ESX Server 3 Installation Guide
72 VMware, Inc.
VirtualCenter Server Prerequisites
Beforeyoubegintheinstallationprocedure,ensurethatyouhavedonethefollowing:
Ensurethatyourhardwaremeets“SystemRequirements”onpage 17.
MakesurethatthesystemyouuseforyourVirtualCenterinstallationbelongstoa
domainratherthanaworkgroup.Ifassignedtoaworkgroup,the
VirtualCenter Serverisnotabletodiscoveralldomainsandsystemsavailableon
thenetworkwhenusingsuchfeaturesasVirtualCenterConsolidation.To
determinewhetherthesystem
belongstoaworkgrouporadomain,right‐click
My ComputerandclickPropertiesandtheComputerNametab.TheComputer
NametabdisplayseitheraWorkgrouplabeloraDomainlabel.
CreateaVirtualCenterdatabase,unlessyouwanttouseSQLServer2005Express.
See “PreparingtheVirtualCenter ServerDatabase”onpage 66.
ObtainandassignastaticIPaddressandhostnametotheWindowsserverthat
willhosttheVirtualCenter Serverandthelicenseserver.ThisIPaddressmusthave
avalid(internal)DNSregistrationthatresolvesproperlyfromallmanaged
ESX Serverhosts.Forbestresults,ensurethattheWindowsservernameis
exactly
thesameastheDNShostname.
YoucandeployVirtualCenterbehindafirewall.However,makesurethereisno
NetworkAddressTranslation(NAT)firewallbetweenVirtualCenterandthehosts
itwillmanage.
Theinstallerautomaticallyinstallsalicenseserverforyou,unlessyouenterapath
toanexistinglicenseserver.
Ifyouwanttouseanexistinglicenseserver,obtainthehostnameorIP
address.
Ifyouaregoingtoallowtheinstallertoinstallalicenseserver,youneeda
validservedlicensefile.
Becausethelicenseserverdoesnotsupportlicensefilesonanetworkshare,
placeyourlicensefilesinadirectoryonasystemwhereyouareinstallingthe
licenseserver.
Components Installed
TheVMwareInfrastructureManagementinstallerincludesthefollowingcomponents:
VMwareVirtualCenterServer–AWindowsservicetomanageESXServerhosts.
VIClient–AclientapplicationusedtoconnectdirectlytoanESXServeror
indirectlytoanESXServerthroughaVirtualCenterServer.
