Discussion on:

Installing VMware vCenter prerequisites on Windows Server 2008 R2

I recently moved our vCenter to a Windows 2003 x54 VM running on one of our ESXi Clusters, for the added High Availability that the cluster provides.

I ran into the same issue with the DSN and it took several attempts and a lot of google searching to find the answers you've just mentioned.

It would be nice if VMware actually told you are this little issue, and it's also strange that they do recommend using a 64-bit OS, but can't recognise a 64-bit DSN.

Also, with vCenter 4.0 Update 1 and ESX 4.0 Update 1, Windows 2008 R2 is now officially supported so as long as you are using this version you shouldn't have to worry about not getting support from VMware.

Not according to the compatibility matrixes which VMware updated 11/19/09

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_compatibility_matrix.pdf

Why would you mislead people into installing their virtual infrastructure datacenter components on an unsupported platform? http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_compatibility_matrix.pdf

I don't think I'm misleading anyone here... I clearly stated that R2 support under ESX itself was experimental and did not recommend anywhere here that people deploy vCenter to R2. Remember, it's only a matter of time before R2 *is* supported and there are bleeding edge people out there trying to do this now that need some assistance in getting it to work.

I think it is up to the individual engineer to determine what is and what isn?t supported by doing the necessary reviews of white papers, etc prior to implementation.

Therefore there is no such thing as being mislead if you are doing your job properly.

I would not view this article as misleading; I view this article as informative and a work around to continue to work with bleeding edge technology.

Thanks for the useful information

It is important to use the correct version of odbcad32.exe. Start -> Run -> odbcad32.exe is the WRONG one. Use this one instead %systemdrive%\Windows\SysWoW64\Odbcad32.exe. Also be sure to select the Native Client option.

Ever heard of c:\windows\syswow64\odbcad32.exe.
This is different than start run odbcad32.
Only the first option creates the DB as a proper 32 bit DSN.
Regards
Richie
0884641688

Dont forget when installing vCenter 4.1 on Server 2008 x64 R2 that you need the SQL Native Client drivers installed! Not there by default.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/4/D/44DBDE61-B385-4FC2-A67D-48053B8F9FAD/sqlncli_x64.msi