8.0

vCenter Single Sign-On Domain
When you deploy a vCenter Server appliance, you are prompted to create a vCenter Single
Sign-On domain or join an existing domain.
The domain name is used by the VMware Directory Service (vmdir) for all Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol (LDAP) internal structuring.
You can give your domain a unique name. To prevent authentication conflicts, use a name that is
not used by OpenLDAP, Microsoft Active Directory, and other directory services.
After you specify the name of your domain, you can add users and groups. You can add an
Active Directory or LDAP identity source and allow the users and groups in that identity source
to authenticate. You can also add vCenter Server instances, or other VMware products, such as
vRealize Operations, to the domain.
vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode
vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode allows you to log in to any single instance of vCenter Server and
view and manage the inventories of all the
vCenter Server systems in the group.
You can join up to 15 vCenter Server appliance deployments with vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode
in a single vSphere Single Sign-On domain.
You can create a vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode group during the deployment of vCenter Server
appliance.
You can also join a vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode group by moving, or repointing, a vCenter
Server from one vSphere domain to another existing domain. See Repoint vCenter Server to
Another vCenter Server in a Different Domain for information on repointing a vCenter Server
node.
vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode for vCenter Server Appliance
Enhanced linked mode support is enabled for vCenter Server appliance deployments.
You can connect vCenter Server appliance deployments together to form a domain.
Other features include:
n A simplified backup and restore process. See Chapter 3 File-Based Backup and Restore of
vCenter Server for more information.
n A simplified HA process, removing the need for load balancers.
n Up to 15 vCenter Server appliance deployments can be linked together using enhanced linked
mode and displayed in a single inventory view.
n For a vCenter High Availability (vCenter HA) cluster, three nodes are considered one logical
vCenter Server node. See "vCenter Architecture Overview" in vSphere Availability for the
vCenter HA architecture overview. A single vCenter Server standard license is needed for one
vCenter HA cluster.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup
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