vCenter Server Installation and Setup 17 APR 2018 VMware vSphere 6.7 vCenter Server 6.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware website at: https://docs.vmware.com/ If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to docfeedback@vmware.com VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com Copyright © 2018 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright and trademark information. VMware, Inc.
Contents About vCenter Server Installation and Setup 5 1 Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup 6 Overview of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process vCenter Server Components and Services 9 Overview of the vCenter Server Appliance 11 6 vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller Deployment Types Understanding vSphere Domains, Domain Names, and Sites 12 16 Deployment Topologies with External Platform Services Controller Instances and High Availability vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode 1
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 6 After You Install vCenter Server or Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance 143 Log in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Web Client Install the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in Collect vCenter Server Log Files 143 144 145 Repoint vCenter Server to Another External Platform Services Controller in the Same Domain Repoint vCenter Server to External Platform Services Controller in a Different Domain 145 147 Reconfigure a Standalone vCenter Server with an Em
About vCenter Server Installation and Setup ® vCenter Server Installation and Setup describes how to install and configure VMware vCenter Server , ® and deploy the VMware vCenter Server Appliance™. vSphere Installation and Setup is intended for experienced administrators who want to install and configure vCenter Server, and deploy and configure the vCenter Server Appliance.
Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup 1 vSphere 6.7 provides various options for installation and setup. To ensure a successful vSphere deployment, understand the installation and setup options, and the sequence of tasks. The two core components of vSphere are ESXi and vCenter Server. ESXi is the virtualization platform on which you can create and run virtual machines and virtual appliances. vCenter Server is a service that acts as a central administrator for ESXi hosts connected in a network.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Figure 1‑1.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 3 Configure the ESXi boot and network settings, the direct console, and other settings. See VMware ESXi Installation and Setup for information. 4 Consider setting up a syslog server for remote logging, to ensure sufficient disk storage for log files. Setting up logging on a remote host is especially important for hosts with limited local storage.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup For an environment with up to 20 hosts and 200 virtual machines, you can use the bundled PostgreSQL database. For production and large scale environments, set up an external database, because the migration from the embedded PostgreSQL database to an external database is not a trivial manual process. 3 Create a worksheet with the information you need for installation. See Required Information for Installing vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller on Windows.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Services Installed with VMware Platform Services Controller vCenter Single Sign-On The vCenter Single Sign-On authentication service provides secure authentication services to the vSphere software components. By using vCenter Single Sign-On, the vSphere components communicate with each other through a secure token exchange mechanism, instead of requiring each component to authenticate a user separately with a directory service like Active Directory.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup vSphere Client The new user interface that lets you connect to vCenter Server instances by using a Web browser. The terminology, topology, and workflow are closely aligned with the same aspects and elements of the vSphere Web Client user interface. vSphere ESXi Dump Collector The vCenter Server support tool. You can configure ESXi to save the VMkernel memory to a network server, rather than to a disk, when the system encounters a critical failure.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup n PostgreSQL n VMware vSphere Update Manager Extension Version 6.7 of the vCenter Server Appliance is deployed with virtual hardware version 10, which supports 64 virtual CPUs per virtual machine in ESXi. The vCenter Server Appliance uses the embedded PostgreSQL database that has the scalability of up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 1‑1. vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller Deployment Types Deployment Type Description vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller All services that are bundled with the Platform Services Controller are deployed together with the vCenter Server services on the same virtual machine or physical server.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup You can configure the vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller in vCenter High Availability configuration. For information, see vSphere Availability. Note After you deploy or install vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller, you can reconfigure the deployment type and switch to vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Installing vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller has the following disadvantages: n The connection between vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller might have connectivity and name resolution issues. n If you install vCenter Server on Windows virtual machines or physical servers, you need more Microsoft Windows licenses. n You must manage more virtual machines or physical servers.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Figure 1‑5. Example of a Mixed Operating Systems Environment with an External Platform Services Controller Appliance Virtual Machine Platform Services Controller Appliance Virtual Machine or Physical Server Virtual Machine vCenter Server on Windows vCenter Server Appliance Note To ensure easy manageability and maintenance, use only appliances or only Windows installations of vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Platform Services Controller Sites You can organize Platform Services Controller domains into logical sites. A site in the VMware Directory Service is a logical container for grouping Platform Services Controller instances within a vCenter Single Sign-On domain. Starting with vSphere 6.5, sites become important. During Platform Services Controller failover, the vCenter Server instances are affinitized to a different Platform Services Controller in the same site.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup The vCenter Server instances are connected to the load balancer. When a Platform Services Controller instance stops responding, the load balancer automatically distributes the load among the other functional Platform Services Controller instances without downtime. Platform Services Controller with Load Balancers Across vCenter Single Sign-On Sites Figure 1‑7.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup When a Platform Services Controller instance stops responding, you must manually fail over the vCenter Server instances that are registered to it. You fail over the instances by repointing them to other functional Platform Services Controller instances within the same site. See Repoint vCenter Server to Another External Platform Services Controller in the Same Domain.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup vCenter Embedded Linked Mode for a vCenter Server Appliance with Embedded Platform Services Controller vCenter Embedded Linked Mode is enhanced linked mode support for vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller. With vCenter Embedded Linked Mode, you can connect a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller together to form a domain.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 2 For Appliance 2, deploy the vCenter Server Appliance as an instance on ESXi Host 1 and configure the time settings so that Appliance 2 are synchronized with ESXi Host 1. In stage 2 you select to join the vCenter Single Sign-On server of the deployed appliance on Machine 1. For specific instructions, see Stage 2 - Set up the Newly Deployed vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded Platform Services Controller.
