You can deploy the VMware Cloud Director appliance as an OVF template by using the VMware OVF Tool.
You must deploy the first member of a VMware Cloud Director server group as a primary cell. You can deploy a subsequent member of a VMware Cloud Director server group as a standby or VMware Cloud Director application cell. See Appliance Deployments and Database High Availability Configuration.
For information about installing OVF Tool, see the VMware OVF Tool Release Notes document.
For information about using OVF Tool, see the OVF Tool User's Guide.
Mixed VMware Cloud Director installations on Linux and VMware Cloud Director appliance deployments in one server group are unsupported.
When adding additional or replacement appliances to a database cluster, the vCPU and RAM must match those of the existing primary and standby cells in the cluster.
The OVA version of the newly deployed standby must be the same as the existing appliances in the cluster. To view the version of the running appliances, see the About information in the appliance management UI. The appliance is distributed with a name of the form VMware Cloud Director-v.v.v.v-nnnnnn_OVF10.ova, where v.v.v.v represents the product version and nnnnnn the build number. For example: VMware Cloud Director-10.2.0.0-9229800_OVA10.ova.
For information about deploying OVF templates in vSphere, see vSphere Virtual Machine Administration.
As an alternative, you can deploy the appliance using the vSphere Client. See Deploy the VMware Cloud Director Appliance by Using the vSphere Client.
Before running the deployment command, see Prerequisites for Deploying the VMware Cloud Director Appliance.
Starting with VMware Cloud Director 10.2, you must include the --X:enableHiddenProperties parameter to deploy the VMware Cloud Director appliance.
You can choose whether to specify the optional OVF configuration options during the primary appliance deployment, or to run the appliance management user interface to finish the configuration after the deployment.
ovftool Command Options and Properties for Deploying the VMware Cloud Director Appliance
| Option | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| --noSSLVerify | n/a | Skips SSL verification for vSphere connections. |
| --acceptAllEulas | n/a | Accepts all end-user licenses agreements (EULAs). |
| --X:enableHiddenProperties | n/a | Makes visible all the properties for the configuration of the appliance. |
| --datastore | target_vc_datastore |
The target datastore name on which to store the virtual machine configuration files and virtual disks. |
| --allowAllExtraConfig | n/a | Converts all extra configuration options to the VMX format. |
| --net:"eth0 Network" | portgroup_on_vc_for_eth0 |
The destination network for the appliance eth0 network.
Important: Must be different from the
eth1 destination network.
|
| --net:"eth1 Network" | portgroup_on_vc_for_eth1 |
The destination network for the appliance eth1 network.
Important: Must be different from the
eth0 destination network.
|
| --name | vm_name_on_vc |
The virtual machine name for the appliance. |
| --diskMode | thin or thick |
The disk format for the virtual machine configuration files and virtual disks. |
| --prop:"vami.ip0.VMware_vCloud_Director" | eth0_ip_address |
IP address of eth0. Used for the UI and API access. On this address, the DNS reverse lookup determines and sets the hostname of the appliance. |
| --prop:"vami.ip1.VMware_vCloud_Director" | eth1_ip_address |
IP address of eth1. Used for accessing internal services including the embedded PostreSQL database service. |
| --prop:"vami.DNS.VMware_vCloud_Director" | dns_ip_address |
The IP address of the domain name server for the appliance. |
| --prop:"vami.domain.VMware_vCloud_Director" | domain_name |
The DNS search domain. Appears as the first element in the search path. |
| --prop:"vami.gateway.VMware_vCloud_Director" | gateway_ip_address |
The IP address of the default gateway for the appliance. |
| --prop:"vami.netmask0.VMware_vCloud_Director" | netmask |
The netmask or prefix for the eth0 interface. |
| --prop:"vami.netmask1.VMware_vCloud_Director" | netmask |
The netmask or prefix for the eth1 interface. |
| --prop:"vami.searchpath.VMware_vCloud_Director" | a_list_of_domain_names |
The domain search path of the appliance. A comma or space-separated list of domain names. |
| --prop:"vcloudconf.ceip_enabled.VMware_vCloud_Director | true or false |
Activates or deactivates the participation in the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program. The default is true. Optional if you plan to run the appliance management user interface to finish the primary appliance configuration after the deployment. |
| --prop:"vcloudapp.enable_ssh.VMware_vCloud_Director" | true or false |
Activates or deactivates the SSH root access to the appliance. |
| --prop:"vcloudapp.expire_root_password.VMware_vCloud_Director" | true or false |
Determines whether to continue or not using the initial password after the first login. |
| --prop:"vcloudapp.nfs_mount.VMware_vCloud_Director" | nfs_ip_address:nfs_mount_path |
The IP address and export path of the external NFS server. Used only for a primary cell. |
| --prop:"vcloudapp.ntp-server.VMware_vCloud_Director" | ntp_server_ip_address |
The IP address of the time server. |
| --prop:"vcloudapp.varoot-password.VMware_vCloud_Director" | ova_root_password |
The initial root password for the appliance. Must contain at least eight characters, one uppercase character, one lowercase character, one numeric digit, and one special character.
