Installing vCenter Inventory Service 5.5 on a Microsoft Windows Platform

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This article provides a step-by-step guidance for installing vCenter Inventory Service 5.5 using the Custom Install method.

This article assumes that:

You have reviewed the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.
You have met all minimum software and hardware requirements for vSphere 5.5. For more information, see the System Requirements section in the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.
You have configured both a forward and reverse lookup zone for this Microsoft Windows Server on your Domain Name System (DNS) Server(s). For more information on configuring reverse lookup zones in a Microsoft Active Directory domain, see the Microsoft TechNet article Adding a Reverse Lookup Zone.

Note: The preceding link was correct as of September 19, 2013. If you find a link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.
You have decided to use the Simple Install method and want to install the vCenter Inventory Service on a separate Microsoft Windows platform.
You have already deployed:
- vCenter Single Sign-On service instance. For more information, see Installing vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 on a Microsoft Windows platform (2058239).
- vSphere Web Client Service. For more information, see Installing vSphere 5.5 Web Client Service on a Microsoft Windows platform (2058262).

Important:

Having the services located on multiple Microsoft Windows servers increases the complexity of maintaining the environment. Additional complexity comes in the form of administration overhead and licensing costs. In addition, this configuration introduces points of failure, such as network connectivity and name resolution related issues which may involve engaging additional vendors during outages and maintenance windows. Ensure sure that your infrastructure is configured in a redundant manner and you allocate appropriate resources considering these factors.
VMware recommends installing the Inventory Service and vCenter Server services on a separate disks. This ensures that even if the xDB logs or data files grow and consume the entire disk, vCenter Server does not crash due to a lack of space.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x

Resolution

Installation steps for vCenter Inventory Service 5.5

Mount the vSphere 5.5 installation media. The installation wizard appears.
In the left pane, under Custom Install, click vCenter Inventory Service and then click Install.

Note: If any of the prerequisites are not met, they are listed in the right pane under Prerequisites.
Select the appropriate language from the dropdown and click OK.
In the welcome screen, click Next.
Review the End User License Agreement. If you agree, select the I accept the terms in the license agreement option and click Next .
Optionally, provide an alternative installation location and then click Next.

Notes:
- The installation requires 5 to 60 GB of disk space to be available, depending on the size of the inventory. For more information, see the Hardware Requirement for vCenter Server, the vSphere Web Client, vCenter Inventory Service, and vCenter Single Sign-On section in the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.
- The path must conform to NTFS naming restrictions. For more information, see the Microsoft article Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces.
  
  The preceding link was correct as of September 19, 2013. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.
In the dialog that appears, check if the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the host where vCenter Inventory Service is displayed. This field is auto-populated.

Note: If this field is not auto-populated, enter the FQDN manually.
Click Next .
Optionally, provide an alternative TCP port number for the vCenter Inventory Service and click Next.

Note: Changing the default ports is recommended only if you have an unchangeable port conflict in the same system.
Select the appropriate JVM memory size, depending on the environmental requirements.

The JVM size can be:
- Small (less than 100 hosts or 1000 virtual machines)
- Medium (100-400 hosts or 1000-4000 virtual machines)
- Large (more than 400 hosts or 4000 virtual machines)
Click Next.
Enter the SSO lookup Service URL and the SSO administrator username and password. You may be prompted to install the Lookup Service Certificate. Click Next.

Notes:
- This dialog shows information related to a domain by the name vsphere.local. This is not a domain that is auto-detected within the existing environment, but a net new domain used internally by vSphere. The [email protected] account performs the same function as the admin@System-Domain account in previous versions of vSphere.
  
  For more information about the [email protected] account, see the vSphere Software Components section of the vCenter Server and Host Management Guide.
- You must use the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) and not the IP address. Providing the IP address may allow you to proceed with the upgrade, but may result in certificate related errors when starting vCenter Server.
- If you are configuring a highly available SSO configuration, you must provide the FQDN of the load balancer. Providing the FQDN of a single node may allow you to proceed with the upgrade, but may result in certificate related errors when starting vCenter Server.
In the Ready to Install screen, click Install to start the installation.
When the installation completes, click Finish.

Post installation of vCenter Inventory Service 5.5

After installing the vCenter Inventory Service, install vCenter Server. For more information, see Installing vCenter Server 5.5 on a Microsoft Windows platform (2058274).

Additional Information

Installing vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 on a Microsoft Windows platform
Installing the vSphere 5.5 Web Client on a Microsoft Windows platform
Installing vCenter Server 5.5 on a Microsoft Windows platform
Microsoft Windows プラットフォームに vCenter Inventory Service 5.5 をインストールする