should confirm that if it is correct.
Some EMC guy refered that Backup via Networker does not work via Appliance – I do not belief as the vCenters role is quite passive when it comes to VSADP transport.
Backup via Network does work via Appliance, I personally tested and it is working without issue. The major thing that I feel missing from the appliance is MSSQL support.
It is inaccurate to state that the vCenter Appliance does not support VMware View. It does support View. The only difference is that the View Composer component must be installed on a separate Windows server.
I believe Chargeback 2.5 should be added to the list of not supported on the list above for the vCSA.
Great. Would much appreciate an update now that 5.5 is out.
Also, does it work with vCenter Heartbeat 6.6.
Thanks from Singapore
e1
getting error while configuring vcenter appliance in AD
Error: Enabling Active Directory failed.
This was a great comparison. What has changed with version 5.5? I see that it deploys with 8GB of ram. Have the limits changed for the number of hosts/VMs supported? 5 and 50 seems really low – I would think that PostgreSQL should be able to handle more than that easily. We apparently are close to being considered not a small deployment, I don’t really want to deploy an Oracle SQL server which seems like overkill.
I love the idea of just having a simple Linux based appliance for management, rather than a large physical Windows server.