vCenter 5.1 Installation(Part 4) – vCenter Service Step by Step

As covered in my previous three posts, vCenter Service is the third component to be installed. As a reminder the order of installing vCenter 5.1 components is as follow:

Single Sign On ==> vCenter inventory Service ==> vCenter Service.

In this post, I will demonstrate in a step by step fashion how to install the vCenter Service though if you have not followed earlier parts in this series you will need to check them out before you install the vCenter Service. The earlier posts in this series can be found at:

vCenter 5.1 Installation(Part 1) – Preparing the Databases

vCenter 5.1 Installation(Part 2) – Single Sign On Installation

vCenter 5.1 Installation(Part 3) – vCenter 5.1 Inventory Service Installation

Alright so now that you have completed the installation of SSO and Inventory Service, you are ready to start the installation of vCenter 5.1 Service & below is a step by step instruction on how to do just that.

To install vCenter Server

1. Launch the installer using an account with administrator privileges.

2. Select vCenter Server from the VMware Product Installers menu and click Install.

vCenter 5.1 Server Installation Wizard

3. Select the setup language and click OK.

Select vCenter 5.1 Setup Language

4. Wait while the installation process begins.

Wait for VMware vCenter Server 5.1 installation process to begin

5. After the Welcome screen is displayed, click Next.

on VMware vCenter Service installation wizard hit next to start

6. On the End-User Patent Agreement screen, click Next.

On VMware Patent Screen Click next to accept

7. On the License Agreement screen, select the radio button to accept the terms of the license agreement, and click Next.

On vCenter 5.1 installation wizard accept the license agreement

 

8. You can enter a License key for ESXi now, or you can enter it later. The system can run in evaluation mode for 60 days.

Enter your vCenter license Key

9. On the Database Options screen, select either Install a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express instance(Only supported for small environment less than 5 hosts & 50 VMs) or Use an existing supported database and specify an appropriate ODBC Data Source Name. Click Next.

Complete vCenter Database information

10. If Use an existing supported database is selected, enter the Database Username and Database Password, and click Next.

Complete your vCenter Database Credentials

11. Specify the account to be used by the vCenter Server Service. Select Use SYSTEM Account (default), or deselect it and specify another local or domain account name and password (if needed). Click Next. To specify a domain account, precede the account name with the domain name and a forward slash (/) as in: domain_name/account_name.

Specify the vCenter Service account

12.On the vCenter Server Linked Mode Options screen, select the standalone or linked mode option, and click Next.

  • Select Create a standalone VMware vCenter Server instance (default) to install either a standalone instance of vCenter Server or the first in a series of linked vCenter systems.
  • Select Join a VMware vCenter Server group using linked mode to share information to direct the installer to link this vCenter Server to an existing vCenter Server system.

vCenter Server Linked Mode Options

13. Confirm the ports to be used by vCenter Server and click Next.

Confirm the ports to be used by VMware vCenter 5.1

14. Choose the size of your environment

vCenter Server JVM Memory Size

 

15. Complete your Single Sign On and Lookup Service information and click Next.

vCenter Single Sign On Information

16.Register a vCenter Server administrator user or group with vCenter Single Sign On.

vCenter Server administrator recognized by vCenter Single Sing On

17- Enter the vCenter Inventory Service Information

vCenter Inventory Service Information

18- Select vCenter Installation Destination Folder

VMware vCenter Server Installation Directory

19- Hit install to start the installation.

Hit install to start vCenter 5.1 installation

20- Hit finish to exit the installation wizard

Hit finish to complete vCenter 5.1 installation

After completing the installation of the vCenter Service, now your vCenter is up and running and ready to be used. Go a head and enjoy your new vCenter 5.1 or check out my next post for steps on how to install the vSphere Web Client Service which can be found at: vCenter 5.1 Installation(Part 5) – vSphere Web Client Step by Step

Speak Your Mind

*