When using the CLI installer to migrate your vCenter Server installation to an appliance, you must provide the parameters with values for your migration specification.

The table lists the configuration parameters that you use to provide input data for the source vCenter Server.

Important: The path to the vCenter Server Appliance installer, the path to your JSON configuration file, and the string values in your JSON configuration file, including the passwords, must contain only ASCII characters. Extended ASCII and non-ASCII characters are unsupported.

To set a value that contains the backslash (\) or quotation mark (") character, you must precede the character with the backslash (\) character. For example, "password":"my\"password" sets the password my"password, "image":"C:\\vmware\\vcsa" sets the path C:\vmware\vcsa.

The boolean values must contain only lowercase characters. Can be either true or false. For example, "ssh.enable":false.

Sections and Subsections of Configuration Parameters in the JSON Migration Templates

The configuration parameters in the JSON migration templates are organized in sections and subsections.

Table 1. Sections and Subsections of Configuration Parameters in the JSON Migration Templates
Section Subsection Description
new.vcsa - describes the target appliance that you want to migrate to esxi Use only if you want to deploy the appliance directly on an ESXi host.
Contains the configuration parameters that describe the target ESXi host.
Note: You must fill in either the esxi or the vc subsection.
vc Use only if you want to deploy the appliance on the inventory of a vCenter Server instance.

Contains the configuration parameters that describe the target ESXi host or DRS cluster from the vCenter Server inventory.

Note: You must fill in either the vc or the esxi subsection.
appliance Contains the configuration parameters that describe the appliance.
os Contains the configuration parameters that describe the operating system settings for the appliance.
ovftool.arguments Optional subsection for adding arbitrary arguments and their values to the OVF Tool command that the installer generates.
Important: The vCenter Server Appliance installer does not validate the configuration parameters in the ovftool.arguments subsection. If you set arguments that the OVF Tool does not recognize, the deployment might fail.
temporary.network Contains the configuration parameters that describe the temporary network for migrating the data from the source to the new target appliance.
user-options Use only when the source is a vCenter Server instance. Contains the configuration parameters that let you control aspects of the migration process for particular components.
source.vc - describes the source vCenter Server, vCenter Single Sign-On, or Platform Services Controller vc.win Contains the configuration parameters that describe the source Windows installation of vCenter Server, vCenter Single Sign-On, or Platform Services Controller
run.migration.assistant Use only if the source Windows installation is running as a virtual machine and you want to automate the invocation of Migration Assistant. For a source Windows installation running on a physical machine, or if you are running Migration Assistant manually on the source Windows machine, copy and paste the thumbprint value from the Migration Assistant console output on the source machine to the migration.ssl.thumbprint key in the vc.win subsection, and remove the run.migration.assistant section.
ceip - describes joining the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) settings Contains only the ceip.enabled configuration parameter to join or not to join the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP).

Required only if you are deploying a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded vCenter Single Sign-On or a Platform Services Controller appliance.

Note: If set to true, you must run the CLI deployment command with the --acknowledge-ceip argument.

For information about the CEIP, see the Configuring Customer Experience Improvement Program section in vCenter Server and Host Management.

Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section

Table 2. Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, esxi Subsection
Name Type Description
hostname string The IP address or FQDN of the target ESXi host on which you want to deploy the appliance.
username string A user name with administrative privileges on the target ESXi host, for example, root.
password string The password of the user with administrative privileges on the target ESXi host.
deployment.network string The name of the network to which to connect the appliance.
Note: The network must be accessible from the target ESXi host.

Ignored if the target ESXi host has only one network.

datastore string The name of the datastore that you want to store all virtual machine configuration files and virtual disks of the appliance.
Note: The datastore must be accessible from the ESXi host.

The datastore must have enough free space.

port integer The port number of the ESXi host. The default port is 443.
Table 3. Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, vc Subsection
Name Type Description
hostname string The IP address or FQDN of the target vCenter Server instance on which you want to deploy the appliance.
username string vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user name on the target vCenter Server instance, for example, [email protected].
password string The password of the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user on the target vCenter Server instance.
deployment.network string The name of the network to which to connect the appliance.
Note: The network must be accessible from the target ESXi host or DRS cluster on which you want to deploy the appliance.

Ignored if the target ESXi host or DRS cluster has only one network.

datacenter string or array The vCenter Server datacenter that contains the target ESXi host or DRS cluster on which you want to deploy the appliance.
If the datacenter is located in a folder or a structure of folders, the value must be either a comma-separated list of strings or a comma-separated list as a single string. For example, 
["parent_folder", "child_folder", "datacenter_name"]
or 
"parent_folder, child_folder, datacenter_name"
Note: The value is case-sensitive.
datastore string The name of the datastore that you want to store all virtual machine configuration files and virtual disks of the appliance.
Note: The datastore must be accessible from the target ESXi host or DRS cluster.

