Add datacenter and cluster

1. On the Computers menu, click Datacenters and clusters.

   The Datacenters and clusters view appears.

2. On the context menu, click Add datacenter/cluster.

   The Datacenter and cluster detail view appears.

3. Enter information on the General, Hosts, and Extended coverage tabs according to the following sections.

General tab

Use the fields on the General tab to enter information on the datacenter/cluster:

1. Type a Name for the new datacenter/cluster.

2. Select Organization node that the datacenter/cluster belongs to from the list.

3. For datacenters that are managed by a controller, select the Controller from the list.

   • To add a Controller:

     1. Select the Select a controller drop-down list.

        The Search controller dialog appears.

     2. Select the controller manually from the list, or click Search controller and start typing a search criterion; a list of computers that match the search criterion is displayed.

     3. Select the computer to use as controller.

   • To remove a Controller, click the Select a controller drop-down list, and then select Clear.

4. Type a Description for the datacenter/cluster.

5. Select the Hypervisor technology that is used for the datacenter/cluster.

   • If VMware vSphere is selected as hypervisor, an additional option appears at the bottom of this screen. Select Datacenter is a VMware DRS cluster if the VMware DRS feature has been enabled for this cluster.

6. Select High availability enabled if high availability is used for the datacenter/cluster. If you are unsure whether it is, check with the administrator of the cluster.

note

In the following scenario, most of the General tab settings are derived automatically:

• The Snow Integration Connector for VMware vSphere has been activated in the Snow License Manager environment.

• A datacenter/cluster is using VMware vSphere as its hypervisor technology.

In this case, the configuration of this particular VMware vSphere datacenter/cluster will be passed to Snow License Manager, which means that you will see the following on the General tab here on the Edit datacenter/cluster page:

• All of the fields will be grayed out, with the exception of Organization, Controller (host), and Description, which will still be editable.

• The Hypervisor technology will be VMware vSphere, and the following will be set automatically—selected or not—depending on this datacenter/cluster's particular VMware vSphere configuration:

  • High availability enabled

  • Datacenter is a VMware DRS cluster

By design, these grayed-out settings cannot be manually changed, as having them in place is instrumental in licensing Windows Server environments correctly. These settings ensure that licensing requirements are covered for hosts with virtual machines running in datacenters/clusters that use VMware vSphere hypervisor technology.

In other words, implementing the VMware vSphere connector provides an automated way to reach improved license compliance calculations; in addition, these settings are also used in the Windows Server Assessment report.

Hosts tab

Use the Hosts tab to add servers that will be included in the datacenter/cluster:

1. Click Add hosts.

2. To select hosts, either use the check boxes on the left-hand side of the screen to select multiple hosts, or filter the list of available hosts by typing a search criterion and subsequently select hosts; a list of computers that match the search criterion is automatically displayed.

3. Select the servers to be added, and then click Save.

4. The selected servers are added to the Hosts list.

To delete a host, click Delete on the right-hand side of the host to delete.

Extended coverage tab

Use the Extended coverage tab to specify for which datacenter/cluster the coverage should be extended to, for which application, and for what reason.

1. Select Extend coverage.

   The Select application screen appears.

2. Select the Select application drop-down list.

   The Search for application dialog appears.

3. Select the application manually from the list, or select Search for application and start typing a search criterion; select the application from the list of applications that match the search criterion.

4. Select a reason from the Coverage reason list.

5. Select Select datacenter/cluster.

6. Select the datacenter/cluster to extend coverage to.

7. Select Extend coverage.

   The selected datacenter/cluster is added to the list of datacenters/clusters with extended coverage.