Deploying the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance 2 You can deploy the vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded or external Platform Services Controller to manage your vSphere environment. You can deploy a Platform Services Controller appliance and register external deployments and Windows installations of vCenter Server Appliance with this Platform Services Controller appliance.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup User Name Description root Use this user name to log in to the appliance operating system and the Appliance Management Interface. You set the password while deploying the virtual appliance. administrator@your_domain_name Use this user name for vCenter Single Sign-On login. You set the password while creating the vCenter Single Sign-On domain.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Before you deploy the appliance, synchronize the clocks of the target server and all vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller instances on the vSphere network. Unsynchronized clocks might result in authentication problems and can cause the installation to fail or prevent the appliance services from starting. See Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Storage Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance When you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance, the ESXi host or DRS cluster on which you deploy the appliance must meet minimum storage requirements. The required storage depends not only on the size of the vSphere environment and the storage size, but also on the disk provisioning mode.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup You can deploy the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance by using the GUI or CLI installer. You run the installer from a network client machine that you use to connect to the target server and deploy the appliance on the server. You can connect directly to an ESXi 6.x host on which to deploy the appliance. You can also connect to a vCenter Server 6.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued) Port Protocol Description Required for 80 TCP vCenter Server requires port 80 for direct HTTP connections. Port 80 redirects requests to HTTPS port 443. This redirection is useful if you accidentally use http://server instead of https://server. Windows installations and appliance deployments of WS-Management (also requires port 443 to be open).
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued) Port Protocol Description Required for 443 TCP The default port that the vCenter Server system uses to listen for connections from the vSphere Web Client. To enable the vCenter Server system to receive data from the vSphere Web Client, open port 443 in the firewall.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued) Used for Node-to-Node Communication Port Protocol Description Required for 902 TCP/UDP The default port that the vCenter Server system uses to send data to managed hosts. Managed hosts also send a regular heartbeat over UDP port 902 to the vCenter Server system. This port must not be blocked by firewalls between the server and the hosts or between hosts.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued) Port Protocol Description Required for 2020 TCP/UDP Authentication framework management Windows installations and appliance deployments of Important You can change this port number during the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller installations on Windows. 5480 TCP Appliance Management Interface Open endpoint serving all HTTPS, XMLRPS and JSON-RPC requests over HTTPS.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued) Used for Node-to-Node Communication Port Protocol Description Required for 9084 TCP vSphere Update Manager Web Server Port Appliance deployments of vCenter Server No Appliance deployments of vCenter Server No Windows installations and appliance deployments of vCenter Server No The HTTP port used by ESXi hosts to access host patch files from vSphere Update Manager server.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup If you use DHCP instead of a static IP address for the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance, verify that the appliance name is updated in the domain name service (DNS). If you can ping the appliance name, the name is updated in DNS. Ensure that the ESXi host management interface has a valid DNS resolution from the vCenter Server and all vSphere Web Client instances.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑5. System Requirements for the GUI and CLI Installers Operating System Supported Versions Windows n Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 n Windows 2012 x64 bit n Windows 2012 R2 x64 bit n Windows 2016 x64 bit n SUSE 12 n Ubuntu 14.04 n macOS v10.9, 10,10, 10.11 n macOS Sierra Linux Mac Minimum Hardware Configuration for Optimal Performance 4 GB RAM, 2 CPU having 4 cores with 2.3 GHz, 32 GB hard disk, 1 NIC 4 GB RAM, 1 CPU having 2 cores with 2.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Procedure 1 From the VMware Web site at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads, download the vCenter Server Appliance ISO image. VMware-VCSA-all-version_number-build_number.iso 2 Confirm that the md5sum is correct. See the VMware Web site topic Using MD5 Checksums at http://www.vmware.com/download/md5.html. 3 Mount or extract the ISO image to the client machine from which you want to deploy, upgrade, migrate, or restore the appliance.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup System Clock Synchronization Between the Client and Server To establish a secure TLS connection to a Platform Services Controller or vCenter Server (the server), the system where you are running the CLI installer (the client) must not have its system clock slower or faster than the server's system clock by an acceptable limit (tolerance). See Table 2‑6 for specific values for each deployment scenario.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Target System Prerequisites n Verify that your system meets the minimum software and hardware requirements. See System Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance. n If you want to deploy the appliance on an ESXi host, verify that the ESXi host is not in lockdown or maintenance mode and not part of a fully automated DRS cluster.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup As an alternative to performing the first stage of the deployment with the GUI installer, you can deploy the OVA file of the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance by using the vSphere Web Client or VMware Host Client. To deploy the OVA file on an ESXi host or vCenter Server instance of 6.0, you can also use the vSphere Client.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑7. Required Information During Stage 1 of the GUI Deployment Process (Continued) Required for Deployment of All deployment types Only if your target server is a vCenter Server instance Required Information Default User name with administrative privileges on the target server - n If your target server is an ESXi host, use root. n If your target server is a vCenter Server instance, use user_name@your_domain_name, for example, administrator@vsphere.local.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑7. Required Information During Stage 1 of the GUI Deployment Process (Continued) Required for Deployment of Required Information Default Tiny n vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller Deployment size of the vCenter Server Appliance for your vSphere environment n vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller n Your Entry Tiny Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs and 10 GB of memory.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑7.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑7. Required Information During Stage 1 of the GUI Deployment Process (Continued) Required for Deployment of Required Information Default Your Entry For medium deployment size, deploys the appliance with 1905 GB of storage. For large deployment size, deploys the appliance with 1970 GB of storage. For x-large deployment size, deploys the appliance with 2110 GB of storage.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑7. Required Information During Stage 1 of the GUI Deployment Process (Continued) Required for Deployment of Required Information Default For IPv4 networks, you can use either a subnet mask or a network prefix. Subnet mask uses a dot decimal notation (for example, 255.255.255.0). An IPv4 network prefix is an integer between 0 and 32. - Your Entry For IPv6 networks, you must use a network prefix. An IPv6 network prefix is an integer between 0 and 128 .
