vCenter Installation

Stage 1: vCenter Server Deployment

1. Mount the ISO on your server/laptop, navigate to vcsa-ui-installer\win32, and run installer.exe as Administrator.

   

2. Choose Install.

   

3. Click Next.

   

4. Accept License and click Next.

   

5. Type the IP or hostname of your ESXi to which the new vCenter Server Appliance will be deployed. Type root password and click Next.

   

6. Click Yes on Certificate Warning.

   

7. Type the desired vCenter Server Appliance VM name with the new root password. Click Next.

   

8. Select deployment size. Click Next.

   The required storage space is 579 GB; however, you can choose a storage with less free space.

   CPU and RAM requirements are non-negotiable; you will not be able to install vCenter 8 if the ESXi host has less than 14 GB of free memory.

   

9. Select the desired datastore and select Enable Thin Disk Mode. Click Next.

   

10. Type your IP details and click Next.

11. Click Finish and wait for completion.

Installation in progress.

You can observe the task in ESXi.

Once finished click Continue.

Stage 2: Set up vCenter Server

1. Click Next on the Introduction screen.

   

2. Time synchronization mode choose with ESXi. For SSH access, it is up to your preferences; SSH access can be enabled anytime after installation.

   

3. Select Create a new SSO domain and type your password.

   

4. Join CEIP if you want.

   

5. Click Finish and OK.

   

   

   vCenter setup in progress.

   

   vCenter setup done.

   

Adding ESXi hosts to vCenter

1. Once vCenter is up and running, it is time to add ESXi host. Go to vCenter Web Client:

   https://vCenter_IP_or_hostname

   If you want to use the hostname, make sure you have added your vCenter IP to the hosts file!

   Login with administrator@vsphere.local

   

2. Right-click on your vCenter and choose a new Datacenter.

   

3. Type the desired Datacenter name and click OK.

   

4. Now, let's create a cluster. Right-click on your Datacenter and choose New Cluster. Type the desired cluster name and choose settings. Click Next and Finish.

   You can skip this step if you will use only one ESXi.

   

   

5. Right-click on the cluster and choose Add hosts.

   

6. Type all the hosts that you want to add.

   

7. Confirm the security alert.

   

8. Host summary click next. Review click Finish.

   Yes, you can add ESXi 7.0 to vCenter 8.

   

   

   Hosts added to vCenter.

   

   In vCenter 8, you might have an issue when adding Host using FQDN. If you have an error "Cannot contact host.." even if your DNS settings are ok, you might try to restart DNS cache service on vCenter.

   To restart the service, connect to your vCenter Server by SSH and use the following command:

   service dnsmasq restart

   

That's it! Your vCenter 8.0 is ready to use!