Vsphere ICM7 Lab 03

VMWARE VSPHERE 7.
0:
INSTALL, CONFIGURE, MANAGE
Lab 03: Working with vCenter Server

Document Version: 2020-11-04
Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc.

www.netdevgroup.com
NETLAB+ is a registered trademark of Network Development Group, Inc.
VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc.

Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 3
Objectives............................................................................................................................ 3
Lab Topology....................................................................................................................... 4
Lab Settings ......................................................................................................................... 5
1 Prepare the Lab Environment for vCenter Server Install............................................ 6
2 Deploy vCenter Server Appliance ............................................................................. 18
3 Access vCenter Server Appliance.............................................................................. 35
4 License vCenter Server Appliance............................................................................. 38
11/6/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 2

Introduction
In this lab, you will install and use vCenter Server Appliance.
This lab is supplemental and takes approximately two hours to

complete. Be prepared to wait up to 20 minutes in this lab for task 2.
It is also advised that you make the reservation for 3 hours.
Objectives
 Deploy vCenter Server Appliance

 Complete the vCenter Server Appliance deployment
 Access the vCenter Server Appliance
 License the vCenter Server Appliance

Lab Topology

Lab Settings
The information in the table below will be needed in order to complete the lab. The
task sections below provide details on the use of this information.
Virtual Machine IP Address Account Password
sa-esxi-01 eth0: 172.20.10.51 root Train1ng$
sa-aio eth0: 172.20.10.10 sysadmin vmware123
sa-student eth0: 172.20.10.80 sysadmin vmware123
sa-vcsa eth0: 172.20.10.94 sysadmin@vclass.local vmware123

1 Prepare the Lab Environment for vCenter Server Install
In this task, you will prepare the lab environment to start the process of installing vCSA.
Please allow sufficient time to complete this lab. You will be

completing a full install of a vCenter Server Appliance which will take
approximately 2 hours from beginning to finish. There will be two
tasks that will take 20 minutes to complete.
1. Launch the sa-student virtual machine to access the graphical login screen.
To launch the console window for a virtual machine, you may access by
either clicking on the machine’s graphic image from the topology page
or by clicking on the machine’s respective tab from the navigation bar.
2. Log in as sysadmin using the password vmware123.

3. Launch the Mozilla Firefox web browser by either clicking on the icon shortcut
found on the bottom toolbar or by navigating to Start Menu > Internet > Firefox
Web Browser.
4. Notice the homepage is automatically configured to load the URL address of the
VMware vCenter Server Appliance (sa-vcsa virtual machine). Click on the LAUNCH
VSPHERE CLIENT (HTML5) button to launch the vSphere Client.
If you cannot successfully load the VMware Getting Started webpage,

then please wait an additional 3-5 minutes and refresh the page to
continue. During this time, the vCenter Server Appliance is still
booting up and requires extra time to initialize.

5. In the Username text field, type sysadmin@vclass.local and in the Password text
field, type vmware123. Click on LOGIN.
You may ignore the “browser-OS combination” warning message

presented on the VMware vCenter Single Sign-On page and continue
moving forward with the lab.
6. In the navigator pane, click on the Storage tab.
7. Expand the Datacenter object in the navigator pane, right-click on iSCSI-LUN0 and
select Browse Files.

8. In the main workspace, access the Class Files folder, select the VMware-VCSA-all-
7.0.0-15952498.iso file, and then click on Download.
9. In the download dialog box, select Save File and click OK.

10. In the Enter name of file to save to window, verify VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.0.-

15952498.iso is showing in the Name Field. Select Downloads and click Save.
11. Before you start the vCenter Server Appliance deployment, you need to increase disk
space for the minimum required storage space of 25GB. Navigate back to the
vSphere Client and select the Storage tab. Right-click on iSCSI-LUN0 and select
Increase Datastore Capacity.

12. In the Increase Datastore Capacity window, on the Select Device step, select the IET
iSCSI Disk LUN 0 option and click Next.
13. On the Specify Configuration step, choose Use “Free space 15.5 GB” to expand the
datastore in the Partition Configuration dropdown menu and click Next.

14. On the Ready to Complete step, review the information and click Finish.
15. Monitor the Recent Tasks pane and verify the Datastore is expanded. Once
complete, continue to the next step.
16. Once the datastore is expanded, access the downloaded file by first clicking on the
Places icon in the bottom toolbar. Click Downloads.

17. Verify the VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.0-15952498.iso is showing in the Downloads – File

Manager.
18. Minimize the Downloads – File Manager window.

19. In the vSphere Client, select Menu and click Administration.

20. In the left pane, select System Configuration. In the System Configuration window,
expand 172.20.10.94 and click LOGIN.
21. On the VMware vCenter Server Management window, enter sysadmin@vclass.local

as the user and vmware123 for the password. Click LOGIN.
22. In the vCenter Server Management window, expand Actions and click Shutdown.
23. On the System Shutdown window, click YES.

