SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere 5

Deploy SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere

To use SnapCenter features to protect VMs, datastores, and application-consistent databases on virtualized machines, you must deploy SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere.

Before you begin

This section lists all the necessary actions you should do before you begin the deployment.

The OVA deployment is supported in VMware vCenter 7u1 and above.

You must have read the deployment requirements.
You must be running a supported version of vCenter Server.
You must have configured and set up your vCenter Server environment.
You must have set up an ESXi host for the SnapCenter VMware plug-in VM.
You must have downloaded the SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere .tar file.
You must have the login authentication details for your vCenter Server instance.
You must have a certificate with valid Public and Private Key files.
You must have logged out of and closed all browser sessions of vSphere client and deleted the browser cache to avoid any browser cache issue during the deployment of the SnapCenter VMware plug-in.
You must have enabled Transport Layer Security (TLS) in vCenter. Refer to the VMware documentation.
If you plan to perform backups in vCenters other than the one in which the SnapCenter VMware plug-in is deployed, then the ESXi server, the SnapCenter VMware plug-in, and each vCenter must be synchronized to the same time.
To protect VMs on vVol datastores, you must first deploy ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere. ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere versions 9.10 and above are supported. ONTAP tools provisions and configures storage on ONTAP and on the VMware web client.

Deploy the SnapCenter VMware plug-in in the same time zone as the vCenter. Backup schedules are executed in the time zone in which the SnapCenter VMware plug-in is deployed. vCenter reports data in the time zone in which the vCenter is located. Therefore, if the SnapCenter VMware plug-in and vCenter are in different time zones, data in the SnapCenter VMware plug-in Dashboard might not be the same as the data in the reports.

Steps

For VMware vCenter 7.0.3 and later versions, follow the steps in Download the Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) to import the certificates to vCenter.
In your browser, navigate to VMware vSphere vCenter.

For IPv6 HTML web clients, you must use either Chrome or Firefox.
Log in to the VMware vCenter Single Sign-On page.
On the Navigator pane, right-click any inventory object that is a valid parent object of a virtual machine, such as a datacenter, cluster, or host, and select Deploy OVF Template to start the VMware deploy wizard.
Extract the .tar file, which contains the .ova file onto your local system. On the Select an OVF template page, specify the location of the .ova file inside the .tar extracted folder.
Click Next.
On the Select a name and folder page, enter a unique name for the VM or vApp, and select a deployment location, and then click Next.

This step specifies where to import the .tar file into vCenter. The default name for the VM is the same as the name of the selected .ova file. If you change the default name, choose a name that is unique within each vCenter Server VM folder.

The default deployment location for the VM is the inventory object where you started the wizard.
On the Select a resource page, select the resource where you want to run the deployed VM template, and click Next.
On the Review details page, verify the .tar template details and click Next.
On the License agreements page, select the checkbox for I accept all license agreements.
On the Select storage page, define where and how to store the files for the deployed OVF template.
1. Select the disk format for the VMDKs.
2. Select a VM Storage Policy.
  
  This option is available only if storage policies are enabled on the destination resource.
3. Select a datastore to store the deployed OVA template.
  
  The configuration file and virtual disk files are stored on the datastore.
  
  Select a datastore large enough to accommodate the virtual machine or vApp and all associated virtual disk files.
On the Select networks page, do the following:
1. Select a source network and map it to a destination network,
  
  The Source Network column lists all networks that are defined in the OVA template.
2. In the IP Allocation Settings section, select the required IP protocol and then click Next.
  
  SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere supports one network interface. If you need multiple network adapters, you must set that up manually.
On the Customize template page, do the following:
1. In the Register to existing vCenter section, enter the vCenter name and the vCenter credentials of the virtual appliance.
  
  In the vCenter username field, enter the username in the format domain\username.
2. In the Create SCV credentials section, enter the local credentials.
  
  In the Username field, enter the local username; do not include the domain details.
  
  Make a note of the username and password that you specify. You need to use these credentials if you want to modify the SnapCenter VMware plug-in configuration later.
3. Enter credentials for the maint user.
4. In Setup Network Properties, enter the host name.
  1. In Setup IPv4 Network Properties section, enter the network information such as IPv4 address, IPv4 Netmask, IPv4 Gateway, IPv4 Primary DNS, IPv4 Secondary DNS, and IPv4 Search Domains.
  2. In Setup IPv6 Network Properties section, enter the network information such as the IPv6 address, IPv6 Netmask, IPv6 Gateway, IPv6 Primary DNS, IPv6 Secondary DNS, and IPv6 Search Domains.
    
    Select the IPv4 or IPv6 fields, or both, if appropriate. If you are using both IPv4 and IPv6, then you need to specify the Primary DNS for only one of them.
    
    You can skip these steps and leave the entries blank in the Setup Network Properties section, if you want to proceed with DHCP as your network configuration.
5. In Setup Date and Time, select the time zone where the vCenter is located.
On the Ready to complete page, review the page and click Finish.

All hosts must be configured with IP addresses (FQDN hostnames are not supported). The deploy operation does not validate your input before deploying.

You can view the progress of the deployment from the Recent Tasks window while you wait for the OVF import and deployment tasks to finish.

When the SnapCenter VMware plug-in is successfully deployed, it is deployed as a Linux VM, registered with vCenter, and a VMware vSphere client is installed.
Navigate to the VM where the SnapCenter VMware plug-in was deployed, then click the Summary tab, and then click the Power On box to start the virtual appliance.
While the SnapCenter VMware plug-in is powering on, right-click the deployed SnapCenter VMware plug-in, select Guest OS, and then click Install VMware tools.

The VMware tools is installed on the VM where the SnapCenter VMware plug-in is deployed. For more information on installing VMware tools, see the VMware documentation.

The deployment might take a few minutes to complete. A successful deployment is indicated when the SnapCenter VMware plug-in is powered on, the VMware tools are installed, and the screen prompts you to log in to the SnapCenter VMware plug-in. You can switch your network configuration from DHCP to static during the first reboot. However, switching from static to DHCP is not supported.

The screen displays the IP address where the SnapCenter VMware plug-in is deployed. Make a note of the IP address. You need to log in to the SnapCenter VMware plug-in management GUI if you want to make changes to the SnapCenter VMware plug-in configuration.
Log in to the SnapCenter VMware plug-in management GUI using the IP address displayed on the deployment screen and using the credentials that you provided in the deployment wizard, then verify on the Dashboard that the SnapCenter VMware plug-in is successfully connected to vCenter and is enabled.

Use the format https://<appliance-IP-address>:8080 to access the management GUI.

Login with the admin username and password set at the time of deployment and the MFA token generated using the maintenance console.

If the SnapCenter VMware plug-in is not enabled, then see Restart the VMware vSphere client service.

If the host name is 'UnifiedVSC/SCV, then restart the appliance. If restarting the appliance does not change the host name to the specified host name, then you must reinstall the appliance.

After you finish

You should complete the required post deployment operations.