Technical Note Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 This technical note describes the command-line deployment and upgrade processes of the VMware vCenter Server™ Appliance™. The vCenter Server Appliance is a preconfigured Linux-based virtual machine that is optimized for running vCenter Server. The command-line installer is intended for advanced users who are familiar with vSphere.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 vCenter Server Appliance Components The vCenter Server Appliance consists of the following components.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Requirements Supported Operating Systems for the Command-Line Installer You can run the vCenter Server Appliance command-line installer from any virtual or physical server in the vSphere network. The vCenter Server Appliance command-line installer is supported on the following operating systems: Windows 7 Windows Server 2008/2012 Windows 8 SUSE Linux 11 SP3 (64-bit) Mac OS 10.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Storage Requirements The host on which the vCenter Server Appliance is to be deployed or upgraded must meet minimum storage requirements, depending on the selected deployment model. Table 3.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade Steps You can run the command-line deployment or upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance from a virtual or physical machine that is running on a Windows, Linux, or Mac operating system and that meets the operating system requirements. See section “Supported Operating Systems for the Command-Line Installer” on page 3.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Optional Arguments of the Command-Line Installer Table 4. Optional Arguments of the Command-Line Installer Optional Argument Description -h, --help Displays the help message for the command. --template-help Displays the help message for the configuration parameters in the JSON file. -v, --verbose Adds debug information to the console output. -t, --terse Hides the console output.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Using the Deployment and Upgrade Templates This section provides details about the vCenter Server Appliance deployment and upgrade templates and how to use the templates to prepare the JSON configuration files for your deployment or upgrade specification.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 1. Content of the embedded_vCSA_on_ESXi.json Deployment Template { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller to an ESXi host.", "target.vcsa": { "appliance": { "deployment.network": "VM Network", "deployment.option": "small", "name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance", "thin.disk.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 2. Content of the embedded_vCSA_on_VC.json Deployment Template { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller to a vCenter Server.", "target.vcsa": { "appliance": { "deployment.network": "VM Network", "deployment.option": "small", "name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance", "thin.disk.mode": true }, "network": { "hostname": "", "dns.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 3. Content of the PSC_on_ESXi.json Deployment Template { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a Platform Services Controller to an ESXi host.", "target.vcsa": { "appliance": { "deployment.network": "VM Network", "deployment.option": "infrastructure", "name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance", "thin.disk.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 4. Content of the PSC_on_VC.json Deployment Template { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a Platform Services Controller to a vCenter Server.", "target.vcsa": { "appliance": { "deployment.network": "VM Network", "deployment.option": "infrastructure", "name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance", "thin.disk.mode": true }, "network": { "hostname": "", "dns.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 5. Content of the PSC_replication_on_ESXi.json Deployment Template { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a Platform Services Controller to an ESXi host, joining an existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain.", "target.vcsa": { "appliance": { "deployment.network": "VM Network", "deployment.option": "infrastructure", "name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance", "thin.disk.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 6. Content of the PSC_replication_on_VC.json Deployment Template { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a Platform Services Controller to an ESXi host, joining an existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain.", "target.vcsa": { "appliance": { "deployment.network": "VM Network", "deployment.option": "infrastructure", "name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance", "thin.disk.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 7. Content of the VC_on_ESXi.json Deployment Template { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a vCenter Server to an ESXi host.", "target.vcsa": { "appliance": { "deployment.network": "VM Network", "deployment.option": "management-small", "name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance", "thin.disk.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 8. Content of the VC_on_VC.json Deployment Template { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a vCenter Server to a vCenter Server.", "target.vcsa": { "appliance": { "deployment.network": "VM Network", "deployment.option": "management-small", "name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance", "thin.disk.mode": true }, "network": { "hostname": "", "dns.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Templates for Upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 Update 3 For upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance from 5.1 Update 3 to 6.0 Update 1, the installer ISO file contains two JSON templates that are located in the vcsa-cli-installer/template/upgrade/5.1 directory.: Table 6. Templates of JSON Files for Upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 Update 3 Template JSON File Description embedded_vCSA_on_ESXi.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 9. Content of the embedded_vCSA_on_ESXi.json Template for Upgrade From Version 5.1 Update 3 { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to upgrade a vCenter Server from 5.1 Update 3 to 6.0.", "source.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 10. Content of the embedded_vCSA_on_VC.json Template for Upgrade From Version 5.1 Update 3 { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to upgrade a vCenter Server from 5.1 Update 3 to 6.0.", "source.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Templates for Upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.x For upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance from 5.5.x to 6.0 Update 1, the installer ISO file contains six JSON templates that are located in the vcsa-cli-installer/template/upgrade/5.5 directory. Table 7. Templates of JSON Files for Upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.x Template JSON File Description embedded_vCSA_on_ESXi.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 11. Content of the embedded_vCSA_on_ESXi.json Template for Upgrade From Version 5.5.x { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to upgrade a vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller from 5.5 to 6.0.", "source.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 12. Content of the embedded_vCSA_on_VC.json Template for Upgrade From Version 5.5.x { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to upgrade a vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller from 5.5 to 6.0.", "source.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 13. Content of the PSC_on_ESXi.json Template for Upgrade From Version 5.5.x { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to upgrade a Platform Services Controller from 5.5 to 6.0.", "source.