First, deploy a Window Server. This can be 2008R2 + SP1 or Server 2012.
Hardware requirements can be found HERE whereas the software requirements can be found HERE.
Now make sure your Windows Server is fully patched. As mentioned previously, thankfully someone from VMware (Brian Graf) created a nice script to automate the OS specific requirements.
Head over HERE to download and to prepare your server.
Let’s get started though.
1. .NET Framework 4.5
For Server 2008R2, either download directly from Microsoft, or simply browse to your vCAC appliace
https://<IP of vCAC Appliace>:5480/installer
By now you may have grabbed it via Windows Updates anyway – but worth checking.
In Server 2012, this is a feature you need to enable
Once you installed / enabled .NET 4.5 it is worth running through another set of Windows Updates.
At this point it is worth noting that I will be using Self-Signed certificates. If you use certificates signed by a CA make sure you install it in IIS.
Anyway, as mentioned, Brian from VMware created a script which takes care of your pre-requisites.
As the script is for Powershell, make sure you allow execution of scripts from unknown sources
Extract the script and run it from inside the directory
.\vCAC6-PreReq-Automation.ps1
Once this is done, reboot and run another set of Windows Updates.
Once the server is back up download the IaaS Installer from the vCAC appliance.
https://<IP of vCAC Appliace>:5480/installer
The file will have a filename which includes the FQDN of the vCAC Appliance – don’t change it.
Update:
You may receive the following error
This is not because you are missing .NET Framework 4.5 (unless you actually did forget to install it), but because vCAC doesn’t seem to be compatible with 4.5.1 – this can actually be found in the Release Notes of vCAC 6.0.1
To fix this, first block the update of .NET 4.5.1
Read MS KB2721187 for the full instructions.
Next, uninstall the 4.5.1 update from Programs and Features – I believe it is the update KB2881468.
Once that is dealt with, fire up the IaaS installer
Here, put in your details you used when deploying your vCAC Appliance
I just go with the Complete Install
With the pre-requistes dealt with, it should all be green. The reason MSSQL fails here is because I don’t have a local SQL server installed but will use my remote server.
I click Bypass and move on
Here put in the necessary details. I’d advise against using the domain admin as the service account, but this is just a temporary lab so I don’t really care.
Note: the DB will be created for you. There is no need to create it beforehand. In fact, if you did, you will be asked to remove it again
Your user (Windows or SQL) obviously needs to have the correct permissions in order to create the DB
Here you can leave the defaults. However, if you do have multiple vCenter in your environment then I suggest changing the Endpoint Name to reflect the actual name of the vCenter you will be using for vCAC.
The Endpoint name will be used all across vCAC, including Endpoints and logs, so having a more descriptive name helps with any needed troubleshooting.
Click Load. This will populate the SSO Default Tenant. Click Download to download the certificate from the vcac appliance and tick Accept Certificate.
Enter your SSO username / password and click Test.
That’s it. Now hit Install.
My vCAC environment is completely virtual so at this stage I prefer to create a snapshot .. just in case 🙂
This will now take a while. You can watch the progress bars or get a cup of tea / coffee
If the installation fails for some reason then it will offer you to open up the logfile.
Always worth checking because sometimes it is as easy as that:
Out of habit I created the DB beforehand, created the user and set its default database. But as mentioned – that is not needed so when I removed the DB, it still associated the user with its default database – which doesn’t exist .. yet ..
So make sure your DB does NOT exist yet and the user has enough permissions to create a DB.
If you DO use SQL Authentication, please read the below
Configure the Windows Services Account to Use SQL Authentication
Eventually though:
Unless you speak fluent vCAC – it might be worth accepting this offer to be guided through the initial config.
When the box is ticked, when clicking Finish the vCAC web interface will automatically start and the Goals Wizard will be started once you have logged in.
vCAC Install Content
1. vCAC Requirements
2. vCAC Install Identity Appliance
3. vCAC Install vCAC Appliance
4. Install vCAC IaaS Components
5. Adding a Tenant
6. Configure Agents & Endpoints
7. Configure Resource Allocations
8. Create Blueprints
9. Create Service Catalogs
10. Create Entitlements & Testing
11. Other vCAC Bits (SMTP etc.)