You must configure View to connect to the vCenter Server instances in your View deployment. vCenter Server creates and manages the virtual machines that View uses in desktop pools.

About this task

If you run vCenter Server instances in a Linked Mode group, you must add each vCenter Server instance to View separately.

View connects to the vCenter Server instance using a secure channel (SSL).

Prerequisites

  • Install the View Connection Server product license key.

  • Prepare a vCenter Server user with permission to perform the operations in vCenter Server that are necessary to support View. To use View Composer, you must give the user additional privileges.

    For details about configuring a vCenter Server user for View, see the View Installation document.

  • Verify that a TLS/SSL server certificate is installed on the vCenter Server host. In a production environment, install a valid certificate that is signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA).

    In a testing environment, you can use the default certificate that is installed with vCenter Server, but you must accept the certificate thumbprint when you add vCenter Server to View.

  • Verify that all View Connection Server instances in the replicated group trust the root CA certificate for the server certificate that is installed on the vCenter Server host. Check if the root CA certificate is in the Trusted Root Certification Authorities > Certificates folder in the Windows local computer certificate stores on the View Connection Server hosts. If it is not, import the root CA certificate into the Windows local computer certificate stores.

    See "Import a Root Certificate and Intermediate Certificates into a Windows Certificate Store," in the View Installation document.

  • Verify that the vCenter Server instance contains ESXi hosts. If no hosts are configured in the vCenter Server instance, you cannot add the instance to View.

  • If you upgrade to vSphere 5.5 or a later release, verify that the domain administrator account that you use as the vCenter Server user was explicitly assigned permissions to log in to vCenter Server by a vCenter Server local user.

  • If you plan to use View in FIPS mode, verify that you have vCenter Server 6.0 or later and ESXi 6.0 or later hosts.

    For more information, see "Installing View in FIPS Mode," in the View Installation document.

  • Familiarize yourself with the settings that determine the maximum operations limits for vCenter Server and View Composer. See Concurrent Operations Limits for vCenter Server and View Composer and Setting a Concurrent Power Operations Rate to Support Remote Desktop Logon Storms.

Procedure

  1. In View Administrator, select View Configuration > Servers.
  2. On the vCenter Servers tab, click Add.
  3. In the vCenter Server Settings Server address text box, type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the vCenter Server instance.

    The FQDN includes the host name and domain name. For example, in the FQDN myserverhost.companydomain.com, myserverhost is the host name and companydomain.com is the domain.

    Note:

    If you enter a server by using a DNS name or URL, View does not perform a DNS lookup to verify whether an administrator previously added this server to View by using its IP address. A conflict arises if you add a vCenter Server with both its DNS name and its IP address.

  4. Type the name of the vCenter Server user.

    For example: domain\user or user@domain.com

  5. Type the vCenter Server user password.
  6. (Optional) Type a description for this vCenter Server instance.
  7. Type the TCP port number.

    The default port is 443.

  8. Under Advanced Settings, set the concurrent operations limits for vCenter Server and View Composer operations.
  9. Click Next to display the View Composer Settings page.

What to do next

Configure View Composer settings.

  • If the vCenter Server instance is configured with a signed SSL certificate, and View Connection Server trusts the root certificate, the Add vCenter Server wizard displays the View Composer Settings page.

  • If the vCenter Server instance is configured with a default certificate, you must first determine whether to accept the thumbprint of the existing certificate. See Accept the Thumbprint of a Default SSL Certificate.

If View uses multiple vCenter Server instances, repeat this procedure to add the other vCenter Server instances.