Change Server Name in GUI Server 2016

Installing VMware Tools for VMware Workstation (Windows Server 2016)

You will need VM tools installed to fully utilize your VMs capabilities. This goes for vSphere and VMware Workstation. The following is how you can go about installing VMware tools for VMware Workstation.

Installing Windows Server 2016

Deploying vCSA (vCenter Server Appliance) with Embedded Platform service Controller (PSC)

Deploying vCSA (vCenter Server Appliance) with Embedded Platform service Controller (PSC)

·         First off, you will need to access your vCSA ISO. From here, you navigate to the vcsa-ui-installer by going to mounted drive>vcsa-ui-installer>win32>installer.exe

·        ·         Click install on the start menu:

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·        ·         Accept the license and click next:

·        ·         We will be installing in a smaller environment, so we will embed the Platform Service Controller (PSC) in with the vCSA. It is required to separate the PSC when you wish to have High Availability (HA) and a larger environment. Reading the VMware documentation has recommendations on how large/small of an environment is required to decide which option is required:

·        ·         Make sure you have your DNS setup with your ESXi hosts and your vCSA added in the DNS A records. The next page is as follows; you just put in the ESXi information in on the one you are installing to:

·        ·         You will get a popup explaining if you wish to verify the certificate from the host you are connecting to. If you have verified you input the right information for your ESXi, you can accept this:

·        ·         Once you accept the certificate, you can name the VM (the vCSA/PSC you are installing), and then you can click next:

·        ·         For the small environment, your next page you should click Tiny deployment size, storage size default, and then click Next. The menu below your options will tell you what you need to select accordingly:

·        ·         Next, you will want to click on Thin Disk Mode to conserve space on your small environment. If you have unlimited storage/do not need to worry about it, you could select otherwise. Choose according to what you wish to deploy. For a small test environment, we will choose “Enable Thin Disk Mode”. Also, select which data store you wish to deploy it to. Then click next:

·        ·         The next page is where you put in your designated information for your vCSA. You can put in your system name (your FQDN), IP Address you wish to assign it, your subnet mask, default gateway, and the DNS servers it will be connected to:

·        ·         The next page you will just review your vCSA deployment information and then click finish to start the vCSA deployment:

·        ·         The next step will take a while. Grab some coffee, do some laundry, take a break, because it will take a while to install and configure the vCSA. Once it is done, click “Continue” on the following screen:

·        ·         Now that the server appliance is installed, we are proceeding to the next step, setting up the vCSA. Just click next on the following screen:

·        ·         The next page is where we configure time servers if we have any, and will enable SSH in case we have to SSH into the system later. For time, I will just synchronize time with the ESXi host to standardize my time throughout my ESXi and vCSA.

·        ·         The next page will be for setting up your default login. The following page is the standard, but you can fill in with your networks requirements/whatever settings you wish them to be:

·        ·         On the next screen, check the box to join the program or not, will not affect the install whichever you choose. Then click next:

·        ·         Finally, the next screen is just verifying the setting. Click on “Finish” once you determined the settings look good:

·        ·         Click OK to confirm. This is saying the install is going to go through and can take a while to install. Make sure you can continue again to finish this install. Again, get some laundry and coffee going or something.

·         Finally!! After the forever installs and configurations, you should have you vCSA installed and have a completion screen which is as follows:

·        ·         Once you click close, your browser will automatically open to your new vCSA. Enjoy!

Exporting OVF GUI Full Walkthrough

• So sometimes you want to export an OVF through the GUI right? Yes, of course we do! But we can have problems doing this. The following will walk you through how to export an OVF through the GUI with as few problems as possible (again, these are not guaranteed, these are just steps I have done successfully).
• First off, I have had and known people who have had issues with the vSphere 6.5 Flash web client. A lot of wonky issues here and there. The best performance has been with Chrome, and, another little trick is to “Click” on the login button during initial login instead of hitting enter. This is mostly on the ESXi I have noticed, but good practice would be to click login instead of hitting enter across the board. 
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• This does not apply with the new HTML5 web-client for 6.7. I have had no issues with this yet (“quotes yet”).
• Once you are logged in, make sure your VM is powered off:

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• Also, check to make sure the CD drive is pointing to the client device. If it is pointing to a datastore, or other device, I have had issues here. Best to export it cleanly with just the client device and, disconnected: 

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• As the above is shown, it is Client Device and it is not connected (just uncheck the connected box).
• Next, right click on your VM, click Template, then Export OVF Template.
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• On the action menu pop-up, make your changes and click OK to start the export: 

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• Now you should see the downloads in Chrome bar at the bottom, and the progress bar for vSphere in the activities:

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