06 Building Webster’s Lab V2 – Install the VMware vCenter Server Appliance

[Updated 27-Aug-2021]

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

I downloaded the VCSA 7.0 U2 ISO, mounted it, and extracted all the files to a VCSA70U2 folder to make the installation more manageable, 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 added 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

Enter the requested information and click Next, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7
Figure 7

Since the ESXi host uses a self-signed certificate, click Yes to accept the warning, as shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8
Figure 8

Enter the VM name for the VCSA VM, enter and confirm the VCSA’s root account password, and click Next, as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9
Figure 9

For my lab, there are six hosts, 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 10.

Note: As I worked through this article series, I kept receiving memory usage warnings for the vCenter VM. I shut down the vCenter VM and increased the memory from 12 GB to 16 GB.

Figure 10
Figure 10

Select the ESXiHost1 Local VM datastore created in a previous article and click Next, as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11
Figure 11

Enter the required information and click Next, as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12

Figure 12

The DNS Servers listed must be able to resolve the FQDN entered. I created a DNS A record on my domain controller, as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13
Figure 13

If you receive an error after clicking Next, verify name resolution for the FQDN entered in Figure 12 is working.

Verify that 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 verified that name resolution for the FQDN entered in Figure 12 is working both on the computer installing the VCSA and in your Active Directory, click Finish, as shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14
Figure 14

The VCSA installation begins, as shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15
Figure 15

When the VCSA deployment completes, click Continue to proceed to stage 2 (appliance setup), shown in Figure 16.

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

Figure 16
Figure 16

To continue to the VCSA setup, click Next, as shown in Figure 17.

Figure 17
Figure 17

For the Time synchronization mode, select Synchronize time with the NTP servers 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 18.

Figure 18
Figure 18

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 19.

Figure 19
Figure 19

Decide whether to Join the VMware’s Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) and click Next, as shown in Figure 20.

Figure 20
Figure 20

Verify that 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 21.

Figure 21
Figure 21

Click OK to complete the setup of the VCSA, as shown in Figure 22.

Figure 22
Figure 22

Stage 2 begins, as shown in Figure 23.

Note: Clear your browser’s cookies and cache if you get an error message about finding the appliance.

Figure 23
Figure 23

When Stage 2 completes, click Close, as shown in Figure 24.

Note: Stage 2 took 20 minutes to complete in my lab.

Make a note of the Appliance Getting Started Page link.

Figure 24
Figure 24

Back on the ESXi host, click Virtual Machines, and you can see the just installed VCSA VM, as shown in Figure 25.

Figure 25
Figure 25

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 26. Click LAUNCH VSPHERE CLIENT (HTML5).

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

Figure 26
Figure 26

Enter the Single Sign-On Domain credentials created earlier in Figure 19 and click LOGIN, as shown in Figure 27.

Figure 27
Figure 27

Click MANAGE YOUR LICENSES, as shown in Figure 28.

Figure 28
Figure 28

Click Add, as shown in Figure 29.

Figure 29
Figure 29

Enter the licenses. I used the licenses from the VMUG Advantage program. After entering the license information, click Next, as shown in Figure 30.

Figure 30
Figure 30

If you want to, enter a License name for the licenses and click Next, as shown in Figure 31.

Figure 31
Figure 31

Click Finish, as shown in Figure 32.

Figure 32
Figure 32

The licenses are displayed, as shown in Figure 33.

Figure 33
Figure 33

Click the Assets tab, select the vCenter asset, and click Assign License, as shown in Figure 34.

Figure 34
Figure 34

Select the vCenter license and click OK, as shown in Figure 35.

Figure 35
Figure 35

As shown in Figure 36, the VCSA is now licensed.

Figure 36
Figure 36

If you look at the browser connection shown in Figure 26, you see that it is not secure.

Go back to the main vCenter page shown in Figure 26, right-click Download trusted root CA certificates, and click your browser’s Save link, as shown in Figure 37.

Figure 37
Figure 37

Save the file, Download.zip, as shown in Figure 38.

Figure 38
Figure 38

Extract Download.zip, as shown in Figure 39, and browse to the certs\win folder.

Figure 39
Figure 39

Double-click the file with the extension “crt”.

Click Open if you receive a file security warning, as shown in Figure 40.

Figure 40
Figure 40

Click Install Certificate…, as shown in Figure 41.

Figure 41
Figure 41

Click Local machine and Next, as shown in Figure 42.

Figure 42
Figure 42

Select Place all certificates in the following store and click Browse…, as shown in Figure 43.

Figure 43
Figure 43

Click on Trusted Root Certification Authorities and click OK, as shown in Figure 44.

Figure 44
Figure 44

Click Next, as shown in Figure 45.

Figure 45
Figure 45

Click Finish, as shown in Figure 46.

Figure 46
Figure 46

Click OK, as shown in Figure 47.

Figure 47
Figure 47

Click OK, as shown in Figure 48.

Figure 48
Figure 48

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 49. Notice how the URL now shows as secure.

Figure 49
Figure 49

Click the padlock symbol, as shown in Figure 50.

Figure 50
Figure 50

Install the “crt” certificate file on any computer that requires access to vCenter.

Up next: Create vSphere Networking and Network Storage.

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