Bonus Track!

If you feel like a bit of a rush or feel like being a bit of a “hacker” or “code junky” why not try the CLI version of the installer.

It’s much simpler and has way less steps.

The Deployment:

Prerequisites:

• Pre-configured JSON files (for a single deployment, you will need one for a PSC and one for VCS)
• Ensure you have pre-configured DNS entries in Active Directory
• Ensure you have the relevant access to an ESXi host or vCenter
• I would suggest, if connecting directly to an ESXi host, you disable DRS or set it to manual

Templates for these deployments are located on D:\vcsa-cli-installer\templates

JSON for PSC_to_ESXi:

Copy this in to a text file and save it as: c:\temp\PSC_first_instance_on_ESXi.json

{
"__version": "2.3.0",
  "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a Platform Services Controller appliance as the first instance in a new vCenter Single Sign-On domain on an ESXi host.",
  "new.vcsa": {
    "esxi": {
        "hostname": "esxihost.lab.local",
        "username": "root",
        "password": "root123",
        "deployment.network": "lab-network",
        "datastore": "lab-datastore"
    },
    "appliance": {
        "thin.disk.mode": true,
        "deployment.option": "infrastructure",
        "name": "VMWPSCP1"
    },
    "network": {
        "ip.family": "ipv4",
        "mode": "static",
        "ip": "192.168.0.71",
        "dns.servers": [
            "192.168.0.11"
      ],
        "prefix": "24",
        "gateway": "192.168.0.1",
        "system.name": "VMWPSCP1"
    },
    "os": {
        "password": "supersecretlabpassword!",
        "ssh.enable": true,
        "ntp.servers": "192.168.0.11"
    },
    "sso": {
        "password": "supersecretlabssopassword!",
        "domain-name": "lab.vsphere.local",
        "site-name": "LAB"
    }
  },
  "ceip": {
        "description": {
            "__comments": [
                "++++VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP)++++",
                "VMware's Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) ",
                "provides VMware with information that enables VMware to ",
                "improve its products and services, to fix problems, ",
                "and to advise you on how best to deploy and use our ",
                "products. As part of CEIP, VMware collects technical ",
                "information about your organization's use of VMware ",
                "products and services on a regular basis in association ",
                "with your organization's VMware license key(s). This ",
                "information does not personally identify any individual. ",
                "",
                "Additional information regarding the data collected ",
                "through CEIP and the purposes for which it is used by ",
                "VMware is set forth in the Trust & Assurance Center at ",
                "http://www.vmware.com/trustvmware/ceip.html . If you ",
                "prefer not to participate in VMware's CEIP for this ",
                "product, you should disable CEIP by setting ",
                "'ceip.enabled': false. You may join or leave VMware's ",
                "CEIP for this product at any time. Please confirm your ",
                "acknowledgement by passing in the parameter ",
                "--acknowledge-ceip in the command line.",
                "++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++"
        ]
    },
    "settings": {
        "ceip.enabled": false
    }
}
}

JSON for VCS_to_ESXi:

Copy this in to a text file and save it as: c:\temp\vCSA_on_ESXi.json

{
  "__version": "2.3.0",
  "__comments": "Sample template to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller on an ESXi host.",
  "new.vcsa": {
"esxi": {
        "hostname": "esxihost.lab.local",
        "username": "root",
        "password": "root123",
        "deployment.network": "lab-network",
        "datastore": "lab-datastore"
    },
    "appliance": {
        "thin.disk.mode": true,
        "deployment.option": "management-tiny",
        "name": "VMWVCSP1"
    },
"network": {
        "ip.family": "ipv4",
        "mode": "static",
        "ip": "192.168.0.70",
        "dns.servers": [
            "192.168.0.11"
    ],
        "prefix": "24",
        "gateway": "192.168.0.1",
        "system.name": "VMWVCSP1"
    },
    "os": {
        "password": "supersecretlabpassword!",
        "ssh.enable": true,
        "ntp.servers": "192.168.0.11"
    },
    "sso": {
        "password": "supersecretlabssopassword!",
        "domain-name": "lab.vsphere.local",
        "platform.services.controller": "vmwvcsp1.lab.local",
        "sso.port": "443"
        }
    }
}

Deploying the Platform Services Controller:

• Be sure to edit the JSON file to meet your requirements. I would recommend doing a verification of your JSON file:
• Launch CMD as administrator and run: D:\vcsa-cli-installer\win32\vcsa-deploy.exe install –acknowledge-ceip –accept-eula –no-esx-ssl-verify –verify-only c:\temp\PSC_first_instance_on_ESXi.json
• Launch CMD as administrator and run: D:\vcsa-cli-installer\win32\vcsa-deploy.exe install –acknowledge-ceip –accept-eula –no-esx-ssl-verify c:\temp\PSC_first_instance_on_ESXi.json

Deploying the vCenter Server

• Be sure to edit the JSON file to meet your requirements. I would recommend doing a verification of your JSON file:
• Launch CMD as administrator and run: D:\vcsa-cli-installer\win32\vcsa-deploy.exe install –acknowledge-ceip –accept-eula –no-esx-ssl-verify –verify-only c:\temp\vCSA_on_ESXi.json
• Launch CMD as administrator and run: D:\vcsa-cli-installer\win32vcsa-deploy.exe install –acknowledge-ceip –accept-eula –no-esx-ssl-verify c:\temp\vCSA_on_ESXi.json