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑8.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded Platform Services Controller by Using the GUI You can use the GUI installer to perform an interactive deployment of a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller. You must run the GUI deployment from a Windows, Linux, or Mac machine that is in the network on which you want to deploy the appliance. Figure 2‑3.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 2 Stage 2 - Set up the Newly Deployed vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded Platform Services Controller When the OVA deployment finishes, you are redirected to stage 2 of the deployment process to set up and start the services of the newly deployed vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 6 Connect to the target server on which you want to deploy the vCenter Server Appliance. Option Steps You can connect to an ESXi host on which to deploy the appliance. 1 Enter the FQDN or IP address of the ESXi host. 2 Enter the HTTPS port of the ESXi host. 3 Enter the user name and password of a user with administrative privileges on the ESXi host, for example, the root user. 4 Click Next.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 9 Select the storage size for the vCenter Server Appliance, and click Next. Storage Size Option Description for Tiny Deployment Size Description for Small Deployment Size Description for Medium Deployment Size Description for Large Deployment Size Description for XLarge Deployment Size Default Deploys an appliance with 300 GB of storage. Deploys an appliance with 340 GB of storage. Deploys an appliance with 525 GB of storage.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 12 On the Ready to complete stage 1 page, review the deployment settings for the vCenter Server Appliance and click Finish to start the OVA deployment process. 13 Wait for the OVA deployment to finish, and click Continue to proceed with stage 2 of the deployment process to set up and start the services of the newly deployed appliance.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 3 Create a new vCenter Single Sign-On domain or join an existing domain. Option Description Create a new Single Sign-On domain Creates a new vCenter Single Sign-On domain. a Enter the domain name, for example vsphere.local. b Set the password for the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator account. c Confirm the administrator password, and click Next. This is the password for the user administrator@your_domain_name.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Deploy a Platform Services Controller Appliance by Using the GUI You can use the GUI installer to perform an interactive deployment of a Platform Services Controller appliance as the first instance in a new vCenter Single Sign-On domain or as a replication partner in an existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain. You must run the GUI deployment from a Windows, Linux, or Mac machine that is in the network on which you want to deploy the appliance.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Stage 1 - Deploy the OVA File as a Platform Services Controller Appliance With stage 1 of the deployment process, you deploy the OVA file, which is included in the vCenter Server Appliance installer, as a Platform Services Controller appliance. Procedure 1 In the vCenter Server Appliance installer, navigate to the vcsa-ui-installer directory, go to the subdirectory for your operating system, and run the installer executable file.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 7 On the Set up appliance VM page, enter a name for the Platform Services Controller appliance, set the password for the root user, and click Next. The appliance name must not contain a percent sign (%), backslash (\), or forward slash (/) and must be no more than 80 characters in length.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 11 Wait for the OVA deployment to finish, and click Continue to proceed with stage 2 of the deployment process to set up and start the services of the newly deployed appliance. Note If you exit the wizard by clicking Close, you must log in to the Platform Services Controller Appliance Management Interface to set up and start the services. The newly deployed Platform Services Controller appliance is running on the target server but the services are not started.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 3 Create a new vCenter Single Sign-On domain or join an existing domain. Option Description Create a new Single Sign-On domain Creates a vCenter Single Sign-On domain. a Enter the domain name, for example vsphere.local. b Set the password for the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator account. c Enter the site name for vCenter Single Sign-On. This is the password for the user administrator@your_domain_name.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup If you joined the new Platform Services Controller appliance to an existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain, the appliance replicates infrastructure data with the other Platform Services Controller instances within the domain. What to do next n You can deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller and register it with the newly deployed Platform Services Controller appliance.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup n Verify that you have installed or deployed the Platform Services Controller instance with which you plan to register the vCenter Server Appliance. Procedure 1 Stage 1 - Deploy the OVA File as a vCenter Server Appliance With an External Platform Services Controller With stage 1 of the deployment process, you deploy the OVA file, which is included in the vCenter Server Appliance installer, as a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 6 Connect to the target server on which you want to deploy the vCenter Server Appliance. Option Steps You can connect to an ESXi host on which to deploy the appliance. 1 Enter the FQDN or IP address of the ESXi host. 2 Enter the HTTPS port of the ESXi host. 3 Enter the user name and password of a user with administrative privileges on the ESXi host, for example, the root user. 4 Click Next.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 9 Select the storage size for the vCenter Server Appliance, and click Next. Storage Size Option Description for Tiny Deployment Size Description for Small Deployment Size Description for Medium Deployment Size Description for Large Deployment Size Description for XLarge Deployment Size Default Deploys an appliance with 300 GB of storage. Deploys an appliance with 340 GB of storage. Deploys an appliance with 525 GB of storage.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 12 On the Ready to complete stage 1 page, review the deployment settings for the vCenter Server Appliance and click Finish to start the OVA deployment process. 13 Wait for the OVA deployment to finish, and click Continue to proceed with stage 2 of the deployment process to set up and start the services of the newly deployed appliance.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 6 Click Close to exit the wizard. You are redirected to the vCenter Server Appliance Getting Started page. The newly deployed vCenter Server Appliance joined the vCenter Single Sign-On domain and site of the Platform Services Controller instance with which you registered the appliance. What to do next You can configure high availability for the vCenter Server Appliance.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup The vCenter Server Appliance installer contains JSON templates for all deployment types. For information about the templates, see JSON Templates for CLI Deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance. You can deploy an appliance with minimum configurations by setting values to the configuration parameters in the JSON template for your specification.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 4 Fill in the values for the required configuration parameters and, optionally, enter additional parameters and their values. For example, if you want to use an IPv4 DHCP assignment for the network of the appliance, in the network subsection of the template, change the value of the mode parameter to dhcp and remove the default configuration parameters that are for a static assignment.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑9. Deployment JSON Templates Included in the vCenter Server Appliance Installer Location Template Description vcsa-cliinstaller\templates\install embedded_vCSA_on_ESXi.json Contains the minimum configuration parameters that are required for deployment of a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller on an ESXi host. embedded_vCSA_on_VC.