The Platform Services Controller (PSC) was introduced in vSphere 6.0 as a mechanism to simplify and centralize common vSphere infrastructure services. The PSC handles vSphere single sign-on (SSO), licensing, tagging, global permissions, custom roles, and certificate management. Prior to the PSC, most of these services were individually managed such as tagging and licensing while global permissions is a new capability.

While the PSC has delivered advantages in centralization of these services through Enhanced Linked Mode, it has still been the source of many customer questions. Our own VMware Global Support Services put together a very technical FAQ for the PSC after the release of vSphere 6.0. Much of that information is still valid for 6.5 and has some essential PSC knowledge contained.

As an addendum to the PSC 6.0 FAQ, we’ve created a new PSC FAQ that applies to both vSphere 6.0 and 6.5 releases. The Platform Services Controller 6.x FAQ is available on vSphere Central and addresses the common high-level questions seen in many customer conversations.

Some of the highlights of the FAQ address the differences in SSO architecture between vSphere 6.0 and 6.5, latency considerations, when to deploy embedded vs external PSCs, and the impacts of vCenter High Availability has on the PSC. You’ll also learn when a load balancer may be required and what benefits you might achieve from using one.

We will be adding to this FAQ as necessary so feel free to post additional questions in the comments below. You can also reach out to Emad (@emad_younis) and myself (@eck79) on twitter in addition to @VMwarevSphere on twitter and Facebook.