6.5.1

3 Use the topic Required Information for Deploying a vCenter Server Appliance or Platform
Services Controller Appliance to create a worksheet with the information you need for the
GUI deployment, or use the topic Prepare Your JSON Configuration File for CLI Deployment
to create your JSON templates for the CLI deployment.
4 Deploy the appliance.
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Install vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller on a Windows virtual machine or physical
server.
1 Verify that your system meets the hardware and software requirements for installing
vCenter Server. See vCenter Server for Windows Requirements.
2 (Optional) Set up an external vCenter Server database. See Preparing vCenter Server
Databases for Install.
For an environment with up to 20 hosts and 200 virtual machines, you can use the bundled
PostgreSQL database. For production and large scale environments, set up an external
database, because the migration from the embedded PostgreSQL database to an external
database is not a trivial manual process.
3 Create a worksheet with the information you need for installation. See Required Information
for Installing vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller on Windows.
4 Install vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller,
Platform Services Controller, or vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller.
7 Connect to vCenter Server from the vSphere Web Client. See Chapter 5 After You Install vCenter
Server or Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance.
8 Configure the vCenter Server Appliance or vCenter Server instance. See vCenter Server Appliance
Configuration and vCenter Server and Host Management.
vCenter Server Components and Services
vCenter Server provides a centralized platform for management, operation, resource provisioning, and
performance evaluation of virtual machines and hosts.
When you install vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller, or deploy the
vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller, vCenter Server, the
vCenter Server components, and the services included in the Platform Services Controller are deployed
on the same system.
When you install vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller, or deploy the
vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller, vCenter Server and the
vCenter Server components are deployed on one system, and the services included in the
Platform Services Controller are deployed on another system.
The following components are included in the vCenter Server and vCenter Server Appliance installations:
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The VMware Platform Services Controller group of infrastructure services contains vCenter Single
Sign-On, License service, Lookup Service, and VMware Certificate Authority.
vSphere Installation and Setup
VMware, Inc. 10