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑9. Deployment JSON Templates Included in the vCenter Server Appliance Installer (Continued) Location Template Description PSC_replication_on_VC.json Contains the minimum configuration parameters that are required for deployment of a Platform Services Controller appliance joining an existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain on a vCenter Server instance. vCSA_on_ESXi.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑10. Sections and Subsections of Configuration Parameters in the JSON Deployment Files (Continued) Section Subsecti on Description applianc e Contains the configuration parameters that describe the appliance. See Table 2‑13. network Contains the configuration parameters that describe the network settings for the appliance. See Table 2‑14. os Contains the configuration parameters that describe the operating system settings for the appliance.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑11. Configuration Parameters in the new_vcsa Section, esxi Subsection (Continued) Name Type Description password string The password of the user with administrative privileges on the target ESXi host. deployment_network string The name of the network to which to connect the appliance. Note The network must be accessible from the target ESXi host. Ignored if the target ESXi host has only one network.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑12. Configuration Parameters in the new_vcsa Section, vc Subsection (Continued) Name Type port integer Description The HTTPS reverse proxy port of the target vCenter Server instance. The default port is 443. Use only if the target vCenter Server instance uses a custom HTTPS reverse proxy port. target string or array The target ESXi host or DRS cluster on which you want to deploy the appliance.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑13. Configuration Parameters in the new_vcsa Section, appliance Subsection Name Type Description thin_disk_mode Boolean Set to true to deploy the appliance with thin virtual disks. deployment_option string The size of the appliance. n Set to tiny if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines with the default storage size.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑13. Configuration Parameters in the new_vcsa Section, appliance Subsection (Continued) Name Type Description n Set to large-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines with the large storage size. Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 990 GB of storage.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑13. Configuration Parameters in the new_vcsa Section, appliance Subsection (Continued) Name Type Description n Set to management-small-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 100 hosts and 1,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size. Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 1700 GB of storage.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑13. Configuration Parameters in the new_vcsa Section, appliance Subsection (Continued) Name Type image string Description Optional. A local file path or URL to the vCenter Server Appliance installation package. By default the installer uses the installation package that is included in the ISO file, in the vcsa folder. name string The VM name for the appliance. Must contain only ASCII characters except a percent sign (%), backslash (\), or forward slash (
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑14. Configuration Parameters in the new_vcsa Section, network Subsection (Continued) Name Type Description gateway string IP address of the default gateway. For IPv6 version, the value can be default. system_name string Primary network identity. Can be an IP address or FQDN, preferably FQDN. You cannot change the value of this parameter after the deployment. The FQDN and dotted-decimal numbers must comply with the RFC 1123 guidelines. Table 2‑15.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 2‑16. Configuration Parameters in the new_vcsa Section, sso Subsection Name Type Description password string Password of the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user, administrator@your_domain_name.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Configuration Parameters in the ceip Section Table 2‑17. Configuration Parameters in the ceip Section, settings Subsection Name Type Description ceip_enabled Boolean Set to true to join the CEIP for this appliance. Deploy a vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller Appliance by Using the CLI You can use the CLI installer to perform an unattended deployment of a vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 3 Run the deployment command. vcsa-deploy install --accept-eula --acknowledge-ceip optional_arguments path_to_the_json_file Use optional_arguments to enter space-separated arguments to set additional execution parameters of the deployment command. For example, you can set the location of the log and other output files that the installer generates.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Argument Description -h, --help Displays the help message for the vcsa-deploy install command. --template-help Displays the help message for the use of configuration parameters in the JSON deployment file. After the execution finishes, you can get the exit code of the command.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup n If you are running the deployment on Linux OS, navigate to the vcsa-cli-installer/lin64 directory. n If you are running the deployment on Mac OS, navigate to the vcsa-cli-installer/mac directory. 4 (Optional) Run a pre-deployment check without deploying the appliance to verify that you prepared the deployment template correctly. For example: vcsa-deploy install --verify-only MyWorkspace/BatchDeploy 5 Run the deployment command.
Installing vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows 3 You can install vCenter Server with an embedded or external Platform Services Controller on a Microsoft Windows virtual machine or physical server to manage your vSphere environment. Before you install vCenter Server, download the installer ISO file and mount it to the Windows host machine on which you want to perform the installation, and then start the installation wizard.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup This chapter includes the following topics: n vCenter Server for Windows Requirements n Preparing for Installing vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows n Required Information for Installing vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller on Windows n Installing vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows vCenter Server for Windows Requirements To install vCenter Server on a Windows virtual machine or physical server, your syste
vCenter Server Installation and Setup n Verify that the LOCAL SERVICE account has read permission on the folder in which vCenter Server is installed and on the HKLM registry. n Verify that the connection between the virtual machine or physical server and the domain controller is working.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Hardware Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows When you install vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller on a virtual machine or physical server running Microsoft Windows, your system must meet specific hardware requirements. You can install vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller on the same virtual machine or physical server or on different virtual machines or physical servers.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup The storage requirements per folder depend on the deployment model that you decide to install. During installation, you can select a folder other than the default C:\Program Files\VMware folder to install vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller. You can also select a folder other than the default C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\ in which to store data. Table 3‑2.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller The vCenter Server system, both on Windows and in the appliance, must be able to send data to every managed host and receive data from the vSphere Web Client and the Platform Services Controller services. To enable migration and provisioning activities between managed hosts, the source and destination hosts must be able to receive data from each other.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 3‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued) Port Protocol Description Required for 80 TCP vCenter Server requires port 80 for direct HTTP connections. Port 80 redirects requests to HTTPS port 443. This redirection is useful if you accidentally use http://server instead of https://server. Windows installations and appliance deployments of WS-Management (also requires port 443 to be open).
