Adding vCenter appliance to Fusion

Inside the content of the vCenter Server appliance ISO there are the files. Normal process is to use the HTML page and install the VMware Client Integration Plugin. Given that I want to deploy to Fusion this is not going to help me. In the folder ‘vcsa’ there is a file vmware-vcsa. It does not have an extension but in truth it is an ova file. Append the extension .ova to the end of this file so it is vmware-vcsa.ova.

It can be imported into VMware Fusion now! Import this into Fusion like any other OVF file. Deploy it with the default settings or modified them if you like. Once deployed do not power it on. Browse to the VM location and explore the contents of the VM. Inside there is a VMX file.

When deploying to VMware Fusion or Workstation the VCSA VMX file must be modified. The additional which are normal put in do the ‘fantastic’ (emphasis on fantastic) install process can be manually added. These include SSO domain name, PSC deployment type, IP addresses and more.

guestinfo.cis.deployment.node.type = "embedded"
guestinfo.cis.vmdir.domain-name = "vsphere.local"
guestinfo.cis.vmdir.site-name = "Default-First-Site"
guestinfo.cis.vmdir.password = "VMware1!"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.addr.family = "ipv4"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.addr = "172.16.1.10"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.pnid = "172.16.1.10"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.prefix = "24"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.mode = "static"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.dns.servers = "172.16.1.10"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.gateway = "172.16.1.1"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.root.passwd = "VMware1!"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.ssh.enabled = "true"
hard-disk.hostBuffer = "disabled"

Note that I have also disabled hard disk buffering which results in any high memory usage being swapped. This is swapped to the SSD which results in suitable function performance. After all – nested labs are designed to test function and not benchmark.

Power On the VM and let it boot. Voila! Server Appliance on Fusion. Lab away on the best way to deploy vCenter. Now – time to way for Update Manager for VCSA they promised at VMworld the other year!