vCenter Server Settings

PowerChute connects to the vCenter Server to perform VM migration, VM shutdown, vApp shutdown, and VMware host shutdown operations.

It is recommended that you configure an Active Directory user account with the Administrator role for vCenter Server and the VMware hosts being managed by PowerChute.

If Active Directory is not available, it is recommended that you configure a local user account with the Administrator role that exists on vCenter Server and on each of the VMware hosts being managed by PowerChute.

If vCenter Server is running on a VM you must configure an Active Directory account or shared Local User account for host shutdown commands to work correctly. For a Dell VxRail standard cluster configuration, you must configure an Active Directory account. For more information see Active Directory VMware Configuration.

If the vCenter Server is unavailable when a critical UPS event occurs, PowerChute will still be able to connect directly to the VMware hosts using this Active Directory or shared local user account to shut down VMs and the hosts themselves. VM migration and vApp shutdown and startup are not supported if the vCenter Server is unavailable.

When attempting to connect to vCenter Server, if an untrusted SSL certificate is detected, a dialog to view the certificate will appear. Please verify that the certificate is correct and accept it in order to proceed. The certificate will be added to the PowerChute-keystore.

If the vCenter Server is unavailable in a Dell VxRail configuration, the VxRail API shut down will be unsuccessful and prevent the hosts from being shut down. If vCenter Server is not available, PowerChute cannot provide graceful shut down of the VxRail cluster.

When you select Target Hosts for protection, you will be prompted to import the vCenter Server Root CA certificates if the certificates are not signed by a trusted party. To proceed with setup, view all certificates and confirm their validity.

If the vCenter Server is unavailable during shutdown and not available during VM startup, any vSphere Cluster Services (vCLS) VMs in the cluster will not be started and High Availability (HA) cannot be enabled by PowerChute.

Communications Settings - Main UI - vCenter Server running on a VM option

If vCenter Server is running on a VM, the option vCenter Server Running on a VM must be selected so that PowerChute can perform additional validation when trying to locate the vCenter Server VM and its parent host.

DNS/Hostname resolution issues can lead to a problem where PowerChute cannot correctly identify the vCenter Server VM or its parent Host.
This can also occur if VMware Tools are not installed and running on the vCenter Server VM.
This results in vCenter Server VM being shut down too early in the sequence along with the other VMs.

By enabling the checkbox PowerChute will check for these kinds of problems and display a warning message on the Host Protection page or log an event in the Event Log. If vCenter Server is installed on a Physical machine, or on a VM that is not managed by the vCenter Server, this option should not be selected.

For more information on vCenter Server VM shutdown events see Virtualization Events.