We've made it to Part 3. The first two were pretty simple so far. so lets get started with Part 3
There are three components to a successful vCAC deployment:
Part 1: Deploy and Configure the Identity Appliance
Part 2: Deploy and Configure the vCloud Automation Center Appliance
Part 3: Installing IaaS Components
Part 5: Agent, Endpoint, and Group Configuration
Part 6: Create and Publish Blueprints
Part 7 - Setup vCO, Endpoints, and Advanced Services
Deploy a Windows VM (or physical server):
1. The Windows machine can be at 2008 R2 SP 1 or later. Windows 2012 is also supported. Windows 2012 R2 does NOT WORK. I tried it and it fails during installation with .NET 4.5 errors. I've done both Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 2012. Each has it's own quirks listed. I am also using SQL 2012 as well for the database.
a. 2vCPU, 8GB RAM, 30GB of Disk
2. Assign the box a static IP address. IIS doesn't like DHCP.
3. Add the Windows box to your domain. Adding the box to your domain will ensure NTP is going to be working correctly as well as DNS. Both of these are critical to functionality.
4. .NET Pre-requisites.
a. Windows 2008 R2
i. browse to https://vcac-va-hostname.domain.name:5480/installer/ and download the .NET 4.5 framework installer
ii. install the .NET framework and then continue
b. Windows 2012
i. go to your server roles and features. Go to the .NET 4.5 feature and make sure EVERY SINGLE BOX is checked.
ii. Keep all the IIS features and roles at the default and click next
iii. Hit the checkbox and let the server restart if needed. It doesn't need to restart but YMMV.
Install the IaaS Components:
1. vCAC will use SSL certificates. If you want to use domain certificates from a CA please follow these steps. If you plan on using self-signed certificates, skip this part
a. Get a certificate from a trusted certificate authority
b. To ensure that the certificate authority and that the root certificate is trusted, place the root certificate from the certificate authority into the Trusted Root using the Windows certificate plug-in
c. Add the certificate to IIS
d. Restart the IIS machine
2. Let's go ahead and run a pre-req automation script. This is a fantastic script written by Brian Graf and can be obtained at VMware vCloud Automation Center (vCAC) 6 installation pre-req automation script. For mirroring purposes, you can download it right below here as well. Download this to your server desktop and extract it
a. Verify that .NET 4.5 is installed prior to running the script. If you have Windows 2012, its installed by default. If using 2008 R2, visit https://vcac-va-hostname.domain.name:5480/installer/ and you can download the 4.5 installer from there.
b. If this is the first time running powersell on this host, we need to enable remote execution. Right click on 'powershell' and "Run as Administrator". Since this is a lab host I'm going type Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted and hit Y and enter
c. If you are running Windows 2012, you need to go into the powershell script and change NET-Framework to AS-NET-Framework on line 109 to make sure .NET 4.5 is loaded correctly. Or just download the 2012 R2 version above
d. change directories to your unarchived zip file and type .\vCAC6-PreReq-Automation.ps1 and it will go through and install all the roles necessary as well as all the configurations.
e. after this has completed restart your server
f. after your server has restarted, you need to go and check for Windows Updates. I had some problems with Windows Server 2008 R2 not being fully patched. After I updated all the latest security patches (i think there were 8 or 9 for .NET 4.5) then everything installed. I did not try installing 4.5.1 because I got tired of all these VM builds. Just keep it at 4.5 and update with security patches. It is best to make sure your Guest OS is up to date on all patch levels.
g. after patching is complete. reboot again.
2. Download the setup.exe installer from the vcac-appliance at (https://vcac-va-hostname.domain.name:5480/installer/). If you're using IE, add this server to your trusted sources and restart IE. in my case https://vcac-appliance.kendrickcoleman.c0m:5480/installer/. DO NOT CHANGE THE FILENAME.
a. if you get a 404 page, go to the :5480 page. from there, navigate to the IaaS tab and download everything you need from there.
3. Right click on setup_vcac-va-hostname.domain.name@5480.exe and "Run as Administrator". We are now presented with the installer screen. Click Next
4. Accept the EULA and click Next.
5. enter the username 'root' and the password that was configured for your vcac-appliance that was performed in Phase 2.
6. We are going to choose a 'complete install' so click next.
7. Since we ran the pre-req check earlier, we should have a screen that looks just like this. Click Bypass. Then Click Next
8. The Server and account settings page needs a few different inputs
a. Enter a User name and Password of a user with SQL administrative privileges or a local administrator
b. Type a phrase in Passphrase. The passphrase is a series of words that generates the encryption key used to secure database data
c. No need to create a database on your server. this step will create it for you
9. You can choose to accept the defaults and click next or you can change the "vCenter" name to your actual vCenter name. In my case I should have changed it to KCvCenter. This name will be used again during the IaaS Configuration and will be used in the log files.
10. Register the IaaS Components
a. keep the server, don't change it
b. Click Load to populate the value of SSO Default Tenant (vsphere.local)
c. Click Download to retrieve the certificate from the vCloud Automation Center Appliance and Check "Accept"
d. In the SSO Administrator panel, type This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in User name and the password you defined for this user when you configured SSO in Password and Confirm password
e. accept the default of the iaaS server
11. Click install and let it go.
Now we can move on to Part 4: Tenant Configuration
Part 1: Deploy and Configure the Identity Appliance
Part 2: Deploy and Configure the vCloud Automation Center Appliance
Part 3: Installing IaaS Components
Part 5: Agent, Endpoint, and Group Configuration
Part 6: Create and Publish Blueprints