VMware vCenter Installation
In this section, we look at the steps required to install vCenter Server Appliance Version 6.7 on the previously installed ESXi host and add the host to the vCenter Server. The steps to install vCenter Server Appliance Version 7.0 are exactly the same.
Step 1. Locate the vCenter Server Appliance ISO image and then double-click the installer.exe file located under the vcsa-ui-installer\<operating system folder>\ folder. Once the installer window opens, click Install (see Figure 18-34).

Figure 18-34 Beginning vCenter Server Appliance Installation
Step 2. In the Introduction step, shown in Figure 18-35, read the instructions and click Next.

Figure 18-35 Stage 1: Introduction
Step 3. In the End user license agreement step, shown in Figure 18-36, accept the license agreement and click Next.

Figure 18-36 Stage 1: EULA
Step 4. In the Select deployment type step, shown in Figure 18-37, select Embedded Platform Services Controller and click Next. The External Platform Services Controller deployment model is deprecated.

Figure 18-37 Stage 1: Select Deployment Type
Step 5. In the Appliance deployment target step, shown in Figure 18-38, enter the details of your ESXi host where you want the vCenter Server Appliance VM to run and then click Next. Here we will give the details of the ESXi host installed in the previous section.

Figure 18-38 Stage 1: Appliance Deployment Target
Step 6. In the Set up appliance VM step, shown in Figure 18-39, enter the name and set the root password for the vCenter Server Appliance and then click Next.

Figure 18-39 Stage 1: Set Up Appliance VM
Step 7. In the Select deployment size step, shown in Figure 18-40, select the deployment size as per your organization’s requirements and click Next.

Figure 18-40 Stage 1: Select Deployment Size
Step 8. In the Select datastore step, shown in Figure 18-41, select the appropriate datastore connected to the ESXi host and click Next.

Figure 18-41 Stage 1: Select Datastore
Step 9. In the Configure network settings step, shown in Figure 18-42, fill in the network settings such as the fully qualified domain name (FQDN), IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS server details for the vCenter Server appliance and click Next.

Figure 18-42 Stage 1: Configure Network Settings
Step 10. In the Ready to complete stage 1 step, shown in Figure 18-43, review the configuration and click Finish. In stage 1, the vCenter Server Appliance is deployed (see Figure 18-44). Once the server is deployed, click Continue to move to stage 2, where we will set up the vCenter Server Appliance deployed in Step 1 (see Figure 18-45).

Figure 18-43 Stage 1: Ready to Complete Stage 1

Figure 18-44 vCenter Server Appliance Installation in Progress

Figure 18-45 vCenter Server Appliance Deployed
Step 11. In stage 2’s Introduction step, shown in Figure 18-46, read the instructions and click Next.

Figure 18-46 Stage 2: Introduction
Step 12. In stage 2’s Appliance configuration step, shown in Figure 18-47, choose the appropriate options for time synchronization mode and SSH access. In this example, we will let the vCenter server synchronize time with the ESXi host and will keep the SSH access to the vCenter Server disabled.

Figure 18-47 Stage 2: Appliance Configuration
Step 13. In stage 2’s SSO configuration step, shown in Figure 18-48, you can either create a new SSO domain or join an existing SSO domain. In this example, we will create an SSO domain named vsphere.local and configure the SSO username and password to log in to the vCenter Server Appliance using SSO.

Figure 18-48 Stage 2: SSO Configuration
Step 14. In stage 2’s Configure CEIP step, shown in Figure 18-49, you can join the VMware’s Customer Experience Improvement Program as per your preference.

Figure 18-49 Stage 2: Configure CEIP
Step 15. In stage 2’s Ready to complete step, shown in Figures 18-50, 18-51, and 18-52, review the configuration and click Finish to complete the installation. This completes the vCenter Server Appliance installation.

Figure 18-50 Stage 2: Ready to Complete

Figure 18-51 vCenter Server Appliance Setup in Progress

Figure 18-52 vCenter Server Appliance Setup Complete
Step 16. Once the installation is complete, you can log in to the vCenter Server using the link https://vcenter.pod.local:443, as per the configuration we did in Step 9. Click the LAUNCH VSPHERE CLIENT(HTML5) button and log in using the SSO credentials configured in Step 13 (see Figures 18-53, 18-54, and 18-55).

Figure 18-53 Launching the vSphere Client

Figure 18-54 Logging in to the vCenter Server Appliance Using SSO Credentials

Figure 18-55 vCenter Server Appliance Home Page
Step 17. Once the vCenter Server is up and running, you can add hosts to the vCenter Server to manage them. These hosts can be segmented by their location (vCenter sub-unit known as data center) and group (data center sub-unit known as cluster). In this example, we will add the same ESXi host where the vCenter Server Appliance is hosted. Right-click vCenter vcenter.pod.local in the left pane and choose New Datacenter (see Figure 18-56). Provide a name for the data center and click OK (see Figure 18-57).

Figure 18-56 Adding a New Data Center on vCenter Server

Figure 18-57 Naming the New Data Center
Step 18. Right-click the newly created data center and choose Add Host (see Figure 18-58).

Figure 18-58 Adding a Host to the Data Center
Step 19. In the Add Host Wizard’s Name and location step, shown in Figure 18-59, provide the IP address of the host you want to add. In this example, we will add the ESXi host configured in the previous example.

Figure 18-59 Name and Location of the Host
Step 20. In the Add Host Wizard’s Connection settings step, shown in Figure 18-60, enter the root login credentials of the ESXi host and click Next.

Figure 18-60 Root Credentials for Host
Step 21. In the Add Host Wizard’s Host summary step, shown in Figure 18-61, review the host details and click Next.

Figure 18-61 Host Summary
Step 22. In the Add Host Wizard’s Assign license step, shown in Figure 18-62, assign the appropriate license. For this example, we will use the evaluation license.

Figure 18-62 Assigning a License to the Host
Step 23. In the Add Host Wizard’s Lockdown mode step, shown in Figure 18-63, choose the appropriate lockdown mode. Lockdown mode prevents remote users from logging directly in to the host. For this example, we will keep it disabled.

Figure 18-63 Configuring Lockdown Mode for the Host
Step 24. In the Add Host Wizard’s VM location step, shown in Figure 18-64, choose the data center where you want the VM to be located and click Next.

Figure 18-64 Specifying the Data Center for the Host VM
Step 25. In the Add Host Wizard’s Ready to complete step, shown in Figures 18-65 and 18-66, review the information and click Finish. Verify that the ESXi host has been added successfully and that the vCenter virtual machine shows underneath the ESXi host.

Figure 18-65 Verifying Host Details Before Adding the Host

Figure 18-66 Host Successfully Added to vCenter Server