Deploying the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA)

Deployment of the VCSA is done with an installer, which deploys the VCSA VM onto a chosen ESXi host. The installer GUI collects all the information that's required to configure the vCenter server.

There are two types of deployment:

• Embedded Appliance
• Separate vCenter and PSC Appliance (deprecated)

An external PSC was a requirement in the past if you chose to configure Enhanced Linked Mode for your vCenters. This is no longer the case in vSphere 6.7. With vCenter 6.7, the concept of an external PSC is deprecated, and Enhanced Linked Mode between vCenters with embedded PSCs is now fully supported. We will learn more about Enhanced Linked Mode in the Deploying vCenter Servers in a Linked Mode configuration recipe.

Getting ready

Here is what you will need before you install vCenter Server:

• Download the VMware VCSA 6.7 ISO from https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads
• Access to a machine (Windows/Linux/macOS) to run the vCenter installer from
• IP address/FQDN of the ESXi host or the vCeter the VCSA will be deployed on
• IP configuration (static IP address, subnet mask, gateway address, and DNS server addresses)
• A DNS host record for the VCSA

How to do it...

The following procedure will walk you through the steps involved in deploying VCSA 6.7 with an embedded PSC:

1. Mount the VCSA ISO to a machine to run the installer from.
2. Navigate to the CDROM:\\VMware VCSA\vcsa-ui-installer\win32 directory and run installer.exe to bring up the VCSA installer wizard.

Stage 1 of the deployment starts here:

1. On the Stage 1: Deploy appliance screen, click Install.
2. On the Introduction screen, click Next to continue.
3. Accept the End user license agreement and click Next.
4. On the Select deployment type screen, choose Embedded Platform Services Controller:

5. On the Appliance deployment target screen, supply the IP address of the ESXi host or vCenter the VCSA will be deployed on and provide its credentials. Click Next to continue.
6. Accept the vCenter/ESXi certificate by clicking Yes.

7. On the Set up appliance VM screen, specify a VM name for the VCSA and set its root password. The VM name doesn't need to be the same as the hostname or FQDN for the appliance:

8. On the Select deployment size screen, specify a Deployment size and Storage size for the appliance. There is a default storage size for each deployment size. However, this can be overridden by selecting a larger storage size (Large or X-Large) if you want a larger disk (vmdk) for the /storage/seat partition that stores the stats, tasks, events, and alarms:

9. On the Select datastore screen, choose a datastore for the VCSA and click Next to continue. Enable Thin Disk Mode is selected by default.
10. On the Configure network settings screen, choose a VM port group for the VCSA VM, the IP version, and set the IP address type to static. Specify the FQDN, IP address/netmask, gateway, and DNS server addresses. Don't change the Common Ports (HTTP/HTTPS) from 80/443 unless absolutely necessary:

11. On the Ready to complete stage 1 screen, review the settings and click Finish to start deploying the VM.
12. Once the deployment completes, you will be presented with a screen confirming this. Click Continue:

If you accidentally close the wizard or choose to continue at a later time, then the stage 2 installer can be started by connecting to the appliance administration URL, that is, https://VCSA IP or FQDN:5480, and using the Set up vCenter Server Appliance option.

Stage 2 of the deployment starts here:

1. On the Install - Stage 2: Set up vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded PSC screen, click Next.
2. On the Appliance Configuration screen, specify a Time synchronization mode and enable SSH access (disabled by default).
3. On the SSO configuration screen, choose to Create a new SSO domain. Specify a domain name (the default is vsphere.local) and set the password for the SSO administrator:

4. On the Configure CEIP screen, choose to uncheck the Join VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CIEP).
5. On the Ready to complete screen, review the settings and click FINISH to initiate the configuration:

6. You will be prompted with a warning indicating that once you choose to continue, the operation cannot be stopped. Click OK to continue.
7. Once the setup/configuration is complete, you will be presented with a confirmation screen and the URL (https://FQDN of vCSA:443) to vCenter's Getting Started page. Click Close to exit the installer.

This finishes the installation, and you will now be able to get to vCenter's Getting Started page:

How it works...

The process of deploying a VCSA is split into two phases. In phase 1, the installer deploys a vCenter appliance virtual machine based on the sizing requirements specified, while in phase 2, you need to specify the SSO configuration. It is a general practice to take a snapshot of the newly deployed VCSA after phase 1 so that it can be reused if phase 2 of the installation were to fail for any reason.