Important: The initial root password becomes the private key password. The cluster deployment requires all the cells to have the same root password during the initial deployment. After the boot process finishes, you can change the root password on any desired cell.
|
| --prop:"vcloudconf.db_pwd.VMware_vCloud_Director" | db_password |
The database password of the vcloud user. Used only for a primary cell. Optional if you plan to run the appliance management user interface to finish the primary appliance configuration after the deployment. |
| --prop:"vcloudconf.admin_email.VMware_vCloud_Director" | vcd_admin_email_address |
The email address of the system administrator account. Used only for a primary cell. Optional if you plan to run the appliance management user interface to finish the primary appliance configuration after the deployment. |
| --prop:"vcloudconf.admin_fname.VMware_vCloud_Director" | Admin_vcd_name |
The name for the system administrator account. Used only for a primary cell. Optional if you plan to run the appliance management user interface to finish the primary appliance configuration after the deployment. |
| --prop:"vcloudconf.admin_pwd.VMware_vCloud_Director" | vcd_admin_password |
The password for the system administrator account. Used only for a primary cell. Optional if you plan to run the appliance management user interface to finish the primary appliance configuration after the deployment. |
| --prop:"vcloudconf.admin_uname.VMware_vCloud_Director" | vcd_admin_username |
The user name for the system administrator account. Used only for a primary cell. Optional if you plan to run the appliance management user interface to finish the primary appliance configuration after the deployment. |
| --prop:"vcloudconf.inst_id.VMware_vCloud_Director" | vcd_install_ID |
The VMware Cloud Director installation ID. Used only for a primary cell. Optional if you plan to run the appliance management user interface to finish the primary appliance configuration after the deployment. |
| --prop:"vcloudconf.sys_name.VMware_vCloud_Director" | ova_system_name |
The name for the vCenter Server folder to create for this VMware Cloud Director installation. Optional if you plan to run the appliance management user interface to finish the primary appliance configuration after the deployment. |
| --prop:"vcloudnet.routes0.VMware_vCloud_Director" | ip_address1 cidr, ip_address2, ... |
Optional. Static routes for the eth0 interface. Must be a comma-separated list of route specifications. A route specification must consist of a gateway IP address and, optionally, Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) network specification (prefix/bits). For example, 172.16.100.253 172.16.100/19, 172.16.200.253. |
| --prop:"vcloudnet.routes1.VMware_vCloud_Director" | ip_address1 cidr, ip_address2, ... |
Optional. Static routes for the eth1 interface. Must be a comma-separated list of route specifications. A route specification must consist of a gateway IP address and, optionally, Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) network specification (prefix/bits). For example, 172.16.100.253 172.16.100/19, 172.16.200.253. |
| --deploymentOption | primary-small, primary-medium, primary-large, primary-extralarge, standby-small, standby-medium, standby-large, standby-extralarge, or cell |
The appliance type and size that you want to deploy. The primary-small and standby-small VMware Cloud Director appliance sizes are suitable for lab or test systems. The primary-large and standby-large sizes meet the minimum sizing requirements for production systems. Depending on the workload, you might need to add additional resources.
Important: The primary and the standby cells in a
VMware Cloud Director server group must be of the same size. A database HA cluster can consist of one primary-small and two standby-small cells, one primary-medium and two standby-medium cells, and so on.
After the deployment, you can reconfigure the size of the appliance. |
| --powerOn | path_to_ova |
Powers on the virtual machine after the deployment. |
An Example Command for Deploying a Production Primary VMware Cloud Director Appliance
vcloudapp.varoot-passwordVMware_vCloud_Director,
vcloudconf.db_pwdVMware_vCloud_Director, and
vcloudconf.admin_pwd.VMware_vCloud_Director passwords with your own secure passwords.
