Loading...
vSphere Installation and
Setup
Update 1
Modified on 04 DEC 2017
VMware vSphere 6.5 VMware ESXi 6.5 vCenter Server 6.5
vSphere Installation and Setup
You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware website at: https://docs.vmware.com/
If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to docfeedback@vmware.com
VMware, Inc.
3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com
Copyright © 2009–2017 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright and trademark information.
VMware, Inc. |
2 |
Contents
About vSphere Installation and Setup |
5 |
Updated Information for the vSphere 6.5 Installation and Setup 6 |
|
1 Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup 7 |
|
Overview of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process 7 |
|
vCenter Server Components and Services |
10 |
Overview of the vCenter Server Appliance |
13 |
vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller Deployment Types 14 |
|
Understanding vSphere Domains, Domain Names, and Sites 17 |
|
Deployment Topologies with External Platform Services Controller Instances and High Availability 18 |
|
Enhanced Linked Mode Overview 21 |
|
About ESXi Evaluation and Licensed Modes |
22 |
2 Installing and Setting Up ESXi |
23 |
|
|
|
ESXi Requirements 23 |
|
|
|
|
Preparing for Installing ESXi 30 |
|
|
|
|
Installing ESXi |
82 |
|
|
|
Setting Up ESXi 194 |
|
|
|
|
After You Install and Set Up ESXi |
215 |
|
|
|
3 Deploying the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller |
|
|||
Appliance |
219 |
|
|
|
System Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller |
|
|||
Appliance |
220 |
|
|
|
Preparing for Deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller |
|
|||
Appliance |
230 |
|
|
|
Prerequisites for Deploying the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller |
|
|||
Appliance |
232 |
|
|
|
GUI Deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance |
233 |
|||
CLI Deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance |
257 |
|||
4 Installing vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows |
273 |
|
||
vCenter Server for Windows Requirements 274 |
|
|
||
Preparing for Installing vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows |
285 |
|
||
Required Information for Installing vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller on Windows |
307 |
|||
Installing vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows 309 |
|
|
||
VMware, Inc. |
3 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
5 After You Install vCenter Server or Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance 318
Log in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Web Client 318 Install the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in 319 Collect vCenter Server Log Files 320
|
Repoint vCenter Server to Another External Platform Services Controller |
321 |
|
|||
|
Reconfigure a Standalone vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller to a |
|||||
|
vCenter Server with an External Platform Services Controller |
323 |
|
|
|
|
6 |
File-Based Backup and Restore of vCenter Server Appliance |
|
327 |
|
||
|
Considerations and Limitations for File-Based Backup and Restore 328 |
|
|
|||
|
Back up a vCenter Server Appliance by Using the vCenter Server Appliance Management |
|||||
|
Interface 331 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Restore a vCenter Server Appliance from a File-Based Backup |
333 |
|
|
|
|
7 |
Image-Based Backup and Restore of a vCenter Server Environment |
340 |
||||
|
Considerations and Limitations for Image-Based Backup and Restore |
341 |
|
|||
|
Use vSphere Data Protection to Back Up a vCenter Server Environment |
344 |
|
|||
|
Use vSphere Data Protection to Restore a vCenter Server Environment |
349 |
|
|||
8 |
Troubleshooting ESXi Booting |
381 |
|
|
|
|
|
Host Stops Unexpectedly at Bootup When Sharing a Boot Disk with Another Host |
381 |
||||
|
Host Fails to Boot After You Install ESXi in UEFI Mode 382 |
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
Troubleshooting vCenter Server Installation or Deployment |
383 |
|
|||
|
Collecting Logs for Troubleshooting a vCenter Server Installation or Upgrade 383 |
|||||
|
Attempt to Install a Platform Services Controller After a Prior Installation Failure |
385 |
||||
|
Microsoft SQL Database Set to Unsupported Compatibility Mode Causes vCenter Server |
|||||
|
Installation or Upgrade to Fail |
386 |
|
|
|
|
10 |
Decommissioning ESXi and vCenter Server 387 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Decommission an ESXi Host 387 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Uninstall vCenter Server 387 |
|
|
|
|
|
VMware, Inc. |
4 |
About vSphere Installation and Setup
vSphere Installation and Setup describes how to install and configure VMware vCenter Server®, deploy the VMware vCenter® Server Appliance™, and install and configure VMware ESXi™.
Intended Audience
vSphere Installation and Setup is intended for experienced administrators who want to install and configure vCenter Server, deploy and configure the vCenter Server Appliance, and install and configure ESXi.
This information is written for experienced Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and data center operations. The information about using the Image Builder and VMware vSphere® Auto Deploy™ is written for administrators who have experience with Microsoft PowerShell and VMware vSphere® PowerCLI™.
vSphere Web Client and vSphere Client
Task instructions in this guide are based on the vSphere Web Client. You can also perform most of the tasks in this guide by using the new vSphere Client. The new vSphere Client user interface terminology, topology, and workflow are closely aligned with the same aspects and elements of the
vSphere Web Client user interface. You can apply the vSphere Web Client instructions to the new vSphere Client unless otherwise instructed.
Note Not all functionality in the vSphere Web Client has been implemented for the vSphere Client in the vSphere 6.5 release. For an up-to-date list of unsupported functionality, see Functionality Updates for the vSphere Client Guide at http://www.vmware.com/info?id=1413.
VMware Technical Publications Glossary
VMware Technical Publications provides a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. For definitions of terms as they are used in VMware technical documentation, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
VMware, Inc. |
5 |
Updated Information for the vSphere 6.5 Installation and Setup
This vSphere Installation and Setup is updated with each release of the product or when necessary. This table provides the update history of the vSphere Installation and Setup .
Revision Description
04 DEC 2017 Added consideration item for SCP protocol in Considerations and Limitations for File-Based Backup and Restore.
EN-002587-01 Initial release.
VMware, Inc. |
6 |
Introduction to vSphere |
1 |
Installation and Setup |
vSphere 6.5 provides various options for installation and setup. To ensure a successful vSphere deployment, understand the installation and setup options, and the sequence of tasks.
The two core components of vSphere are ESXi and vCenter Server. ESXi is the virtualization platform on which you can create and run virtual machines and virtual appliances. vCenter Server is a service that acts as a central administrator for ESXi hosts connected in a network. vCenter Server lets you pool and manage the resources of multiple hosts.
You can install vCenter Server on a Windows virtual machine or physical server, or deploy the
vCenter Server Appliance. The vCenter Server Appliance is a preconfigured Linux-based virtual machine optimized for running vCenter Server and the vCenter Server components. You can deploy the
vCenter Server Appliance on ESXi hosts 5.5 or later, or on vCenter Server instances 5.5 or later.
