8.0

Table Of Contents
Deploying the vCenter Server
Appliance
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You can deploy the vCenter Server appliance to manage your vSphere environment.
You can deploy the vCenter Server appliance on an ESXi host 6.7 or later, or on an ESXi host or
DRS cluster from the inventory of a vCenter Server instance 6.7 or later.
For information about the software included in the vCenter Server appliance 8.0, see Overview of
the vCenter Server Appliance.
For information about the software and hardware requirements for deploying the vCenter Server
appliance, see System Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance.
The vCenter Server installer contains executable files both for GUI and CLI deployments.
n The GUI deployment is a two stage process. The first stage is a deployment wizard that
deploys the OVA file of the appliance on the target ESXi host or vCenter Server instance. After
the OVA deployment finishes, you are redirected to the second stage of the process that sets
up and starts the services of the newly deployed appliance.
n The CLI deployment method involves running a CLI command against a JSON file that you
previously prepared. The CLI installer parses the configuration parameters and their values
from the JSON file and generates an OVF Tool command that automatically deploys and sets
up the appliance. The CLI deployment automatically runs both stage 1 then stage 2, with no
user interaction required.
The vCenter Server appliance has the following default user names:
VMware, Inc.
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