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 3‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued) Port Protocol Description Required for 443 TCP The default port that the vCenter Server system uses to listen for connections from the vSphere Web Client. To enable the vCenter Server system to receive data from the vSphere Web Client, open port 443 in the firewall.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 3‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued) Used for Node-to-Node Communication Port Protocol Description Required for 902 TCP/UDP The default port that the vCenter Server system uses to send data to managed hosts. Managed hosts also send a regular heartbeat over UDP port 902 to the vCenter Server system. This port must not be blocked by firewalls between the server and the hosts or between hosts.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 3‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued) Port Protocol Description Required for 2020 TCP/UDP Authentication framework management Windows installations and appliance deployments of Important You can change this port number during the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller installations on Windows. 5480 TCP Appliance Management Interface Open endpoint serving all HTTPS, XMLRPS and JSON-RPC requests over HTTPS.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 3‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued) Used for Node-to-Node Communication Port Protocol Description Required for 9084 TCP vSphere Update Manager Web Server Port Appliance deployments of vCenter Server No Appliance deployments of vCenter Server No Windows installations and appliance deployments of vCenter Server No The HTTP port used by ESXi hosts to access host patch files from vSphere Update Manager server.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup If you use DHCP instead of a static IP address for vCenter Server, make sure that the vCenter Server computer name is updated in the domain name service (DNS). If you can ping the computer name, the name is updated in DNS. Ensure that the ESXi host management interface has a valid DNS resolution from the vCenter Server and all vSphere Web Client instances. Ensure that the vCenter Server has a valid DNS resolution from all ESXi hosts and all vSphere Web Clients.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Procedure 1 Download the vCenter Server installer from the VMware Web site at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads. vCenter Server is part of VMware vCloud Suite and VMware vSphere, listed under Datacenter & Cloud Infrastructure. 2 VMware provides a sha-1 hash, a sha-256 hash, or an MD5 message digest for software downloads.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 3‑5 is not a complete list of databases supported with vCenter Server for Windows. For information about specific database versions and service pack configurations supported with vCenter Server, see the VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes. Only special database configuration notes not listed in the Product Interoperability Matrixes are provided in Table 3‑5. vCenter Server databases require a UTF code set.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 4 Configure Microsoft SQL Server TCP/IP for JDBC If the Microsoft SQL Server database has TCP/IP disabled and the dynamic ports are not set, the JDBC connection remains closed. The closed connection causes the vCenter Server statistics to malfunction. You can configure the server TCP/IP for JDBC. Prepare the vCenter Server SQL Server Database You first create a database and user for vCenter Server.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup go CREATE USER vpxuser for LOGIN vpxuser go use MSDB go CREATE USER vpxuser for LOGIN vpxuser go You now have a Microsoft SQL Server database that you can use with vCenter Server. 2 Assign the db_owner role to the vCenter Server database user on both the vCenter Server and msdb databases.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Procedure 1 Create a database and user for vCenter Server. a In the master database, create a database for vCenter Server. b Create a database user for vCenter Server and map it to the vCenter Server and msdb databases. For example, to create the database VCDB and user vpxuser, you can run the following script: use master go CREATE DATABASE VCDB ON PRIMARY (NAME = N'vcdb', FILENAME = N'C:\database_path\VCDB.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup GRANT ALTER ON SCHEMA :: VMW to VC_ADMIN_ROLE; GRANT REFERENCES ON SCHEMA :: VMW to VC_ADMIN_ROLE; GRANT INSERT ON SCHEMA :: VMW to VC_ADMIN_ROLE; GRANT CREATE TABLE to VC_ADMIN_ROLE; GRANT CREATE VIEW to VC_ADMIN_ROLE; GRANT CREATE Procedure to VC_ADMIN_ROLE; if not exists (SELECT name FROM sysusers WHERE issqlrole=1 AND name = 'VC_USER_ROLE') CREATE ROLE VC_USER_ROLE go GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA :: VMW to VC_USER_ROLE go GRANT INSERT ON SCHEMA :: VMW to VC_USER_ROLE go
vCenter Server Installation and Setup go GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobschedule TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE go GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_add_category TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE go sp_addrolemember VC_ADMIN_ROLE , vpxuser go Note The VC_ADMIN_ROLE role in the msdb database is required only during installation and upgrade of vCenter Server. After the installation or upgrade, you can revoke the role and leave it as inactive for future upgrades, or you can remove it for increased security.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup d purge_stat2_proc_mssql.sql e purge_stat3_proc_mssql.sql f purge_usage_stats_proc_mssql.sql g stats_rollup1_proc_mssql.sql h stats_rollup2_proc_mssql.sql i stats_rollup3_proc_mssql.sql j cleanup_events_mssql.sql k delete_stats_proc_mssql.sql l upsert_last_event_proc_mssql.sql m load_usage_stats_proc_mssql.sql n TopN_DB_mssql.sql o calc_topn1_proc_mssql.sql p calc_topn2_proc_mssql.sql q calc_topn3_proc_mssql.sql r calc_topn4_proc_mssql.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup b 7 process_performance_data_mssql.sql For all supported editions of Microsoft SQL Server except Microsoft SQL Server Express, run the scripts to set up scheduled jobs on the database. These scripts ensure that the SQL Server Agent service is running. 8 a job_schedule1_mssql.sql b job_schedule2_mssql.sql c job_schedule3_mssql.sql d job_cleanup_events_mssql.sql e job_topn_past_day_mssql.sql f job_topn_past_week_mssql.sql g job_topn_past_month_mssql.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup grant grant grant grant execute execute execute execute on on on on l_purge_stat2_proc to vpxuser l_purge_stat3_proc to vpxuser l_stats_rollup1_proc to vpxuser l_stats_rollup2_proc to vpxuser If you ran the script process_performance_data_mssql.sql in Step 5, grant the following execute privilege to the vCenter Server database. grant execute on process_performance_data_proc to vpxuser You created the vCenter Server tables manually.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 5 In the Server text box, enter the IP address or FQDN of the SQL Server and, if you want to use a non-default port to access the SQL Server, enter a custom port separated by a comma. For example, if the IP address of your SQL Server is 10.160.10.160 and you want to access the server by using custom port 8347, enter 10.160.10.160,8347. Note You cannot use a database server alias to create a DSN. 6 Select an authentication method. n Integrate Windows authentication.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 5 6 On the Protocol tab, make the following entries. Enabled Yes Listen All Yes Keep Alive 30000 On the IP Addresses tab, make the following selections. Active Yes TCP Dynamic Ports 0 7 Restart the SQL Server service from SQL Server Configuration Manager > SQL Server Services. 8 Start the SQL Server Browser service from SQL Server Configuration Manager > SQL Server Services.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup You must first create a tablespace and user for vCenter Server. Then you grant permissions to the database user. You must also enable database monitoring for the user before you install vCenter Server. See Database Permission Requirements for vCenter Server. To perform the following procedure, you can either use the graphical user interface or run scripts. The vCenter Server installer package contains example scripts in the vCenterServer\dbschema\DB_and_schema_creation
