How to Deploy vCenter Server 7 U2 on VMware Workstation 16?

VMware Inc. recently released VMware vSphere 8.0 Update 2 with some new features. Most people try to test it in their home labs, where they install it on ESXi hosts if they have some physical resources, and some of them try to install it on a VMware Workstation in a nested lab environment if they have limited resources.

In this post, we’ll learn how to install vCenter Server 7 U2 on a VMware Workstation. For this, I’ve got VMware Workstation 16.1 in my home lab, and we’ll see how we can install vcsa 7.0 on it. If you want to install it on the ESXi host, you can follow How to Install VCSA 7.0 step-by-step.

To start the process, download VMware vCenter 7 from the VMware Website. 

After downloading VMware 7, go to your download folder right-click on VMware-VCSA-all-7.0 ISO file, and then select Mount. Open your DVD or CD-ROM drive, and then open the vcsa directory.

Find the VMware vCenter Server Appliance 7.0.2.ova file for deployment.

Then, open VMware Workstation 16, click on File, select Open, and select the VCSA 7.0.2 OVA file and then click Open.

In the Import Virtual Machine wizard, select “I accept the terms of the license agreement” and click Next.

Type a meaningful name or the name of your choice for the virtual appliance; provide a path by clicking Browse where you want to store the virtual machine files.

Deployment options will appear here. We’re installing it in a home lab, so, we’ll choose Tiny vCenter Server with Embedded PSC.

Note: External PSC has been deprecated in vSphere 7, so, you can only deploy the vCenter Server 7 (vcsa 7) appliance with Embedded PSC.

Apply network configurations according to your lab environment.

Provide the SSO password and also note down it somewhere as it will be used for further configurations and future use.

In the System Configuration screen, supply the root password, and confirm the root password. This password can be used for connecting to the appliance’s console for configuration or troubleshooting if required.

VCSA 7 upgrade configuration.

In the Miscellaneous screen, leave it as default.

In the Networking Properties options, provide the FQDM domain name, and the domain search path, and then click the Import button.

The import VCSA 7 process is in progress, this will take a few minutes to complete the first stage of vCenter Server 7 Update 2 OVA.

Make sure you connect the Virtual Machine network adapter to the network so that it will connect with the DNS server. If no connectivity to the DNS server is found, you will be getting an error.

VCSA 7 was installed successfully.

Open a browser and type the FQDN address of the VCSA followed by port 5480 (for example – https://vcsa7.mvj.com:5480) and then press Enter.

Enter the password for the root username and click Login.

Click on Setup to start Stage 2 of the vCenter Server 7 installation.

Click NEXT.

Verify vCenter Server 7 Configurations including system name, Select Synchronize time with NTP server, type your NTP server IP address and then click Next.

Select Create a new SSO domain, and type Single Sign-On (SSO) domain name as vsphere.local, SSO password, confirm the SSO password for the administrator account and then click NEXT.

Set Up vCenter Server configure CEIP, click NEXT.

Review the vCenter Server 7 configuration details and click FINISH to start the configuration.

A warning will appear, click OK to accept it.

VCSA 7 installation starts, it will take 15 to 20 minutes, have a cup of coffee.

Stage 2 completed successfully, enter the FQDN of your vCenter Server 7 into the browser (recommended to use Chrome) and click “LAUNCH VSPHERE CLIENT (HTML5)”.

Type administrator@vsphere.local, password, and then click LOGIN.

vCenter Server 7 Update 2 is installed successfully in VMware Workstation 16.1, you can verify it under the Summary tab of the vCenter Server 7.

During the installation of vCenter Server Appliance 7 (VCSA 7), we saw that it was installed with Embedded Platform Services Controller (PSC) and didn’t require External PSC. vCenter Server 7 only supports HTML5 clients. External PSC and vSphere Web Client are deprecated in vSphere 7.