As you might be aware that VCSA ( vCenter) has SSO ( Single Sign On) as an identity source. Most of the environments has Active directory domain and its easy to add VCSA to AD as a identity source.

For adding vCenter VCSA as Identity source with Active Directory LDAP Integration,We have two ways to add Active Directory as an identity source.

Method 1. VCSA need to be domain join and needs a reboot then you can use the method 1 and add AD as identity source. – it should allow you to add users and groups from AD.

Like shown in the beginning of the session then I removed it to show the other way.

Method 2. No requirement for AD DOMAIN join for VCSA. We can add multiple AD as identity sources preferably good option in production to avoid single point of contact with only one AD DOMAIN CONTROLLER and when using this option you do not need any reboot.

In this post I am going to take you through installing vCenter server 7 step by step.

Pre-requirement if you are upgrading from previous version of vCetner make sure you understand that only 6.5 and 6.7 supports upgrade to vCetner 7.

Login to the VMware website and download the vCenter Server

Link https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/info?slug=datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_vsphere/7_0

The steps to install vCetner 7 very similar to installing vCetner 6.5 or 6.7 for that matter, I have taken screenshots when deploying my vCenter so hope you can follow them easily.

The full Video session of installing the VCSA can be found here:

So, let’s get started we have two states during the installation. State 1 is deployment and Stage 2 is configuration.

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Mount the ISO

Right Click and Mount

Open the directory called vcsa-ui-installer.

This has the Graphical Interactive installer for Linux, MAC and Windows OS.

I am using Windows 10 I will open win32.

Scroll down and locate the file called installer and right-click to run as an administrator as shown below,

Stage 1

Stage 1 is deploying the VCSA appliance VM on the ESXi host or the vCenter you may have selected.

You will find 4 options:

1. Install – new installation
2. Upgrade – to upgrade from 6.5 or 6.7 vCenters
3. Migrate – vCenter 7 does not have a Windows based vCetner, so we will need to migrate it to VCSA ( vCenter Server Appliance. )
4. Restore – to restore corrupted vCenter from backup.

Another thing to remember is from vCetner Server 7 we will only have internal PSC so if you do have external PSC they will converge during the setup.

Click on Install

Click Next

Accept End User Agreement and click I accept the terms of the license agreement.

Click Next

In this step, we will be selecting the target where we will be deploying our new or upgrade vCenter Server. In my example as it’s a brand new setup, I chose to deploy on the freshly installed ESXi 7 host. Provide the root password.

Click Next

the certificate or ssl certificate warning, pops up

click Yes accept

Step 4- set up vCenter Server VM, here we will be giving the new name of our vCenter 7 example vcsa-01.lab.local

Then you will need to set the root password and confirm it.

Click Next

For my lab setup I will be selecting Tiny. However, a simple rule to follow is If it’s for your lab environment and you will never exceed 10 ESX host or 100 VM’s use Tiny If it’s for dev and you may increase this limit always go for the higher option. same applies for medium if there is a chance that you will go over this limit always chose the higher option Large. and if you may exceed the limit for large chose X-Large. Also, be mindful that more resources are required as you choose the bigger deployment.

Click Next

Step 6 you will be selecting which datastore ( datastore is the storage ) where we will be installing the VCSA. I have only got one local disk usually in a production environment you will be having shared storage and you can choose one of the shared LUN / datastore.

Note I have select the tick for Enable Thin Disk Mode. This is to only use the data as it grows and not allocate/ provision the disk upfront.

Click Next

Step 7 an important point to note that vCenter is quite depended on DNS if you don’t have one at home for your lab I would suggest you stick to the IPaddress . so on the FQDN just give the ipaddress 192.168.1.95 instead of the name like I have given above vcsa-01.lab.local.

select static and assign the IPaddress, give the subnet mask, Default gateway, and DNS only if you have one or usually this is your broadbacd router at home and same as gateway ipaddress.

Click Next

Step 8 Review the options you have selected and click Finish.

You can see the progress started

You could also log in to the ESXi host or the vCetner if you are deploying to an existing vCenter and check the deployment of the VM as shown below.

Once stage 1 is completed you will be starting the next Stage

Note: If you are already having a vCenter that you are upgrading or migrating from this is the right time to take a snapshot.

Stage 2

Stage 2 is set up of VCSA appliance copy configure setup SSO domain or join an existing domain if you already got one and wish to join it.

Click on Stage 2 and click Next

Step 2 vCenter server configuration: you can setup a new ntp server if you wish or select sync time with the ESXi host, you can choose if you like to enable the SSH access not recommended on the production environment.

