Prepare for the vCenter Server installation by recording the values that vCenter Server and related components require.

The vCenter Single Sign-On, vSphere Web Client, vCenter Inventory Service, and vCenter Server installation wizards prompt you for the installation or upgrade information. Keep a record of the values entered, in case you must reinstall vCenter Server. You can print this topic as a worksheet to record the information that you need for the installation or upgrade of vCenter Single Sign-On, the vSphere Web Client, Inventory Service, and vCenter Server.

Note:

Depending on the type of installation or upgrade you are doing, some entries might not be required.

Table 1. Information Required for vCenter Single Sign-On Installation.

Required Information

Default

Your Entry

vCenter Single Sign-On HTTPS port.

7444

vCenter Single Sign-On deployment type.

Choose from the following options:

  • Standalone vCenter Single Sign-On Server. Select this option to create a new vCenter Single Sign-On server, which will become the first or only vCenter Single Sign-On server in a new domain.

  • High availability. Select this option to create an additional vCenter Single Sign-On server as a high-availability partner that replicates information from an existing vCenter Single Sign-On server in the same site. You must place the primary and high availability instances behind a third-party network load balancer.

  • Multisite Select this option to create an additional vCenter Single Sign-On server that replicates information from an existing vCenter Single Sign-On server in a different site.

Domain name.

vsphere.local

You cannot change the domain name from the default during installation.

User name.

administrator@vsphere.local

You cannot change the user name from the default during installation.

Password for the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator account in the default domain.

You must use the same vCenter Single Sign-On password name when you install or upgrade vCenter Single Sign-On, Inventory Service, vCenter Server, and the vSphere Web Client.

By default, the password must have at least eight characters, at least one lowercase character, one uppercase character, one number, and one special character. See the vSphere Security documentation for information about changing the password policy. The following characters are not supported in passwords: non-ASCII characters, semicolon (;), double quotation mark ("), single quotation mark ('), circumflex (^), and backslash (\).

Site name.

Your name for the vCenter Single Sign-On site. Used as a logical container for grouping vCenter Single Sign-On instances that belong to the same domain. To place vCenter Single Sign-On instances behind a load balancer, you must install the primary and high-availability vCenter Single Sign-On instances as replicating partners in the same geographic location with the same site name.

Partner host name. Required only if you are installing additional vCenter Single Sign-On servers.

The partner host name is the IP address or DNS name of the existing vCenter Single Sign-On server to replicate from.

Table 2. Information Required for the vSphere Web Client Installation

Required Information

Default

Your Entry

Setup Language.

This selection controls the language only for the installer.

English

Destination folder.

The folder to install the vSphere Web Client in. The installation path cannot contain the following characters: non-ASCII characters, commas (,), periods (.), exclamation points (!), pound signs (#), at signs (@), or percentage signs (%).

If 8.3 name creation is disabled on the host machine, do not install the vSphere Web Client in a directory that does not have an 8.3 short name or has a name that contains spaces. This situation will make the vSphere Web Client inaccessible.

C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure

vSphere Web Client HTTP port.

9090

vSphere Web Client HTTPS port.

9443

vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user name.

The entry is case sensitive, and must match the administrator user name you enter when you install vCenter Single Sign-On

administrator@vsphere.local

Password for the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator account in the default domain.

You must use the same vCenter Single Sign-On password when you install or upgrade vCenter Single Sign-On, Inventory Service, vCenter Server, and the vSphere Web Client.

Lookup Service URL.

The Lookup Service URL takes the form https://SSO_host_FQDN_or_IP:7444/lookupservice/sdk, where 7444 is the default vCenter Single Sign-On HTTPS port number. This entry must match the URL you enter when you install vCenter Inventory Service.

Table 3. Information Required for vCenter Inventory Service Installation or Upgrade

Required Information

Default

Your Entry

Setup Language.

This selection controls the language only for the installer.

English

Destination folder.

The folder to install Inventory Service in. The installation path cannot contain the following characters: non-ASCII characters, commas (,), periods (.), exclamation points (!), pound signs (#), at signs (@), or percentage signs (%).

C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure

Fully Qualified Domain Name.

The FQDN for the Inventory Service local system.

vCenter Inventory Service HTTPS port.

See Required Ports for vCenter Server.

10443

vCenter Inventory Service management port.

10109

vCenter Inventory Service Linked Mode communication port.

10111

Inventory size.

The inventory size of your vCenter Server deployment:

  • Small (less than 100 hosts or 1000 virtual machines.

  • Medium (100-400 hosts or 1000-4000 virtual machines.

  • Large (more than 400 hosts or 4000 virtual machines.

This setting determines the maximum JVM heap settings for VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices (Tomcat), Inventory Service, and Profile-Driven Storage Service. You can adjust this setting after installation if the number of hosts in your environment changes. See the recommendations in Hardware Requirements for vCenter Server, the vSphere Web Client, vCenter Inventory Service, and vCenter Single Sign-On.

