VMware vCenter Server Appliance - 6.0.1 User Manual
Technical Note
Command-Line Deployment and
Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server
Appliance 6.0 Update 1
vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1
This technical note describes the command-line deployment and upgrade processes of the
VMware vCenter Server™ Appliance™.
The vCenter Server Appliance is a preconfigured Linux-based virtual machine that is optimized for running vCenter
Server.
The command-line installer is intended for advanced users who are familiar with vSphere. The main purpose of the
command-line installer is to enable automation and prevent user input errors.
Overview
You can use the vCenter Server Appliance command-line installer, which is integrated with the VMware OVF Tool, to
deploy and upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance.
The command-line deployment process includes downloading the installer ISO file, preparing a deployment template
that is a JSON configuration file, and running the deployment command.
The command-line upgrade process includes downloading the installer ISO file, preparing an upgrade template that is
a JSON configuration file, and running the upgrade command. The upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance is a
migration of the old version to the latest version, which results in the deployment of a new vCenter Server Appliance.
The installer ISO file contains deployment and upgrade templates of JSON files that contain the minimum configuration
parameters required for the different use cases. You can see the content of the templates in Example 1
Software Included in the vCenter Server Appliance Package
The vCenter Server Appliance package contains the following software:
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Update 3 for VMware, 64-bit edition
PostgreSQL
vCenter Server 6.0 Update 1 and vCenter Server 6.0 Update 1 components
to Example 16.
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vCenter Server Appliance Components
The vCenter Server Appliance consists of the following components.
VMware Platform Services Controller
A group of infrastructure services such as vCenter Single Sign-On, License service, and VMware Certificate
Authority
vCenter Server
A group of services such as vCenter Server, vSphere Web Client, Inventory Service, vSphere Auto Deploy, vSphere
ESXi Dump Collector, and vSphere Syslog Service for vCenter Server Appliance
vCenter Server Appliance Deployment Models
You can deploy the vCenter Server Appliance in one of the following deployment models.
Table 1. vCenter Server Appliance Deployment Models
vCenter Server Appliance Deployment Model Description
vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform
Services Controller
vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform
Services Controller
All services bundled with the Platform Services Controller
are deployed together with vCenter Server in the same
appliance.
IMPORTANT A vCenter Server with an embedded
Platform Services Controller deployment contains a
standalone Platform Services Controller. You cannot use
the embedded Platform Services Controller to replicate
vCenter Single Sign-On data. Setting up replication
partners between multiple vCenter Server instances with
embedded Platform Services Controllers is not supported.
All services bundled with the Platform Services Controller
are deployed as one appliance and vCenter Server is
deployed as another appliance.
IMPORTANT You must first deploy the Platform Services
Controller and then deploy the vCenter Server Appliance.
For more information about vCenter Server deployment models, see the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation at
http://pubs.vmware.com.
vCenter Server Appliance Upgrade Paths
You can upgrade from the vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 Update 3 or 5.5.x to 6.0 Update 1.
For more information about the vCenter Server upgrade paths, see the vSphere Upgrade documentation at
http://pubs.vmware.com.
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Requirements
Supported Operating Systems for the Command-Line Installer
You can run the vCenter Server Appliance command-line installer from any virtual or physical server in the vSphere
network. The vCenter Server Appliance command-line installer is supported on the following operating systems:
Windows 7
Windows Server 2008/2012
Windows 8
SUSE Linux 11 SP3 (64-bit)
Mac OS 10.9
Hardware Requirements
When you deploy or upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance, select to deploy an appliance that is suitable for the size of
your vSphere environment.
The hardware requirements, such as the number of CPUs and memory, depend on the size of your vSphere inventory.
Table 2. Hardware Requirements
Resources Number of CPUs Memory
Platform Services Controller 2 2 GB RAM
Tiny environment
up to 10 hosts, 100 virtual machines
Small environment
up to 100 hosts, 1,000 virtual machines
Medium environment
up to 400 hosts, 4,000 virtual machines
Large environment
up to 1,000 hosts, 10,000 virtual machines
28 GB RAM
4 16 GB RAM
8 24 GB RAM
16 32 GB RAM
NOTE For instances of vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller, the
required memory size and number of CPUs are the sum of the values for the Platform Services Controller and
the values for the environment you want to deploy.
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Storage Requirements
The host on which the vCenter Server Appliance is to be deployed or upgraded must meet minimum storage
requirements, depending on the selected deployment model.
