Installation guide

CAUTION If you need to uninstall and reinstall vCenter Server on more than one member of a Linked

Mode group, do so with a single vCenter Server at a time. Uninstalling and reinstalling multiple linked

vCenter Servers at the same time is not supported, and can cause errors that prevent vCenter Server from

connecting to vCenter Inventory Service. If it is necessary to uninstall and reinstall multiple linked vCenter

Servers at the same time, isolate them from the Linked Mode group first, and rejoin them to the Linked

Mode group after the reinstallation is complete.

Linked Mode Prerequisites for vCenter Server

Prepare the vCenter Server system for joining a Linked Mode group.

Before joining a vCenter Server to a Linked Mode group, review “Linked Mode Considerations for vCenter

Server,” on page 60.

All the requirements for standalone vCenter Server systems apply to Linked Mode systems.

The following requirements apply to each vCenter Server system that is a member of a Linked Mode group:

Linked Mode groups that contain both vCenter Server 5.0 and earlier versions of vCenter Server are not

supported. The vSphere Client does not function correctly with vCenter Servers in groups that have both

version 5.0 and earlier versions of vCenter Server. Do not join a version 5.0 vCenter Server to earlier

versions of vCenter Server, or an earlier version of vCenter Server to a version 5.0 vCenter Server. Upgrade

any vCenter Server instance to version 5.0 before joining it to a version 5.0 vCenter Server.

To join a Linked Mode group the vCenter Server must be in evaluation mode or licensed as a Standard

edition. vCenter Server Foundation and vCenter Server Essentials editions do not support Linked Mode.

DNS must be operational for Linked Mode replication to work.

The vCenter Server instances in a Linked Mode group can be in different domains if the domains have a

two-way trust relationship. Each domain must trust the other domains on which vCenter Server instances

are installed.

When adding a vCenter Server instance to a Linked Mode group, the installer must be run by a domain

user who is an administrator on both the machine where vCenter Server is installed and the target machine

of the Linked Mode group.

All vCenter Server instances must have network time synchronization. The vCenter Server installer

validates that the machine clocks are not more than five minutes apart.

Join a Linked Mode Group After a vCenter Server Upgrade

After you upgrade to vCenter Server 5.0, you can join the system to a Linked Mode group. A Linked Mode

group allows you to log in to any single instance of vCenter Server in the group and view and manage the

inventories of all the vCenter Server systems in the group.

Prerequisites

See “Linked Mode Prerequisites for vCenter Server,” on page 61.

NOTE Joining a version 5.0 vCenter Server to older versions of vCenter Server is not supported.

Procedure

1 From the Start menu, select All Programs > VMware > vCenter Server Linked Mode Configuration.

2 Click Next.

3 Select Modify linked mode configuration and click Next.

4 Click Join vCenter Server instance to an existing linked mode group or another instance and click

Next.

Chapter 4 Upgrading to vCenter Server 5.0

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