Installing vCenter 5.5 on Windows 2012R2

This post will detail all the steps required to install vCenter 5.5a on to a Windows 2012R2 guest machine, I should add that at the time of writing 2012R2 isn’t on the supported OS list and that there is an additional step that needs to be done to ensure that the installation succeeds first time.

You will need to get a copy of OCSetup.exe because for some insane reason Microsoft dropped the use of it in Windows 2012R2 (it’s present in 2012). As a side note you can also use a copy of the file from Windows 2008R2 if you don’t have 2012 available. Once you have a copy place it in the C:\Windows\System32 folder.

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Next up you need to ensure that you have the 64bit version of the SQL Native Client for the version of SQL you’re running for the installation. In my case I am running SQL 2012 but here are some links to both SQL 2008 and SQL 2012 Native Clients.

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 native 64bit client

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 native 64bit client

Once downloaded I placed it on my desktop for easy use.

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SQL 2012 Native Client Installation

Now it’s time to install the SQL Native client and configure the ODBC settings.

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Installation is straight forward, accept all the defaults and click finish to install.

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Go to Search and type in odbc, you need to run the 64bit version.

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Choose the System DSN tab and click Add, choose the SQL Server Native Client driver and click Finish

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Enter the Name, Description and choose the SQL Server from the drop down list, click Next

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Use SQL Server Authentication and use the Login ID and Password used when we created the vCenter and VUM databases in an earlier post, click Next

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Click Next

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Click Finish

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Click Test Data Source

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Click OK

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Click OK

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Click OK

vCenter 5.5. Installation

I am installing vCenter Server 5.5.0a that was launched recently to fix the issue with Active Directory authentication failing when the SSO was installed on to a Windows 2012 Server, the fix prior to this release was to use a patched idm.dll file issued by VMware (more information can be found at http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2060901).

To start the installation mount your ISO image and run the autorun.exe file.

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To make things easy I have gone for the Simple Install, click Install

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Click Next

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Click I accept the terms in the License Agreement then click Next

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Click Next

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Enter your password twice and click Next

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Click Next

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Click Next

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Click Next

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Click Install

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After the SSO installation completes you may be prompted with the above screen, click No

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The Web Client and Inventory Service installations complete without any user input

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Click No

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You can either enter your license key now or install the 60 Day evaluation, click Next

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Choose Use an existing supported database and click the entry in the drop down, click Next

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Enter the password and click Next

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Use either the local system account or enter another account name, click Next

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Click Next

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As this is a small home lab installation I have accepted the Small Inventory Size, click Next

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Click Install

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Click OK

Configuring vSphere Web Client

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Launch a browser to https://nameofserver:9443/vsphere-client/ to launch the web client, log in with administrator@vsphere.local and the password used earlier during the installation

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Click Administration

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Click Configuration and on the Identity Sources tab click the green +

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Choose Active Directory (Integrated Windows Authentication), click Next

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We now need to change the default domain to the newly added Active Directory domain.

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Highlight the Active Directory domain and click the little world icon next to the green + sign, you will receive the following warning.

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Click Yes

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Next we need to add the required users\groups to vCenter. Click the Groups and highlight the Administrators group, in the Group Properties in the bottom half of the screen click the Add Member button

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Choose the Active Directory domain and choose the required user and click OK

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Grant the required role and click OK

Finally we need to grant permissions to the vCenter server, click Home

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Click vCenter

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Click vCenter Servers

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Click the Permissions tab and add the user\group to the Administrator Role on the vCenter Server

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Logout the Administrator@vsphere.local user.

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Log in to vCenter using either the Thick or Web Client using your Active Directory User.

In this post I have covered installing the SQL Native Client and the vCenter 5.5 Simple Installation, in the next post I will cover Creating Data Centers and Adding Hosts

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