Table 3. Storage Requirements
vCenter Server
Appliance with an
External Platform
Services Controller
External Platform
Services Controller
Appliance
Tiny environment
up to 10 hosts, 100 virtual machines
Small environment
up to 100 hosts, 1,000 virtual
machines
Medium environment
up to 400 hosts, 4,000 virtual
machines
Large environment
up to 1,000 hosts, 10,000 virtual
machines
vCenter Server
Appliance with an
Embedded Platform
Services Controller
101 GB 86 GB 25.5 GB
146 GB 108 GB 25.5 GB
270 GB 220 GB 25.5 GB
445 GB 280 GB 25.5 GB
Database Requirements
Each vCenter Server Appliance must have its own database to store and organize server data.
You can use the embedded PostgreSQL database that is included in the vCenter Server Appliance. The PostgreSQL
database supports up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines.
The vCenter Server Appliance supports only an Oracle database as an external database. The supported Oracle
database versions are the same as the as the supported Oracle database versions that are shown in the VMware Product
Interoperability Matrix for vCenter Server 6.0 Update 1. See the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix at
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php.
Host Requirements
You can deploy or upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance on an ESXi host 5.0 or later. You can also deploy or upgrade
the vCenter Server Appliance on an ESXi host or DRS cluster that resides in the inventory of a vCenter Server instance
5.0 or later.
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Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade Steps
You can run the command-line deployment or upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance from a virtual or physical
machine that is running on a Windows, Linux, or Mac operating system and that meets the operating system
requirements. See section “Supported Operating Systems for the Command-Line Installer” on page 3.
General Deployment and Upgrade Process
You can deploy or upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance from a machine that is in your vSphere network and that is
running on Microsoft Windows, Linux, or Mac.
I
MPORTANT As a precaution in case of failure during the upgrade process, create a snapshot of the vCenter Server
Appliance that you want to upgrade.
To deploy or upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance:
1 Download the installer ISO file from the VMware Web site.
The installer ISO file name is VMware-VCSA-all-6.0.0-yyyyyy.iso, where yyyyyy is the build number.
2 Prepare the JSON configuration file for your deployment or upgrade specification by using the templates that are
available in the installer ISO file. See “Prepare Deployment and Upgrade Templates” on page 26.
3 Navigate to the installer execution directory for your operating system (OS).
If you are deploying or upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance from a machine with Windows OS, at the
command prompt, navigate to the vcsa-cli-installer\win32 directory.
If you are deploying or upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance from a machine with Linux OS, at the
command prompt, navigate to the vcsa-cli-installer/lin64 directory.
If you are deploying or upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance from a machine with Mac OS, at the
command prompt, navigate to the vcsa-cli-installer/mac directory.
4 (Optional) Run a predeployment or preupgrade check without deploying the appliance.
Verify that you prepared the deployment template correctly.
vcsa-deploy --verify-only
Verify that you prepared the upgrade template correctly.
vcsa-deploy upgrade --verify-only
path_to_the_json_file
path_to_json_file
NOTE When verifying an upgrade template, the preupgrade check installs an RPM file on the vCenter Server
Appliance that you want to upgrade.
5 Run the deployment or upgrade command.
Deploy the appliance.
vcsa-deploy --accept-eula
Upgrade the appliance.
vcsa-deploy upgrade --accept-eula
optional_arguments path_to_the_json_file
optional_arguments path_to_json_file
You can use a space-separated list of optional arguments to set additional configurations. For example, you can set
the location of the log and other output files that the installer generates.
vcsa-deploy --accept-eula --log-dir=
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path_to_the_location path_to_the_json_file
Command-Line Deployment and Upgrade of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 Update 1
Optional Arguments of the Command-Line Installer
Table 4. Optional Arguments of the Command-Line Installer
Optional Argument Description
-h, --help Displays the help message for the command.
--template-help Displays the help message for the configuration parameters in the JSON
file.
-v, --verbose Adds debug information to the console output.
-t, --terse Hides the console output. Displays only warning and error messages.
--log-dir, LOG_DIR Sets the location of the log and other output files that the installer
generates.
--verify-only Performs basic verification of the configuration parameters in the JSON
file and verification of the OVF Tool parameters. Does not deploy the
appliance.
--skip-ovftool-verification Performs basic verification of the configuration parameters in the JSON
file and deploys the appliance. Does not perform verification of the OVF
Tool parameters.
--no-esx-ssl-verify Skips the SSL verification for ESXi connections.
Avoid using this option because it might cause problems during
deployment or after deployment because of invalidated values passed to
the appliance.
--sso-ssl-thumbprint, SSL-SHA1-THUMBPRINT Validates server certificate against the supplied SHA1 thumbprint.
