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.
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.
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 Platform Services Controller |
vc_win |
Contains the configuration parameters that describe the source Windows installation of vCenter Server 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 Platform Services Controller 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
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. |
ssl_certificate_verification |
string | The CLI verifies that a server's security certificate is signed by a Certificate Authority (CA), and establishes a secure connection. If the certificate is self-signed, the CLI will stop the upgrade unless you specify one of the following SSL certificate configuration options. Specify the Secure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA-1) certificate thumbprint. A certificate thumbprint is a hexadecimal string that uniquely identifies a certificate. The thumbprint is calculated from the content of the certificate using a thumbprint algorithm. "thumbprint": "certificate SHA-1 thumbprint" Set "verification_mode": "NONE" If you are connecting to a server with a self-signed certificate, and fail to either specify the SHA-1 certificate thumbprint or set the verification mode to You may also specify that the CLI ignore the self-signed using the vcsa-deploy upgrade command parameter |
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" If there is no folder path on the datacenter, then use only the datacenter name. For example, ["datacenter_name"]or "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 25 GB of free space. |
port |
integer | The port number of the vCenter Server. The default port is 443. |
target |
string or array | The target cluster, ESXi host, or resource pool on which you want to deploy the new appliance. This is the target you specified with the
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.
Note: All values are case-sensitive.
If you want the deployed appliance to be listed in a different location within the data center's hierarchy, use the vm_folder parameter described below.
If the target cluster,
ESXi host, or resource pool 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" If you are deploying to a resource pool, include the label Resources before the resource pool name. For example: ["cluster_name", "Resources", "resource_pool_name"]
Note: Pre-checks verify only the memory of the resource pool.
|
vm_folder |
string | Optional. The name of the VM folder to which to add the appliance. |
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.
|
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. |
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. |
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
ip_family |
string | IP version for the network of the appliance. Set to |
mode |
string | IP assignment for the network of the appliance. Set to |
ip |
string | IP address for the appliance. Required only if you use static assignment, that is, if you set the You must set an IPv4 or IPv6 address that corresponds to the network IP version, that is, to the value of the 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 |
prefix |
string | Network prefix length. Required only if you use assignment, that is, if you set the For IPv4 version, the value must be between For IPv6 version, the value must be between |
gateway |
string | IP address of the default gateway. For IPv6 version, the value can be |
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
vcdb_migrateSet |
string | Select the types of data to migrate from the old appliance to the new appliance. Data will be copied from the source vCenter Server to the target server. The original source of the data will remain unchanged.
Note: To minimize migration time and the amount of storage required for the new vCenter Server appliance, use the
core value.
For more information on the types of data you can transfer from your existing vCenter Server to the new, upgraded vCenter Server, see Transferring Data from an Existing vCenter Server Appliance. |
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.
os_username
or
vum_os_username
parameters needs 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 or user_ID@your_domain_name.
migration_ssl_thumbprint
key in the
vc_win
subsection, and remove the
run_migration_assistant
section.
Configuration Parameters in the source_vc
Section
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
hostname |
string | The host name or IP address of the source Windows installation of vCenter Server 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 Platform Services Controller instance that you want to migrate. |
password |
string | The password of the vCenter Server 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. |
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
esxi_hostname |
string | FQDN or IP address of ESXi on which the source vCenter Server 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. |
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
esxi_hostname |
string | FQDN or IP address of ESXi on which the source vCenter Server 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
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
ceip_enabled |
Boolean | Set to true to join the CEIP for this appliance. |