ovftool\ --noSSLVerify \ --acceptAllEulas \ --X:enableHiddenProperties \ --datastore='datastore6' \ --allowAllExtraConfig \ --net:"eth0 Network"="My_UI_API_Network" \ --net:"eth1 Network"="My_Internal_DB_Services_Network" \ --name=MyAppliance \ --diskMode=thick \ --prop:"vami.ip0.VMware_vCloud_Director"="10.0.0.142" \ --prop:"vami.ip1.VMware_vCloud_Director"="172.18.41.24" \ --prop:"vami.DNS.VMware_vCloud_Director"="10.0.0.2" \ --prop:"vami.domain.VMware_vCloud_Director"="mycompany.com" \ --prop:"vami.gateway.VMware_vCloud_Director"="10.0.0.1" \ --prop:"vami.netmask0.VMware_vCloud_Director"="255.255.0.0" \ --prop:"vami.netmask1.VMware_vCloud_Director"="255.255.224.0" \ --prop:"vami.searchpath.VMware_vCloud_Director"="eng.mycompany.com" \ --prop:"vcloudapp.enable_ssh.VMware_vCloud_Director"="False" \ --prop:"vcloudapp.expire_root_password.VMware_vCloud_Director"="True" \ --prop:"vcloudapp.nfs_mount.VMware_vCloud_Director"="10.0.0.96:/data/transfer" \ --prop:"vcloudapp.ntp-server.VMware_vCloud_Director"="time.mycompany.com" \ --prop:"vcloudapp.varoot-password.VMware_vCloud_Director"="place-secure-password-here" \ --prop:"vcloudconf.db_pwd.VMware_vCloud_Director"="place-secure-password-here" \ --prop:"vcloudconf.admin_email.VMware_vCloud_Director"="[email protected]" \ --prop:"vcloudconf.admin_fname.VMware_vCloud_Director"="vcdadmin" \ --prop:"vcloudconf.admin_pwd.VMware_vCloud_Director"="place-secure-password-here" \ --prop:"vcloudconf.admin_uname.VMware_vCloud_Director"="administrator" \ --prop:"vcloudconf.inst_id.VMware_vCloud_Director"="59" \ --prop:"vcloudconf.sys_name.VMware_vCloud_Director"="MyAppliance" \ --deploymentOption="primary-large" \ --powerOn "/MyPath/VMware_vCloud_Director-version_number_OVF10.ova" \ vi://vc_user_name:vc_password@vc_hostname_or_ip_address/vc_dataceter_name/host/vc_cluster_name
An Example Command for Deploying a Production Standby VMware Cloud Director Appliance
vcloudapp.varoot-password.VMware_vCloud_Director password with your own secure password.
ovftool \ --noSSLVerify \ --acceptAllEulas \ --X:enableHiddenProperties \ --datastore='datastore6' \ --allowAllExtraConfig \ --net:"eth0 Network"="My_UI_API_Network" \ --net:"eth1 Network"="My_Internal_DB_Services_Network" \ --name=MySecondAppliance \ --diskMode=thick \ --prop:"vami.ip0.VMware_vCloud_Director"="10.0.0.143" \ --prop:"vami.ip1.VMware_vCloud_Director"="172.18.41.25" \ --prop:"vami.DNS.VMware_vCloud_Director"="10.0.0.2" \ --prop:"vami.domain.VMware_vCloud_Director"="mycompany.com" \ --prop:"vami.gateway.VMware_vCloud_Director"="10.0.0.1" \ --prop:"vami.netmask0.VMware_vCloud_Director"="255.255.0.0" \ --prop:"vami.netmask1.VMware_vCloud_Director"="255.255.224.0" \ --prop:"vami.searchpath.VMware_vCloud_Director"="eng.mycompany.com" \ --prop:"vcloudapp.enable_ssh.VMware_vCloud_Director"="False" \ --prop:"vcloudapp.expire_root_password.VMware_vCloud_Director"="True" \ --prop:"vcloudapp.nfs_mount.VMware_vCloud_Director"="10.0.0.96:/data/transfer" \ --prop:"vcloudapp.ntp-server.VMware_vCloud_Director"="time.mycompany.com" \ --prop:"vcloudapp.varoot-password.VMware_vCloud_Director"="place-secure-password-here" \ --prop:"vcloudconf.sys_name.VMware_vCloud_Director"="MySecondAppliance" \ --deploymentOption="standby-large" \ --powerOn "/MyPath/VMware_vCloud_Director-version_number_OVF10.ova" \ vi://vc_user_name:vc_password@vc_hostname_or_ip_address/vc_dataceter_name/host/vc_cluster_name
After you deploy the VMware Cloud Director appliance
After you deploy the appliance, view the firstboot log file for warning error messages. See Examine the Log Files in the VMware Cloud Director Appliance.
Use the appliance management user interface to configure the primary appliance. See Configure the VMware Cloud Director Primary Appliance.
Use the appliance management user interface to configure the standby and application cells. See Configure the VMware Cloud Director Standby and Application Cells.