--accept-eula Accepts the end-user license agreement
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Using the Deployment and Upgrade Templates
This section provides details about the vCenter Server Appliance deployment and upgrade templates and how to use
the templates to prepare the JSON configuration files for your deployment or upgrade specification.
Templates for New Deployments
For deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance, the installer ISO file contains eight JSON templates that are located
in the vcsa-cli-installer/template/install directory:
Table 5. Templates of JSON Files for Deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance
Template JSON File Description
embedded_vCSA_on_ESXi.json Contains the minimum configuration parameters required for deployment of a
vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller on
an ESXi host. See the template in Example 1.
embedded_vCSA_on_VC.json Contains the minimum configuration parameters required for deployment of a
vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller on
an ESXi host or DRS cluster that resides in the inventory of a vCenter Server
instance. See the template in Example 2.
PSC_on_ESXi.json Contains the minimum configuration parameters required for deployment of a
PSC_on_VC.json Contains the minimum configuration parameters required for deployment of a
PSC_replication_on_ESXi.json Contains the minimum configuration parameters required for deployment of a
PSC_replication_on_VC.json Contains the minimum configuration parameters required for deployment of a
VC_on_ESXi.json Contains the minimum configuration parameters required for deployment of a
VC_on_VC.json Contains the minimum configuration parameters required for deployment of a
Platform Services Controller appliance on an ESXi host. See the template in
Example 3.
Platform Services Controller appliance on an ESXi host or DRS cluster that
resides in the inventory of a vCenter Server instance. See the template in
Example 4.
replicating Platform Services Controller appliance on an ESXi host. See the
template in Example 5.
replicating Platform Services Controller appliance on an ESXi host or DRS
cluster that resides in the inventory of a vCenter Server instance. See the
template in Example 6.
vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller on an
ESXi host. See the template in Example 7.
vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller on an
ESXi host or DRS cluster that resides in the inventory of a vCenter Server
instance. See the template in Example 8
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Example 1. Content of the embedded_vCSA_on_ESXi.json Deployment Template
{
"__version": "1.1",
"__comments": "Sample template to deploy a vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services
"target.vcsa": {
"appliance": {
"deployment.network": "VM Network",
"deployment.option": "small",
"name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance",
"thin.disk.mode": true
},
"esx": {
"hostname": "<ESXi host name or IP address>",
"username": "root",
"password": "<Password of the ESXi host root user>",
"datastore": "<ESXi host datastore>"
},
"network": {
"hostname": "<Host name>",
"dns.servers": [
"<DNS Server IP Address>",
"<Alternate DNS Server IP Address>"
],
"gateway": "<Gateway IP address>",
"ip": "<Static IP address>",
"ip.family": "ipv4",
"mode": "static",
"prefix": "<The value must be 0-32>"
},
"os": {
"password": "<vCenter Server Appliance root password>",
"ssh.enable": true
},
"sso": {
"password": "<vCenter Single Sign-On password>",
"domain-name": "vsphere.local",
"site-name": "<SSO site name>"
}
}
}
Controller to an ESXi host.",
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Example 2. Content of the embedded_vCSA_on_VC.json Deployment Template
{
"__version": "1.1",
"__comments": "Sample template to deploy a vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services
"target.vcsa": {
"appliance": {
"deployment.network": "VM Network",
"deployment.option": "small",
"name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance",
"thin.disk.mode": true
},
"network": {
"hostname": "<Host name>",
"dns.servers": [
"<DNS Server IP Address>",
"<Alternate DNS Server IP Address>"
],
"gateway": "<Gateway IP address>",
"ip": "<Static IP address>",
"ip.family": "ipv4",
"mode": "static",
"prefix": "<The value must be 0-32>"
},
"os": {
"password": "<vCenter Server Appliance root password>",
"ssh.enable": true
},
"sso": {
"password": "<vCenter Single Sign-On password>",
"domain-name": "vsphere.local",
"site-name": "<SSO site name>"
},
"vc": {
"hostname": "<vCenter Server host name or IP address>",
"username": "Administrator@vsphere.local",
"password": "<vCenter Server password>",
"datacenter": [
"folderA",
"folderB",
"Datacenter"
],
"datastore": "<Datastore connected to target>",
"target": [
"folder1",
"folder2",
