Specifications

Basic System Administration
130 VMware, Inc.
About Datacenter Consolidation
AccesstheGuidedConsolidationfeaturebyclickingtheConsolidationnavigation
button.
GuidedConsolidation,recommendedforsmallerITenvironments,enablesyouto
streamlineyourdatacenterbymovingbusinessapplications,spreadacrossmultiple
disparatephysicalsystems,intoacentrallymanagedvirtualenvironment.Inthe
virtualizedenvironment,thephysicalsystemsthatrunyourbusiness
applicationsare
transformedintovirtualmachines.Multiplevirtualmachinescanbehostedonasingle
physicalsystem,enablingmoreefficientuseofcomputingresources.Consolidating
yourdatacenterinvolvesthefollowingprocess:
 Discover–Physicalsystemsinyourdatacenterarediscoveredandyouselectthe
systemsyouwantanalyzed.See“DiscoveringPhysicalSystems”onpage 132.
 Analyze–Selectedphysicalsystemsareanalyzedandperformancedataoneach
selectedsystemiscollected.Generally,thelongerthedurationoftheanalysis
phasethehighertheconfidenceintheVirtualCenter’srecommendations.See
“ViewingAnalysisResults”onpage 134.
 Consolidate–Performancedataiscomparedtotheresourcesavailableonthe
virtualmachinehostsystems.Theselectedphysicalsystemsareconvertedto
virtualmachinesandimportedintoVirtualCenterontherecommendedhosts
wheretheyaremanagedalongwithothercomponentsofyourvirtual
environment.See“ConsolidatingCandidates”onpage 135.
Use
theconsolidationfeaturetostartbuildingyourvirtualenvironment,ortofurther
consolidateyourdatacenterasitgrows.IfyouareusingtheConsolidationfeaturefor
thefirsttime,see“ConsolidationPrerequisites”onpage 130.
Consolidation Prerequisites
BeforeyouusetheConsolidationfeature,ensurethatthefollowingprerequisitesare
met:
 Atleastonedatacenterinventoryobjectexists.See“A d d i n g anInventoryObject”
onpage 110.
 AtleastonehostisregisteredwithVirtualCenter .See“A d d i n g aHost”on
page 119.