Installing the Home Lab – Installing vCenter 5.5 on Windows 2012R2
1st December 2013This 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.
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.
SQL 2012 Native Client Installation
Now it’s time to install the SQL Native client and configure the ODBC settings.
Installation is straight forward, accept all the defaults and click finish to install.
Go to Search and type in odbc, you need to run the 64bit version.
Choose the System DSN tab and click Add, choose the SQL Server Native Client driver and click Finish
Enter the Name, Description and choose the SQL Server from the drop down list, click Next
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
Click Next
Click Finish
Click Test Data Source
Click OK
Click OK
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.
To make things easy I have gone for the Simple Install, click Install
Click Next
Click I accept the terms in the License Agreement then click Next
Click Next
Enter your password twice and click Next
Click Next
Click Next
Click Next
Click Install
After the SSO installation completes you may be prompted with the above screen, click No
The Web Client and Inventory Service installations complete without any user input
Click No
You can either enter your license key now or install the 60 Day evaluation, click Next
Choose Use an existing supported database and click the entry in the drop down, click Next
Enter the password and click Next
Use either the local system account or enter another account name, click Next
Click Next
As this is a small home lab installation I have accepted the Small Inventory Size, click Next
Click Install
Click OK
Configuring vSphere Web Client
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
Click Administration
Click Configuration and on the Identity Sources tab click the green +
Choose Active Directory (Integrated Windows Authentication), click Next
We now need to change the default domain to the newly added Active Directory domain.
Highlight the Active Directory domain and click the little world icon next to the green + sign, you will receive the following warning.
Click Yes
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
Choose the Active Directory domain and choose the required user and click OK
Grant the required role and click OK
Finally we need to grant permissions to the vCenter server, click Home
Click vCenter
Click vCenter Servers
Click the Permissions tab and add the user\group to the Administrator Role on the vCenter Server
Logout the Administrator@vsphere.local user.
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