VMware now officially supports running the VirtualCenter database on SQL Server 2005.  As you may have expected there are a few caveats and a handful of configuration items you need to take into consideration.  However, for the most part this is great news and will allow you to *finally* get rid of those SQL Server 2000 servers.

• The account used by VC to access the database must be set as the owner of the database and must also have the db_owner rights to the database.
• The only supported ODBC driver is the older “SQL Server” driver, the newer “SQL Native Client” is not yet supported by VMware.

For a new installation of VirtualCenter with a SQL Server 2005 back end follow these basic steps:

1. Launch the SQL Management Studio and connect to the desired server and instance.
2. Create a new login (vclogin) for VirtualCenter to use.
3. Create a new database (VCDB) and remember to set the owner to vclogin.
   • This action should have mapped vclogin to the dbo on the VCDB database.
4. Modify the vclogin settings and change the default database to VCDB.
5. Install VirtualCenter.