System Requirements: VMM Database in System Center 2012 and in System Center 2012 SP1
Updated: May 13, 2016
Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 - Virtual Machine Manager
This topic provides information about the system requirements for the SQL Server-based database for System Center 2012 – Virtual Machine Manager and for VMM in System Center 2012 SP1.
If you are using Software Defined Networking (SDN) in VMM, all networking information is stored on the VMM database. Because of this, you might want to consider high availability for the VMM database, using the following guidelines:
Failover clustering is supported and is the recommended configuration for availability within a single geographical area or datacenter. For more information, see AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instances (SQL Server).
Use of AlwaysOn Availability Groups in Microsoft SQL Server is supported, but it's important to review the differences between the two availability modes, synchronous-commit and asynchronous-commit. For a description of the two modes, see the Availability Modes section in the Overview of AlwaysOn Availability Groups.
With asynchronous-commit mode, the replica of the database can be out of date for a period of time after each commit. This can make it appear as if the database were back in time which might cause loss of customer data, inadvertent disclosure of information, or possibly elevation of privilege. For more information, see Reviewing Availability and Recovery Options for Protecting the VMM Database.
You can use synchronous-commit mode as a configuration for remote-site availability scenarios. For more information, see Overview of AlwaysOn Availability Groups (SQL Server) and Getting Started with AlwaysOn Availability Groups (SQL Server).
Database hardware requirements
The following tables provide the minimum and recommended hardware requirements for the System Center 2012 – Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) database. These requirements are based on the number of hosts that you manage. For better performance, do not store the VMM database files on the disk that is used for the operating system. For SQL Server best practices for placement of data and log files, see Place Data and Log Files on Separate Drives.
Managing up to 150 hosts
| Hardware component | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Pentium 4, 2.8 gigahertz (GHz) | Dual-core 64-bit, 2 GHz |
| RAM | 2 gigabytes (GB) | 4 GB |
| Hard disk (on which the operating system is installed) | 80 GB | 150 GB |
| Hard disk free space (on which the database is stored) | 20 GB | 50 GB |
Managing more than 150 hosts
| Hardware component | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Dual-core 64-bit, 2 GHz | Dual-core 64-bit, 2.8 GHz |
| RAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| Hard disk (on which the operating system is installed) | 150 GB | 200 GB |
| Hard disk free space (on which the database is stored) | 50 GB | 75 GB |
Supported versions of SQL Server
To host the VMM database, VMM supports the following versions of Microsoft SQL Server software.
| SQL Server for System Center 2012 – Virtual Machine Manager | Service pack | Editions |
|---|---|---|
| SQL Server 2008 R2 (64-bit) | Service Pack 2 or later | Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter |
| SQL Server 2008 (64-bit) | Service Pack 2 or later | Standard and Enterprise |
| SQL Server for VMM in System Center 2012 SP1 | Service pack | Editions |
|---|---|---|
| SQL Server 2008 R2 | Service Pack 1 or later | Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter (64-bit) |
| SQL Server 2012 | With or without Service Pack 1 | Standard and Enterprise (64-bit) |
Additional requirements and information
You must use an instance of SQL Server that allows case-insensitive database objects.
The name of the computer on which SQL Server runs cannot exceed 15 characters in length.
When you install SQL Server, select the Database Engine Services and Management Tools - Complete features.
You can perform an in-place upgrade to a supported version of SQL Server (without moving the VMM database). Make sure no jobs are running when you perform the upgrade, or jobs may fail and may need to be restarted manually. For procedures, see the SQL Server documentation, for example, Upgrade to SQL Server 2012.
If the VMM management server and the computer on which SQL Server runs are not members of the same Active Directory domain, a two-way trust must exist between the two domains.
The SQL Server service must use an account that has permission to access Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). For example, you can specify the Local System Account, or a domain user account. Do not specify a local user account.