ACE Management Server Administrator's Manual
Figure 2-1. Comprehensive ACE Management Server Deployment
ACE Player client
(within
corporate
network)
HTTPS
HTTPS
proxy for ACE Management Server
service through corporate firewall
ACE Player client
(outside corporate network)
ACE Management Server offers convenience and flexibility in its setup options.
You can install the server on Windows or Linux hosts. For testing purposes, you can download and run the
server as a virtual appliance. ACE Management Server includes its own security certificates and embedded
database, but you can use an external database and use certificates from a certificate authority if you prefer.
You can also configure ACE Management Server to use Active Directory for authentication.
Host System Options
You can install ACE Management Server on a Windows host, a Linux host, or as a virtual appliance. If you set
up multiple ACE Management Server instances, they must all be the same type.
Windows Hosts
If you plan to integrate with Active Directory, VMware recommends that you install ACE Management Server
on a Windows host.
The Windows ACE Management Server uses the WinLDAP library bundled with your Windows operating
system to integrate with Active Directory. Internal testing results indicate that the Windows implementation
provides better performance than Linux.
Linux Hosts
You can install ACE Management Server on a Linux host and use Active Directory for authentication, even
though performance is slower than on Windows hosts. If you plan to use a Linux host in production
environments, use the Linux installer rather than the ACE Management Server appliance. If you do not have
the supported Linux operating systems installed on a physical server, you can create a virtual machine, install
a supported Linux operating system, and install ACE Management Server in the virtual machine.
Server Appliance Option
The ACE Management Server appliance is a self‐contained, preinstalled, and preconfigured ACE
Management Server packaged with a small Linux operating system in a virtual machine. The appliance is
convenient and quick to set up in a testing environment but is not recommended for production environments.
By default, the appliance attempts to configure its network by using DHCP. If you do not want to use DHCP,
you can use the browser‐based ACE Management Server Setup application to configure the network settings.
You can use the same interface to update the appliance when updates become available.
You must have access to a Web browser (Mozilla 1.52 or higher or Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher) to change
network settings or obtain updates for the appliance.
14
WSAE client
(within
corporate
network)
HTTPS
HTTPS
HTTPS
load
balancer
(optional)
(optional)
Active Directory
domain controller
(optional)
LDAP
Kerberos
ACE Management Server
(one or more)
database
server
ODBC
VMware, Inc.