Installing VCSA

Now that we have an ESXi host, we can then deploy VCSA as a virtual machine.

VCSA stands for “VMware vCenter Server Appliance”. This is a virtual machine that is pre-configured and optimized for running the VMware vCenter Server and its services.

I have downloaded the VCSA installer ISO file from the Broadcom download portal. The version I chose is 8.0.3. The file name was:

VMware-VCSA-all-8.0.3-24022515.iso

Similar to the ESXi installation, this one is also simple and straightforward.

The following is the series of steps and the screens that I captured as the installation progressed to completion. I used a Windows machine to mount the ISO file as a CD/DVD drive.

Using the File Explorer, find the ISO file and then right-click on it and click “Mount”:

Click the DVD drive to view its contents. Double-click the vcsa-ui-installer folder to open it and view its contents.

Open the win32 folder, and then find the installer file and double-click it to launch it.

Welcome to the vCenter Server 8.0 Installer! Click “Install” to continue.

See the Introduction and click “Next” to continue.

Accept the EULA and click “Next”.

Enter the target ESXi host.

Accept the certificate warning.

Name the vCenter VM, and set the root password.

Pick a “T-shirt size”. Tiny works for me as I foresee that I won’t be deploying more than 100 VM’s.

Select the datastore to install vCenter. Click “Enable Thin Disk Mode” for some efficiency on storage.

Configure the Network Settings. Configure the usual settings here.

Review your settings, and then click “Finish” to continue.

Watch paint dry.

Just be patient.

You have successfully deployed the vCenter Server!

Continue to set up the vCenter Server.

Set up NTP and enable ssh access.

Set the credentials for the administrator account.

Configure CEIP.

Review your settings. Click Finish to continue.

Setup in progress.

Stage 2 Set Up completed.

Using your browser, go to your vCenter URL and log in with the administrator account.

Create a New Datacenter, by right-clicking on the vCenter object and selecting “New Datacenter”. I named it “Datacenter”.

Create a Cluster. Right-click on the “Datacenter” object and select “New Cluster”.

Name your Cluster. Enable DRS because it will be required for the TKGI foundation. Don’t enable HA because I only have 1 host.

Set the image to be used for the cluster. This image should correspond with the ESXi version installed in the host.

Review and continue.

In the Cluster Quickstart page, the “Cluster basics” should now be completed and marked with a green checkmark. Click “Add hosts”.

Add the host to the cluster.

Review the security alert on the host certificate, and continue accordingly.

Review Host Summary and click “Next”.

Select the host to import the image from.

Review and click “Finish” to continue.

In the Quickstart page, the “Add hosts” step should now be complete and marked with a green checkmark. Also, the host should now appear under the cluster in the left pane.

In the Updates tab of the Cluster, click “Hosts->Image”. Click the “CHECK COMPLIANCE” button, and wait for the check to complete. It should show that all the hosts in the cluster are compliant.

Assign a valid license for vCenter product. Right-click on the vCenter object and click “Assign License”.

Go to “New License” and add the License key.

Go to “Existing Licenses” and view the Licenses added in this vCenter instance.

Congratulations! Your vCenter is now up and running!