We had come across a situation where we wanted to decide whether we can install vCenter and SRM in work group and then join the VM to Domain.
Following are the test results and observations
Setup Components
vCenter 5.0
SRM 5.0
SQL 2008 R2
vCenter 5.0 Install Procedure
Install SQL Native Client
Install SQL Server 2008 R2 in mixed mode i.e. with Windows Integration
If SQL Server is on separate server then we have to use SQL Credentials
Create ODBC required for vCenter Installation
We used Windows Credentials which used local administrator account
Install vCenter 5.0
Test and ensure we are able to connect to vCenter using vSphere Client
Join the Windows VM to the domain
Observations
It doesn’t impact the vCenter Setup as it used the local administrator account
We need to ensure that local administrator account has “Password Never Expires” policy so that it doesn’t impact the SRM installation
We didn’t have to provide vCenter access as it added Domain Admins to Local Administrator group which has Administrator access on vCenter by default
SQL setup was also not impacted as it used the local administrator credentials
Results /Findings
The only finding is that we had to manually give Domain User access to the SQL server as by default it only gave local administrator and SQL credentials
SRM 5.0 Install Procedure
Create Database Instance for SRM on the Database Server
Create ODBC required for SRM Installation
As Database Server was on separate server then SRM we had to use SQL credentials
Install SRM 5.0
Install vSphere Client along with Plug-in to ensure we are able to connect to SRM Server
Join the Windows VM to the domain
Observations
It doesn’t impact the SRM Setup as it used the local administrator account
We are able to access the SRM Server as it added the Domain Admins part of the Local Administrator group which has Administrator access by default
VMware Best Practices
If the system that you use for your vCenter Server installation belongs to a workgroup rather than a domain, not all functionality, such as vCenter Server Linked Mode, are available to vCenter Server. If assigned to a workgroup, the vCenter Server system is not able to discover all domains and systems available on the network when using some features.
Reference