Enhanced linked mode support is enabled for vCenter Server Appliance deployments with an embedded Platform Services Controller.

You can connect vCenter Server Appliance deployments with an embedded Platform Services Controller together to form a domain. Enhanced linked mode support for vCenter Server Appliance deployments with an embedded Platform Services Controller is not supported for Windows vCenter Server installations. vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode for vCenter Server Appliance deployments with an embedded Platform Services Controller is supported starting with vSphere 6.5 Update 2 and suitable for most deployments.

Other features include:
  • No external Platform Services Controller, providing a more simplified domain architecture than an external deployment with enhanced linked mode.
  • A simplified backup and restore process. See File-Based Backup and Restore of vCenter Server Appliance for more information.
  • A simplified HA process, removing the need for load balancers.
  • Up to 15 vCenter Server Appliance deployments can be linked together using enhanced linked mode and displayed in a single inventory view.
  • 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.
Figure 1. Enhanced Linked Mode for vCenter Server Appliance Deployments with an Embedded Platform Services Controller
Note: Enhanced linked mode for vCenter Server Appliance deployments with an Platform Services Controller is not supported for Windows vCenter Server installations.

Enhanced Linked Mode with Read Only Replication

If a vCenter High Availability (vCenter HA) instance is connected with another vCenter Server instance with enhanced linked mode for an embedded Platform Services Controller and vCenter HA failover occurs to the passive node and is unable to communicate with its replication partner on the other vCenter Server node, the replica on the vCenter HA node enters read-only mode.