oaks wrote:
...the DC is on the same host as well (maybe this one would work, but is not needed).
Hi oaks,
This piece should be just fine as well. We run 2 virtualized DCs on each of these standalone ESXi hosts and point VCSA to both of those DCs and also point it to another off-site DC. You can tweak your start-up order based on your design. Here is our final start-up order (note: you can also start the DC first if desired):
Automatic Startup
1. VCSA
2. DC1
3. DC2
Any Oder
4. Server x (file shares)
5. Server y (Prolific USB to serial passthrough to suport site pSwitches
6. Server z (Windows SCCM using PCIe NIC *passthrough)
*Unrelated Note: Dedicated add-in NIC needed if passthrough is desired. In our case we required good multicast performance to deploy physical consumer devices at our sites. The vSwitch is hit or miss if multicast will work well. Passthrough for this one VM gets us the performance we need.
Tip: As always, the most important element with your infrastructure is time sync. Make sure you have mastered this topic. Also remember that if you place the host in maintenance mode before shutdown, this will prevent the auto-startup. This is absolutely desired when doing HW maintenance, etc. So for example, if a system board needs to be replaced, I will place the host in maint mode, then review time sync, etc. when the host comes back up. If all looks good exit maint mode and reboot. Then the VMs auto-start as desired (why is this important? Nobody wants their domain controllers powering up thinking it's 1970).
Good luck and have fun!