VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.0b released
Gladly, VMware has fixed those pesky SSO errors that I had to creatively workaround back in September 2013, with their 5.5.0a update in October, and again with 5.5.0a on December 22, 2013. Just in time to use for your home lab projects this winter!
vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.0b | 22 DEC 2013 | Build 1476389
If you used the link above to pull down that 1.8GB OVA file, be sure to use the download manager, which gave me a nice 4x speed boost.
If you'd rather not download the whole 1.8GB OVA file and do a fresh install, you can instead consider upgrading your existing Appliance to Version 5.5.0b aka 5.5.0.5021 Build _1476389. _Just use the "Check Updates" button over on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance Web UI:
https://vcenter:5480/#update.Status (where your hostname replaces my vcenter name)
You may want to grab a snapshot of your VCSA (VMware vCenter Server Appliance) before you begin, in case you have an issue with the upgrade that requires roll-back.
Once I clied the "Check Updates" button, then the "Install Updates" button, with the entire update procedure took under 10 minutes for my lab, with 4GB allocated of RAM in the VM, thin-provisioned on a SATA3 SSD. The simple process is demonstrated in the YouTube video below. It's also just in time for my planned home lab rebuild this week, a great time of year to get things ready for the new year. Stay tuned for my newly-refined, simpler than ever step-by-step guide to exactly how to build or rebuild your home's vSphere 5.5 lab!
All Comments on This Article (12)
That's awesome. Thanks for taking the time.
I'm rocking the vcenter now!
Only problem is we have a free esxi 4 in the estate, and managing that is... problematic!
Back to google.
Thanks very much for taking the time to write me such an in depth response. Appreciated.
Only a free sign-up is required to get access to the download URLs. There is no registration fee, so you can use it for 60 days, with all features available to you during that period. A lab can actually be rebuilt in an hour, keeping all your VMs actually, not that hard to do, with video walkthrough already published at first link here:
http://TinkerTry.com/superguide-vmware-vsphere
See also:
http://TinkerTry.com/best-parts-of-vmwares-esxi-5-5-free-hypervisor-rely-on-vcenter-which-isnt-free-uh-oh
and plans for more coverage of the install procedure, with a text checkbox approach to supplement the video. Stay tuned!
See also:
http://www.tinkertry.com/download-vsphere-5-lab/#comment-1215888329
where another recent visitor got the trial download working as well.
Following all EULAs is your responsibility of course, but hoping these little tips help a bit!
Not sure if you're still monitoring this, but I'm keen to follow up and test out vcenter server appliance at home, what licensing is required to access the appliance download?
Thanks!
Download this iso using rufus 1.3 to create bootable usb. Error with bootmgr not found. Tried to burn this iso to DVD same thing bootmgr not found on boot up :-(
Thanks for your reply, Paul. The VMware community for the iPad app is pretty much dead. Oh well, I guess I will dig into the iPad app and see what icons are there to tinker with.
No idea on this one, sorry frank.
I actually don't own an iPad, but occasionally have tried one with a family member's iPad client, over a year ago. Unfortunate that they don't seem to be continuing development of it, eh?
Rico, so sorry to hear you had issues. Guessing you've also seen this article:
http://TinkerTry.com/vcenter-server-appliance-5-5-in-a-home-lab-without-sso-errors
Turns out I've now done a fresh install of this appliance, without ANY hosts file tweaking other than adding one line for the esxi host, for eg:
10.10.1.50 esxi
so I'm extra surprised you had a fail of SSO.
FYI, I'm in the middle of writing up a slightly further refined/streamlined install process, with HD video of course, but meanwhile, here's a sneak preview of a DRAFT of the section that pertains to building the appliance that might be of interest:
choose 'File' menu, choose 'Deploy OVF Template…'
Source, Deploy from a file or URL
choose 'C:\build\VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-5.5.0.5101-1398493_OVF10.ova' click 'Next >'
OVF Template Details, click 'Next >'
Name and Location' choose a name, I like to prepend the automatic name with hostname, for example, 'vcenter-VMware vCenter Server Appliance'
pre-pend the automatically chosen name with hostame
for example, 'vcenter-VMware vCenter Server Appliance'
Storage' choose an SSD, ignore Insufficient disk space warning since you'll thin provision, click 'Next >'
choose 'Thin Provision' then click 'Next >'
do not check the 'Power on after deployment' button because you'll likely want to go with 4GB instead of 8GB of RAM, especially if no LDAP/AD stuff will be used
after it completes creating the appliance, right-click, Edit Settings, change Memory from 8GB to 4GG and click OK
using the web UI for configuring the appliance, logging in initally as username root and password vmware, explained by VMware here
Accept EULA, then click 'Cancel' button
click 'Admin' tab, change administrator password, turn off 'Administrator password expires' and click 'Submit' button
Network' tab, 'Address' subtab, change DHCP to 'Static', then type in Hostname, IPv4 Address, and Netmask, then click 'Save Settings'
log back in with IE 11, using root with new password, choose 'Continue to this website (not recommended).'
click 'vCenter Server' tab and 'Summary' subtab, then 'Setup wizard Launch' button
choose ‘Configure with default settings’ then the 'Next >' button then the 'Start' button, and it should complete without errors in
Slightly off topic, but do you know if there is a way to change the default icon/logo of the host in the vSphere iPad client?
Default is the two yellow square icon. Can that be changed to something else? I've seen it shows a DELL logo (maybe for DELL systems only).
I installed a new vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.0b (same build as above: Build 1476389) today. But I cannot get around having to tweak my hostfile to avoid the SSO part getting messed up. It still stubornly adds the hostname (vcenter) to the localhost line. So I don't know exactly to which SSO fixes you are refering to.
Equally annoying is that it never creates a new self-signed certificate when changing the hostname and/or ip-adress. So the old initially assigned DHCP adres, and "localhost" hostname is embedded into it, causing IE 10 to (mildly) freak out. But that may have been the case with older version as wel. I never noticed this before. I just figured it wasn't able to verify it because there is no path to a trusted CA.
EMueller
I followed your very good instructions under (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXFuQEIwNig) using vCAV 5.5.0b. But now I cannot solve these annoying results: (no iventory in WebClient)
(see picture): Cannot obtain asset properties from vCenter Server query service
I got help under: https://communities.vmware.com/message/2341840#2341840
Another help could be KB2033620.
... but, all these instruction are linked to a windows server installations.
Could you give me any help to solve the problem, thanks?