In a perfect world, the management cluster would host the vCenter server, and all cluster management would reside elsewhere. However, in reality, it is fully supported to run the vCenter Server on the cluster it manages, with High Availability (HA) still functioning. If you’d like a deeper dive into this topic, a brief video covers the subject.

While this configuration is possible, it is not recommended as it is always preferable to run the vCenter server in a location that enjoys HA protection and doesn’t require powering off hosts for patching. vSAN stretched clusters offer active/active operations, and many customers configure them with most workloads running in the preferred datacenter location.

If you choose to use this configuration, it is recommended that you run the vCenter server in the secondary location for several reasons:

1. Separation of Concerns: By hosting the vCenter server in a separate location, you can separate concerns and avoid having all your management eggs in one basket. This helps ensure that if something goes wrong with the primary location, you can still manage your clusters from the secondary location.

2. HA Protection: As mentioned earlier, it is always preferable to run the vCenter server in a location that enjoys HA protection. By hosting the vCenter server in the secondary location, you can ensure that it is protected by the same HA features as the primary location.

3. Reduced Downtime: If you need to patch hosts in the primary location, you can do so without taking the entire cluster offline. This reduces downtime and ensures that your workloads remain available.

4. Improved Resilience: By hosting the vCenter server in a separate location, you can improve resilience and ensure that your management infrastructure is not a single point of failure. If something goes wrong with the primary location, you can still manage your clusters from the secondary location.

5. Better Maintenance Windows: With the vCenter server hosted in the secondary location, you can take advantage of better maintenance windows. You can perform maintenance on the primary location during less busy times, without affecting the availability of your workloads.

In conclusion, while it is fully supported to run the vCenter Server on the cluster it manages, it is not recommended as it goes against best practices and can lead to a single point of failure. It is always preferable to run the vCenter server in a location that enjoys HA protection and doesn’t require powering off hosts for patching. If you choose to use this configuration, hosting the vCenter server in the secondary location offers several benefits, including separation of concerns, HA protection, reduced downtime, improved resilience, and better maintenance windows.