To add a vCenter Server instance, you must enter the vCenter Server access details.

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with the vSphere certificate management options. See the vSphere Certificate Management Overview and Certificate Replacement Overview documentation. The VMware Cloud Director certificate strategy depends on your vSphere certificate choices.
vSphere Option VMware Cloud Director Action
Using VMCA-signed certificates In VMware Cloud Director, trust the CA certificate.
Using the VMCA certificate as an intermediate certificate In VMware Cloud Director, trust the intermediate VMCA certificate.
Using custom certificates where VMCA is not an intermediate certificate Trust the appropriate certificate so that VMware Cloud Director trusts all vSphere components like vCenter Server and ESXi.
Note: You must ensure that VMware Cloud Director trusts all necessary trust anchors.

Procedure

  1. From the top navigation bar, under Resources, click Infrastructure Resources.
  2. In the left pane, click vCenter Server Instances and click Add.
  3. If you have a multisite VMware Cloud Director deployment, from the Site drop-don menu, select the site to which you want to add this vCenter Server instance, and click Next.
  4. Enter a name and, optionally, a description for the vCenter Server instance in VMware Cloud Director.
  5. Enter the URL of the vCenter Server instance.
    If the default port is used, you can skip the port number. If a custom port is used, include the port number.
    For example, https://FQDN_or_IP_address:<custom_port_number>.
  6. Enter the user name and password of the vCenter Server administrator account.
  7. (Optional) To deactivate the vCenter Server instance after the registration, turn off the Enabled toggle.
  8. Click Next.
  9. If you haven't already established a trust relationship to the the endpoint, on the Trust Certificate window confirm if you trust the endpoint.
    Option Description
    Trust the connectivity to an endpoint when VMCA is in use Use this option when in vSphere you are using VMCA-signed certificates or the VMCA as an intermediate certificate.
    1. Review the initial certificate.
    2. If VMCA is not included in the list of certificates, retrieve the additional CA certificates and, depending on your vCenter Server version, select one of the options.
      • For vCenter Server 7.0 and later, to fetch the additional CA certificates, click Retrieve. Select the VMCA certificate authority from the updated certificate chain, and trust it.
      • For vCenter Server 6.7 and earlier, you must manually retrieve the CA certificate from vSphere, and use the Import option to upload the certificate into the VMware Cloud Director certificates.
    Trust the connectivity to an endpoint when VMCA is not in use Use this option when in vSphere you are using custom certificates where VMCA is not an intermediate certificate
    1. Review the initial certificate.
    2. Determine the trust anchor to trust so that the entire vSphere infrastructure is trusted.

      Depending on your deployment, you might have to trust additional CAs. You must ensure that VMware Cloud Director trusts all necessary trust anchors. If necessary, use the Trust Remote Connection option.

    Do not trust the connectivity to this endpoint
    1. Click Cancel.
    2. Repeat Step 5 to Step 8 with a trusted endpoint.
  10. (Optional) Skip adding the NSX Manager instance that is associated with the vCenter Server instance by turning off the Configure Settings toggle and click Next.

    If you want VMware Cloud Director to use this vCenter Server instance with a instance, you must add the vCenter Server instance alone.

    Note: You cannot add the associated NSX Manager instance at a later stage. You can unregister and attach again the vCenter Server instance together with its associated NSX Manager instance.
  11. If you want to add a tenant dedicated vCenter Server that will not be used as a provider VDC, turn on the Enable tenant access toggle.
    After you add the vCenter Server instance to VMware Cloud Director, the tenant-related information appears in the details view of the instance.
  12. If you want VMware Cloud Director to generate default proxies for the vCenter Server instance and SSO services, turn on the Generate proxies toggle.

    After you add the vCenter Server instance to VMware Cloud Director, the proxies appear in the Proxies tab under vSphere Resources.

  13. On the Ready to Complete page, review the registration details and click Finish.