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 14. Content of the PSC_on_VC.json Template for Upgrade From Version 5.5.x { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to upgrade a Platform Services Controller vCenter Server from 5.5 to 6.0.", "source.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 15. Content of the VC_on_ESXi.json Template for Upgrade From Version 5.5.x { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to upgrade a vCenter Server from 5.5 to 6.0.", "source.vc": { "esx": { "hostname": "", "username": "root", "password": "" }, "vc.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 16. Content of the VC_on_VC.json Template for Upgrade From Version 5.5.x { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to upgrade a vCenter Server from 5.5 to 6.0.", "source.vc": { "esx": { "hostname": "", "username": "root", "password": "" }, "vc.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Prepare Deployment and Upgrade Templates You can deploy and upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance with minimum configurations by setting values to the configuration parameters in the templates that are available in the installer ISO file. The configuration parameters that are not included in the templates are set to their default values.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Configuration Parameters for New and Upgrade Deployments Table 8 lists the configuration parameters in the target.vcsa section that you use to provide input data for the new vCenter Server Appliance in the deployment and upgrade templates. You must provide the parameters with values for your deployment or upgrade specification.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Table 8. List of the Configuration Parameters in the target.vcsa Section Parameter Default Description database subsection NOTE Use the database subsection only in the deployment templates to configure the database of the vCenter Server Appliance. The database configurations for the upgraded vCenter Server Appliance are migrated from the old vCenter Server Appliance.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Table 8. List of the Configuration Parameters in the target.vcsa Section Parameter Default Description datacenter - The name of the vCenter Server datacenter that contains the ESXi host or DRS cluster on which you want to deploy the vCenter Server Appliance. If the datacenter is located in a folder, you must set the path to the datacenter as a comma-separated list, for example, ["folder1", "datacenter"]. vm.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Table 8. List of the Configuration Parameters in the target.vcsa Section Parameter Default Description prefix - Network prefix length. Required only if the value of the mode parameter is static. For IPv4, the value can be between 0 and 32. For IPv6, the value can be between 0 and 128. gateway - IP address of the default gateway. For IPv6, the value can be default.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Table 8. List of the Configuration Parameters in the target.vcsa Section Parameter Default Description - Password of the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user account, administrator@your_domain_name.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Table 8. List of the Configuration Parameters in the target.vcsa Section Parameter Default Description replication-partner-hostname - The host name, FQDN or IP address, of the Platform Services Controller replication partner. Required only if you are deploying a replicating Platform Services Controller, that is, if the value of the first-instance parameter is false. site-name - Required.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 vCenter Server Appliance Deployment Example Use the templates in the following example to deploy two pairs of virtual appliances on two ESXi hosts. The template displayed in Example 17 deploys the first Platform Services Controller on the first ESXi host, and the template displayed in Example 18 deploys a replicating Platform Services Controller on the second ESXi host.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 17. Example Template for Deployment of the First Platform Services Controller { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a Platform Services Controller to an ESXi host.", "target.vcsa": { "appliance": { "deployment.network": "VM Network", "deployment.option": "infrastructure", "name": "platform-services-controller-1", "thin.disk.mode": true }, "esx": { "hostname": "10.100.100.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 18. Example Template for Deployment of the Second Platform Services Controller { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a Platform Services Controller to an ESXi host, joining an existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain.", "target.vcsa": { "appliance": { "deployment.network": "VM Network", "deployment.option": "infrastructure", "name": "platform-services-controller-2", "thin.disk.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 19. Example Template for Deployment of the First vCenter Server Appliance Instance { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a vCenter Server to an ESXi host.", "target.vcsa": { "appliance": { "deployment.network": "VM Network", "deployment.option": "management-tiny", "name": "management-node-1", "thin.disk.mode": true }, "esx": { "hostname": "10.100.100.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 20. Example Template for Deployment of the Second vCenter Server Appliance Instance { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a vCenter Server to an ESXi host.", "target.vcsa": { "appliance": { "deployment.network": "VM Network", "deployment.option": "management-tiny", "name": "management-node-2", "thin.disk.mode": true }, "esx": { "hostname": "10.100.100.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 Update 3 Upgrade Example Use the template in Example 21 to upgrade a vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 Update 3 to a vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 with an embedded Platform Services Controller on a DRS cluster from the inventory of a vCenter Server instance. Table 11.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 21. Example Template for Upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 Update 3 { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to upgrade a vCenter Server from 5.1 Update 3 to 6.0.", "source.vc": { "esx": { "hostname": "10.100.100.1", "username": "root", "password": "P@ss!w0rd" }, "vc.vcsa": { "hostname": "10.100.100.10", "username": "root", "password": "ssoadm!n513", "root.password": "Admin1!" } }, "target.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 Upgrade Example Use the following templates to upgrade a vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 with an external vCenter Single-Sign-On server to a vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 with an external Platform Services Controller on the same ESXi host. The template that is displayed in Example 22 upgrades a vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 22. Example Template for Upgrade of a vCenter Single Sign-On Server 5.5.x to a Platform Services Controller { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to upgrade a Platform Services Controller from 5.5 to 6.0.", "source.vc": { "esx": { "hostname": "10.100.100.1", "username": "root", "password": "P@ss!w0rd" }, "vc.vcsa": { "hostname": "10.100.100.10", "username": "Administrator@vsphere.
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1 Example 23. Example Template for Upgrade of a vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.x { "__version": "1.1", "__comments": "Sample template to upgrade a vCenter Server from 5.5 to 6.0.", "source.vc": { "esx": { "hostname": "10.100.100.1", "username": "root", "password": "P@ss!w0rd" }, "vc.vcsa": { "hostname": "10.100.100.11", "username": "Administrator@vsphere.local", "password": "SSOadm!n55", "root.password": "Admin1!" } }, "target.