Click Next

Step 3 you will setup a new SSO Domain or Join an existing one. Here you will see that if you had a previous setup of external PSC the vCetner server installation is going to Converge it and integrated it to the vCenter.

For my setup I will be setting up a new SSO doain called vlab.vsphere.local setup the administrator password and confirm it.

Click Next

Step 4 you can choose to join the CEIP.

Click Next

Step 5 Review all the configuration and click on Finish.

You will be prompted with the Warning that you will not be able to pause or stop the installation.

Click Ok to start the installation.

You can track the progress of the vCenter server.

Once the installation is completed you will get the URL to login

Click Close

Congratulations you have successfully installed a new vCenter server in your environment.

You can connect to the vCetner using the url https://vcsa-01.lab.local

Test the login using the administrator@vlab.vsphere.local as my sso domain is vlab.

As we have all been hearing about VMware’s new version of vSphere 7, finally it has been released on 2nd of April 2020. Back in March VMware has had a huge announcement about the new version and the new app transformation initiative by them. I was a part of bloggers early access program which gave me insight into these new features.

vCenter 7 and vSphere 7 has always been the heart of the VMware technology, they have taken it a step further by integrating them with Kubernetes. However, it will be a part of VMware Cloud Foundation 4.

You can download the new release from the links below:

vCenter 7 = https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=VC700&productId=974&rPId=45006

ESX 7 = https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=ESXI700&productId=974&rPId=45006

to learn more about the new features of vCenter 7 and ESX 7 you can watch this YouTube video which covers some of the cool stuff.

Some of the new features are given below:

VMware Cloud Foundation 4

vCenter Server Profiles

Content Library with version control

New and improved DRS

vSphere 7 and vSGX Intel Software Guard Extension

VMware has introduced a version control with content Library,

It is a new way of managing and maintaining template, you will find VM Template Check In /Check Out and Version control

Check In to update and modify.

Check Out to save and deploy.

• Quickly find VM and version
• Check-out template for editing then amend new changes or security patches, update etc.
• Check-in template to save changes made.
• You also have the option to revert to the previous version.
• New view of summary

The option of version can be only available, if the templates is stored on a content library. we will not see these options if the template is stored in datastore.

hope you enjoy using this new feature, have a look at this short video to learn more about Content Library.

I am very excited to share with you information about vSphere 7 and vCenter 7 we have a lot of other bloggers and vExperts who will be sharing the content, so do look out it, Some of the topic I have covered are given below click on the links below:

VMware Cloud Foundation 4

vCenter Server Profiles

Content Library with version control

New and improved DRS

vSphere 7 and vSGX Intel Software Guard Extension

With the new release with vCetner 7, there is a new and improved Distributed Resource Scheduler ( DRS ) and in this post, we will go through some comparison with the original DRS and the new DRS.

In the Orignal DRS which has been there since VMware introduced, no doubt there has been enhancements and additions to it example we only had Compute DRS later VMware added Storage DRS leveraging vMotion and Storage vMotion of course

Orginal DRS Cluster centric

Runs every 5 minutes

Uses Cluster -wide Standard

Uses Cluster-wide Standard deviation model

VMware has done great thinking about how the new DRS 2.0 should work and they have changed the algorithm to work on the modern application.

The New DRS is Workload Centric so instantly we get better performance

Improved DRS

Workload Centric

Runs every 1 minute

Use the VM DRS score based on granted memory (New Matrix)

Let’s discuss how this new DRS works a little bit. VMware has started using a new matrix for workload, or VM. its called VMDRS Score

Improved DRS using VM DRS Score

VM DRS is necessary because with the modern-day application we need to focus on the VM / Workload perform as appose to cluster performance which the Orignal DRS cared about.

so we have a fundamental change on the way the improved DRS works using VM DRS score which is the foundation of the DRS. lets a closer look at it.

we already explained that the new improved DRS runs every 1 minute.

We have in the UI a lower bucket score from 0 to 20 % or 20 to 40% whenever we see another host can give a lower bucket score the DRS considers moving the VM.

the vm DRS score is calculated using a lot of matrices. example CPU ready time, capacity, headroom of ESXi host. network utilization.

Finally, it also checks the migration cost of the VM. ie how much network resource is going to be used in doing this migration if its going to expensive or performance constrains DRS migration will not take place.

To learn more about new features with vSphere 7 and vCenter 7 click on the links below:

VMware Cloud Foundation 4

vCenter Server Profiles

Content Library with version control

New and improved DRS 2.0

vSphere 7 and vSGX Intel Software Guard Extension

vCenter Server Upgrade Planner

Improved vMotion