VMWARE VSPHERE 6.

7:
INSTALL, CONFIGURE, MANAGE

Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

Document Version: 2019-04-17

Copyright © 2019 Network Development Group, Inc.

www.netdevgroup.com

NETLAB Academy Edition, NETLAB Professional Edition, and NETLAB+ are registered trademarks of Network Development Group, Inc.

VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc.

Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 3
Objectives............................................................................................................................ 3
Lab Topology ....................................................................................................................... 4
Lab Settings ......................................................................................................................... 5
1 Deploy vCenter Server Appliance ............................................................................... 6
2 Complete the vCenter Server Appliance Deployment.............................................. 21
3 Access and Configure vCenter Server Appliance ...................................................... 27
4 Add Your ESXi Host to the vCenter Server Inventory ............................................... 36
5 Configure the ESXi Host as an NTP Client ................................................................. 42
6 Back Up vCenter Server Appliance ........................................................................... 44

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

Introduction

In this lab, you will install and use vCenter Server Appliance.

Objectives

• Deploy vCenter Server Appliance

• Complete the vCenter Server Appliance deployment
• Access and configure vCenter Server Appliance
• Add your ESXi hosts to the vCenter Server Inventory
• Configure the ESXi host as an NTP client
• Back up vCenter Server Appliance

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

Lab Topology

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

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-esxi-02 eth0: 172.20.10.52 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 [email protected] vmware123

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

1 Deploy vCenter Server Appliance

In this task, you will go through the process of deploying a VMware vCenter Server
Appliance on your first ESXi host.

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.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

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 User name text field, type [email protected] 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.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

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

7. Expand the Datacenter object in the navigator pane, right-click on NFS-1 and select
Browse Files.

8. In the main workspace, access the Class Files folder, select the VMware-VCSA-all-
6.7.0-10244745.iso file and then click on Download.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

9. In the download dialog box, choose Save File.

Notice the progress of the download in the Firefox tool pane .

Once the download finishes, you may proceed to the next step. If you
try to move on to the next step while the file is still downloading, you
may experience errors.

10. Before we start the vCenter Server Appliance deployment, we need to increase disk
space for the minimum required storage space of 25GB. Navigate back to the
vSphere Client, right-click on iSCSI-LUN0 and select Increase Datastore Capacity.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

11. In the Increase Datastore Capacity window, on the Select Device step, select the IET
iSCSI Disk LUN 0 option and click Next.

12. On the Specify Configuration step, choose Use “Free space 15.5 GB” to expand the
datastore in the Partition Configuration drop-down menu and click Next.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

13. On the Ready to Complete step, review the information and click Finish.

14. Once the datastore is expanded, access the downloaded file by first clicking on the
File Manager PCManFM icon in the bottom toolbar or by navigating to Start Menu >
Accessories > File Manager PCManFM.

15. Using the file manager, navigate to the /home/sysadmin/Downloads directory.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

16. In the Downloads directory, notice that the downloaded ISO is present. Using the file
manager, click _DEVICEIMAGE_0 from the left pane to navigate to the
/media/sysadmin/_DEVICEIMAGE_0 directory. There is a file here that needs to be
copied to the Downloads directory.

Do not click the eject icon .

17. Right-click the _deviceImage-0.txt file and select Copy.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

18. Click the back arrow on the top pane to navigate back to the
/home/sysadmin/Downloads directory. Once in the Downloads directory, right-click
anywhere in the white space and select Paste.

19. Minimize the file manager window.

20. Launch a terminal by either clicking on the LXTerminal icon on the bottom toolbar or
by navigating to Start Menu > System Tools > LXTerminal.

21. 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

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

22. Mount the vCSA installer ISO to the /mnt/cdrom/ path.

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

VCSA-all-6.5.0-6816762.iso /mnt/cdrom/

23. Verify that the ISO contents have been successfully mounted to the path.

root@sa-student-01:/home/sysadmin# ls /mnt/cdrom

24. Initiate the VMware vCSA installer application.

root@sa-student-01:/home/sysadmin# /mnt/cdrom/vcsa-ui-
installer/lin64/installer

25. Notice the vCenter Server Appliance Installer window appears. Click Install.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

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

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

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

28. On the Select deployment type page, ensure that vCenter Server with an Embedded
Platform Services Controller is selected and click Next.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

29. On the Appliance deployment target page, enter the following information into their
appropriate text fields:
a. ESXi host or vCenter Server name: sa-esxi-01.vclass.local
b. HTTPS port: 443
c. User name: root
d. Password: Train1ng$
e. Click Next.

30. Notice the Certificate Warning dialog box, review and click Yes to continue.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

31. On the Set up appliance VM page, enter 172.20.10.95 in the VM name field and
enter Train1ng$ for both Root password and for Confirm root password text fields.
Click Next.

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

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

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

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

34. 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.