"<Target identifier>"
]
}
}
}
Controller to a vCenter Server.",
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Example 3. Content of the PSC_on_ESXi.json Deployment Template
{
"__version": "1.1",
"__comments": "Sample template to deploy a Platform Services Controller to an ESXi host.",
"target.vcsa": {
"appliance": {
"deployment.network": "VM Network",
"deployment.option": "infrastructure",
"name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance",
"thin.disk.mode": true
},
"esx": {
"hostname": "<ESXi host name or IP address>",
"username": "root",
"password": "<Password of the ESXi host root user>",
"datastore": "<ESXi host datastore>"
},
"network": {
"hostname": "<Host name>",
"dns.servers": [
"<DNS Server IP Address>",
"<Alternate DNS Server IP Address>"
],
"gateway": "<Gateway IP address>",
"ip": "<Static IP address>",
"ip.family": "ipv4",
"mode": "static",
"prefix": "<The value must be 0-32>"
},
"os": {
"password": "<vCenter Server Appliance root password>",
"ssh.enable": true
},
"sso": {
"password": "<vCenter Single Sign-On password>",
"domain-name": "vsphere.local",
"site-name": "<SSO site name>"
}
}
}
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Example 4. Content of the PSC_on_VC.json Deployment Template
{
"__version": "1.1",
"__comments": "Sample template to deploy a Platform Services Controller to a vCenter Server.",
"target.vcsa": {
"appliance": {
"deployment.network": "VM Network",
"deployment.option": "infrastructure",
"name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance",
"thin.disk.mode": true
},
"network": {
"hostname": "<Host name>",
"dns.servers": [
"<DNS Server IP Address>",
"<Alternate DNS Server IP Address>"
],
"gateway": "<Gateway IP address>",
"ip": "<Static IP address>",
"ip.family": "ipv4",
"mode": "static",
"prefix": "<The value must be 0-32>"
},
"os": {
"password": "<vCenter Server Appliance root password>",
"ssh.enable": true
},
"sso": {
"password": "<vCenter Single Sign-On password>",
"domain-name": "vsphere.local",
"site-name": "<SSO site name>"
},
"vc": {
"hostname": "<vCenter Server host name or IP address>",
"username": "Administrator@vsphere.local",
"password": "<vCenter Server password>",
"datacenter": [
"folderA",
"folderB",
"Datacenter"
],
"datastore": "<Datastore connected to target>",
"target": [
"folder1",
"folder2",
"<Target identifier>"
]
}
}
}
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Example 5. Content of the PSC_replication_on_ESXi.json Deployment Template
{
"__version": "1.1",
"__comments": "Sample template to deploy a Platform Services Controller to an ESXi host, joining an
"target.vcsa": {
"appliance": {
"deployment.network": "VM Network",
"deployment.option": "infrastructure",
"name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance",
"thin.disk.mode": true
},
"esx": {
"hostname": "<ESXi host name or IP address>",
"username": "root",
"password": "<Password of the ESXi host root user>",
"datastore": "<ESXi host datastore>"
},
"network": {
"hostname": "<Host name>",
"dns.servers": [
"<DNS Server IP Address>",
"<Alternate DNS Server IP Address>"
],
"gateway": "<Gateway IP address>",
"ip": "<Static IP address>",
"ip.family": "ipv4",
"mode": "static",
"prefix": "<The value must be 0-32>"
},
"os": {
"password": "<vCenter Server Appliance root password>",
"ssh.enable": true
},
"sso": {
"password": "<vCenter Single Sign-On password>",
"domain-name": "vsphere.local",
"first-instance": false,
"replication-partner-hostname": "<Host name of the replication partner>",
"site-name": "<SSO site name>"
}
}
}
existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain.",
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Example 6. Content of the PSC_replication_on_VC.json Deployment Template
{
"__version": "1.1",
"__comments": "Sample template to deploy a Platform Services Controller to an ESXi host, joining an
"target.vcsa": {
"appliance": {
"deployment.network": "VM Network",
"deployment.option": "infrastructure",
"name": "vCenter-Server-Appliance",
"thin.disk.mode": true
},
"esx": {
"hostname": "<ESXi host name or IP address>",
"username": "root",
"password": "<Password of the ESXi host root user>",
"datastore": "<ESXi host datastore>"
},
"network": {
"hostname": "<Host name>",
"dns.servers": [
"<DNS Server IP Address>",
"<Alternate DNS Server IP Address>"
],
"gateway": "<Gateway IP address>",
"ip": "<Static IP address>",
"ip.family": "ipv4",
"mode": "static",
"prefix": "<The value must be 0-32>"
},
"os": {
"password": "<vCenter Server Appliance root password>",
"ssh.enable": true
},
"sso": {
"password": "<vCenter Single Sign-On password>",
"domain-name": "vsphere.local",
"first-instance": false,
"replication-partner-hostname": "<Host name of the replication partner>",
"site-name": "<SSO site name>"
}
}
}
existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain.",
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