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  • 06 Building Webster’s Lab V1 – Install the VMware vCenter Server Appliance

    September 16, 2019

    Blog, VMware

    Now that the host has local storage for a Virtual Machine (VM), we can install the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA).

    To make the installation easier, I downloaded the VCSA 6.7 U3 ISO, mounted it, and extracted all the files to a VCSA67U3 folder, as shown in Figure 1.

    Figure 1
    Figure 1

    I am installing the VCSA from my Windows 10 computer. Since I use a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of vcenter.labaddomain.com for the VCSA, I needed to add a host file entry, shown in Figure 2, since my computer is not domain-joined.

    Figure 2
    Figure 2

    Change to the vcsa-ui-installer\win32 folder, right-click installer.exe, and select Run as administrator, as shown in Figure 3.

    Figure 3
    Figure 3

    Select Install, as shown in Figure 4.

    Figure 4
    Figure 4

    Click Next, as shown in Figure 5.

    Figure 5
    Figure 5

    Select I accept the terms of the license agreement and click Next, as shown in Figure 6.

    Figure 6
    Figure 6

    Select vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller and click Next, as shown in Figure 7.

    Figure 7
    Figure 7

    Enter the requested information and click Next, as shown in Figure 8.

    Figure 8
    Figure 8

    Since the ESXi host uses a self-signed certificate, click Yes to accept the warning, as shown in Figure 9.

    Figure 9
    Figure 9

    Enter the VM name for the VCSA VM, enter and confirm the password for the VCSA’s root account, and click Next as shown in Figure 10.

    Figure 10
    Figure 10

    For my lab, there are six hosts, and I doubt I need 100 VMs, so I went with the default values of a Tiny deployment and Default storage. Select the Deployment size and Storage size required, and click Next, as shown in Figure 11.

    Figure 11
    Figure 11

    Select the ESXiHost1 Local VM datastore created in a previous article and click Next, as shown in Figure 12.

    Figure 12
    Figure 12

    Enter the required information and click Next, as shown in Figure 13.

    The DNS Servers listed must be able to resolve the FQDN entered. For me, I created a DNS A record on my domain controller, as shown in Figure 14.

    Figure 13
    Figure 13
    Figure 14
    Figure 14

    If you receive an error after clicking Next, verify name resolution for the FQDN entered in Figure 13 is working.

    Verify all the information is correct. If any information is not correct, click Back, correct the information, and continue.

    If all the information is correct and you have verified that name resolution for the FQDN entered in Figure 13 is working both on the computer installing the VCSA and in your Active Directory, click Finish, as shown in Figure 15.

    Figure 15
    Figure 15

    The VCSA installation begins, as shown in Figure 16.

    Figure 16
    Figure 16

    When the VCSA deployment completes, click Continue to proceed to stage 2 (appliance setup), as shown in Figure 17.

    Note: If you get an error message about unable to find the appliance, name resolution for the VCSA’s FQDN is not working.

    Figure 17
    Figure 17

    To continue to the VCSA setup, click Next, as shown in Figure 18.

    Figure 18
    Figure 18

    For the Time synchronization mode, select Synchronize time with NTP server from the dropdown. For the NTP Servers, enter north-america.pool.ntp.org (or the NTP pool servers for your geographic area). Click Next, as shown in Figure 19.

    Figure 19
    Figure 19

    Select Create a new SSO domain and enter vsphere.local for the Single Sign-On domain name. Enter and verify the Single Sign-On password and click Next, as shown in Figure 20.

    Figure 20
    Figure 20

    Decide whether to Join the VMware’s Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) and click Next, as shown in Figure 21.

    Figure 21
    Figure 21

    Verify the information is correct. If it is not, click Back, correct the information and then continue.

    If the information is correct, click Finish, as shown in Figure 22.

    Figure 22
    Figure 22

    Click OK to complete the setup of the VCSA, as shown in Figure 23.

    Figure 23
    Figure 23

    Stage 2 begins, as shown in Figure 24.

    Figure 24
    Figure 24

    When Stage 2 completes, click Close, as shown in Figure 25.

    Make a note of the Appliance Getting Started Page link.

    Figure 25
    Figure 25

    Back on the ESXi host, click Virtual Machines, and you can see the just installed VCSA VM, as shown in Figure 26.

    Figure 26
    Figure 26

    Using your browser, go to the link for the vCenter Getting Started Page. For me, that is https://vcenter.labaddomain.com, as shown in Figure 27. Click LAUNCH VSPHERE CLIENT (HTML5).

    Note: Because of the VCSA’s self-signed certificate, you can safely proceed to vCenter.

    Figure 27
    Figure 27

    Enter the credentials for the Single Sign-On Domain created earlier and click LOGIN, as shown in Figure 28.

    Figure 28
    Figure 28

    Click MANAGE YOUR LICENSES, as shown in Figure 29.

    Figure 29
    Figure 29

    Click Add New Licenses, as shown in Figure 30.

    Figure 30
    Figure 30

    Enter the licenses. I used the licenses from the VMUG Advantage program. After entering the license information, click Next, as shown in Figure 31.

    Figure 31
    Figure 31

    If you want to, enter a License name for the licenses and click Next, as shown in Figure 32.

    Figure 32
    Figure 32

    Click Finish, as shown in Figure 33.

    Figure 33
    Figure 33

    The licenses are displayed, as shown in Figure 34.

    Figure 34
    Figure 34

    Click the Assets tab, click the vCenter asset, and click Assign License, as shown in Figure 35.

    Figure 35
    Figure 35

    Select the vCenter license and click OK, as shown in Figure 36.

    Figure 36
    Figure 36

    If you look at the browser connection shown in Figure 27, you will see that it is not secure. Paul Braren has an excellent article on his site that shows how to resolve this security warning.

    Up next: Creating the vSphere Distributed Switch.

     







    About Carl Webster

    Carl Webster is an independent consultant specializing in Citrix, Active Directory, and technical documentation. Carl (aka “Webster”) serves the broader Citrix community by writing articles (see CarlWebster.com) and by being the most active person in the Citrix Zone on Experts Exchange. Webster has a long history in the IT industry beginning with mainframes in 1977, PCs and application development in 1986, and network engineering in 2001. He has worked with Citrix products since 1990 with the premiere of their first product – the MULTIUSER OS/2.

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