Brocade Network OS Administrator’s Guide v4.1.1 - Manual (Page 251)

Using VMware vCenter
● vCenter and Network OS integration overview............................................................. 251
● vCenter discovery......................................................................................................... 252
● vCenter configuration.................................................................................................... 252
vCenter and Network OS integration overview
The VMware vCenter Server allows for the management of multiple ESX /ESXi servers and virtual
machines (VMs) from different ESX servers through a single graphical user interface (GUI). It provides
unified management of all the hosts and VMs in the data center, from a single console with an
aggregate performance monitoring of clusters, hosts and VMs.
The VMware vCenter and Brocade Network OS integration supported in Brocade VCS Fabric mode and
non-VCS (standalone switch) mode enables you to discover VMware ESX servers managed by a
vCenter server. VMware’s server hosts (ESX servers) are connected directly to the physical switches
through the switch ports (edge ports in Brocade VCS Fabric mode). The server hosts implement a
virtual switch (vSwitch), which is used to provide connections to the VMs. The fundamental requirement
for the vCenter and Network OS integration is the IP-level management connectivity of the vCenter
Server 4.0 version and later with the Brocade VDX switches.
NOTE
The Network OS integration with vCenter requires vCenter versions 4.0, 4.1, 5.1 or 5.5.
You can view virtual switches and virtual machines, their associated MAC addresses, and network
policies using the Network OS command line interface (CLI). Refer to the Network OS Command
Reference for details about the vcenter and vnetwork commands.
vCenter properties
The vCenter manages the VMware ESX/ESXi hosts. The vCenter user interface is provided through a
vSphere client on the same management network as the vCenter, and virtual machines (VMs) are
created using the vSphere client user interface. In addition to creating the VMs, the server administrator
associates the VMs with distributed virtual switches, distributed virtual port groups, standard virtual
switches (vSwitches) and standard port groups.
The vCenter automatically generates some of the VM properties (such as the MAC address), and some
properties must be configured (such as the VLAN properties). Most of the VM configuration, including
network policies, is done using the vCenter’s vSphere user interface and is beyond the scope of this
document.
For VMWare configuration information, visit the VMware documentation site.
vCenter guidelines and restrictions
Follow these guidelines and restrictions when configuring vCenter:
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