HOW TO: Deploy and Install VMware vSphere vCenter Server 7.0 (VCSA 7.0)

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)VMware and Virtualization Consultant
CERTIFIED EXPERT
EE Fellow, MVE, Expert of the Year 2021,2017-11, Scribe 2016-2012, Author of the Year 2018-6,2013-2012 VMware vExpert Pro, vExpert 2022-2011
Published:
Edited by: Andrew Leniart
In this article, I will show you step by step with screenshots to assist you - HOW TO: Deploy and Install the VMware vSphere vCenter Server 7.0 (VCSA 7.0), with some helpful tips along the way.
In my previous Experts Exchange Articles, most have featured Basic and Intermediate VMware and Virtualisation Topics.

If you would like to read my Basic VMware articles, they are listed at the end of this article for your convenience.

This article will show you HOW TO: Deploy and Install the VMware vCenter Server 7.0, also known as VCSA 7.0.

Please note the following:-

  1. There is no VMware vSphere vCenter Server 7.0 for Microsoft Windows.
  2. There is no vSphere Client application, access is now provided via a Web Browser. (Web Client).
  3. VMware vSphere vCenter Server 7.0 is an appliance-based on Photon OS (an Open Source Linux distribution), which is deployed to a VMware vSphere Hypervisor. (ESXi).
  4. There is an OVA present in the ISO. vCenter Server is not designed to be deployed from the OVA. Use the vcsa-ui-installer see below.

Download the VMware-VCSA-all-x.y.z-abcdefg.iso (DVD image) from VMware. The filename used in this tutorial is called VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.0-16749653.iso, the build number and filename are likely to change in the future when it's been updated to a newer version. At the time of writing this article, the latest build of vCenter Server was vCenter Server 7.0.0d.

Burn or Mount the VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.0-16749653.iso (DVD image) on your Administration workstation. (The Personal Computer where you perform your daily server and network administration).

In the vcsa-ui-installer\win32 folder on the DVD, click the installer.exe file to start the installation the VMware vCenter Server 7.0.

1. Installing VMware vCenter Server 7.0.




At the vCenter Server 7.0 Installer screen, click Install.



At the Install - Stage 1: Deploy vCenter Server, click Next to continue.



Accept the terms of the License Agreement, and click Next to continue.



Enter the Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDN) of a VMware vSphere ESXi Host Server, that will host the appliance. Please get used to using FQDN of devices and servers used in your VMware vSphere infrastructure, many failures are observed in Expert Exchange posts, because of non-working DNS. It is very important to have functioning DNS, and ALL servers having registered A Records before starting the installation. I am going to repeat this again because it's still not getting through to VMware Administrators

DO NOT USE IP ADDRESSES FOR DEVICES IN YOUR VMWARE VSPHERE ENVIRONMENT.

PLEASE MAKE SURE ALL DEVICES HAVE FULLY QUALIFIED DOMAIN NAMES. (FQDNS). YOU NEED TO ENSURE YOU CAN PING AND TRACEROUTE TO ALL DEVICES IN YOUR VMWARE VSPHERE ENVIRONMENT.

You may need to consult your network team, or DNS team before you start a deployment, and have them create A Records for ESXi hosts and vCenter Server in advance of your starting the deployment.



Click Yes, if a certificate warning is displayed. (this is likely if your certificate does not match your FQDN or you are using the default VMware untrusted SSL certificates).



Enter the name for the vCenter Server 7.0 or accept the defaults. This is the name which will appear in the inventory. Enter and remember the password for the appliance. The password needs to be a complex password.

 
Select the deployment size.

  • Embedded-Tiny (up to 10 hosts, 100 VMs) - 2 vCPU and 12GB of memory
  • Embedded-Small (up to 100 hosts, 1,000 VMs) - 4 vCPU and 19GB of memory
  • Embedded-Medium (up to 400 hosts, 4,000 VMs) - 8 vCPU and 28GB of memory
  • Embedded-Large (up to 1000 hosts, 10,000 VMs) - 16 vCPU and 37GB of memory
  • Embedded-X-Large (up to 2000 hosts, 35000 VMs) - 24 vCPU and 56GB of memory.

In this tutorial, we are going to deploy a tiny appliance, but make sure you have 2 vCPU and 12GB of memory in the ESXi host server. vCenter Server 7.0 is very resource-intensive and can take up to 30 minutes to startup from power on. Remember this!!!



Select a datastore to install the appliance, and select Next to continue.



Enter network settings for the appliance, we have specified a static IP Address and an FQDN of vcsa70d.cyrus-consultants.co.uk.  

You will get a warning if the System Name of the appliance, is not resolvable to an IP Address. Please make sure you have created a DNS A Record for the FQDN of the appliance before installation has started.

Review the settings, and click Finish to start the installation and deployment of VMware vCenter Server 7.0.

vCenter Server starts to be deployed.



Packages are deployed, this may take several minutes.



Packages are deployed



The installer has successfully deployed vCenter Server.

2. Configuring VMware vCenter Server 7.0.


Click Continue to proceed with Stage 2 of the deployment process.



Click Next to continue



We also selected an external NTP server for time synchronization and enabled SSH. Accurate time synchronization is very important for Single Sign-On. If vCenter Server time is not synchronised with ESXi host time, you will not be able to add them to vCenter Server!



The NTP settings are saved.



Setup and Configure Single-Sign-On. (Remember the password!). Enter a password, for Single Sign-On, SSO Domain Name. I would recommend, using vsphere.local for the SSO domain name, and remembering the password! It's easily forgotten.



Please remember your password for the SSO account Administrator@vsphere.local.



Select if you want to join VMware's Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). The VMware improvement program is very beneficial in vSphere 7.0!

Click Next to continue.

Review the summary screen, and click Finish.

You will not be able to pause or stop the install from completing once it's started. Click OK to continue, or Cancel to stop the install. If the FQDN you have used is NOT RESOLVABLE your configuration of the appliance WILL FAIL.

HINT: Make sure you have a working Domain Name Server (DNS). Your VMware vSphere infrastructure is only as good as your networking, and DNS.


The services are started, it can take some time for all the services to start




The installation has been completed successfully, click the FQDN URL, to access vCenter Server using the vSphere Web Client.



Click Launch vSphere Client (IHTML5).



Enter your Administrator@vsphere.local username and password. (you did remember the password!). Many VMware Administrators get confused by this login, just remember Administrator@vsphere.local, is your SSO or Superuser account, which allows you later to configure vCenter Server and grant user access.

You are connected to vCenter Server



Congratulations you have successfully deployed and installed the VMware vCenter Server 7.0.

Basic VMware Articles Series:

These articles are also applicable to VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi 5.0, 5.5, 6.0.
                         
These articles are applicable to VMware vSphere Hypervisor 6.5.










These articles are applicable to VMware vSphere Hypervisor 6.7.









Previous articles in this VMware vSphere 7.0 series are here.











 









If you found this tutorial helpful, please do click the Thumbs-Up icon below. This lets me know what is valuable for EE members and provides direction for future articles. If you have a related question based on this article, please click here.

Thank you very much! 

Regards, Andy
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Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)VMware and Virtualization Consultant
CERTIFIED EXPERT
EE Fellow, MVE, Expert of the Year 2021,2017-11, Scribe 2016-2012, Author of the Year 2018-6,2013-2012 VMware vExpert Pro, vExpert 2022-2011

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