Starting with vSphere 6.0, all prerequisite services for running vCenter Server and the vCenter Server components are bundled in the VMware Platform Services Controller™. You can deploy vCenter Server with an embedded or external Platform Services Controller, but you must always install or deploy the Platform Services Controller before installing or deploying vCenter Server.
This section includes the following topics:
nOverview of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process
nvCenter Server Components and Services
nOverview of the vCenter Server Appliance
nvCenter Server and Platform Services Controller Deployment Types
nUnderstanding vSphere Domains, Domain Names, and Sites
nDeployment Topologies with External Platform Services Controller Instances and High Availability
nEnhanced Linked Mode Overview
nAbout ESXi Evaluation and Licensed Modes
Overview of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process
vSphere is a sophisticated product with multiple components to install and set up. To ensure a successful vSphere deployment, understand the sequence of tasks required.
Installing vSphere includes the following tasks:
VMware, Inc. |
7 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
Figure 1 1. vSphere Installation and Setup Workflow
Small envrionment with one vCenter Server Instance
Start the vSphere installation and setup
Install ESXi
on at least one host
Set up ESXi
Deploy or install vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller
Log in to the vSphere Web Client to create and organize your vCenter Server inventory
End of the vSphere installation and setup
1Read the vSphere release notes.
Large envrionment with multiple vCenter Server Instances
Start the vSphere installation and setup
Install ESXi
on at least one host
Set up ESXi
Deploy or install the Platform Services Controller instances in a sequence
Deploy or install the vCenter Server instances and register them with the external Platform Services Controller instances
Log in to the vSphere Web Client to create and organize your vCenter Server inventories
End of the vSphere installation and setup
2Install ESXi.
a Verify that your system meets the minimum hardware requirements. See ESXi Requirements. b Determine the ESXi installation option to use. See Options for Installing ESXi.
VMware, Inc. |
8 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
cDetermine where you want to locate and boot the ESXi installer. See Media Options for Booting the ESXi Installer. If you are using PXE to boot the installer, verify that your network PXE infrastructure is properly set up. See PXE Booting the ESXi Installer.
dCreate a worksheet with the information you will need when you install ESXi. See Required Information for ESXi Installation.
eInstall ESXi.
n Installing ESXi Interactively
n Installing or Upgrading Hosts by Using a Script
Note You can also provision ESXi hosts by using vSphere Auto Deploy, but vSphere Auto Deploy is installed together with vCenter Server. To provision ESXi hosts by using Auto Deploy, you must deploy the vCenter Server Appliance or install vCenter Server.
3Configure the ESXi boot and network settings, the direct console, and other settings. See Setting Up ESXi and After You Install and Set Up ESXi.
4Consider setting up a syslog server for remote logging, to ensure sufficient disk storage for log files. Setting up logging on a remote host is especially important for hosts with limited local storage. See Required Free Space for System Logging and Configure Syslog on ESXi Hosts.
5Determine the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller deployment model that is suitable for your environment.
vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller deployment is suitable for small-scale environments. vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller deployment is suitable for environments with several vCenter Server instances. See vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller Deployment Types.
6Deploy or install vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller.
You can deploy the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance on an ESXi host or vCenter Server instance, or you can install vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on a Windows virtual machine or physical server.
You can deploy or install multiple vCenter Server instances connected in Enhanced Linked Mode configuration by registering them to a common or different joined Platform Services Controller instances.
n Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance.
1 Review the topics in System Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance and verify that your system meets the hardware and software requirements for deploying the appliance.
2Determine the deployment method to use.
You can use the GUI method to deploy the appliance interactively. You can use the CLI method to perform a silent deployment of the appliance. See GUI Deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance and CLI Deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance.
VMware, Inc. |
9 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
3Use the topic Required Information for Deploying a vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller Appliance to create a worksheet with the information you need for the GUI deployment, or use the topic Prepare Your JSON Configuration File for CLI Deployment to create your JSON templates for the CLI deployment.
4Deploy the appliance.
nInstall vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller on a Windows virtual machine or physical server.
1Verify that your system meets the hardware and software requirements for installing vCenter Server. See vCenter Server for Windows Requirements.
2(Optional) Set up an external vCenter Server database. See Preparing vCenter Server Databases for Install.
For an environment with up to 20 hosts and 200 virtual machines, you can use the bundled PostgreSQL database. For production and large scale environments, set up an external database, because the migration from the embedded PostgreSQL database to an external database is not a trivial manual process.
3Create a worksheet with the information you need for installation. See Required Information for Installing vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller on Windows.
4Install vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller,
Platform Services Controller, or vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller.
7Connect to vCenter Server from the vSphere Web Client. See Chapter 5 After You Install vCenter Server or Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance.
8Configure the vCenter Server Appliance or vCenter Server instance. See vCenter Server Appliance Configuration and vCenter Server and Host Management.
vCenter Server Components and Services
vCenter Server provides a centralized platform for management, operation, resource provisioning, and performance evaluation of virtual machines and hosts.
When you install vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller, or deploy the vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller, vCenter Server, the
vCenter Server components, and the services included in the Platform Services Controller are deployed on the same system.
When you install vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller, or deploy the vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller, vCenter Server and the vCenter Server components are deployed on one system, and the services included in the Platform Services Controller are deployed on another system.
The following components are included in the vCenter Server and vCenter Server Appliance installations:
nThe VMware Platform Services Controller group of infrastructure services contains vCenter Single Sign-On, License service, Lookup Service, and VMware Certificate Authority.
VMware, Inc. |
10 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
nThe vCenter Server group of services contains vCenter Server, vSphere Web Client, vSphere Auto Deploy, and vSphere ESXi Dump Collector. vCenter Server for Windows also contains the VMware vSphere Syslog Collector. The vCenter Server Appliance also contains the VMware vSphere Update Manager Extension service.
Note Starting with vSphere 6.5, all vCenter Server services and some Platform Services Controller services run as child processes of the VMware Service Lifecycle Manager service.
