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

When you enable Enhanced Linked Mode for vCenter Server appliance deployments, you can connect multiple vCenter Server appliance deployments together to form a domain.

Other features include:
  • A simplified backup and restore process. See File-Based Backup and Restore of vCenter Server 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
The vCenter Server Appliances are connected to form an enhanced linked mode.

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 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.

Joining a vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode Domain

You can join a vCenter Server appliance to another node during deployment of the vCenter Server appliance.

Note:

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.

For example, you can deploy two vCenter Server appliance systems and join the two nodes using vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode.

If you are deploying the vCenter Server appliance nodes with the UI Installer:

  1. For Appliance 1, deploy the vCenter Server appliance as an instance on ESXi Host 1. Synchronize the time settings with ESXi Host 1.
  2. For Appliance 2, deploy the vCenter Server appliance as an instance on ESXi Host 1 and configure the time settings so that Appliance 2 is synchronized with ESXi Host 1. In stage 2 you select to join the vCenter Single Sign-On server of the deployed appliance on Appliance 1. For specific instructions, see Stage 2 - Set up the Newly Deployed vCenter Server Appliance.

If you are deploying the vCenter Server appliance nodes with the CLI:

  1. Configure the JSON configuration template embedded_vCSA_on_VC.json (or embedded_vCSA_on_ESXi.json) for Appliance 1 as an instance on ESXi Host 1. See Prepare Your JSON Configuration File for CLI Deployment for specific instructions on preparing the JSON configuration file.
  2. Deploy Appliance 1 by running the vcsa-cli-installer command. See Deploy a vCenter Server Appliance by Using the CLI for instructions.
  3. Configure the JSON configuration template embedded_vCSA_replication_on_VC.json (or embedded_vCSA_replication_on_ESXi.json) for Appliance 2 as an instance on ESXi Host 1. Enter the hostname of the first embedded node in the replication_partner_hostname field in the sso section.
  4. Deploy Appliance 2 by running the vcsa-cli-installer command using the embedded_vCSA_replication_on_VC.json (or embedded_vCSA_replication_on_ESXi.json) file.