vCenter Server Installation and Setup grant grant grant grant select on select on select on unlimited dba_temp_files to VPXADMIN; dba_data_files to VPXADMIN; v_$session to VPXADMIN; tablespace to VPXADMIN; By default, the RESOURCE role has the CREATE PROCEDURE, CREATE TABLE, and CREATE SEQUENCE privileges assigned. If the RESOURCE role lacks these privileges, grant them to the vCenter Server database user. Note Instead of granting unlimited tablespace, you can set a specific tablespace quota.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup d load_stats_proc_oracle.sql e purge_stat2_proc_oracle.sql f purge_stat3_proc_oracle.sql g purge_usage_stats_proc_oracle.sql h stats_rollup1_proc_oracle.sql i stats_rollup2_proc_oracle.sql j stats_rollup3_proc_oracle.sql k cleanup_events_oracle.sql l delete_stats_proc_oracle.sql m load_usage_stats_proc_oracle.sql n TopN_DB_oracle.sql o calc_topn1_proc_oracle.sql p calc_topn2_proc_oracle.sql q calc_topn3_proc_oracle.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 5 For all supported editions of Oracle Server, run the scripts to set up scheduled jobs on the database. a job_schedule1_oracle.sql b job_schedule2_oracle.sql c job_schedule3_oracle.sql d job_cleanup_events_oracle.sql e job_topn_past_day_oracle.sql f job_topn_past_week_oracle.sql g job_topn_past_month_oracle.sql h job_topn_past_year_oracle.sql You created the vCenter Server tables manually.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Procedure 1 On the machine on which you plan to install vCenter Server, select Start > Administrative Tools > Data Sources (ODBC). 2 On the System DSN tab, modify an existing or create a new Oracle ODBC connection. 3 n To modify an existing Oracle ODBC connection, select the connection from the System Data Source list and click Configure. n To create an Oracle ODBC connection, click Add, select the Oracle client, and click Finish.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 3‑6. Microsoft SQL Database Permissions for vCenter Server (Continued) Permission Description GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] TO VC_USER_ROLE Permissions that let you run SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE operations on tables which are part of the VMW schema.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 3‑7. Oracle Database Permissions for vCenter Server (Continued) Permission Description GRANT CREATE SEQUENCE TO VPXADMIN Necessary for creating a sequence. GRANT CREATE TABLE TO VPXADMIN Necessary for creating a table. GRANT CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW TO VPXADMIN Necessary for creating a materialized view. GRANT EXECUTE ON dbms_lock TO VPXADMIN Necessary for guaranteeing that the vCenter Server database is used by a single vCenter Server instance.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup If your database is remote, you can skip this procedure. The name change has no effect on communication with remote databases. After you rename the server, verify with your database administrator or the database vendor that all components of the database are working. Prerequisites n Make sure that the database server is running. n Make sure that the vCenter Server computer name is updated in the domain name service (DNS).
vCenter Server Installation and Setup To synchronize ESXi clocks with an NTP server, you can use the VMware Host Client. For information about editing the time configuration of an ESXi host, see vSphere Single Host Management. Using a User Account for Running vCenter Server You can use the Microsoft Windows built-in system account or a user account to run vCenter Server. With a user account, you can enable Windows authentication for SQL Server, and it provides more security.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Required Information for Installing vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller on Windows When you install vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller, Platform Services Controller, or vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller, the wizard prompts you for the installation information. It is a best practice to keep a record of the values that you entered in case you must reinstall the product.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 3‑8. Required Information for Installing vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller on Windows (Continued) Required for n n vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller Required Information Default vCenter Server service account information Windows local system account Can be the Windows local system account or a user service account. Your Entry Note Starting with vSphere 6.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 3‑8. Required Information for Installing vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller on Windows (Continued) Required for Required Information Default All deployment types Destination folder n n The folder in which to install vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller n The folder in which to store data for vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller The installation paths cannot contain non-ASCII characters, commas (,), periods (.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Install vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller You can deploy vCenter Server, the vCenter Server components, and the Platform Services Controller on one virtual machine or physical server. After you deploy vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller, you can reconfigure your topology and switch to vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 6 Set up the new vCenter Single Sign-On domain and click Next. a Enter the domain name, for example vsphere.local. b Set the password for the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator account. This is the password for the user administrator@your_domain_name. After installation, you can log in to vCenter Single Sign-On and to vCenter Server as adminstrator@your_domain_name. 7 Select the vCenter Server service account and click Next. Note Starting with vSphere 6.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 12 Click Next. 13 Review the summary of the installation settings and click Install to start the installation. 14 (Optional) After the installation finishes, click Launch vSphere Web Client to start the vSphere Web Client and log in to vCenter Server. 15 Click Finish to close the installer. vCenter Server, the vCenter Server components, and the Platform Services Controller are installed.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 5 Enter the system name, preferably an FQDN, and click Next. You can also enter an IP address. If you enter an IP address, provide a static IP address. Important When you provide an FQDN or an IP address as the system name of the Platform Services Controller, make sure that the FQDN or IP address does not change.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 10 Review the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) page and choose if you want to join the program. For information about the CEIP, see the Configuring Customer Experience Improvement Program section in vCenter Server and Host Management. 11 Review the summary of the installation settings and click Install to start the installation. 12 After the installation completes, click Finish to close the i nstaller. The Platform Services Controller is installed.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 6 Provide the system name of the Platform Services Controller that you already installed or deployed, the HTTPS port to use for communication with the vCenter Single Sign-On server, as well as the vCenter Single Sign-On password, and click Next. Important Make sure that you use either the IP address or the FQDN that you provided during the installation of the Platform Services Controller.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 13 (Optional) After the installation finishes, click Launch vSphere Web Client to start the vSphere Web Client and log in to vCenter Server. 14 Click Finish to close the installer. vCenter Server is installed in evaluation mode. You can activate vCenter Server by using the vSphere Web Client. For information about activating vCenter Server, see vCenter Server and Host Management.