Services Installed with VMware Platform Services Controller
vCenter Single Sign-On |
The vCenter Single Sign-On authentication service provides secure |
|
authentication services to the vSphere software components. By using |
|
vCenter Single Sign-On, the vSphere components communicate with each |
|
other through a secure token exchange mechanism, instead of requiring |
|
each component to authenticate a user separately with a directory service |
|
like Active Directory. vCenter Single Sign-On constructs an internal security |
|
domain (for example, vsphere.local) where the vSphere solutions and |
|
components are registered during the installation or upgrade process, |
|
providing an infrastructure resource. vCenter Single Sign-On can |
|
authenticate users from its own internal users and groups, or it can connect |
|
to trusted external directory services such as Microsoft Active Directory. |
|
Authenticated users can then be assigned registered solution-based |
|
permissions or roles within a vSphere environment. |
|
vCenter Single Sign-On is required with vCenter Server. |
vSphere License |
The vSphere License service provides common license inventory and |
Service |
management capabilities to all vCenter Server systems that are connected |
|
to a Platform Services Controller or multiple linked |
|
Platform Services Controllers. |
VMware Certificate |
VMware Certificate Authority (VMCA) provisions each ESXi host with a |
Authority |
signed certificate that has VMCA as the root certificate authority, by default. |
|
Provisioning occurs when the ESXi host is added to vCenter Server |
|
explicitly or as part of the ESXi host installation process. All ESXi |
|
certificates are stored locally on the host. |
For information about all Platform Services Controller services and capabilities, see Platform Services Controller Administration.
VMware, Inc. |
11 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
Services Installed with vCenter Server
These additional components are installed silently when you install vCenter Server. The components cannot be installed separately as they do not have their own installers.
PostgreSQL |
A bundled version of the VMware distribution of PostgreSQL database for |
|
vSphere and vCloud Hybrid Services. |
vSphere Web Client |
The vSphere Web Client lets you connect to vCenter Server instances by |
|
using a Web browser, so that you can manage your vSphere infrastructure. |
vSphere Client
vSphere ESXi Dump
Collector
The new user interface that lets you connect to vCenter Server instances by using a Web browser. The terminology, topology, and workflow are closely aligned with the same aspects and elements of the
vSphere Web Client user interface.
Note Not all functionality in the vSphere Web Client has been implemented for the vSphere Client in the vSphere 6.5 release. For an up- to-date list of unsupported functionality, see Functionality Updates for the vSphere Client Guide at http://www.vmware.com/info?id=1413.
The vCenter Server support tool. You can configure ESXi to save the VMkernel memory to a network server, rather than to a disk, when the system encounters a critical failure. The vSphere ESXi Dump Collector collects such memory dumps over the network.
VMware vSphere |
The vCenter Server on Windows support tool that enables network logging |
Syslog Collector |
and combining of logs from multiple hosts. You can use the vSphere Syslog |
|
Collector to direct ESXi system logs to a server on the network, rather than |
|
to a local disk. The recommended maximum number of supported hosts to |
|
collect logs from is 30. For information about configuring vSphere Syslog |
|
Collector, see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2021652. |
|
The vCenter Server Appliance uses the built-in Rsyslog service of the Linux |
|
OS. For information how to redirect the log files to another machine with the |
|
Appliance Management Interface, see vCenter Server Appliance |
|
Configuration. |
VMware, Inc. |
12 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
vSphere Auto Deploy |
The vCenter Server support tool that can provision hundreds of physical |
|
hosts with ESXi software. You can specify the image to deploy and the |
|
hosts to provision with the image. Optionally, you can specify host profiles |
|
to apply to the hosts, and a vCenter Server location (folder or cluster) for |
|
each host. |
VMware vSphere |
Update Manager enables centralized, automated patch and version |
Update Manager |
management for VMware vSphere and offers support for VMware ESXi |
Extension |
hosts, virtual machines, and virtual appliances. The VMware vSphere |
|
Update Manager Extension is an optional service of only the |
|
vCenter Server Appliance 6.5. |
Overview of the vCenter Server Appliance
The vCenter Server Appliance is a preconfigured Linux-based virtual machine that is optimized for running vCenter Server and the associated services.
The vCenter Server Appliance reduces the deployment time of vCenter Server and the associated services, and provides a low-cost alternative to the Windows-based vCenter Server installation.
The vCenter Server Appliance package contains the following software:
nProject Photon OS® 1.0
nThe Platform Services Controller group of infrastructure services
nThe vCenter Server group of services
nPostgreSQL
nVMware vSphere Update Manager Extension
Version 6.5 of the vCenter Server Appliance is deployed with virtual hardware version 10, which supports 64 virtual CPUs per virtual machine in ESXi.
The vCenter Server Appliance uses the embedded PostgreSQL database that has the scalability of up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines. During the deployment, you can choose the
vCenter Server Appliance size for your vSphere environment size and the storage size for your database requirements.
Starting with vSphere 6.5, the vCenter Server uses the VMware vSphere Update Manager Extension service. An external VMware Update Manager instance on Windows is no longer required for vSphere centralized automated patch and version management. For information about the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller services, see vCenter Server Components and Services.
Starting with vSphere 6.5, the vCenter Server Appliance supports high availability. For information about configuring vCenter Server Appliance in a vCenter High Availability cluster, see vSphere Availability.
VMware, Inc. |
13 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
Starting with vSphere 6.5, the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller appliance support file-based backup and restore. For information backing up and restoring, see Chapter 6 FileBased Backup and Restore of vCenter Server Appliance.
For information about the vCenter Server Appliance maximums, see the Configuration Maximums documentation.
vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller
Deployment Types
You can deploy the vCenter Server Appliance or install vCenter Server for Windows with an embedded or external Platform Services Controller. You can also deploy a Platform Services Controller as an appliance or install it on Windows. If necessary, you can use a mixed operating systems environment.
Before you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance or install vCenter Server for Windows, you must determine the deployment model that is suitable for your environment. For each deployment or installation, you must select one of the three deployment types.
Table 1 1. vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller Deployment Types
Deployment Type |
Description |
|
|
vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller |
All services that are bundled with the |
|
Platform Services Controller are deployed together with the |
|
vCenter Server services on the same virtual machine or physical |
|
server. |
|
|
Platform Services Controller |
Only the services that are bundled with the |
|
Platform Services Controller are deployed on the virtual machine |
|
or physical server. |
vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller (Requires external Platform Services Controller)
Only the vCenter Server services are deployed on the virtual machine or physical server.
You must register such a vCenter Server instance with a Platform Services Controller instance that you previously deployed or installed.
vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller
Using an embedded Platform Services Controller results in a standalone deployment that has its own vCenter Single Sign-On domain with a single site. vCenter Server with an embedded
Platform Services Controller is suitable for small environments. You cannot join other vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller instances to this vCenter Single Sign-On domain.
