How to Install vCenter Server 6.0 – Step by Step guide

How to Install vCenter Server 6.0 – Step by Step guide

In the old post, we learned the steps to install and configure VMWare ESXi 6.0, in this post we’ll learn the steps to install VCenter Server 6.0. ESX hosts are hypervisors to create virtual machines and VMware vCenter Server is a server through which we can manage or access ESX hosts. VCS is not only restricted to manage ESXi seerver but it can also be used to manage VMware clusters, access virtual machines on ESX hosts, manage storage, vSwitch and other components. Before installing vCenter on any server we have to check some configuration of that particular server. These things are like the pre-requisites of VMware vCenter.

Pre-requisites of installing VMware vCenter are:

1. 64-bit of Operating system is required like Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2.
2. Minimum 8GB of RAM is required to install vCenter on any server.
3. VMWare credentials to download trial version of VCS 6.0 from VMWare website.

Download vCenter Server 6.0

Steps to install vCenter server 6.0

1. Insert the DVD to a physical Server, in case of a Virtual Server map the ISO image with the server. To Install vCenter server 6.0 right click on DVD Drive, then click on “Install or run program from your media”.

2. On “vCenter server for windows” console, click on install to install the vCenter server 6.

3. Wait for the loading of installer files.

4. On “Welcome to the VMware vCenter Server 6.0.0 Installer” console, click on Next to continue.

5. On “End User License Agreement” console, read the license agreement. Check “I accept the terms of the license agreement” and click on Next.

6. On “Select Deployment type” console, under Embedded Deployment, select “vCenter Server and Embedded  Platform Services Controller”. Click on Next to continue. Embedded platform services controller is used for the small environment or for POC purpose. It gives the flexibility to deploy all the services e.g. vCenter Single Sign-on, Licensing, Certificate management on the same server. However in production environment or in big environment, you can install Platform Services Controller and VCS on separate server.

7. On “System Network Name” console, enter the FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) of the system to manage the local systems. In this practical, “VCS01.itingredients.com” is the name of our VCS. Click on next to install vCenter Server 6.0.

9. On  “vCenter Single Sign on Configuration” console, vCenter server installation would create a new “vsphere.local” domain. Administrator is the default admin of the newly created Domain. Enter the password of the administrator of vCenter Single Sign-On. Default-First-Site is the name of the site created by VCS. You can change the site name as per your requirement. Click on Next.

10. On vCenter Service Account console, select the option of  “Use Windows Local System Account” or specify the service account. Please ensure that the account specified must be an administrator and must be granted “Log on as a service” privilege. and click on Next.

11. On Database setting console, we have two options. First, is to select “Use an embedded database (vPostgress)” and second is to use any external database. For this practical we’ll use the embedded database i.e. vPostgres. Click on Next to install the database.

12. While installing vSphere 6, on Configure Ports console, we can configure network settings and Ports for this deployment. You can change the ports as per your requirement. Click on next.

13. On Destination Directory console, we can select the location for the deployment of vCenter Server. Click on next.

14. On Ready to install console, we can review the settings before starting the installation of vCenter Server. Click on Install to install the vCenter server.

15. It would take some time for installing  the vCenter Server.

16. On Setup completed console that vCenter Server is installed successfully installed.

Conclusion:

Hope you enjoyed this article and it answered your basic question i.e. “How to Install vCenter 6”. The step by step guide that we have used to explain the steps required to install vcenter server 6 are very straight forward. We tried to cover all the aspects and steps required during the installation.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, queries or suggestions related to install vsphere 6. Share your feedback related to vCenter 6 installation guide in the comment section.