User name for the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user account.

You must use the same vCenter Single Sign-On user name and password name when you install vCenter Single Sign-On, and install or upgrade Inventory Service, vCenter Server, and the vSphere Web Client.

administrator

Lookup Service URL.

The Lookup Service URL takes the form https://SSO_host_FQDN_or_IP:7444/lookupservice/sdk, where 7444 is the default vCenter Single Sign-On HTTPS port number. If you enter a different port number when you install vCenter Single Sign-On, use that port number.

Table 4. Information Required for vCenter Server Installation or Upgrade

Required Information

Default

Your Entry

Setup Language.

This selection controls the language only for the installer.

English

vCenter Server license key.

If you omit the license key, vCenter Server is installed in evaluation mode. After you install vCenter Server, you can enter the vCenter Server license in the vSphere Web Client.

Data source name (DSN).

Required if you use an existing database. Not required if you are using the bundled Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express database. Leading and trailing spaces are not supported. Remove spaces from the beginning or end of the DSN.

Database user name.

Required to use an existing database. Not required if you are using the bundled database. Non-ASCII characters are not supported.

Database password.

JDBC URL for database.

Required if you use an existing database. The vCenter Server installer should generate and validate the JDBC URL for the vCenter Server database. If the installer fails to connect to the database by using the generated JDBC URL, the installer prompts you to specify the JDBC URL.

The format of the JDBC URL depends on the database that you are using. See JDBC URL Formats for the vCenter Server Database.v

vCenter Server Service account information.

Can be the Microsoft Windows system account or a user-specified account. Use a user-specified account if you plan to use Microsoft Windows authentication for SQL Server.

Microsoft Windows system account

Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the vCenter Server machine

The FQDN of the system that you are installing vCenter Server on. The vCenter Server installer checks that the FQDN is resolvable. If not, a warning message appears. Change the entry to a resolvable FQDN. You must enter the FQDN, not the IP address.

Standalone or join group.

Join a Linked Mode group to enable the vSphere Web Client to view, search, and manage data across multiple vCenter Server systems.

Standalone

Fully qualified domain name of Directory Services for the vCenter Server group.

The FQDN of a remote instance of vCenter Server. Required if this instance of vCenter Server is joining a group. The local and remote instances will be members of a Linked Mode group.

LDAP port for the Directory Services for the remote vCenter Server instance.

The LDAP port of the remote instance. Required if this instance of vCenter Server is joining a Linked Mode group. See Required Ports for vCenter Server.

389

vCenter Server HTTPS port.

See Required Ports for vCenter Server.

443

vCenter Server HTTP port.

80

Heartbeat port (UDP) used for sending data to ESX/ESXi hosts.

902

VMware VirtualCenter Management Web Services HTTP port

8080

VMware VirtualCenter Management Web Services HTTPS port.

8443

Web Services change service notification port.

60099

LDAP port for the Directory Services for the local vCenter Server instance.

389

SSL port for the Directory Services for the local vCenter Server instance.

636

Ephemeral ports.

Select Increase the number of available ephemeral ports if your vCenter Server manages hosts on which you will power on more than 2000 virtual machines simultaneously. This option prevents the pool of available ephemeral ports from being exhausted.

Inventory size.

The inventory size of your vCenter Server deployment:

  • Small (less than 100 hosts or 1000 virtual machines.

  • Medium (100-400 hosts or 1000-4000 virtual machines.

  • Large (more than 400 hosts or 4000 virtual machines.

This setting determines the maximum JVM heap settings for VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices (Tomcat), Inventory Service, and Profile-Driven Storage Service. You can adjust this setting after installation if the number of hosts in your environment changes. See the recommendations in Hardware Requirements for vCenter Server, the vSphere Web Client, vCenter Inventory Service, and vCenter Single Sign-On.

User name for the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user account.

You must use the same vCenter Single Sign-On user name and password name when you install vCenter Single Sign-On, and install or upgrade Inventory Service, vCenter Server, and the vSphere Web Client.

administrator

Password for the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user account.

Lookup Service URL.

The Lookup Service URL takes the form https://SSO_host_FQDN_or_IP:7444/lookupservice/sdk, where 7444 is the default vCenter Single Sign-On HTTPS port number. If you enter a different port number when you install vCenter Single Sign-On, use that port number.

Inventory Service URL.

The inventory Service URL takes the form https://Inventory_Service_host_FQDN_or_IP:10443. 10443 is the default Inventory Service HTTPS port number. If you enter a different port number when you install Inventory Service, use that port number.

Destination folder.

The folder to install vCenter Server in. The installation path cannot contain the following characters: non-ASCII characters, commas (,), periods (.), exclamation points (!), pound signs (#), at signs (@), or percentage signs (%).

C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure