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Minimum System Requirements for Installing VirtualCenter

Symptoms

  • VirtualCenter installation may error before completion.
  • VirtualCenter installation fails to complete.
  • Unable to complete VirtualCenter installation.

Purpose

The aim of this document is to ensure that meet the minimum system requirements in order to install VirtualCenter. Failure to satisfy these requirements will result in your installation not completing. Please note that these requirements are the minimum and for enhanced performance you should scale your server appropriately.

Resolution

VirtualCenter 1.4.x

The VirtualCenter server must have:
  • Administrator privileges on the installing system to install the VirtualCenter server.
    The VirtualCenter server installation adds VirtualCenter as a Windows service.
  • Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows XP Professional, or Windows Server 2003 (Web, Standard, and Enterprise).
  • A minimum of 2GB RAM for VirtualCenter configurations managing 50 managed hosts or fewer.
    For greater than 50 managed hosts configurations, use 3GB RAM. For configurations with 100 managed hosts running 2000 virtual machines, use 4GB RAM.
  • As a minimum a Pentium IV 2.0Ghz processor. Dual processors are recommended for deployments with more than 25 managed hosts.
  • A minimum of 1 10/100Mbps NIC (1Gbps NIC recommended).
  • Windows Script version 5.6 or later. If the server does not have this version, VirtualCenter installer automatically updates to Windows Script version 5.6.
  • Disk space sufficient on the machine to support the VirtualCenter database and the template upload directory.
The VirtualCenter server may run on the same machine as the VirtualCenter client, or may be installed separately on another Windows system.
The VirtualCenter server can also be installed in a virtual machine.
 
The VirtualCenter database must have one of the following compatible database formats:
  • Microsoft Access (default)
    You do not need to have a Microsoft Access database installed to use this option. VirtualCenter stores the database in Microsoft Access format.
    Note: Using the Microsoft Access database for production environments is not recommended. It is intended for demonstration and trial purposes only.
    For production environments, use either the SQL Server or Oracle database.
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2000
  • Microsoft SQL Server 7
  • Oracle 8i, Oracle 9i, and Oracle 10g

This information is also contained in the VirtualCenter 1.4.x Support Documentation

VirtualCenter 2.0.x

Requirements are the same for VirtualCenter 2.0 / 2.0.1 / 2.0.2

The VirtualCenter Server is a physical or virtual machine configured with access to a supported database.
 
Hardware Requirements:
  • Processor - 2.0GHz or higher Intel or AMD x86 processor. Processor requirements can be larger if your database is run on the same hardware.
  • Memory - 2GB RAM minimum. RAM requirements can be larger if your database is run on the same hardware.
  • Disk Storage - 560MB minimum, 2GB recommended. You must have 245MB free on the destination drive for installation of the program, and you must have 315MB
    free on the drive containing your %temp% directory.
    Note: Storage requirements can be larger if your database runs on the same hardware as the VirtualCenter Server machine. The size of the database
    varies with the number hosts and virtual machines you manage.
    Using default settings for a year with 25 hosts and 8 to 16 virtual machines each, the total database size can consume up to 2.2GB (SQL) or 1.0GB (Oracle).
    MSDE disk requirements - The demonstration database requires up to 2GB free disk space to decompress the installation archive. However, approximately 1.5GB
    of these files are deleted after the installation is complete.
  • Networking - 10/100 Ethernet adapter minimum (Gigabit recommended).
  • Scalability - A VirtualCenter Server configured with the hardware minimums can support 20 concurrent clients, 50 ESX Server hosts, and over 1000 virtual
    machines. A dual-processor VirtualCenter Server with 3GB RAM can scale to 50 concurrent client connections, 100 ESX Server hosts, and over 1500 virtual
    machines.
Software Requirements:
The VirtualCenter Server is supported as a service on the 32‐bit versions of these operating systems:
  • Windows 2000 Server SP4 with Update Rollup 1 (Update Rollup 1 can be downloaded from here )
  • Windows XP Pro (at any SP level)
  • Windows 2003 (all releases except 64‐bit)
    Note: VirtualCenter 2.0 installation is not supported on 64‐bit operating systems.
    The VirtualCenter installer requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher in order to run.
VirtualCenter Database Requirements:
VirtualCenter supports the following database formats:
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (SP 4 only)
  • Oracle 9iR2, 10gR1 (versions 10.1.0.3 and higher only), and 10gR2
  • Microsoft MSDE (not supported for production environments)
    Each database requires some configuration adjustments in addition to the basic installation.
    Note: If you do not have database administrator (DBA) privileges in your organization, you need assistance from your DBA.