35. On the Ready to complete stage 1 page, review the details and click Cancel. Close
the vCenter Server Appliance Installer window.

Due to the deployment process exceeding over 20 minutes, it is

advised not to continue with the deployment by clicking Finish.
Instead, click Cancel and move to the next task. An already deployed
vCenter Server Appliance is made available for post-deployment.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

2 Complete the vCenter Server Appliance Deployment

In this task, you will go through post-deployment configurations on a newly installed

vCenter Server Appliance.

1. Change focus to the vSphere Client and click on the Hosts and Clusters tab in the
navigator pane.

2. Expand the Datacenter object in the navigator pane, followed by expanding sa-esxi-
01. Right-click on the sa-vcsa-02.vclass.local from the navigator pane and select
Power > Power On.

3. After powering on, right-click on sa-vcsa-02.vclass.local and select Open Remote

Console.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

If a question dialog box appears upon bootup, select I Copied It as the

answer to proceed.

4. Notice the boot-up process in the VMware Remote Console window. Once finished,
notice the URL printed on the screen to access the vCSA (vCenter Server Appliance).
Open a new tab in the Firefox web browser.
5. On the new tab, type in https://sa-vcsa-02.vclass.local:5480 into the address
field and press Enter.

If a warning message appears regarding a connection is not secure,

click Advanced followed by clicking Add Exception. In the dialog box,
click Confirm Security Exception to continue.

6. Click on Set up to continue.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

7. When prompted for login credentials, enter Train1ng$ into the Password field and
click Log in.

8. Notice the Install - Stage 2 wizard appears. On the Introduction page, click Next to
proceed.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

9. On the Appliance configuration page, enter the following information:

a. IP version: IPv4
b. System name: sa-vcsa-02.vclass.local
c. IP address: 172.20.10.95
d. Subnet mask or prefix length: 255.255.255.0
e. Default gateway: 172.20.10.10
f. DNS servers: 172.20.10.10
g. Time synchronization mode: Synchronize time with ESXi host
h. Click Next.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

10. On the SSO configuration page, select the radio button for Create a new SSO
domain 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.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

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

12. On the Ready to complete page, review the configurations and click Cancel.

Due to the stage 2 configuration process exceeding over 25 minutes

to complete, it is advised not to continue with the configuration by
clicking Finish. Instead, click Cancel and move to the next task. An
already deployed vCenter Server Appliance is made available for post-
configurations.

13. Close the second tab opened for the vCSA stage 2 configuration in Firefox.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

3 Access and Configure vCenter Server Appliance

In this task, you will license both vCenter Server and an ESXi host, edit the SSO
configuration, create a data center object, and add your ESXi host to the inventory.

1. Change focus to the vSphere Client tab. Right-click on the sa-vcsa-02.vclass.local

virtual machine and select Snapshots > Manage Snapshots.

2. In the Manage Snapshots window, select POST_STAGE2 and click on the Revert To
button.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

3. If prompted for a confirmation, click OK.

4. Back on the Manage Snapshots window, notice where the, “You are here,” tick is
located. You may have to wait for a couple of seconds for it to change. Click Done.

5. Open a new tab, then type in https://sa-vcsa-02.vclass.local into the address

field and press Enter.

If you cannot successfully load the VMware Getting Started webpage,

then please wait an additional 2-3 minutes and refresh the page to
continue. During this time, the vCenter Server Appliance is still
initializing.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

6. Once the VMware Getting Started page appears, click on the Launch vSphere Client
(HTML5) button.

7. Log in to vCenter Server using [email protected] as the user name and

Train1ng$ as the password.

8. In the vSphere Client, click the Menu icon and select Administration.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

9. In the navigator pane, select Licenses.

10. Click Add New Licenses.

11. Maximize the file manager window. If closed, open a new file manager window.
12. In the Downloads directory, double-click _deviceImage-0.txt to open the file.

13. Copy the license keys for both VMware vCenter Server and VMware ESXi.
14. Change focus to the vSphere Client.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

15. In the New Licenses window, on the Enter license keys step, paste (CTRL+V) in the
text field and make sure both keys are pasted in separate new lines. Click Next.

16. On the Edit license names step, enter vCSA and ESXi as the license names for their
respective keys and click Next.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

17. On the Ready to complete step, review the information and click Finish.
18. In the main workspace, click on the Assets tab.

19. Check the checkbox for sa-vcsa-02.vclass.local and click on Assign License.

20. In the Assign License window, select the vCSA radio button and click OK.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

21. In the navigator pane, click on Configuration for Single Sign-On.

22. On the Policies tab, ensure that Password Policy is selected and on the Edit button.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

23. In the Edit Password Policies window, enter 60 for the Maximum lifetime text box.
Click OK to save.

24. Click on Menu and select Hosts and Clusters.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

25. In the navigator pane, right-click on sa-vcsa-02.vclass.local and select New

Datacenter.