The datastore must have at least 15 GB of free space.

port integer The port number of the vCenter Server. The default port is 443.
target string or array

The target ESXi host or DRS cluster on which you want to deploy the appliance.

Important: You must provide the name that is displayed in the vCenter Server inventory. For example, if the name of the target ESXi host is an IP address in the vCenter Server inventory, you cannot provide an FQDN.
If the target ESXi host or DRS cluster is located in a folder or a structure of folders, the value must be a comma-separated list of strings or a comma-separated list as a single string. For example, 
["parent_folder", "child_folder", "esxi-host.domain.com"]
or 
"parent_folder, child_folder, esxi-host.domain.com"
If the target ESXi host is part of a cluster, use a comma-separated list of strings or a comma-separated list as a single string to provide the path. For example, 
["cluster_name", "esxi-host.domain.com"]
or 
"cluster_name, esxi-host.domain.com"
Note: The value is case-sensitive.
vm.folder string Optional. The name of the VM folder to which to add the appliance.
Table 4. Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, appliance Subsection
Name Type Description
thin.disk.mode Boolean Set to true to deploy the appliance with thin virtual disks.
deployment.option string The size of the appliance.
  • Set to tiny if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 8 GB of memory, and 250 GB of storage.

  • Set to tiny-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 8 GB of memory, and 775 GB of storage.

  • Set to tiny-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 8 GB of memory, and 1650 GB of storage.

  • Set to small if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 100 hosts and 1,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 290 GB of storage.

  • Set to small-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 100 hosts and 1,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 820 GB of storage.

  • Set to small-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 100 hosts and 1,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 1700 GB of storage.

  • Set to medium if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 400 hosts and 4,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 425 GB of storage.

  • Set to medium-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 400 hosts and 4,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 925 GB of storage.

  • Set to medium-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 400 hosts and 4,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 1805 GB of storage.

  • Set to large if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 640 GB of storage.

  • Set to large-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 990 GB of storage.

  • Set to large-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 1870 GB of storage.

  • Set to xlarge if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 48 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 980 GB of storage.

  • Set to xlarge-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 48 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 1030 GB of storage.

  • Set to xlarge-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 48 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 1910 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-tiny if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 8 GB of memory, and 250 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-tiny-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 8 GB of memory, and 775 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-tiny-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 8 GB of memory, and 1650 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-small if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 100 hosts and 1,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 290 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-small-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 100 hosts and 1,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 820 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-small-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 100 hosts and 1,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 1700 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-medium if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 400 hosts and 4,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 425 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-medium-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 400 hosts and 4,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 925 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-medium-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 400 hosts and 4,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 1805 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-large if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 640 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-large-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 990 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-large-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 1870 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-xlarge if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 48 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 980 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-xlarge-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 48 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 1030 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-xlarge-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 48 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 1910 GB of storage.

  • Set to infrastructureif you want to deploy a Platform Services Controller appliance.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 4 GB of memory, and 60 GB of storage.

image string Optional. A local file path or URL to the vCenter Server Appliance installation package.

By default the installer uses the installation package that is included in the ISO file, in the vcsa folder.

name string The VM name for the appliance.

Must contain only ASCII characters except a percent sign (%), backslash (\), or forward slash (/) and must be no more than 80 characters in length.

ovftool.path string Optional. A local file path to the OVF Tool executable file.

By default the installer uses the OVF Tool instance that is included in the ISO file, in the vcsa/ovftool folder.

Table 5. Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, os Subsection
Name Type Description
password string The password for the root user of the appliance operating system.

The password must contain between 8 and 20 characters, at least one uppercase letter, at least one lowercase letter, at least one number, and at least one special character, for example, a dollar sign ($), hash key (#), at sign (@), period (.), or exclamation mark (!). All characters must be lower ASCII characters without spaces.

ssh.enable Boolean Set to true to enable SSH administrator login to the appliance.
Table 6. Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, temporary.network Subsection
Name Type Description
ip.family string IP version for the network of the appliance.

Set to ipv4 or ipv6.

mode string IP assignment for the network of the appliance.

Set to static or dhcp.

ip string IP address for the appliance.

Required only if you use static assignment, that is, if you set the mode parameter to static.

You must set an IPv4 or IPv6 address that corresponds to the network IP version, that is, to the value of the ip.family parameter.

An IPv4 address must comply with the RFC 790 guidelines.

An IPv6 address must comply with the RFC 2373 guidelines.

dns.servers string or array IP addresses of one or more DNS servers.
To set more than one DNS server, use a comma-separated list of strings or a comma-separated list as a single string to provide the path. For example, 
["x.y.z.a", "x.y.z.b"]
or 
"x.y.z.a, x.y.z.b"

Required only if you use static assignment, that is, if you set the mode parameter to static.

prefix string Network prefix length.

Required only if you use assignment, that is, if you set the mode parameter to static.

For IPv4 version, the value must be between 0 and 32.

For IPv6 version, the value must be between 0 and 128.

gateway string IP address of the default gateway.