End of Support Life for Microsoft Access Database Software

Support for Microsoft Access is discontinued with VMware VirtualCenter version 2.
Configurations upgrading from VMware VirtualCenter version 1.x must use a different database.
VirtualCenter 2.0 replaces Access with a bundled version of Microsoft MSDE, for use in demonstration installations.
 
This information is also contained in the Installation and Upgrade Guide .

VirtualCenter 2.5

Many of the system requirements for VirtualCenter 2.5 are the same as for those for VirtualCenter 2.0.x.
The differences are outlined below:
 
Hardware Requirements:
  • MSDE has now been replaced with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express
  • Database Disk Requirements - The bundled database requires up to 2GB free disk space to decompress the installation archive. However, approximately 1.5GB
    of these files are deleted after the installation is complete.
Software Requirements:
The VirtualCenter Server is supported as a service on the 32‐bit versions of these operating systems:
  • Windows 2000 Server SP4 with Update Rollup 1 (Update Rollup 1 can be downloaded from here )
  • Windows XP Pro SP2
  • Windows 2003 Server SP1 (all releases except 64‐bit)
  • Windows 2003 Server R2
    Note: VirtualCenter 2.x installation is not supported on 64‐bit operating systems.
    The VirtualCenter installer requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher to run.
    Note: For any operating system except Windows Server 2003 SP1, install Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1, otherwise your VirtualCenter installation can fail.
    See     Microsoft KB893803 for information on downloading Windows Installer 3.1.

VirtualCenter Database Requirements

Database Type
Service Pack, Patch, and Driver Requirements
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Standard
SP4
For Windows 2000 and Windows XP, apply MDAC 2.8 SP1 to the client.
Use SQL Server driver for the client.
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise
SP4
For Windows 2000 and Windows XP, apply MDAC 2.8 SP1 to the client.
Use SQL Server driver for the client.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard
Install SP1 or SP2 for Microsoft SQL Server 2005.
For Windows 2000 and Windows XP, apply MDAC 2.8 SP1 to the client.
Use the SQL Native Client driver for the client.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise
Install SP1 or SP2 for Microsoft SQL Server 2005.
For Windows 2000 and Windows XP, apply MDAC 2.8 SP1 to the client.
Use the SQL Native Client driver for the client.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express SP2
For Windows 2000 and Windows XP, apply MDAC 2.8 SP1 to the client.
Use SQL native client driver for the client.
Oracle 9i release 2 Standard
Oracle 9i release 2 Enterprise
Apply patch 9.2.0.8.0 to the server and client.
Oracle 10g Standard Release 1 (10.1.0.3.0)
Oracle 10g Enterprise Release 1 (10.1.0.3.0)
None
Oracle 10g Standard Release 2 (10.2.0.1.0)
Oracle 10g Enterprise Release 2 (10.2.0.1.0)
First apply patch 10.2.0.3.0 to the client and server.
Then apply patch 5699495 to the client.


End of Support Life for Microsoft Access Databases

Support for Microsoft Access was discontinued with VMware VirtualCenter version 2.0. VirtualCenter 2.5 comes with a bundled version of Microsoft SQL Server
2005 Express for small deployments (up to 5 hosts and 50 virtual machines).
 
This information is also contained in the Installation Guide .

For any questions regarding compatibility please see the VMware Infrastructure Compatibility Matrixes

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Actions
  • KB Article: 1003882
  • Updated: May 7, 2008
  • Products:
    VMware VirtualCenter
  • Product Versions:
    VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.x
    VMware VirtualCenter 2.5.x
    VMware VirtualCenter 1.4.x