File-Based Backup and Restore of vCenter Server Appliance 4 The vCenter Server Appliance supports a file-based backup and restore mechanism that helps you to recover your environment after failures. In vSphere 6.7, you can use the vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface to create a file-based backup of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller appliance. After you create the backup, you can restore it by using the GUI installer of the appliance.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Considerations and Limitations for File-Based Backup and Restore When you backup or restore a vCenter Server environment, take into account these considerations and limitation.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Distributed Power Management If you put a host into standby mode after a backup, the vCenter Server might force the host to exit standby mode when you restore to the backup. Distributed Virtual Switch If you use a distributed virtual switch, you are advised to export separately the distributed virtual switch configuration before you restore to a backup. You can import the configuration after the restore.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup c n The missing virtual machine is located on the destination ESXi host, but it is not registered with the destination ESXi host. In the vCenter Server instance, the missing virtual machine is marked as orphaned. You must remove the virtual machine from the vCenter Server inventory and add it again. Restoring vCenter Server from a backup that has an out-of-date linked clone virtual machine layout.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup n Changes, such as create, delete, or update, performed on storage policies after backup are lost. n Changes, such as create, delete, or update, performed on storage policy components after backup are lost. n Default policy configuration changes for datastores performed after backup are lost. n Changes in the storage policy association of the virtual machine and its disks, and in their policy compliance might occur.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 5 Enter the backup location details. Option Description Backup location Enter the backup location, including the protocol to use to connect to your backup server, the port, the server address, and backup folder to store the backup files. Use one of the following protocols: FTP, FTPS, HTTP, HTTPS, or SCP. For FTP, FTPS, HTTP, or HTTPS the path is relative to the home directory configured for the service.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Prerequisites n You must have an FTP, FTPS, HTTP, HTTPS, or SCP server up and running with sufficient disk space to store the backup. Procedure 1 In a Web browser, go to the vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface, https://appliance-IPaddress-or-FQDN:5480. 2 Log in as root. 3 In the vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface, click Backup. 4 Click Backup Now. The Backup Appliance wizard opens.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Restore a vCenter Server Appliance from a File-Based Backup You can use the vCenter Server Appliance GUI installer to restore a vCenter Server Appliance to an ESXi host or a vCenter Server instance. The restore procedure has two stages. The first stage deploys a new vCenter Server Appliance. The second stage populates the newly deployed vCenter Server Appliance with the data stored in the file-based backup. Figure 4‑1.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Perform a file-based restore of a Platform Services Controller only when the last Platform Services Controller in the domain fails. If there are other Platform Services Controller instances in the same vCenter Single Sign-On domain, deploy a new Platform Services Controller instance and join it to the existing Single Sign-On domain. Figure 4‑2.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup n If the vCenter Server instance is part of a vCenter High Availability cluster, you must power off the active, passive, and witness nodes of the cluster before restoring the vCenter Server. Procedure 1 Stage 1 - Deploy a New Appliance In stage 1 of the restore process, you deploy the OVA file, which is included in the vCenter Server Appliance GUI installer.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 3 Review the Introduction page to understand the restore process and click Next. 4 Read and accept the license agreement, and click Next. 5 On the Enter backup details page, enter the details of the backup file that you want to restore, and click Next. Option Description Backup location Enter the server address and backup folder where the backup files are stored. Specify the protocol to use to retrieve the backup from your backup server.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 10 Select the deployment size for the new vCenter Server Appliance depending on the size of your vSphere inventory. Deployment Size Option Description Tiny Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs and 10 GB of memory. Suitable for environments with up to 10 hosts or 100 virtual machines Small Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs and 16 GB of memory.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 16 Wait for the OVA deployment to finish, and click Continue to proceed with stage 2 of the restore process to transfer the data to the newly deployed appliance. Note If you exit the wizard by clicking Close, you must log in to the vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface to transfer the data. The newly deployed vCenter Server Appliance is running on the target server but the data is not copied from the backup location.
Image-Based Backup and Restore of a vCenter Server Environment 5 You can use a third-party product that is integrated with VMware vSphere Storage APIs - Data Protection to back up and restore a virtual machine that contains vCenter Server, a vCenter Server Appliance, or a Platform Services Controller. You can perform a full image backup of a virtual machine that contains vCenter Server, a vCenter Server Appliance, or a Platform Services Controller.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Considerations and Limitations for Image-Based Backup and Restore When you restore a vCenter Server environment, take into account these considerations and limitations. Note Restoring a vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller instance with DHCP network configuration results in changing its IP address. The changed IP address prevents some vCenter Server services from starting properly.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Content Libraries If you delete libraries or items after a backup, you cannot access or use these libraries or items after the restore. You can only delete such libraries or items. A warning message notifies you that there are missing files or folders in the storage backup. If you create new items or item files after the backup, the Content Library Service has no record of the new items or files after the restore operation.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup vSphere High Availability Restoring vCenter Server from a backup may cause it to roll back to older version for the vSphere HA cluster state (HostList, ClusterConfiguration, VM protection state) while the hosts in the cluster have the latest version for the cluster state. Ensure that the vSphere HA cluster state stays the same during restore and backup operations. Otherwise, the following potential problems are present.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Restore a vCenter Server Image-based Environment You can use a third-party product that is integrated with VMware vSphere Storage APIs - Data Protection to restore a virtual machine that contains vCenter Server, vCenter Server Appliance, or Platform Services Controller. You can perform an image-based restore of a virtual machine that contains vCenter Server, a vCenter Server Appliance, or a Platform Services Controller.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Figure 5‑1. vCenter Server Restore Workflow VMware, Inc.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Figure 5‑2. Platform Services Controller Restore Workflow Restore a vCenter Server Instance with an Embedded Platform Services Controller Your environment might consist of vCenter Server or a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller. You can use a third-party product to restore a vCenter Server environment with an embedded Platform Services Controller.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Procedure 1 Restore the vCenter Server virtual machine onto the ESXi host using a third-party solution. 2 Log into the vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface, https://appliance-IP-address-or-FQDN: 5480. 3 Run the reconciliation operation and provide the Single Sign-On credentials. 4 If you are restoring the last embedded node in the embedded linked mode deployment, run the reconciliation operation with the ignore_warnings flag selected.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup For the last Platform Services Controller in the cluster, use the third party solution to restore the vCenter Server virtual machine onto the ESXi host. You do not need to perform reconciliation. After the restore succeeds, in the node associated with that Platform Services Controller, run the following commands: service-control --stop --all service-control --start --all VMware, Inc.