For IPv6 version, the value can be default.

system.name string Primary network identity.

Can be an IP address or FQDN, preferably FQDN.

You cannot change the value of this parameter after the deployment.

The FQDN and dotted-decimal numbers must comply with the RFC 1123 guidelines.

Table 7. Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, user-options Subsection
Name Type Description
vcdb.migrateSet string Set data migration option. Available options are core, all, and core_events_tasks. Set to core to migrate core inventory and configuration data. Set to allto migrate all vCenter Server performance and historical data such as stats, events, alarms, and tasks. Not migrating all data reduces the amount of overall downtime.

Requirements for the Automatic Invocation of Migration Assistant

You use the run.migration.assistant subsection to automate the invocation of Migration Assistant. Automatic invocation works only if the source Windows installation is running as a virtual machine.

The user account that you specify in the os.username or vum.os.username parameters must not need privilege elevation to Administrator. For example:
  • The built-in Windows Administrator account
  • A user account with a user name other than Administrator that is a member of the local Windows Administrators group
  • The Domain Administrator account with the user name Administrator that is a member of the local Windows Administrators group
  • The user name ID must be in the format your_domain_name\\user_ID. Do not use the format user_ID@your_domain_name.
Restriction: Automatic invocation of Migration Assistant does not work with a Windows account that requires privilege elevation to Administrator. Instead, run Migration Assistant manually on the source Windows machine, copy and paste the thumbprint value from the Migration Assistant console output on the source machine to the migration.ssl.thumbprint key in the vc.win subsection, and remove the run.migration.assistant section.

Configuration Parameters in the source.vc Section

Table 8. Configuration Parameters in the source.vc Section, vc.win Subsection
Name Type Description
hostname string The host name or IP address of the source Windows installation of vCenter Server, vCenter Single Sign-On, or Platform Services Controller that you want to migrate.
username string A vCenter Single Sign-On user name with administrative privileges for the vCenter Server, vCenter Single Sign-On, or Platform Services Controller instance that you want to migrate.
password string The password of the vCenter Server, vCenter Single Sign-On, or Platform Services Controller instance that you want to migrate.
migration.port string Migration Assistant port number shown in the Migration Assistant console. The default port is 9123.
active.directory.domain string The name of the Active Directory domain to which the source vCenter Server instance is joined.
active.directory.username string Administrator user name of the Active Directory domain to which the source vCenter Server instance is joined.
active.directory.password string Administrator password of the Active Directory domain to which the source vCenter Server instance is joined.
Note: The installer verifies the entered credentials, but does not check the required privileges to add the target machine to the Active Directory domain. Verify that the user credentials have all the required permissions to add a machine to the Active Directory domain.
migration.ssl.thumbprint string The SSL thumbprint of Migration Assistant.
Table 9. Configuration Parameters in the source.vc Section, run.migration.assistant Subsection
Name Type Description
esxi.hostname string FQDN or IP address of ESXi on which the source vCenter Server, vCenter Single Sign-On, or Platform Services Controller instance resides.
esxi.username string User name of a user with administrative privileges on the ESXi host.
esxi.password string The password of the ESXi host user. If left blank, or omitted, you will be prompted to enter the password at the command console during template verification.
esxi.port string The port number of the ESXi host. The default port is 443.
os.username string Administrator user name for the source Windows machine.
os.password string Administrator user password for the source Windows machine. If left blank, or omitted, you will be prompted to enter it at the command console during template verification.
migration.ip string The IP address of the network adapter that will be migrated.
migration.port string Migration Assistant port number shown in the Migration Assistant console. The default port is 9123.
export.dir string Directory to export source configuration and data.
sa.password string The IP address of the network vCenter Server service account user password. This option is only required if the vCenter Server service is running under a non LocalSystem account. If left blank, or omitted, you will be prompted to enter it at the command console during template verification.
Table 10. Configuration Parameters in the source.vum Section, run.migration.assistant Subsection
Name Type Description
esxi.hostname string FQDN or IP address of ESXi on which the source vCenter Server, vCenter Single Sign-On, or Platform Services Controller instance resides.
esxi.username string User name of a user with administrative privileges on the ESXi host.
esxi.password string The password of the ESXi host user. If left blank, or omitted, you will be prompted to enter the password at the command console during template verification.
esxi.port string The port number of the ESXi host. The default port is 443.
vum.hostname string FQDN or IP address of ESXi on which the source Update Manager instance resides.
vum.os.username string Administrator user name for the source Windows machine.
vum.os.password string Administrator user password for the source Update Manager Windows machine. If left blank, or omitted, you will be prompted to enter it at the command console during template verification.
migration.port string Migration Assistant port number shown in the Migration Assistant console. The default port is 9123.
export.dir string Directory to export source configuration and data.

Configuration Parameters in the ceip Section

Table 11. Configuration Parameters in the ceip Section, settings Subsection
Name Type Description
ceip.enabled Boolean Set to true to join the CEIP for this appliance.