App Volumes operation mode is determined by configuring a machine manager. You cannot change the operation mode of App Volumes after you configure the machine manager.

Prerequisites

Ensure that the domain policies do not enforce password expiration for the service account on the machine manager to be configured.

Important: If you are configuring a vCenter Server as the machine manager, ensure that you have the required vCenter Server permissions.

Procedure

  1. From the App Volumes Manager console, click CONFIGURATION > Machine Managers.
  2. Click Register Machine Manager.
  3. Select and configure the type of machine manager.
    Connection Type Description
    vCenter Server Enter the host name, user name, and password details. If you select a vCenter Server instance as the first configured machine manager, you can add and configure additional servers.
    Note: If the App Volumes Manager connects to the vCenter Server via an IPv6 connection, then you must provide the DNS of the vSphere as the host name.
    ESXi (Single Host) Enter the host name, user name, and password for the ESXi host.
    VHD In-Guest Does not require any credentials.
    To view the permissions required by the service account, click Required vCenter Permissions.
  4. Provide the following additional information:
    Option Description
    Hostname The host name of the Machine Manager. For example, server.your-domain.local. For App Volumes on VMware Cloud on AWS, the host name must be of the form vcenter.sddc-xx.xxx-x-xx.vmc.vmware.com
    Username The user name to access the machine.
    Note: For a better performance, it is recommended that you use a local account. For information about how to Create a Local User Account in vCenter Server, see the vCenter Server Configuration documentation at VMware Docs.
    Password The password for the user name.
    Mount ESXi
    When mounting, connect directly to ESXi servers.
    Note: This option is not applicable for App Volumes on VMware Cloud on AWS.
    Mount Local Select this option if your VM's datastore has local copies of volumes and you want to mount the local copies.
    Mount Queue Select this option to queue requests to the VM host. Decreases the number of active connections to vCenter Server and ESXi. This results in increased performance and decreases the burden on the vCenter Server.
    Mount Async

    Wait for the mount request to complete in the background. Increases App Volumes Manager server throughput. Requires the Mount Queue option to be selected.

    Mount Throttle

    Limits the number of actively processing mount requests. Decreases load on the vCenter Server or ESXi servers. Requires the Mount Queue option to be selected.

    Maximum number of concurrent mount operations per queue

    The maximum number of concurrent mount operations per queue. Use the servers entry in clock.yml to configure this field. Default value is 5.

    Note: Each vCenter Server and ESXi server uses a separate queue for every manager process.
  5. Click Save.
    The configured machine manager is displayed on the Machine Managers page.

What to do next

See Establish a Secure vCenter Server Connection to connect App Volumes Manager securely to a vCenter Server.

You can also create a custom role on the vCenter Server. See Create a Custom vCenter Server Role Using PowerCLI.