If you want to use the web client on the vCenter server with IE, then you must install the Desktop Experience feature. Why? That’s the only way to get Flash player in IE with Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2. VMware really needs to dump the Flash interface and go HTML5. If you use a third party browser, make sure you get the very latest Flash player.
After you install the Desktop Experience make sure you patch it. Why? The stock Flash player version is not compatible with the web client and needs to be updated via Windows Update/WSUS/SCCM to the latest version.
If you will be using IE on the vCenter server you also need to turn off the IE enhanced security mode.
vCenter Install
When installing vCenter you have two primary options. The first is an embedded option, where it will install the PSC and all the vCenter components in one fell swoop. This is akin to the “Simple” install in vSphere 5.5. The second option lets you deploy the PSC separately from vCenter. If you only install the PSC, when you run the installer the next time you only have an uninstall option and can’t install the rest of the vCenter services. So for this install we will go ahead and do a full vCenter install, using the external PSC that we have previously installed. You can use either a Windows external PSC or a VCSA-based PSC for this. Choice is yours!
1. Launch the vSphere 6.0 autorun installer. On the main screen select vCenter Server for Windows.
2. Accept the license agreement and pause on the Deployment Type screen. Select vCenter Server.
3. On the System Network Name screen verify the FQDN is that of your local server. It should be. Click Next. You may get a warning about IPv6, which you can ignore if you aren’t using it.
4. Next up you need to point the installer towards your PSC and enter the SSO password you used during the installation process.
5. When you click next you may get a warning about a time differential. It’s off by just a minute or two I would not worry about it. I saw a warning about a 63 second time delta. After any time warnings you will then get a certificate validation prompt. At this point you will also get a certificate pop-up. Even if you replaced your VMCA and PSC machine SSL certificates, you will see an untrusted certificate here. This is because the VMware Directory Service certificate is used for this authentication. If you followed along in my blog and replaced the VMdir certificate, then it will show a trusted certificate.
6. Next you need to select your vCenter service account. I always use a Windows service account, so I input those credentials here. I also made sure the service account was in the local administrator’s group on the vCenter server. It will also need the “Log on as a service” right. To do that launch the “Local Security Policy” editor, navigate to “Local Policies” then “User Rights Assignment”.
7. Now you need to configure your database. For anything but a small home lab you should use an external database. If you do opt for the internal database, in vSphere 6.0 it is now vPostgres and NOT SQL Express. In the previous blog series article we configured SQL using my vCenter toolkit script. So now select that DSN from the drop down.
8. Next up are the default port numbers, which you shouldn’t change.
9. Now you can change the directory installation paths if you wish. I just took the defaults.
10. Now you can review your configuration and make sure that everything is good to go. ClickInstall.