vCenter HA setup cannot be configured on 2 different datacenter objects

[slavonac]

I have tried to setup vCenter ha in the same datacentre object in vcenter 7 and it works ok

However when i try to put passive node in different datacentre then i get error

Type Mismatch: expected: N3Vim22ClusterComputeResourceE, found: N3Vim19ComputeResourceStubE

There is no explanation for this error and so far I asked around and nobody ever saw it lots of people dont like this feature as it is very limited

Anyone ever saw this error

[markey165]

Are the 2 datacenters connected over a WAN network, if so this is not a supported configuration.

Have a look at the following article - https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2148003

A couple of key points of note from the KB:

• VMware does not support nor recommend deploying vCenter HA over a WAN configuration.
• Network latency between the Active, Passive, and Witness nodes must have less than 10 milliseconds and a minimum of a 1 Gbps

I couldn't find anything on the error, but it indicates it is expecting A and finding B, so depending on the latency between sites, perhaps replication is getting out of sync.

VCHA log is located at /var/log/vmware/vcha/vcha.log which may shed some light on what is happening.

Beyond that, i would be raising a call with Tech Support. However if your datacenters are geographically separated, they will probably highlight this configuration as not being supported.

A more resilient (and supported) setup would be to have a vCenter located in each datacenter, connect them together in Enhanced Linked Mode, then setup VCHA per vCenter!

HTH

[slavonac]

Can you identify where is this done

1. Log in to the Active node with the vSphere Client.
2. Right-click the vCenter Server object in the inventory and select vCenter HA Settings.
3. Click Configure.
4. Select the Advanced configuration option and click Next.
5. Provide the IP address and subnet mask for the Passive and Witness nodes click Next.
   You have to specify these IP addresses now even though the nodes do not exist yet. You can no longer change these IP addresses after you click Next.
6. (Optional) Click Advanced if you want to override the failover management IP address for the Passive node.
7. Leave the wizard window open and perform the cloning tasks.

[Ajay1988]

If you have 2 different Datacenter objects created under vCenter ; you cannot put the passive/witness nodes to other Datacenter. It needs to under same Datacenter.

NOTE: VCHA is not a disaster recovery product such as Site Recovery Manager and VMware vSphere Replication.

 I recall long back I did try this. After deploying it to same Datacenter; I tested by moving passive node (vMotion) it to different datacenter and still vCHA was functional . But will not suggest it . 

[slavonac]

Ya my better solution would be to install vSphere Replication Appliance and replicate. In case one DC is completely unavailable then power on vCenter on another datacentre