To start the appliance deployment, you open the deployment wizard in the vSphere Web Client (Flex) or the vSphere Client (HTML5), and deploy the OVF template.

For more information about the VMware Cloud Director appliance sizing options or possible configurations, see VMware Cloud Director Appliance Sizing Guidelines.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Web Client or the vSphere Client, right-click any inventory object and click Deploy OVF Template.
  2. Enter the path to the VMware Cloud Director .ova file, and click Next.
  3. Enter a name for the VM and browse the vCenter Server repository to select a data center or folder on which to deploy the appliance, and click Next.
  4. Select an ESXi host or cluster on which to deploy the appliance and click Next.
  5. Review the template details and click Next.
  6. Read and accept the license agreements, and click Next.
  7. Select the deployment type and size, and click Next.
    The primary-small and standby-small VMware Cloud Director appliance sizes are suitable for lab or test systems. The other sizes meet the minimum sizing requirements for production systems. Depending on the workload, you might need to add more resources.
    Option Description
    Primary-small

    Deploys the appliance with 12 GB of RAM and 2 vCPUs as the first member in a VMware Cloud Director server group.

    The embedded database in the primary cell is configured as the VMware Cloud Director database. The database name is vcloud, and the database user is vcloud.

    Primary-medium

    Deploys the appliance with 16 GB of RAM and 8 vCPUs as the first member in a VMware Cloud Director server group.

    The embedded database in the primary cell is configured as the VMware Cloud Director database. The database name is vcloud, and the database user is vcloud.

    Primary-large

    Deploys the appliance with 24 GB of RAM and 16 vCPUs as the first member in a VMware Cloud Director server group.

    The embedded database in the primary cell is configured as the VMware Cloud Director database. The database name is vcloud, and the database user is vcloud.

    Primary-extralarge

    Deploys the appliance with 32 GB of RAM and 24 vCPUs as the first member in a VMware Cloud Director server group.

    The embedded database in the primary cell is configured as the VMware Cloud Director database. The database name is vcloud, and the database user is vcloud.

    Standby-small

    Used to join a primary-small cell in a database HA cluster.

    Deploys the appliance with 12 GB of RAM and 2 vCPUs as the second or the third member in a VMware Cloud Director server group with a database high availability configuration.

    The embedded database in a standby cell is configured in a replication mode with the primary database.

    Standby-medium

    Used to join a primary-medium cell in a database HA cluster.

    Deploys the appliance with 16 GB of RAM and 8 vCPUs as the second or the third member in a VMware Cloud Director server group with a database high availability configuration.

    The embedded database in a standby cell is configured in a replication mode with the primary database.

    Standby-large

    Used to join a primary-large cell in a database HA cluster.

    Deploys the appliance with 24 GB of RAM and 16 vCPUs as the second or the third member in a VMware Cloud Director server group with a database high availability configuration.

    The embedded database in a standby appliance is configured in a replication mode with the primary database.

    Standby-extralarge

    Used to join a primary-extralarge cell in a database HA cluster.

    Deploys the appliance with 32 GB of RAM and 24 vCPUs as the second or the third member in a VMware Cloud Director server group with a database high availability configuration.

    The embedded database in a standby appliance is configured in a replication mode with the primary database.

    Cloud Director Cell Application

    Deploys the appliance with 8 GB of RAM and 8 vCPUs as a subsequent member in a VMware Cloud Director server group.

    The embedded database in a vCD application cell is not used. The vCD application cell connects to the primary database.

    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.

  8. Select the disk format and the datastore for the virtual machine configuration files and virtual disks, and click Next.
    Thick formats improve performance, and thin formats save storage space.
  9. From the drop-down menus in the Destination Network cells, select the target networks for the eth1 and eth0 NICs of the appliance.
    The source network list might be in reverse order. Verify that you are selecting the correct destination network for each source network.
    Important: The two destination networks must be different.
  10. From the IP allocation settings drop-down menus, select a Static-Manual IP allocation and an IPv4 protocol.
  11. Click Next.
    You are redirected to the Customize template page of the wizard to configure the VMware Cloud Director details.
  12. In section VCD Appliance Settings, configure the appliance details.
    Setting Description
    NTP Server

    The host name or IP address of the NTP server to use.

    To specify multiple NTP servers, enter a space-separated list.
    Initial 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.

    If you want to use FIPS mode, the root password for the appliance must contain 14 or more characters.

    Note: The OVF deployment wizard does not validate the initial root password against password criteria.
    Expire Root Password Upon First Login If you want to continue using the initial password after the first login, you must verify that the initial password meets root password criteria. To continue using the initial root password after the first login, deselect this option.
    Enable SSH root login Deactivated by default.
    Note: For information about changing the date, time, or time zone of the appliance, see https://kb.vmware.com/kb/59674.
  13. (Optional) In section Additional Networking Properties, if your network topology requires it, enter the static routes for the eth0 and eth1 network interfaces, and click Next.

    If you want to reach hosts over a non-default gateway route, you might need to provide static routes. For example, management infrastructure is accessible only through the eth1 interface, while the default gateway is on eth0. In most cases, this setting can remain empty.

    The static routes must be in a comma-separated list of route specifications. A route specification must consist of the IP address of the target gateway and, optionally, a Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) network specification. For example, 172.16.100.253 172.16.100.0/19, 172.16.200.253.

  14. In section Networking Properties, enter the network details for the eth0 and eth1 NICs, and click Next.
    Setting Description
    Default Gateway The IP address of the default gateway for the appliance.
    Domain Name The DNS search domain, for example, mydomain.com.
    Domain Search Path A comma- or space-separated list of domain names for the appliance hostname lookup, for example, subdomain.example.com.
    Note: The domain name that you entered in the Domain Name text box is the first element in the domain search path list.
    Domain Name Servers The IP address of the domain name server for the appliance.
    eth0 Network IP Address The IP address for the eth0 interface.
    eth0 Network Netmask The netmask or prefix for the eth0 interface.
    eth1 Network IP Address The IP address for the eth1 interface.
    eth1 Network Netmask The netmask or prefix for the eth1 interface.
  15. On the Ready to Complete page, review the configuration settings for the VMware Cloud Director appliance, and click Finish to start the deployment.

What to do next

  1. Power on the newly created virtual machine.
  2. Configure the VMware Cloud Director Primary Appliance or Configure the VMware Cloud Director Standby and Application Cells.