Figure 1 2. vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller
Virtual Machine or Physical Server
Platform Services
Controller
vCenter Server
VMware, Inc. |
14 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
Installing vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller has the following advantages:
nThe connection between vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller is not over the network, and vCenter Server is not prone to outages caused by connectivity and name resolution issues between vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller.
nIf you install vCenter Server on Windows virtual machines or physical servers, you need fewer Windows licenses.
nYou manage fewer virtual machines or physical servers.
Installing vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller has the following disadvantages:
nThere is a Platform Services Controller for each product which might be more than required and which consumes more resources.
nThe model is suitable only for small-scale environments.
You can configure the vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller in vCenter High Availability configuration. For information, see vSphere Availability.
Note After you deploy or install vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller, you can reconfigure the deployment type and switch to vCenter Server with an external
Platform Services Controller.
See Reconfigure a Standalone vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller to a vCenter Server with an External Platform Services Controller.
Platform Services Controller and vCenter Server with an External Platform Services Controller
When you deploy or install a Platform Services Controller instance, you can create a vCenter Single SignOn domain or join an existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain. Joined Platform Services Controller instances replicate their infrastructure data, such as authentication and licensing information, and can span multiple vCenter Single Sign-On sites. For information, see Understanding vSphere Domains, Domain Names, and Sites.
For information about managing the Platform Services Controller services, see Platform Services Controller Administration.
You can register multiple vCenter Server instances with one common external
Platform Services Controller instance. The vCenter Server instances assume the vCenter Single Sign-On site of the Platform Services Controller instance with which they are registered. All vCenter Server instances that are registered with one common or different joined Platform Services Controller instances are connected in Enhanced Linked Mode.
See Enhanced Linked Mode Overview.
VMware, Inc. |
15 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
Figure 1 3. Example of Two vCenter Server Instances with a Common External Platform Services Controller
Virtual Machine or Physical Server
Platform Services
Controller
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or Physical Server |
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or Physical Server |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
vCenter Server |
|
|
|
|
vCenter Server |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Installing vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller has the following advantages:
nFewer resources consumed by the shared services in the Platform Services Controller instances.
nThe model is suitable for large-scale environments.
Installing vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller has the following disadvantages:
nThe connection between vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller might have connectivity and name resolution issues.
nIf you install vCenter Server on Windows virtual machines or physical servers, you need more Microsoft Windows licenses.
nYou must manage more virtual machines or physical servers.
For information about the Platform Services Controller and vCenter Server maximums, see the
Configuration Maximums documentation.
For information about the deployment topologies and Platform Services Controller high availability, see Deployment Topologies with External Platform Services Controller Instances and High Availability.
For information about configuring the vCenter Server Appliance with an external
Platform Services Controller in vCenter High Availability configuration, see vSphere Availability.
Mixed Operating Systems Environment
A vCenter Server instance installed on Windows can be registered with either a
Platform Services Controller installed on Windows or a Platform Services Controller appliance. A vCenter Server Appliance can be registered with either a Platform Services Controller installed on Windows or a Platform Services Controller appliance. Both vCenter Server and the
vCenter Server Appliance can be registered with the same Platform Services Controller.
VMware, Inc. |
16 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
Figure 1 4. Example of a Mixed Operating Systems Environment with an External Platform Services Controller on Windows
Windows Virtual Machine
or Physical Server
Platform Services
Controller on Windows
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or Physical Server |
|
|
|
Virtual Machine |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
vCenter Server on Windows |
|
|
|
|
vCenter Server Appliance |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Figure 1 5. Example of a Mixed Operating Systems Environment with an External Platform Services Controller Appliance
Virtual Machine
Platform Services
Controller Appliance
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or Physical Server |
|
|
|
Virtual Machine |
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
vCenter Server on Windows |
|
|
|
|
vCenter Server Appliance |
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Note To ensure easy manageability and maintenance, use only appliances or only Windows installations of vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller.
Understanding vSphere Domains, Domain Names, and
Sites
Each Platform Services Controller is associated with a vCenter Single Sign-On domain. The domain name defaults to vsphere.local, but you can change it during installation of the first
Platform Services Controller. The domain determines the local authentication space. You can split a domain into multiple sites, and assign each Platform Services Controller and vCenter Server instance to a site. Sites are logical constructs, but usually correspond to geographic location.
Platform Services Controller Domain
When you install a Platform Services Controller, you are prompted to create a vCenter Single Sign-On domain or join an existing domain.
The domain name is used by the VMware Directory Service (vmdir) for all Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) internal structuring.
VMware, Inc. |
17 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
With vSphere 6.0 and later, you can give your vSphere domain a unique name. To prevent authentication conflicts, use a name that is not used by OpenLDAP, Microsoft Active Directory, and other directory services.
Note You cannot change the domain to which a Platform Services Controller or vCenter Server instance belongs.
If you are upgrading from vSphere 5.5, your vSphere domain name remains the default (vsphere.local). For all versions of vSphere, you cannot change the name of a domain.
After you specify the name of your domain, you can add users and groups. It usually makes more sense to add an Active Directory or LDAP identity source and allow the users and groups in that identity source to authenticate. You can also add vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller instances, or other VMware products, such as vRealize Operations, to the domain.
Platform Services Controller Sites
You can organize Platform Services Controller domains into logical sites. A site in the VMware Directory Service is a logical container for grouping Platform Services Controller instances within a vCenter Single Sign-On domain.
You are prompted for the site name when you install or upgrade a Platform Services Controller. See the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
Deployment Topologies with External
Platform Services Controller Instances and High Availability
To ensure Platform Services Controller high availability in external deployments, you must install or deploy at least two joined Platform Services Controller instances in your vCenter Single Sign-On domain. When you use a third-party load balancer, you can ensure an automatic failover without downtime.
Platform Services Controller with a Load Balancer
Figure 1 6. Example of a Load Balanced Pair of Platform Services Controller Instances
Virtual Machine or |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
||
Physical Server |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Physical Server |
||
Platform Services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Platform Services |
||
Controller |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Controller |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Load Balancer |
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
||
Physical Server |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Physical Server |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
vCenter Server |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
vCenter Server |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
VMware, Inc. |
18 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
You can use a third-party load balancer per site to configure Platform Services Controller high availability with automatic failover for this site. For information about the maximum number of
Platform Services Controller instances behind a load balancer, see the Configuration Maximums documentation.
Important To configure Platform Services Controller high availability behind a load balancer, the Platform Services Controller instances must be of the same operating system type. Mixed operating systems Platform Services Controller instances behind a load balancer are unsupported.
