A vCenter Server deployment can consist of one or several vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller instances according to the scale, number of virtual machines and continuity requirements for your environment.

You also determine the type of installation and the topology of the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller instances.

Table 1. Design Decisions on the Number of vCenter Server Instances

Decision ID

Design Decision

Design Justification

Design Implication

CSDDC-VI-VC-001

Deploy a single vCenter Server.

Because of the shared nature of the consolidated cluster, you need only a single vCenter Server instance.

Creates a single failure domain. Using a single vCenter Server instance provides no isolation between management and compute operations.

You can install vCenter Server as a Windows-based system or deploy the Linux-based VMware vCenter Server Appliance. The Linux-based vCenter Server Appliance is preconfigured, enables fast deployment, and potentially results in reduced Microsoft licensing costs.

Table 2. Design Decisions on the vCenter Server Platform

Decision ID

Design Decision

Design Justification

Design Implication

CSDDC-VI-VC-002

Deploy the vCenter Server instance as a Linux-based vCenter Server Appliance.

Supports fast deployment, enables scalability, and reduces Microsoft licensing costs.

Operational staff needs Linux experience to troubleshoot the Linux-based appliances.

Platform Services Controller Design Decisions

vCenter Server supports installation with an embedded Platform Services Controller (embedded deployment) or with an external Platform Services Controller.

  • In an embedded deployment, the vCenter Server instance and the Platform Services Controller instance run on the same virtual machine.

  • In an environment with an external Platform Services Controller, multiple vCenter Server systems can share the same Platform Services Controller services. For example, several vCenter Server systems can use the same instance of vCenter Single Sign-On for authentication.

Table 3. Design Decisions on Platform Service Controller

Decision ID

Design Decision

Design Justification

Design Implication

CSDDC-VI-VC-003

Deploy vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller.

Ensures that growth to the standard architecture of VMware Validated Design, either single or dual-region design, is supported.

The number of VMs that have to be managed increases.
Figure 1. vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller Deployment Model

vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller Deployment Model