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Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 11
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Thischapterincludesthefollowingtopics:
“vCenterServerHeartbeatConcepts”onpage 11
“vCenterServerHeartbeatSwitchoverandFailoverProcesses”onpage 17
Overview
vCenterServerHeartbeatisaWindowsbasedservicespecificallydesignedtoprovidehighavailability
protectionforvCenterServerconfigurationswithoutrequiringanyspecializedhardware.
vCenter Server Heartbeat Concepts
Architecture
vCenterServerHeartbeatsoftwareisinstalledonaPrimary(production)serverandaSecondary
(readystandby)server.Thesenamesrefertothephysicalhardware(identity)oftheservers.
Dependingonthenetworkenvironment,vCenterServerHeartbeatcanbedeployedinaLocalAreaNetwork
(LAN)orWideAreaNetwork(WAN).Additionally,
vCenterServerHeartbeatallowsforinstallationusing
identicalnodes(LANandWAN )ornonidenticalnodes(LANonly).Thesefeaturesprovideflexibility
necessarytoaddressmostnetworkenvironments.
Dependingonthenetworkenvironmentandarchitectureselected,vCenterServerHeartbeatcanbe
configuredwherethePrimaryandSecondaryserverhavethesame
domainnameandPrincipal(Public)IP
address(identicalnodes)orwherethePrimaryandSecondaryservershavedifferentdomainnamesbutshare
thePrincipal(Public)IPaddress(nonidenticalnodes).Ineitherarchitecture,theSecondaryserverinthewill
havethesamefileanddatastructureandcanrunallof
thesameapplicationsandservicesasthePrimary
server.ThevCenterServerHeartbeatsoftwareissymmetricalinalmostallrespects,andeitherthePrimary
serverortheSecondaryservercantaketheactiveroleandprovideprotectedapplicationstotheuser.
Whendeployed,vCenterServerHeartbeatusestwoserv erswith
eitheridenticalPrincipal(Public)IP
addressesforidenticalnodesorasharedPrincipal(Public)IPaddressfornonidenticalnodes.Oneofthe
serversperformstheroleoftheactiveserverthatisvisibleonthePublicnetworkwhiletheotheristhepassive
serverthatishiddenfromthePublic
networkbutremainsasareadystandbyserver.Onlyoneservercan
displaythePrincipal(Public)IPaddressandbevisibleonthePublicnetworkatanygiventime.
Identical Nodes Configuration
Whenconfiguredforidenticalnodes,vCenterServerHeartbeatusestwoserverswiththesamedomainname,
Principal(Public)networkIPaddress,
fileanddatastructure,applications,andservicestoensurethatvCenter
Serverisrunning andavailable.WithapacketfilterinstalledonbothserversPrincipal(Public)NICs,vCenter
ServerHeartbeatappliesthepacketfiltertothePrincipal(Public)NIConthepassiveservertherebyblocking
communicationsandhidingthepassiveserver
fromthePublicnetwork.Whenaswitchoveroccurs,thepacket
Introduction
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