24. In this step, you will add iSCSI-LUN0 to sa-esxi-03. In the Firefox window, type
https://172.20.10.53 in the address bar and press Enter.
25. On the VMware ESXi host login screen, type root for the user and Train1ng$ for the
Password. Click Log in.
26. In the Navigator pane, select Storage.
27. On the sa-esxi-03.netlab.local – Storage window, select the Adapters tab. Click on
Software iSCSI.
28. On the Configure iSCSI window, click Enabled to configure iSCSI.

29. On the Network Port bindings option, click Add port binding.
30. On the Select a VMkernel interface window, select vmk0. Click Select.
31. On the Dynamic targets option, click Add dynamic target.
32. In the Dynamic targets Address field, type 172.20.11.10 and click Save
configuration.
33. On the Adapters tab, click Rescan. If the vmhba65 iSCSI adapter is not showing after
rescanning, click Refresh. Verify vmhba65 appears.

34. Click on the Datastores tab, select NFS-1 and click Refresh.
35. Verify iSCSI-LUN0 appears.
36. Close Mozilla Firefox by clicking the X in the upper-right corner.
37. In the Quit and close tabs window, click Close Tabs.
38. Continue to the next task.

2 Deploy vCenter Server Appliance
In this task, you will go through the process of deploying a VMware vCenter Server
Appliance on your sa-esxi-03 host.
There are two stages to deploy vCenter Server. Stage 1 will take
approximately 20 minutes and Stage 2 will also take approximately 20
minutes to complete. This task will take 40 minutes to complete. Be
prepared to wait patiently until the full install has completed.
1. On the sa-student machine, launch a terminal by clicking on the Terminal Emulator

icon on the bottom toolbar.
2. Change to the superuser by entering the command below, followed by pressing the
Enter key. When prompted for a password, type vmware123 and press Enter.
sysadmin@sa-student-01:~$ sudo su
3. Make a directory called vcsa to mount the iso. /mnt/vcsa
root@sa-student-01:/home/sysadmin# mkdir /mnt/vcsa
4. Mount the vCSA installer ISO to the /mnt/vcsa/ path.
root@sa-student-01:/home/sysadmin# mount /home/sysadmin/Downloads/VMware-

VCSA-all-7.0.0-15952498.iso /mnt/vcsa/

5. Verify that the ISO contents have been successfully mounted to the path.
root@sa-student-01:/home/sysadmin# ls /mnt/vcsa
6. Initiate the VMware vCSA installer application.
root@sa-student-01:/home/sysadmin# /mnt/vcsa/vcsa-ui-
installer/lin64/installer
7. Notice the vCenter Server Appliance Installer window appears. Click Install.

8. On the Introduction page, click Next to continue.
Notice the informational message that the External Platform Services

Controller has been deprecated. Therefore, it has carried over to v7
and will not be available in future releases. You may ignore the
message.

9. On the End user license agreement page, select the I accept the terms of the license
agreement checkbox and click Next.

10. On the vCenter Server deployment target page, enter the following information into
their appropriate text fields:
a. ESXi host or vCenter Server name: sa-esxi-03.vclass.local
b. HTTPS port: 443
c. Username: root
d. Password: Train1ng$
e. Click Next.

11. Notice the Certificate Warning dialog box, review and click Yes to continue.
12. On the Set up vCenter Server VM page, enter 172.20.10.95 in the VM name field and
enter Train1ng$ for both the Root password and the Confirm root password text
fields. Click Next.

13. On the Select deployment size page, accept the default, Tiny, and click Next.

14. On the Select datastore page, select iSCSI-LUN0 as the deployment datastore and
check Enable Thin Disk Mode. Click Next.

15. On the Configure network settings page, configure the following:

a. Network: VM Network
b. IP version: IPv4
c. IP assignment: static
d. FQDN: 172.20.10.95
e. IP address: 172.20.10.95
f. Subnet mask or prefix: 255.255.255.0
g. Default gateway: 172.20.10.10
h. DNS servers: 172.20.10.10
i. Click Next.

16. On the Ready to complete stage 1 page, review the details and click Finish.
Due to the deployment process potentially taking 20 minutes, it is

advised to continuously monitor the process of stage 1.
17. Monitor the Install – Stage 1: Deploy vCenter Server window. Once it completes,
proceed to the next step.

18. Once Stage 1 completes, on the Install – Stage 1: Deploy vCenter Server window,
click Continue.
19. Notice the Install - Stage 2 wizard appears. On the Introduction page, click Next to
proceed.

20. On the vCenter Server configuration step, verify the Time synchronization mode is
set to Synchronize time with the ESXi host. Click Next.

21. On the SSO configuration page, ensure the radio button for Create a new SSO
domain is selected and enter the following:
a. Single Sign-On domain name: vclass.local
b. Single Sign-On password: Train1ng$
c. Confirm password: Train1ng$
d. Click Next.