After You Install vCenter Server or Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance 6 After you install vCenter Server or deploy the vCenter Server Appliance, consider these postinstallation options before adding inventory for the vCenter Server to manage. For information about configuring the vSphere Authentication Proxy service, see vSphere Security.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup 3 If a warning message about an untrusted SSL certificate appears, select the appropriate action based on your security policy. Option Action Ignore the security warning for this login session only. Click Ignore. Ignore the security warning for this login session, and install the default certificate so that the warning does not appear again. Select Install this certificate and do not display any security warnings for this server and click Ignore.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Procedure 1 Open a Web browser and type the URL for the vSphere Web Client. 2 At the bottom of the vSphere Web Client login page, click Download Enhanced Authentication Plug-in. 3 If the browser blocks the installation either by issuing certificate errors or by running a pop-up blocker, follow the Help instructions for your browser to resolve the problem. 4 Save the plug-in to your computer, and run the executable.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup If an external Platform Services Controller stops responding or if you want to distribute the load of an external Platform Services Controller, you can repoint the vCenter Server instances to another Platform Services Controller in the same domain and site. n You can repoint the vCenter Server instance to an existing functional Platform Services Controller instance with free load capacity in the same domain and site.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup The vCenter Server instance is registered with the new Platform Services Controller. What to do next If you repointed a vCenter Server Appliance that was configured in a vCenter HA cluster, you can reconfigure the vCenter HA cluster. For information about configuring vCenter HA, see vSphere Availability.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Procedure 1 (Optional) Run the pre-check mode command. The pre-check mode fetches the tagging (tags and categories) and authorization (roles and privileges) data from the Platform Services Controller. Conflicts can be checked for tagging and authorization data. Pre-check does not migrate any data, but checks the conflicts and writes them to a JSON file.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup After vCenter Server is repointed to the target Platform Services Controller, the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) participation preference is updated to the target domain preference. What to do next If you repointed a vCenter Server Appliance that is configured in a vSphere High Availability cluster, you can reconfigure the vSphere HA cluster. See vSphere Availability for information about configuring vSphere HA.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Argument Description -dvr, --dest-vc-rhttps (Optional) The HTTPS port for the vCenter Server pointing to the destination Platform Services Controller. If not set, the default 443 is used. --ignore-snapshot (Optional) Ignore snapshot warnings. --no-check-certs (Optional) Ignore certification validations. --debug (Optional) Retrieves command execution detail. -h, --help (Optional) Displays the help message for the cmsso-util domain repoint command.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup }, "conflicts-count" : 1, "conflicts-list" : { "NoCryptoAdmin" : { "source" : { "privileges" : "[]" }, "target" : { "privileges" : "[Group-1.SamplePriv-1, Group-1.SamplePriv-4, Group-2.SamplePriv-10, Group-2.SamplePriv-3, Group-2.SamplePriv-7, Group-3.SamplePriv-2, Group-3.SamplePriv-9]" }, "resolution" : "" } } <----- End of code block ---> The parts of the sample conflict files are: n description.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 6‑1. Conflict Types Conflict Properties used to compare Category Objects Role conflict n n Conflict Types name: Name of the RoleName conflict category. occurs while importing roles and a role with the same name exists in the target Platform Services Controller but with different privileges. privilegeId: List of privileges for the role. Conflicting Properties Properties that can be conflicting for RoleName Conflict Resolution Options n COPY.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 6‑1. Conflict Types (Continued) Conflict Properties used to compare Category Objects Conflict Types Conflicting Properties Conflict Resolution Options Controller, but with a different privilege list, then the privilege lists for both roles are merged. n SKIP. Do nothing. The specific role is skipped. Tag Category conflict: A category name must be unique in a Platform Services Controller. n name: Name of the category.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Table 6‑1. Conflict Types (Continued) Conflict Properties used to compare Category Objects Conflict Types Conflicting Properties Conflict Resolution Options c AssociableTypes.If either the associableEntityType values are null, it is set to null. Otherwise, Objects types are merged. n SKIP. Do nothing. All tags are imported under the category that exists. Tags Conflict: A tag object always n name n description belongs to a category Object.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup License Keys Not in Use in a Domain If after completing repointing, a license key appears in more than one domain, but is not in use in some of those domains, you can remove the license key from any domain in which it is not in use. See "Remove Licenses" in vCenter Server and Host Management for instructions on how to remove the licenses in vCenter Server.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Figure 6‑1.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Prerequisites n Deploy or install the external Platform Services Controller instance as a replication partner of the existing embedded Platform Services Controller instance in the same vCenter Single Sign-On site. Note You can determine the current vCenter Single Sign-On site by using the vmfad-cli command. n For a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller, log in to the appliance shell as root and run the command.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup where the square brackets [ ] enclose optional items. Here, psc_fqdn_or_static_ip is the system name used to identify the external Platform Services Controller instance. This system name must be an FQDN or a static IP address. Note The FQDN value is case-sensitive. The options username and password are the administrator user name and password of the vCenter Single Sign-On domain_name.
Troubleshooting vCenter Server Installation or Deployment 7 The vCenter Server installation or deployment troubleshooting topics provide solutions to problems that you might encounter during the vCenter Server installation or vCenter Server Appliance deployment process.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Collect Installation Logs by Using the Installation Wizard You can use the Setup Interrupted page of the installation wizard to browse to the generated .zip file of the vCenter Server for Windows installation log files. If the installation fails, the Setup Interrupted page appears with the log collection check boxes selected by default. Procedure 1 Leave the check boxes selected and click Finish. The installation files are collected in a .
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Procedure 1 On the Windows machine that you use for deploying the vCenter Server Appliance, navigate to the log files folder. If you are logged in as an administrator, by default this is the C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\VMware\CIP\vcsaInstaller folder. 2 Open the installation log files in a text editor for examination.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup Cause The Platform Services Controller data is not cleaned up when an installation of a Platform Services Controller fails. Consider the following scenario: 1 Install Platform Services Controller A. 2 When you try to install Platform Services Controller B and join it to the same domain as Platform Services Controller A, the installation fails.
Uninstall vCenter Server 8 You must have administrator privileges to uninstall VMware vCenter Server. Important If you are using the embedded PostgreSQL database, uninstalling vCenter Server causes the embedded database to be uninstalled, and all data is lost. Prerequisites If you are uninstalling the vCenter Server system, remove the hosts from the Hosts and Clusters inventory. Procedure 1 As an administrator user on the Windows system, click Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features.
