You can register the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics plug-in with VMware vCenter Server to perform all the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics operations from vSphere Client.

As an operator, you might want to register the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics plug-in on vSphere Client as single point for performing Health & Diagnostics and view reports.

Prerequisites

  • VMware vCenter Server version 8.0 U1 and onward.

  • You need a valid vSphere SSO admin credentials.

  • Verify that you can access vSphere Infrastructure with privileges required for creating and interacting with virtual machines.

  • Before installing the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics, you must download the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics appliance plug-in OVA from the VMware Customer Connect site.

Note:

The naming pattern for the plug-in appliance image OVA is VMware-Skyline-HealthDiagnostics-Appliance-Plugins-<version>-<build>_OVF10.ova where version and build are the current available version and build number of the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics.

The plug-in appliance is pre-configured with required software and settings to run the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics. The VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics can be deployed in a single step through the vSphere Web Client connected to the VMware vCenter Server.

Caution:

The VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics plug-in is only supported for VMware Standalone vCenter Servers.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the vSphere Client using the supported browser and SSO credentials.
  2. In the top-menu, click Menu > Skyline Health Diagnostics.
  3. The landing page of the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics Plugin should open.
  4. Click on the Go to Skyline Health Diagnostics beside Get OVA Files, to open Download VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics OVA page.
  5. Click Download Now button in front of OVA with name VMware-Skyline-HealthDiagnostics-Appliance-Plugins-<version>-<build>_OVF10.ova, to start the OVA download.
  6. Navigate back to vSphere Client, click on Install Skyline Health Diagnostics, this should open install OVA wizard in UI.
  7. Perform the followings steps:
    1. On the Select an OVF template page, select Local file, and click Upload files.
    2. On the Open dialog page, select the OVA file, click Open, and click Next.
  8. On the Select a name and folder page, in the Virtual machine name text box, enter the name for the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics virtual appliance. Select the preferred datacenter, or cluster, or host for the virtual machine and click Next.
  9. On the Select a compute resource page, select the preferred VMware ESXi host as the compute resource, and click Next.
  10. On the Review details page, review the settings, and click Next.
  11. On the License agreements page, accept the license agreement, and click Next.
  12. On the Select storage page, select the destination storage and optionally the preferred format and the storage policy, and click Next.
  13. On the Select networks page, select the port group to which you want the appliance to connect and click Next.
  14. On the Customize template page, configure following settings, and click Next.

    1. Settings

      Value

      Initial/Current root password

      The password of the root user of VMware Photon operating system as per the security compliance policy of your organization or Password Policy.

      The password must be a minimum of 8 characters and include at least one uppercase, one lowercase, one digit, and one special character.

      Initial/Current shd-admin user password

      The password for the shd-admin user account as per the security compliance policy of your organization or Password Policy.

      The password must be a minimum of 8 characters and include at least one uppercase, one lowercase, one digit, and one special character.

      Note:

      VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics by default creates a user shd-admin with Administrator Role. This user account must not be deleted and the only account available post deployment. You can use this account to login and create further user acounts.

      Host Name

      Enter the hostname or FQDN for the appliance (leave blank in case DHCP is desired).

      Network IP Address

      Enter the IP address for the appliance (leave blank in case DHCP is desired).

      Network Prefix

      Enter the network prefix for the appliance (leave blank in case DHCP is desired).

      Default IPv4 Gateway

      Enter the default gateway for the appliance (leave blank in case DHCP is desired).

      Domain Name Servers

      Enter the IP address of the primary and secondary DNS servers, comma or space separated values are accepted (leave blank in case DHCP is desired).

      Search Domains

      DNS Search Domains [comma (,) or space-separated]. (Leave blank if DHCP is desired)

      NTP Servers

      Enter the NTP server or servers. Enter comma or space separated values if entering multiple NTP servers. NTP servers can be entered using FQDNs or IP addresses.
  15. On the Ready to complete page, click Finish, and wait for the completion of the task.

    Task progress will be displayed. The OS boots up with the virtual machine power on and the appliance is ready to use in approximately five minutes.

  16. Post successful deployment of OVA & plugin registration, the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics Plugin landing page should change to VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics Plugin home page.

    Deployment of the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics appliance and Registration of the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics plug-in with the VMware vCenter Server is successful and the client plug-in of the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics is visible in vSphere Client.