The vCenter Server instances are connected to the load balancer. When a Platform Services Controller instance stops responding, the load balancer automatically distributes the load among the other functional Platform Services Controller instances without downtime.
Platform Services Controller with Load Balancers Across vCenter Single Sign-On Sites
Figure 1 7. Example of Two Load Balanced Pairs of Platform Services Controller Instances Across Two Sites
|
|
|
Site 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Site 2 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
||||||||||
|
Physical Server |
|
|
|
|
Physical Server |
|
|
|
|
Physical Server |
|
|
|
|
Physical Server |
||||||||||
|
Platform Services |
|
|
|
|
Platform Services |
|
|
|
|
Platform Services |
|
|
|
|
Platform Services |
||||||||||
|
Controller |
|
|
|
|
Controller |
|
|
|
|
Controller |
|
|
|
|
Controller |
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Load Balancer |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Load Balancer |
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
||||||||||
|
Physical Server |
|
|
|
|
Physical Server |
|
|
|
|
Physical Server |
|
|
|
|
Physical Server |
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
vCenter Server |
|
|
|
|
vCenter Server |
|
|
|
|
vCenter Server |
|
|
|
|
vCenter Server |
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Your vCenter Single Sign-On domain might span multiple sites. To ensure Platform Services Controller high availability with automatic failover throughout the domain, you must configure a separate load balancer in each site.
VMware, Inc. |
19 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
Platform Services Controller with No Load Balancer
Figure 1 8. Example of Two Joined Platform Services Controller Instances with No a Load Balancer
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
||
|
Physical Server |
|
|
|
|
Physical Server |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Platform Services |
|
|
|
|
Platform Services |
|
||
|
Controller |
|
|
|
|
Controller |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
Virtual Machine or |
Physical Server |
|
Physical Server |
|
Physical Server |
|
Physical Server |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
vCenter Server |
|
vCenter Server |
|
vCenter Server |
|
vCenter Server |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
When you join two or more Platform Services Controller instances in the same site with no load balancer, you configure Platform Services Controller high availability with a manual failover for this site.
When a Platform Services Controller instance stops responding, you must manually fail over the vCenter Server instances that are registered to it. You fail over the instances by repointing them to other functional Platform Services Controller instances within the same site. See Repoint vCenter Server to Another External Platform Services Controller.
Note If your vCenter Single Sign-On domain includes three or more Platform Services Controller instances, you can manually create a ring topology. A ring topology ensures Platform Services Controller reliability when one of the instances fails. To create a ring topology, run the /usr/lib/vmwarevmdir/bin/vdcrepadmin -f createagreement command against the first and last
Platform Services Controller instance that you have deployed.
VMware, Inc. |
20 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
Platform Services Controller with No Load Balancer Across vCenter Single Sign-On Sites
Figure 1 9. Example of Two Joined Pairs of Platform Services Controller Instances Across Two Sites with No Load Balancer
Site 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
Site 2 |
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
Physical Server |
|
|
|
|
Physical Server |
|
|
|
Physical Server |
|
|
|
|
Physical Server |
Platform Services |
|
|
|
|
Platform Services |
|
|
|
Platform Services |
|
|
|
|
Platform Services |
Controller |
|
|
|
|
Controller |
|
|
|
Controller |
|
|
|
|
Controller |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
Virtual Machine or |
|
Virtual Machine or |
Physical Server |
|
Physical Server |
|
Physical Server |
|
Physical Server |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
vCenter Server |
|
vCenter Server |
|
vCenter Server |
|
vCenter Server |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Your vCenter Single Sign-On domain might span multiple sites. When no load balancer is available, you can manually repoint vCenter Server from a failed to a functional Platform Services Controller within the same site. See Repoint vCenter Server to Another External Platform Services Controller.
Important Repointing vCenter Server between sites and domains is unsupported. If no functional Platform Services Controller instance is available in the site, you must deploy or install a new
Platform Services Controller instance in this site. This new Platform Services Controller instance becomes the replication partner of the existing Platform Services Controller instance.
Enhanced Linked Mode Overview
Enhanced Linked Mode connects multiple vCenter Server systems together by using one or more Platform Services Controllers.
Enhanced Linked Mode lets you view and search across all linked vCenter Server systems and replicate roles, permissions, licenses, policies, and tags.
When you install vCenter Server or deploy the vCenter Server Appliance with an external
Platform Services Controller, you must first install the Platform Services Controller. During installation of the Platform Services Controller, you can select whether to create a vCenter Single Sign-On domain or join an existing domain. You can select to join an existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain if you have already installed or deployed a Platform Services Controller instance and have created a vCenter Single Sign-On domain. When you join an existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain, the infrastructure data between the existing Platform Services Controller and the new Platform Services Controller is replicated.
With Enhanced Linked Mode, you can connect not only vCenter Server systems running on Windows but also many vCenter Server Appliances. You can also have an environment where multiple vCenter Server systems and vCenter Server Appliances are linked together.
VMware, Inc. |
21 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
If you install vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller, you first must deploy the Platform Services Controller on one virtual machines or physical server and then deploy vCenter Server on another virtual machine or physical server. While installing vCenter Server, you must select an existing external Platform Services Controller. You cannot select an existing Platform Services Controller that is a part of an embedded installation. For more information about the supported topologies, see vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller Deployment Types.
About ESXi Evaluation and Licensed Modes
You can use evaluation mode to explore the entire set of features for ESXi hosts. The evaluation mode provides the set of features equal to a vSphere Enterprise Plus license. Before the evaluation mode expires, you must assign to your hosts a license that supports all the features in use.
For example, in evaluation mode, you can use vSphere vMotion technology, the vSphere HA feature, the vSphere DRS feature, and other features. If you want to continue using these features, you must assign a license that supports them.
The installable version of ESXi hosts is always installed in evaluation mode. ESXi Embedded is preinstalled on an internal storage device by your hardware vendor. It might be in evaluation mode or prelicensed.
The evaluation period is 60 days and begins when you turn on the ESXi host. At any time during the 60day evaluation period, you can convert from licensed mode to evaluation mode. The time available in the evaluation period is decreased by the time already used.
For example, suppose that you use an ESXi host in evaluation mode for 20 days and then assign a vSphere Standard Edition license key to the host. If you set the host back in evaluation mode, you can explore the entire set of features for the host for the remaining evaluation period of 40 days.
For information about managing licensing for ESXi hosts, see the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.
VMware, Inc. |
22 |
Installing and Setting Up ESXi |
2 |
You can install and set up ESXi on your physical hardware so that it acts as a platform for virtual machines.
