Deploy the management vCenter Server instance on one of the ESXi hosts. It is not mandatory to have the NFS datastore. Instead, you can deploy a vCenter Server on a single-host vSAN cluster. After setting up the management vCenter Server instance, configure the management cluster and add the remaining hosts to the cluster. Lastly, enable vSAN on the cluster and move the deployed vCenter Server from the NFS datastore to the vSAN datastore.

Prerequisites

Before deploying the Management vCenter Server, follow these steps.

  1. Download a copy of the vCenter Server installer file and mount the installer ISO to a local drive.

  2. Verify that the FQDN that you use with vCenter Server TCP_MGMT_VC is registered in the DNS server for forward and reverse lookup.

  3. Verify that ESXi is reachable from the system where the vCenter Server installer is mounted.

Procedure

  1. Install the Management vCenter Server Instance.
  2. Create the Management Data Center and Cluster.
  3. Create and Configure vSphere Distributed Switches.
  4. Configure the vSAN Datastore.
  5. Configure vSphere DRS.
  6. Configure the Management Cluster for vSphere High Availability.
  7. Configure the Management vCenter Server High Availability.