VCP5-IaaS: Blueprint Objective 1.1 – Install vCloud Components – Part 3

Posted by jshiplett on August 28, 2012 Leave a comment (0) Go to comments

This is the second in a series of articles on the VMware Certified Professional 5 – Infrastructure as a Service (VCP5-IaaS) certification blueprint. I will be going through the blueprint, identifying the key components, and sharing them with you to help you on your way to becoming a VCP5-IaaS.

Blueprint Objective 1.1 – Install vCloud Components

Before we start, let’s identify the sections of objective 1.1:

Knowledge

Identify required vCloud components and pre-requisites for installation
Describe installation order of vCloud components
Explain the purpose and use case of each vCloud component
Create a SysPrep package
Install vCloud Director
Install vShield Manager
Install vCenter Chargeback
Install vCloud Connector
Configure vCloud Director network connections
Configure vCloud Director database settings
Troubleshoot basic installation issues

Tools

vCloud Director Installation and Configuration Guide
vShield Manager Quick Start Guide
vCenter Chargeback Manager Installation and Upgrade Guide
vCloud Connector Installation and Configuration
VMware Journey to Your Cloud
Architecting a vCloud
VMware vCloud Architecture Toolkit (vCAT)
vSphere Client
vCloud Director Web Console
vShield Manager UI
vCC vSphere Client Plug-in
vCC Web UI

As you can see, this objective is going to be one of the most basic, yet it will also be one covering the most information. Above, I’ve highlighted the portions of the objective that will be covered in this post.

I’m starting with a freshly installed vSphere 5.0 update 1/vCenter 5.0 update 1 environment, for reference.

Install vCloud Director

As a basis for the install, I’ve started with a CentOS x64 5.8 VM with two NICs (one for http, one for console proxy) and all required packages. “But Jason!” you might say. “That isn’t a supported operating system!” That is correct; however, I know that it works, and the configuration is nearly identical to RHEL x64 5 update 6. I also have a Microsoft SQL 2008 R2 database, with a local SQL user named vcloud. Note that you’ll have to use SQL authentication, as Windows authentication doesn’t work.

I’ll include syntax in case it isn’t clear from the screenshots. Also, I like to run things in their respective directories, so you’ll see me cd to wherever and ./ to run something. That’s just how I roll. If you want to run things using full paths, that works too. As a final note, this configuration only works for a single cell installation. If you’re doing multiple cells, refer to Kendrick Coleman’s guide on his blog.

First, you will need to get the installation binary over to your new server. Whether that’s copying from an NFS or SMB share, a CD, whatever, it just needs to get there somehow. I have it on an ISO, so I mounted it, copied the binary to /tmp, and dismounted the ISO.
Next, I download and install the VMware public keys. This is optional, but it’s in the guide, so I do it. You do this for both VMWARE-PACKAGING-GPG-DSA-KEY.pub and VMWARE-PACKAGING-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub.
- wget packages.vmware.com/tools/keys/VMWARE-PACKAGING-GPG-DSA-KEY.pub
- wget packages.vmware.com/tools/keys/VMWARE-PACKAGING-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub
- rpm –install VMWARE-PACKAGING-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub
- rpm –install VMWARE-PACKAGING-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub
Now, I’m going to run the installer for the first time to extract everything. This is important for later steps.
- cd /tmp (since that’s where my binary was copied to.)
- chmod u+x vmware-vcloud-director-1.5.1-622.bin
- ./vmware-vcloud-director-1.5.1-622844.bin (this will vary based on the build you use)

Note that it prompts me to confirm that I want to proceed, even though I’m not running a supported distro.

Now, the install proceeds on. You should see something similar to this:

You’ll then get a prompt similar to this one. I do not want to run the configure script right away, because I have to create self-signed SSL certs first. If you want to do CA signed certificates, follow steps in the vCloud Director Installation and Configuration Guide (v1.5)

Now, I’m going to use the keytool utility to create the self-signed certs. There will be two, one for the http interface and one for the console proxy interface. Syntax is as follows, though obviously you should use your own FQDN, OU, org, etc. in the steps below. The location is /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/jre/bin.
- cd /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/jre/bin
- ./keytool -genkey -keystore certificates.ks -storetype JCEKS -storepass <password> -keyalg RSA -alias http
- ./keytool -genkey -keystore certificates,ks -storetype JCEKS -storepass <password> -keyalg RSA -alias consoleproxy
Now, we go back to the configure script to restart the installation. The location is /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin.
- cd /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin
- ./configure
- Choose the appropriate adapter for the http service, and then console proxy.
Enter the path to the Java keystore, then the keystore password (defined when the keystore was created)
- /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/jre/bin/certificates.ks
Type in the FQDN or IP address of your syslog host. If none, just hit enter.
Next, we configure the database connection. My example is with a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 database. All of these options will vary based on your environment.
After successful configuration of the database, you’ll see a connection being made and a similar message to the one below. Type y to start the vmware-vcd service, and hit enter.
Now, in a web browser, go to the IP or FQDN of the vCloud Director server, as below. Since your cert is self-signed, you’ll get an error about it not being trusted. Click through to continue.
Once you click through, you’ll see a screen to start vCloud Director configuration. Click Next to proceed.
To proceed, agree to the EULA, then Next.
Enter in your license key, then hit Next.
Fill in your administrative user information, then hit Next.
Fill in a unique system name and installation ID, then hit Next.
Verify your settings are correct, then hit Finish.
You’ll now be redirected to the login. You can log in using the administrative credentials you specified earlier.
You should now see a screen similar to the one below.