This section includes the following topics:
nESXi Requirements
nPreparing for Installing ESXi
nInstalling ESXi
nSetting Up ESXi
nAfter You Install and Set Up ESXi
ESXi Requirements
To install or upgrade ESXi, your system must meet specific hardware and software requirements.
ESXi Hardware Requirements
Make sure the host meets the minimum hardware configurations supported by ESXi6.5.
Hardware and System Resources
To install or upgrade ESXi, your hardware and system resources must meet the following requirements:
nSupported server platform. For a list of supported platforms, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
nESXi 6.5 requires a host machine with at least two CPU cores.
nESXi 6.5 supports 64-bit x86 processors released after September 2006. This includes a broad range of multi-core processors. For a complete list of supported processors, see the VMware compatibility guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
nESXi 6.5 requires the NX/XD bit to be enabled for the CPU in the BIOS.
nESXi 6.5 requires a minimum of 4 GB of physical RAM. It is recommended to provide at least 8 GB of RAM to run virtual machines in typical production environments.
nTo support 64-bit virtual machines, support for hardware virtualization (Intel VT-x or AMD RVI) must be enabled on x64 CPUs.
VMware, Inc. |
23 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
nOne or more Gigabit or faster Ethernet controllers. For a list of supported network adapter models, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
nSCSI disk or a local, non-network, RAID LUN with unpartitioned space for the virtual machines.
nFor Serial ATA (SATA), a disk connected through supported SAS controllers or supported on-board SATA controllers. SATA disks are considered remote, not local. These disks are not used as a scratch partition by default because they are seen as remote.
Note You cannot connect a SATA CD-ROM device to a virtual machine on an ESXi 6.5 host. To use the SATA CD-ROM device, you must use IDE emulation mode.
Storage Systems
For a list of supported storage systems, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility. For Software Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), see Installing and Booting ESXi with Software FCoE.
ESXi Booting Requirements
vSphere 6.5 supports booting ESXi hosts from the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). With UEFI, you can boot systems from hard drives, CD-ROM drives, or USB media.
Starting with vSphere 6.5, VMware Auto Deploy supports network booting and provisioning of ESXi hosts with UEFI.
ESXi can boot from a disk larger than 2 TB if the system firmware and the firmware on any add-in card that you are using support it. See the vendor documentation.
Note Changing the boot type from legacy BIOS to UEFI after you install ESXi 6.5 might cause the host to fail to boot. In this case, the host displays an error message similar to Not a VMware boot bank. Changing the host boot type between legacy BIOS and UEFI is not supported after you install ESXi 6.5.
Storage Requirements for ESXi 6.5 Installation or Upgrade
Installing ESXi 6.5 or upgrading to ESXi 6.5 requires a boot device that is a minimum of 1 GB. When booting from a local disk, SAN or iSCSI LUN, a 5.2-GB disk is required to allow for the creation of the VMFS volume and a 4-GB scratch partition on the boot device. If a smaller disk or LUN is used, the installer attempts to allocate a scratch region on a separate local disk. If a local disk cannot be found the scratch partition, /scratch, is on the ESXi host ramdisk, linked to /tmp/scratch. You can
reconfigure /scratch to use a separate disk or LUN. For best performance and memory optimization, do not leave /scratch on the ESXi host ramdisk.
To reconfigure /scratch, see Set the Scratch Partition from the vSphere Web Client.
Due to the I/O sensitivity of USB and SD devices, the installer does not create a scratch partition on these devices. When installing or upgrading on USB or SD devices, the installer attempts to allocate a scratch region on an available local disk or datastore. If no local disk or datastore is found, /scratch is placed on the ramdisk. After the installation or upgrade, you should reconfigure /scratch to use a persistent
VMware, Inc. |
24 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
datastore. Although a 1GB USB or SD device suffices for a minimal installation, you should use a 4GB or larger device. The extra space is used for an expanded coredump partition on the USB/SD device. Use a high-quality USB flash drive of 16 GB or larger so that the extra flash cells can prolong the life of the boot media, but high-quality drives of 4 GB or larger are sufficient to hold the extended coredump partition.
See Knowledge Base article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2004784.
In Auto Deploy installations, the installer attempts to allocate a scratch region on an available local disk or datastore. If no local disk or datastore is found, /scratch is placed on ramdisk. You should
reconfigure /scratch to use a persistent datastore following the installation.
For environments that boot from a SAN or use Auto Deploy, you need not allocate a separate LUN for each ESXi host. You can co-locate the scratch regions for many ESXi hosts onto a single LUN. The number of hosts assigned to any single LUN should be weighed against the LUN size and the I/O behavior of the virtual machines.
Supported Remote Management Server Models and Firmware
Versions
You can use remote management applications to install or upgrade ESXi, or to manage hosts remotely.
Table 2 1. Supported Remote Management Server Models and Minimum Firmware Versions
Remote Management Server Model |
Firmware Version |
Java |
|
|
|
Dell DRAC 7 |
1.30.30 (Build 43) |
1.7.0_60-b19 |
|
|
|
Dell DRAC 6 |
1.54 (Build 15), 1.70 (Build 21) |
1.6.0_24 |
|
|
|
Dell DRAC 5 |
1.0, 1.45, 1.51 |
1.6.0_20,1.6.0_203 |
|
|
|
Dell DRAC 4 |
1.75 |
1.6.0_23 |
|
|
|
HP ILO |
1.81, 1.92 |
1.6.0_22, 1.6.0_23 |
|
|
|
HP ILO 2 |
1.8, 1.81 |
1.6.0_20, 1.6.0_23 |
|
|
|
HP ILO 3 |
1.28 |
1.7.0_60-b19 |
|
|
|
HP ILO 4 |
1.13 |
1.7.0_60-b19 |
|
|
|
IBM RSA 2 |
1.03, 1.2 |
1.6.0_22 |
|
|
|
Recommendations for Enhanced ESXi Performance
To enhance performance, install or upgrade ESXi on a robust system with more RAM than the minimum required and with multiple physical disks.
For ESXi system requirements, see ESXi Hardware Requirements.
