6.5.1

Using a User Account for Running vCenter Server
You can use the Microsoft Windows built-in system account or a user account to run vCenter Server. With
a user account, you can enable Windows authentication for SQL Server, and it provides more security.
The user account must be an administrator on the local machine. In the installation wizard, you specify
the account name as DomainName\Username. You must configure the SQL Server database to allow the
domain account access to SQL Server.
The Microsoft Windows built-in system account has more permissions and rights on the server than the
vCenter Server system needs, which can contribute to security problems.
Important If the vCenter Server service is running under the Microsoft Windows built-in system account,
when using Microsoft SQL Server, vCenter Server supports only DSNs with SQL Server authentication.
For SQL Server DSNs configured with Windows authentication, use the same user account for the
VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices service and the DSN user.
If you do not plan to use Microsoft Windows authentication for SQL Server or you are using an Oracle
database, you might still want to set up a local user account for the vCenter Server system. The only
requirement is that the user account is an administrator on the local machine and the account must be
granted the Log on as a service privilege.
Note Starting with vSphere 6.5, the vCenter Server services are not standalone services under Windows
SCM, instead they run as child processes of the VMware Service Lifecycle Manager service.
Required Information for Upgrading vCenter Server on
Windows
The vCenter Server upgrade wizard prompts you for the upgrade information. It is a best practice to keep
a record of the values that you entered in case you must reinstall the product.
Important vSphere supports upgrades from vCenter Server 5.5 and later to vCenter Server 6.5. To
upgrade from vCenter Server 5.0 or 5.1, you must first upgrade the vCenter Server instance to version
5.5 Update 2 and then upgrade it to vCenter Server 6.5. For information about upgrading vCenter Server
5.0 or 5.1 to version 5.5, see theVMware vSphere 5.5 Documentation.
You can use this worksheet to record information that you might need when upgrading vCenter Server for
Windows in the future.
You will see the default values in the table below only if you left the default values when you installed the
source vCenter Server instance.
vSphere Upgrade
VMware, Inc. 143