26. In the Datacenter name text box, accept the default name Datacenter and click OK.

27. Leave vSphere Client open to continue with the next task.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

4 Add Your ESXi Host to the vCenter Server Inventory

In this task, you will add an ESXi host to the vCenter Server inventory.

1. Change focus to the vSphere Client connected to sa-vcsa.vclass.local. Right-click on

sa-esxi-03.vclass.local from the navigator pane and select Snapshots > Manage
Snapshots.

2. In the Manage Snapshots window, select POST_STAGE and click on the Revert to
button.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

3. When prompted for confirmation, click OK to continue.

4. Back on the Manage Snapshots window, click Done.

5. Right-click on sa-esxi-03.vclass.local from the navigator pane and select Power >
Power On.

6. Right-click on sa-esxi-03.vclass.local from the navigator pane and select Open

Remote Console.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

If a question dialog box appears upon bootup, select I Copied It as the

answer to proceed.

7. Monitor the progress of the ESXi boot-up. Once finished, navigate to the vSphere
Client tab that is connected to va-vcsa-02.vclass.local.
8. In the navigator pane, right-click on Datacenter and select Add Host.

9. In the Add Host window, on the Name and location step, enter 172.20.10.53 and
click Next.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

10. On the Connection settings step, enter root as the user name and vmware123 as the
password. Click Next.

11. When prompted with a security alert stating that the certification store of vCenter
Server cannot verify the certificate, click Yes to proceed.

12. Once validated, on the Host summary step, review the information and click Next.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

13. On the Assign license step, ensure that the radio button for ESXi is selected and click
Next.

14. On the Lockdown mode step, accept the default Disabled and click Next.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

15. On the VM location step, select Datacenter and click Next.

16. On the Ready to complete step, review the information and click Finish.
17. Notice the progression in the Recent Tasks pane. Once completed, the ESXi host will
appear underneath the Datacenter object in the navigator pane. Expand the
Datacenter object and select 172.20.10.53, followed by clicking on the Summary tab
in the main workspace.

18. Notice the ESXi host information such as CPU, memory, storage, NIC, and virtual
machines. Click the arrow next to the Hardware pane to view the hardware details
of the ESXi host.
19. Leave the vSphere Client tab connected to sa-vcsa-02.vclass.local open to continue
with the next task.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

5 Configure the ESXi Host as an NTP Client

In this task, you will configure the ESXi host to use Network Time Protocol (NTP) to
maintain accurate time and date.

1. Make sure to have 172.20.10.53 selected in the navigator pane and click on the
Configure tab in the main workspace.

2. Under System in the middle pane (scroll down), select Time Configuration and view
the current settings.

3. Click the Edit button.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

4. In the Edit Time Configuration window, select to Use Network Time Protocol
(Enable NTP client).

5. From the NTP Service Startup Policy drop-down menu, select Start and stop with
host.

6. In the NTP Servers text box, enter 172.20.10.10, followed by checking the checkbox
for Start NTP Service. Click OK.

7. In the Time Configuration pane, verify that the NTP client appears as Enabled and
that the NTP service status appears as Running.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

6 Back Up vCenter Server Appliance

In this task, you will back up your vCenter Server Appliance by connecting the appliance
to a web browser using management port 5480.

1. Change focus to the first tab in Firefox that has an active connection with sa-vcsa-
01.vclass.local.
2. Right-click on sa-vcsa-02.vclass.local in the navigator pane and select Open Remote
Console.

3. Click anywhere inside the console viewer to change focus and press ALT+F1 to
switch lines.
4. Login as root with the password of Train1ng$.

5. At the Command> prompt, type shell and press Enter.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

6. Enter the command below to start the service for the analytics.

root@sa-vcsa-02 [ ~ ]# service-control --start analytics

7. Enter the command below to start the service for the pschealth.

root@sa-vcsa-02 [ ~ ]# service-control --start pschealth

8. Enter the command below to start the service for the content-library.

root@sa-vcsa-02 [ ~ ]# service-control --start content-library

To release the focus of the mouse from the viewer, press the
CTRL+ALT keys.

9. Open a new tab in Firefox and enter https://sa-vcsa-02.vclass.local:5480 in the

address bar to access your vCenter Server Management port.

If a warning message appears regarding a connection is not secure,

click Advanced followed by clicking Add Exception. In the dialog box,
click Confirm Security Exception to continue.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

10. Log in with root as the user name and Train1ng$ as the password. Click Login.

11. Click on Backup located near the bottom-left corner of the screen.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

12. Click on the Backup Now button.

13. In the Backup Now window, use the following information to configure:
a. Backup location: ftp://172.20.10.10/
b. User name: admin
c. Password: vmware123
d. Click Start.

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Lab 05: Working with vCenter Server

14. Back on the Backup page, notice the progress of the manual backup.

The backup progress may take 2-4 minutes to successfully complete.

15. The lab is now complete; you may end the reservation.

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