VMware, Inc. |
25 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
Table 2 2. Recommendations for Enhanced Performance
System Element |
Recommendation |
|
|
RAM |
ESXi hosts require more RAM than typical servers. Provide at |
|
least 8GB of RAM to take full advantage of ESXi features and |
|
run virtual machines in typical production environments. An ESXi |
|
host must have sufficient RAM to run concurrent virtual |
|
machines. The following examples are provided to help you |
|
calculate the RAM required by the virtual machines running on |
|
the ESXi host. |
|
Operating four virtual machines with Red Hat Enterprise Linux or |
|
Windows XP requires at least 3GB of RAM for baseline |
|
performance. This figure includes approximately 1024MB for the |
|
virtual machines, 256MB minimum for each operating system as |
|
recommended by vendors. |
|
Running these four virtual machines with 512MB RAM requires |
|
that the ESXi host have approximately 4GB RAM, which |
|
includes 2048MB for the virtual machines. |
|
These calculations do not take into account possible memory |
|
savings from using variable overhead memory for each virtual |
|
machine. See vSphere Resource Management. |
|
|
Dedicated Fast Ethernet adapters for virtual machines |
Place the management network and virtual machine networks |
|
on different physical network cards. Dedicated Gigabit Ethernet |
|
cards for virtual machines, such as Intel PRO 1000 adapters, |
|
improve throughput to virtual machines with high network traffic. |
|
|
Disk location |
Place all data that your virtual machines use on physical disks |
|
allocated specifically to virtual machines. Performance is better |
|
when you do not place your virtual machines on the disk |
|
containing the ESXi boot image. Use physical disks that are |
|
large enough to hold disk images that all the virtual machines |
|
use. |
|
|
VMFS5 partitioning |
The ESXi installer creates the initial VMFS volumes on the first |
|
blank local disk found. To add disks or modify the original |
|
configuration, use the vSphere Web Client. This practice |
|
ensures that the starting sectors of partitions are 64K-aligned, |
|
which improves storage performance. |
|
|
|
Note For SAS-only environments, the installer might not format |
|
the disks. For some SAS disks, it is not possible to identify |
|
whether the disks are local or remote. After the installation, you |
|
can use the vSphere Web Client to set up VMFS. |
|
|
|
|
Processors |
Faster processors improve ESXi performance. For certain |
|
workloads, larger caches improve ESXi performance. |
|
|
Hardware compatibility |
Use devices in your server that are supported by ESXi 6.5 |
|
drivers. See the Hardware Compatibility Guide at |
|
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility. |
|
|
VMware, Inc. |
26 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
Incoming and Outgoing Firewall Ports for ESXi Hosts
The vSphere Web Client and the VMware Host Client allow you to open and close firewall ports for each service or to allow traffic from selected IP addresses.
The following table lists the firewalls for services that are installed by default. If you install other VIBs on your host, additional services and firewall ports might become available. The information is primarily for services that are visible in the vSphere Web Client but the table includes some other ports as well.
Table 2 3. Incoming Firewall Connections
|
Protoc |
|
|
Port |
ol |
Service |
Description |
|
|
|
|
5988 |
TCP |
CIM Server |
Server for CIM (Common Information Model). |
|
|
|
|
5989 |
TCP |
CIM Secure Server |
Secure server for CIM. |
|
|
|
|
427 |
TCP, |
CIM SLP |
The CIM client uses the Service Location Protocol, version 2 (SLPv2) to find |
|
UDP |
|
CIM servers. |
|
|
|
|
546 |
|
DHCPv6 |
DHCP client for IPv6. |
|
|
|
|
8301, 8302 |
UDP |
DVSSync |
DVSSync ports are used for synchronizing states of distributed virtual ports |
|
|
|
between hosts that have VMware FT record/replay enabled. Only hosts that |
|
|
|
run primary or backup virtual machines must have these ports open. On hosts |
|
|
|
that are not using VMware FT these ports do not have to be open. |
|
|
|
|
902 |
TCP |
NFC |
Network File Copy (NFC) provides a file-type-aware FTP service for vSphere |
|
|
|
components. ESXi uses NFC for operations such as copying and moving data |
|
|
|
between datastores by default. |
|
|
|
|
12345, 23451 |
UDP |
vSANClustering |
VMware vSAN Cluster Monitoring and Membership Directory Service. Uses |
|
|
Service |
UDP-based IP multicast to establish cluster members and distribute vSAN |
|
|
|
metadata to all cluster members. If disabled, vSAN does not work. |
|
|
|
|
68 |
UDP |
DHCP Client |
DHCP client for IPv4. |
|
|
|
|
53 |
UDP |
DNS Client |
DNS client. |
|
|
|
|
8200, 8100, |
TCP, |
Fault Tolerance |
Traffic between hosts for vSphere Fault Tolerance (FT). |
8300 |
UDP |
|
|
|
|
|
|
6999 |
UDP |
NSX Distributed |
NSX Virtual Distributed Router service. The firewall port associated with this |
|
|
Logical Router |
service is opened when NSX VIBs are installed and the VDR module is |
|
|
Service |
created. If no VDR instances are associated with the host, the port does not |
|
|
|
have to be open. |
|
|
|
This service was called NSX Distributed Logical Router in earlier versions of |
|
|
|
the product. |
|
|
|
|
2233 |
TCP |
vSAN Transport |
vSAN reliable datagram transport. Uses TCP and is used for vSAN storage |
|
|
|
IO. If disabled, vSAN does not work. |
|
|
|
|
161 |
UDP |
SNMP Server |
Allows the host to connect to an SNMP server. |
|
|
|
|
22 |
TCP |
SSH Server |
Required for SSH access. |
|
|
|
|
8000 |
TCP |
vMotion |
Required for virtual machine migration with vMotion. ESXi hosts listen on port |
|
|
|
8000 for TCP connections from remote ESXi hosts for vMotion traffic. |
|
|
|
|
902, 443 |
TCP |
vSphere Web Client |
Client connections |
|
|
|
|
VMware, Inc. |
27 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
Table 2 3. Incoming Firewall Connections (Continued)
|
Protoc |
|
|
Port |
ol |
Service |
Description |
|
|
|
|
8080 |
TCP |
vsanvp |
vSAN VASA Vendor Provider. Used by the Storage Management Service |
|
|
|
(SMS) that is part of vCenter to access information about vSAN storage |
|
|
|
profiles, capabilities, and compliance. If disabled, vSAN Storage Profile Based |
|
|
|
Management (SPBM) does not work. |
|
|
|
|
80 |
TCP |
