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Table Of Contents
1Introduction
This chapter includes the following topics:
vCenter Server Heartbeat Concepts, on page 7
vCenter Server Heartbeat Protection, on page 9
vCenter Server Heartbeat Communications, on page 12
vCenter Server Heartbeat Failover Processes, on page 14
vCenter Server Heartbeat Concepts
vCenter Server Heartbeat is a Windows based service specifically designed to provide High Availability (HA)
or Disaster Recovery (DR) protection for vCenter Server configurations.
Architecture Overview
vCenter Server Heartbeat is deployed in an ActivePassive architecture enabling configuration for either
High Availability (HA) in a Local Area Network (LAN)/Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) or Disaster Recovery
(DR) in a Wide Area Network (WAN) for vCenter Server, View Composer and/or SQL Server.
Server Identity
vCenter Server Heartbeat software is installed on an existing production server instance (virtual or physical)
known as the Primary node which runs the protected applications (vCenter Server, View and/or SQL Server).
An additional server instance (virtual or physical), known as the Secondary node, operates as a ready standby
to provide service in the event of an application, system, or hardware failure.The terms Primary and Secondary
refer to the Identity of each node and do not change over the life of the node.
Active / Passive Roles
The Role of a node describes what the node is currently doing.
Active Node If the node is currently running protected applications, the node is said to be Active. The
active node will always host the running instance of protected applications. Only one node can be active
at any one time.
Passive Node The Passive node acts as the ready standby for the active node. Protected applications
are not running on the passive node.
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