6.7

Target System Prerequisites
n
Verify that your system meets the minimum software and hardware requirements. See System
Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance.
n
If you want to deploy the appliance on an ESXi host, verify that the ESXi host is not in lockdown or
maintenance mode and not part of a fully automated DRS cluster.
n
If you want to deploy the appliance on a DRS cluster of the inventory of a vCenter Server instance,
verify that the cluster contains at least one ESXi host that is not in lockdown or maintenance mode.
n
If you plan to use NTP servers for time synchronization, verify that the NTP servers are running and
that the time between the NTP servers and the target server on which you want to deploy the
appliance is synchronized.
Network Prerequisites
If you plan to assign a static IP address and an FQDN as a system name in the network settings of the
appliance, verify that you have configured the forward and reverse DNS records for the IP address.
GUI Deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance and
Platform Services Controller Appliance
You can use the GUI installer to perform an interactive deployment of a vCenter Server Appliance with an
embedded Platform Services Controller, a Platform Services Controller appliance, or a
vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller.
When you perform the GUI deployment, you download the vCenter Server Appliance installer on a
network client machine, run the deployment wizard from the client machine, and provide the inputs that
are required for the appliance deployment and setup.
Important For topologies with external Platform Services Controller instances, you must deploy the
replicating Platform Services Controller instances in a sequence. After the successful deployment of all
Platform Services Controller instances in the domain, you can perform concurrent deployments of multiple
vCenter Server appliances that point to a common external Platform Services Controller instance.
The GUI deployment process includes a series of two stages.
Figure 2‑1. Stage 1 - OVA Deployment
The first stage walks you through the deployment wizard to choose the deployment type and appliance
settings. This stage completes the deployment of the OVA file on the target server with the deployment
type and appliance settings that you provide.
vCenter Server Installation and Setup
VMware, Inc. 36