vSphere Web Access |
Welcome page, with download links for different interfaces. |
|
|
|
|
5900 -5964 |
TCP |
RFB protocol |
|
|
|
|
|
80, 9000 |
TCP |
vSphere Update |
|
|
|
Manager |
|
|
|
|
|
Table 2 4. Outgoing Firewall Connections
Port |
Protocol |
Service |
Description |
|
|
|
|
427 |
TCP, UDP |
CIM SLP |
The CIM client uses the Service Location Protocol, version 2 |
|
|
|
(SLPv2) to find CIM servers. |
|
|
|
|
547 |
TCP, UDP |
DHCPv6 |
DHCP client for IPv6. |
|
|
|
|
8301, 8302 |
UDP |
DVSSync |
DVSSync ports are used for synchronizing states of distributed |
|
|
|
virtual ports between hosts that have VMware FT record/replay |
|
|
|
enabled. Only hosts that run primary or backup virtual machines |
|
|
|
must have these ports open. On hosts that are not using VMware |
|
|
|
FT these ports do not have to be open. |
|
|
|
|
44046, 31031 |
TCP |
HBR |
Used for ongoing replication traffic by vSphere Replication and |
|
|
|
VMware Site Recovery Manager. |
|
|
|
|
902 |
TCP |
NFC |
Network File Copy (NFC) provides a file-type-aware FTP service |
|
|
|
for vSphere components. ESXi uses NFC for operations such as |
|
|
|
copying and moving data between datastores by default. |
|
|
|
|
9 |
UDP |
WOL |
Used by Wake on LAN. |
|
|
|
|
12345 23451 |
UDP |
vSAN Clustering |
Cluster Monitoring, Membership, and Directory Service used by |
|
|
Service |
vSAN. |
|
|
|
|
68 |
UDP |
DHCP Client |
DHCP client. |
|
|
|
|
53 |
TCP, UDP |
DNS Client |
DNS client. |
|
|
|
|
80, 8200, 8100, 8300 |
TCP, UDP |
Fault Tolerance |
Supports VMware Fault Tolerance. |
|
|
|
|
3260 |
TCP |
Software iSCSI Client |
Supports software iSCSI. |
|
|
|
|
6999 |
UDP |
NSX Distributed |
The firewall port associated with this service is opened when NSX |
|
|
Logical Router |
VIBs are installed and the VDR module is created. If no VDR |
|
|
Service |
instances are associated with the host, the port does not have to |
|
|
|
be open. |
|
|
|
|
VMware, Inc. |
28 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
Table 2 4. Outgoing Firewall Connections (Continued)
Port |
Protocol |
Service |
Description |
|
|
|
|
5671 |
TCP |
rabbitmqproxy |
A proxy running on the ESXi host. This proxy allows applications |
|
|
|
that are running inside virtual machines to communicate with the |
|
|
|
AMQP brokers that are running in the vCenter network domain. |
|
|
|
The virtual machine does not have to be on the network, that is, |
|
|
|
no NIC is required. Ensure that outgoing connection IP addresses |
|
|
|
include at least the brokers in use or future. You can add brokers |
|
|
|
later to scale up. |
|
|
|
|
2233 |
TCP |
vSAN Transport |
Used for RDT traffic (Unicast peer to peer communication) |
|
|
|
between vSAN nodes. |
|
|
|
|
8000 |
TCP |
vMotion |
Required for virtual machine migration with vMotion. |
|
|
|
|
902 |
UDP |
VMware vCenter |
vCenter Server agent. |
|
|
Agent |
|
|
|
|
|
8080 |
TCP |
vsanvp |
Used for vSAN Vendor Provider traffic. |
|
|
|
|
9080 |
TCP |
I/O Filter Service |
Used by the I/O Filters storage feature |
|
|
|
|
Table 2 5. Firewall Ports for Services That Are Not Visible in the UI by Default
|
Proto |
|
|
Port |
col |
Service |
Comment |
|
|
|
|
5900 -5964 |
TCP |
RFB protocol |
The RFB protocol is a simple protocol for remote access to graphical user |
|
|
|
interfaces. |
|
|
|
|
8889 |
TCP |
OpenWSMAN |
Web Services Management (WS-Management is a DMTF open standard for |
|
|
Daemon |
the management of servers, devices, applications, and Web services. |
|
|
|
|
Required Free Space for System Logging
If you used Auto Deploy to install your ESXi 6.5 host, or if you set up a log directory separate from the default location in a scratch directory on the VMFS volume, you might need to change your current log size and rotation settings to ensure that enough space is available for system logging .
All vSphere components use this infrastructure. The default values for log capacity in this infrastructure vary, depending on the amount of storage available and on how you have configured system logging. Hosts that are deployed with Auto Deploy store logs on a RAM disk, which means that the amount of space available for logs is small.
If your host is deployed with Auto Deploy, reconfigure your log storage in one of the following ways:
nRedirect logs over the network to a remote collector.
nRedirect logs to a NAS or NFS store.
If you redirect logs to non-default storage, such as a NAS or NFS store, you might also want to reconfigure log sizing and rotations for hosts that are installed to disk.
You do not need to reconfigure log storage for ESXi hosts that use the default configuration, which stores logs in a scratch directory on the VMFS volume. For these hosts, ESXi 6.5 configures logs to best suit your installation, and provides enough space to accommodate log messages.
VMware, Inc. |
29 |
vSphere Installation and Setup
Table 2 6. Recommended Minimum Size and Rotation Configuration for hostd, vpxa, and fdm Logs
|
|
Number of Rotations to |
|
Log |
Maximum Log File Size |
Preserve |
Minimum Disk Space Required |
|
|
|
|
Management Agent (hostd) |
10 MB |
10 |
100 MB |
|
|
|
|
VirtualCenter Agent (vpxa) |
5 MB |
10 |
50 MB |
|
|
|
|
vSphere HA agent (Fault |
5 MB |
10 |
50 MB |
Domain Manager, fdm) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For information about setting up a remote log server, see Configure Syslog on ESXi Hosts.
VMware Host Client System Requirements
Make sure that your browser supports the VMware Host Client.
The following guest operating systems and Web browser versions are supported for the VMware Host Client.
Supported Browsers |
Mac OS |
Windows |
Linux |
|
|
|
|
Google Chrome |
50+ |
50+ |
50+ |
|
|
|
|
Mozilla Firefox |
45+ |
45+ |
45+ |
|
|
|
|
Microsoft Internet Explorer |
N/A |
11+ |
N/A |
|
|
|
|
Microsoft Edge |
N/A |
38+ |
N/A |
|
|
|
|
Safari |
9.0+ |
N/A |
N/A |
|
|
|
|
Preparing for Installing ESXi
Before you install ESXi, determine the installation option that is suitable for your environment and prepare for the installation process.
Download the ESXi Installer
Download the installer for ESXi.
Prerequisites
Create a My VMware account at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/.
Procedure
1Download the ESXi installer from the VMware Web site at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads.
ESXi is listed under Datacenter & Cloud Infrastructure.
VMware, Inc. |
30 |
Loading...