Planning for vCenter Server instances
Plan your instance based on the IBM Cloud® data center location, your workload capacity requirements, and add-on services requirements. Review the following requirements before you order your VMware vCenter Server® instance.
- New deployments of vCenter Server instances with VMware vSphere® 6.5 or 6.7 are not supported.
- New deployments of vCenter Server multizone instances are not supported.
- New deployments of vCenter Server with NSX-V instances are not supported.
Account requirements
The account that you are using must meet certain requirements. For more information, see Signing up for required accounts.
IBM Cloud data center availability
The vCenter Server deployment has strict requirements on the physical infrastructure. Therefore, you can deploy instances only in IBM Cloud data centers that meet the requirements. The following IBM Cloud data centers are available for vCenter Server deployment.
| Data center | Pod | Server options for NSX-T[1] | Server options for NSX-V[2] |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHE01 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake[3] |
| OSA21 | 01 | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| OSA22 | 01 | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| OSA23 | 01 | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| SNG01 | 02 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| SYD01 | 01-02 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| SYD04 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| SYD05 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| TOK02 | 01-02 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| TOK04 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| TOK05 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| Data center | Pod | Server options for NSX-T[4] | Server options for NSX-V[5] |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMS03 | 01-02 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| FRA02 | 01-03 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| FRA04 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| FRA05 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| LON02 | 01-02 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake |
| LON04 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| LON05 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| LON06 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| MAD02 | 01 | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| MAD04 | 01 | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| MAD05 | 01 | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| MIL01 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake[6] |
| PAR01 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake[7] |
| Data center | Pod | Server options for NSX-T[8] | Server options for NSX-V[9] |
|---|---|---|---|
| MON01 | 01-02 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake[10] |
| TOR01 | 01-02 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified |
| TOR04 | 01 | Cascade Lake | Cascade Lake |
| TOR05 | 01 | Cascade Lake | Cascade Lake |
| WDC04 | 01-05 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| WDC06 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| WDC07 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| Data center | Pod | Server options for NSX-T[11] | Server options for NSX-V[12] |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAL09 | 01-06 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| DAL10 | 01-04 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| DAL12 | 01-02 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| DAL13 | 01-03 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| Data center | Pod | Server options for NSX-T[13] | Server options for NSX-V[14] |
|---|---|---|---|
| SJC03 | 01-02 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake |
| SJC04 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake |
| Data center | Pod | Server options for NSX-T[15] | Server options for NSX-V[16] |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAO01 | 01 | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Skylake, Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| SAO04 | 01 | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
| SAO05 | 01 | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake | Cascade Lake, SAP-certified Cascade Lake |
Backup of management components
You are responsible for maintaining and ensuring the availability of all instance components. It is recommended that you plan for backup or high availability of all management components. For more information, see Backing up components.
Services for vCenter Server instances
You can order services for your instance based on your needs, for example, disaster recovery. For more information, see Ordering services for vCenter Server instances.
Add-on services support varies between vCenter Server with NSX-T™ and existing vCenter Server with NSX-V instances V4.7 and earlier.
If you want to migrate your F5 BIG-IP or Veeam services from VMware NSX-V to VMware NSX-T, open an IBM Support ticket by following the steps in Getting help and support.
Capacity considerations
For more information about capacity considerations, see Scaling capacity.