Chris McCain - Mastering VMware® Infrastructure3

The VMware Update Manager installation includes some additional configuration for the SOAP and Web ports to be used for the downloading of updates. As shown in Figure 5.24, you can also enable and configure a proxy server for use by the VMware Update Manager.

Figure 5.24VMware Update Manager ports are used to download ESX Server updates directly from the VMware Web site.

After the configuration of the VMware Update Manager the next page in the wizard, shown in Figure 5.25, allows for the ports configuration for the VMware Converter Enterprise that is now built into VirtualCenter.

Figure 5.25VMware Converter Enterprise is now built into VirtualCenter for facilitating consolidation of physical serves into virtual machines.

If the VirtualCenter installation procedure identifies any missing Windows components, for example .NET updates, you will be prompted to allow VirtualCenter to install the necessary pieces. If you select the option to use SQL Server 2005 Express Edition you will also witness its installation as part of the VirtualCenter installation process.

Upon completion of the VirtualCenter installation, browsing to VirtualCenter's URL (http:// or http://) will turnup a page that allows for the installation of the VI Client, or the use of a web-based tool for managing the individual virtual machines hosted by the ESX Server 3.0 hosts within the VirtualCenter inventory. Figure 5.26 shows a sample home page for VirtualCenter.</p> <cite> <div class="title">VirtualCenter and IIS</div> <p>Despite the fact that VirtualCenter is accessible via a Web browser, it is not necessary to install Internet Information Services on the VirtualCenter server. VirtualCenter access via a browser relies on the Apache Tomcat Web Service which is installed as part of the VirtualCenter installation. IIS should be uninstalled as it can cause conflicts with Apache Tomcat.</p> </cite> <p>The VI Client connected to VirtualCenter should be the primary management tool for managing ESX Server 3.5 hosts and their respective virtual machines. The VI Client can connect directly to ESX Server 3.5 hosts under the context of a user account defined in the Service Console, or it can connect to a VirtualCenter server under the context of a Windows user account defined in Active Directory or the local security accounts manager (SAM) of the VirtualCenter computer.</p> <img src=#i_171.png" > <p> <strong>Figure 5.26</strong>The home page of an ESX Server host or a VirtualCenter both offer a download of the VI Client and a web access login. </p> <empty-line > <p>VirtualCenter is a critical application for the management of your virtual infrastructure. Its implementation should be carefully designed and executed to ensure availability and data protection.</p> <cite> <div class="title">Managing VirtualCenter Services </div> <p>After the installation of VirtualCenter, having included licensing and the extensions, there will be ten new services installed to facilitate the operation of VirtualCenter and all its features. These services include:</p> <p>♦ VMware Capacity Planner Service-used by the Guided Consolidation feature to gather performance data about target systems.</p> <p>♦ VMware Converter Enterprise Service-used by the built in VMware Converter Enterprise tool for migrating physical and virtual machines into VirtualCenter.</p> <p>♦ VMware Descheduled Time Accounting Service-used to facilitate the management of time within a virtual machine.</p> <p>♦ VMware Infrastructure Web Access-used to allow browser-based access to the VirtualCenter Server application. </p> <p>♦ VMware License Server-used to manage VI3 server based product licensing.</p> <p>♦ VMware Mount Service for Virtual Center-used to support VirtualCenter integration with VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB).</p> <p>♦ VMware Physical Disk Helper Service-used to support running a virtual machine from a physical disk partition.</p> <p>♦ VMware Tools Service-used to support the synchronization of objects between the virtualization host and the guest operating systems running in virtual machines.</p> <p>♦ VMware Update Manager Service-used to provide update or patch management capability.</p> <p>♦ VMware VirtualCenter Server-used to provide centralized management of ESX Server hosts and virtual machines.</p> <p>The following graphic displays the default status and configuration of all the VirtualCenter Server services.</p> <p> <img src=#i_172.png" > </p> </cite> <p>As a virtual infrastructure administrator, you should be familiar with the default states of these services. In times of troubleshooting, check the status of the services to see if they have changed. Keep in mind the dependencies that exist between VirtualCenter and other services on the network. For example, if the VirtualCenter Server service is failing to start, be sure to check that the system has access to the SQL Server (or Oracle) database. If VirtualCenter cannot access the database due to lack of connectivity or the database service not running, then it will not start. Perform the following steps to install VirtualCenter 2.5 and all of the additional licensing and extension components: </p> <p>1. Ensure that the appropriate ODBC connections have been created for connectivity to the VirtualCenter database and the VMware Update Manager Database.</p> <p>2. Initiate the VirtualCenter 2.5 installation from a CD-ROM or a downloaded set of files. If the files have been downloaded from the http://www.vmware.com/download site the installation can be initiated by double-clicking the autorun.exe file in the Vmware-VIMSetup-2.5.0-xxxxx folder.</p> <p>3. Once the VMware Infrastructure Management installation wizard appears click the Next button.</p> <p>4. Click the Next button after reviewing the introduction page that highlights the features of VirtualCenter.</p> <p>5. Select the I accept the terms in the license agreement radio button and then click the Next button. </p> <p>6. Provide a User Name and Organization in the appropriate text boxes and then click the Next button.</p> <p>7. Select the VMware Infrastructure Client radio button to install only the management client, select the VMware VirtualCenter Server radio to accept the defaults of all options, or select the Custom radio button to choose which options to be installed. Choosing the custom option allows for choosing between the following: </p> <p>♦ VMware Infrastructure Client</p> <p>♦ VMware VirtualCenter Server</p> <p>♦ VMware Update Manager</p> <p>♦ VMware Converter Enterprise for VirtualCenter Server </p> <p>8. On the VMware VirtualCenter Server Deployment Options-Step 1 page select the appropriate database option. Choose SQL Server 2005 Express for small deployments or demo installation. Choose use an existing database server for enterprise deployments that will use SQL Server 2005 or Oracle.</p> <p>9. If using SQL Server 2005 or Oracle provide the ODBC data source name and the appropriate user account information. For SQL Server 2005 this is the SQL user account that has been granted ownership of the VirtualCenter database and db_owner database role for the MSDB database.