How to deploy VMware VCSA 6.5 (VMware vCenter Server Appliance) – The steps

Step 1: Create DNS records (forward and reverse).


Step 2: Download VMware VCSA 6.5 ISO image from VMware. It is a quite large file.  VMware-VCSA-all-6.5.0-4602587.iso is over 3.5 Gb in size.

Step 3: Mount the ISO and, depending on which system you are (Linux, MAC, Windows) you go and open the folder where the installer is. In my case it was a folder with this path:

F:\vcsa-ui-installer\win32

Screenshot showing the ISO mounted as CD-ROM and the folder structure within a Windows environment.

How to deploy VMware VCSA 6.5

From there launch the installer program.

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 (VCSA) Installation

Follow the assistant…

How to deploy VMware VCSA 6.5

And accept the license agreement….

How to deploy VMware VCSA 6.5

to finally have this screen where you can change to have a separate PSC (Platform service controller) and vCenter server. For my lab environment, I go with the default, which is All-in-One option…

How to deploy VMware VCSA 6.5

Click next to enter the details of the ESXi host (or vCenter Server) where you will be deploying the VCSA. In our case we’re using standalone ESXi host.

How to deploy VMware VCSA 6.5 clean

You’ll get a certificate prompt which you can safely accept, and then you can enter the name for the VM you’re deploying as well as the root password.

How to deploy VMware VCSA 6.5 clean

then chose the deployment size and storage size. As you can see, the appliance supports up to 2000 hosts !!!

How to deploy VMware VCSA 6.5 clean

Choose a datastore where the VM will live…

How to deploy VMware VCSA 6.5 clean

And then finally configure the networking. In my case, I go for static IP, but you can select DHCP if you prefer…

How to deploy VMware VCSA 6.5 clean

Then only you’ll get a recap screen which summarizes all this…

How to deploy VMware VCSA 6.5 clean

The whole deployment consists in two parts:

The first part, we just did the step-by-step. The second part can be done from within the same window or you can open a browser window to finish the configuration via web browser.

All you need to do is to connect to the appliance via VAMI and the 5480 port – https://IP_of_VCSA65:5480