22. On the Configure CEIP page, deselect the Join the VMware’s Customer Experience
Improvement Program. Click Next.

23. On the Ready to complete page, review the configurations and click Finish.
24. On the Warning window, click OK.

25. Monitor the Install – Stage 2: vCenter Server Setup is in progress window.
Stage 2 of the vCenter Server setup will take up to 20 minutes to

complete. Monitor the progress by viewing the status window.
26. Once Stage 2 is complete, notice the IP address of your newly created vCenter
Server Appliance. Click Close.
27. If you get the Failed to execute default Web Browser error, click Close.

28. Continue to the next task.

3 Access vCenter Server Appliance
In this task, you will verify access to your new vCenter Server Appliance.
1. Open a new Firefox window by clicking on the Firefox icon located in the taskbar.
2. In the address field, type https://172.20.10.95 and press Enter.
3. On the Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead window, click Advanced and Accept
the Risk and Continue.

4. Once the VMware Getting Started page appears, click on the Launch vSphere Client
(HTML5) button.
5. Log in to vCenter Server using administrator@vclass.local as the username and

Train1ng$ as the password.

6. Once you have logged in to your newly create vCenter Server, you may navigate
vCenter at your convenience.
7. Leave the vSphere Web Client open and continue to the next task.

4 License vCenter Server Appliance
In this task, you will add VMware vCenter Server 7 license to VMware vCenter Server.
1. Change focus to the sa-student desktop. Open the Places folder and click
Documents.
2. In the Documents - File Manager window, open the VMware vSphere 7 Lab
Licenses text file.

3. In the VMware vSphere 7 Lab Licenses text file, copy the VMware vCenter license key
by pressing Ctrl+C.
4. Close the VMware vSphere 7 Lab Licenses text file and Documents folder by clicking
the x in the upper-right corner of the windows.
5. On the main vSphere Web Client page, click Manage Your License.
6. Click Add New License.

7. In the New Licenses window, on the Enter license keys step, paste (CTRL+V) in the
text field and make sure the correct license key has been populated for vCenter
Server. Click Next.
8. On the Edit license names step, enter VMware vCenter as the license name for its
respective key and click Next.
9. On the Ready to complete step, click Finish.

10. In the main workspace, click on the Assets tab.
11. On the Assets tab, select the vCenter Server Systems tab and check the checkbox for
172.20.10.95. Click Assign License.
12. In the Assign License window, select the VMware vCenter radio button and click OK.

13. In the main workspace, click on the Licenses tab. Your newly created VMware
vCenter Server Appliance is now licensed.
14. The lab is now complete; you may end the reservation.

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VMWARE VSPHERE 7.

Lab 03: Working with vCenter Server

Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc.

NETLAB+ is a registered trademark of Network Development Group, Inc.

VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc.

11/6/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 2

This lab is supplemental and takes approximately two hours to

 Deploy vCenter Server Appliance

11/6/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 3

11/6/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 4

Virtual Machine IP Address Account Password

sa-esxi-01 eth0: 172.20.10.51 root Train1ng$

sa-esxi-02 eth0: 172.20.10.52 root Train1ng$

sa-esxi-03 eth0: 172.20.10.53 root Train1ng$

sa-aio eth0: 172.20.10.10 sysadmin vmware123

sa-student eth0: 172.20.10.80 sysadmin vmware123

sa-vcsa eth0: 172.20.10.94 sysadmin@vclass.local vmware123

11/6/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 5

1 Prepare the Lab Environment for vCenter Server Install

Please allow sufficient time to complete this lab. You will be

2. Log in as sysadmin using the password vmware123.

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If you cannot successfully load the VMware Getting Started webpage,

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You may ignore the “browser-OS combination” warning message

6. In the navigator pane, click on the Storage tab.

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10. In the Enter name of file to save to window, verify VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.0.-

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17. Verify the VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.0-15952498.iso is showing in the Downloads – File

18. Minimize the Downloads – File Manager window.

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21. On the VMware vCenter Server Management window, enter sysadmin@vclass.local

23. On the System Shutdown window, click YES.

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26. In the Navigator pane, select Storage.

28. On the Configure iSCSI window, click Enabled to configure iSCSI.

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31. On the Dynamic targets option, click Add dynamic target.

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35. Verify iSCSI-LUN0 appears.

36. Close Mozilla Firefox by clicking the X in the upper-right corner.

38. Continue to the next task.

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2 Deploy vCenter Server Appliance

1. On the sa-student machine, launch a terminal by clicking on the Terminal Emulator

3. Make a directory called vcsa to mount the iso. /mnt/vcsa

root@sa-student-01:/home/sysadmin# mkdir /mnt/vcsa

4. Mount the vCSA installer ISO to the /mnt/vcsa/ path.

root@sa-student-01:/home/sysadmin# mount /home/sysadmin/Downloads/VMware-

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6. Initiate the VMware vCSA installer application.

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8. On the Introduction page, click Next to continue.

Notice the informational message that the External Platform Services

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