Importing vcenter Server Appliance 6.5 in workstation 14

The vsphere OVA or OVF file can be imported directly in the version of VMware Workstation 14.0. This section provides an example of an OVF import of vcenter Server Appliance 6.5 in VMware Workstation 14.0.

Description in the actual production environment, VCenter server is deployed in an ESXi virtual machine. If you are using an experimental environment built with VMware Workstation, ESXi is already a virtual machine, and it is a "nested" virtual machine with poor performance if the VMs are deployed and run in an ESXi virtual machine. For a better experience, it is recommended that you deploy Vcenter server directly in a workstation virtual machine.

In vsphere 6.0, create Windows Server R2 in workstation or Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016 virtual machines and install the Windows version of Vcenter Server 6.0 in the virtual machine, or you can deploy Vcenter server Appliance (VCSA) in workstation. In the release of Vsphere 6.5, it is recommended to use VCSA 6.5 in a production environment.

Deploying VCSA 6.5 in VMware Workstation is simple, as long as the VCSA 6.5 iso file is loaded with a virtual optical drive and the OVF file is imported. The main steps are described below. (This section takes Vmware-vcsa-all-6.5.0-5705665.iso as an example).

(1) using the virtual CD-ROM to load Vmware-vcsa-all-6.5.0-5705665.iso, browse to expand the VCSA folder, you can see the VCSA OVA file.

(2) in VMware Workstation, click the File menu to select the Open command, in the Open dialog box, browse to the VCSA folder of the virtual CD-ROM that is loaded in step (1), and select the OVA file.

(3) In the Import Virtual Machine dialog box, the VMware VCenter Server License agreement is ejected and the license agreement is accepted.

(4) Set the name of the new virtual machine (this example is vcsa-80.5), click Browse to select the storage path for the new virtual machine, and this example selects e:\vSAN01\vcsa-80.5.

(5) In the Deployment Options dialog box, select Tiny vCenter Server with Embedded PSC, as shown in 8-2-46.

(6) In the Properties dialog box, in the Networking Configuration option, enter IPv4 in the "host network IP Address Family" text box, in the "Host network Mode" Enter static in the text box; Enter the IP address of the vcenter server currently being deployed in the "host network IPs", this example is 192.168.80.5; in the "Host network Prefix", enter the subnet mask bit number, This is 24 (for 255.255.255.0); Enter the gateway in Host Network Default Gateway, the current example is 192.168.80.2, enter the DNS name in the "Host network DNS Servers" text box , this example is 192.168.80.2, as shown in the "Host Network identtity" input 192.168.80.5;8-2-47.

Figure 8-2-46 Deployment options

Figure 8-2-47 Network Configuration

(7) Click the SSO Configuration tab to set the SSO account (default to [email protected]) password, where you need to set a complex password (uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, non-numeric characters, longer than 6 bits);) Click the System Configuration tab, set the root account password. Then click the Import button to start importing VCSA.

(8) After the virtual machine is imported, the VCSA virtual machine starts automatically, modifies the virtual machine configuration, and changes the NIC from the default "bridge" to "NAT", as shown in 8-2-53.

(9) After waiting patiently, the management address of the setting appears directly in the console of VMware Workstation, as shown in 8-2-55.

Figure 8-2-53 Modifying the NIC

Figure 8-2-55 IP Address already configured

(10) Open IE browser at this time, enter https://192.168.80.5:5480, first will let enter the password (Figure 8-2-49 set root password), will display the system configuration interface, and so on, after the vcenter server system started, configuration is complete, Shown in 8-2-58.

Figure 8-2-58 Deployment Complete

(11) After the deployment is complete, when you log on to the https://192.168.80.5 or Https://192.168.80.5/vsphere-client page, you are prompted to close, and you cannot log in directly. This is the reason why there is no "trust" root certificate. Use the download software (such as IDM) to download the root certificate file from Https://192.168.80.5/certs/download.zip, download and unzip, install and trust the root certificate with the CRT extension in the "Certs\win" directory (add it to the " Local computer → trusted Root certification authority), Access https://192.168.80.5/vsphere-client in the browser again, use the default username [email protected], login with the password set at setup, Shown in 8-2-61.

Figure 8-2-61 Login to the vsphere Web Client

Importing vcenter Server Appliance 6.5 in workstation 14