Well we’re almost there, it’s now time to install vCenter Server. If you haven’t already done so, create a new VM and install Server 2008 R2 on it. Afterwards complete these steps:

1. Join to the Active Directory Domain.
2. Install the .NET Framework 3.5.1 Feature.
3. Run Windows Updates.
4. Disable and Stop the “World Wide Web Publishing Service”, This is installed by .NET framework, and it’s unneeded, and will get in the way of our vCenter installation.

First we’ll need to install SQL 2008, and update it. Insert your SQL 2008 Disk and then double click it’s icon to launch. Follow these steps:

1. From the “Installation” section of the SQL launcher select “New SQL Server stand-alone installation or add Features…” .
2. Run through the steps until you get the the section for selecting which features you want to install. Select the Following: Instance Features: Database Engine Services, Instance Features: Full-Text Search, Shared Features: Management Tools – Complete, Click “Next”.
3. On the “Instance Configuration” screen, rename your instance to “vCenter” or some other descriptive name. Click Next.
4. On the “Server Configuration” screen click the box for “Use the same account for all SQL Server Services” Enter in a domain user account with local admin privileges on this computer. Make Sure both of the services that are running with that user’s context are set to “Automatic”. Click “Next”.
5. On the “Database Engine Configuration” screen Select the option for “Mixed Mode” and set a password for your SA account. Under the “Specify SQL Server Administrators” section add the service account you want to use for vCenter to this list, as well as, your other admin accounts. Click Next.
6. Once completed update SQL to the latest service pack level.

Once all of the updates have been installed, reboot the server and log back in as you vCenter service account (domain user with local admin permissions on this box). We’ll now create our Database. Follow these steps:

1. Open SQL Management Studio, and connect to your vCenter instance using Windows Authentication (you’re logged in as your vCenter service account right?).
2. Right click on the Server and Instance at the top of the Management Studio,  select “Properties”. Click “Memory” on the left pane. Assign and Maximum Memory in MB. Click “OK”.
3. Right Click on “Databases”, Click “New Database…”, in the General Section name your database “VCDB”, click “Options”, set your recovery model to “Simple”. Click “OK”.
4. Right Click on the “Security” folder, Click “New” and then click “Login…”. Create a new SQL Server Authentication user called “vpxuser”, Assign a password and then clear the check box “Enforce Password Policy”. Set the Default Database to “VCDB”.
5. Click “User Mapping” in the left pane. Check the box labeled “Map” on both the “msdb” and “VCDB” databases. Click the button “…” for each, and select the schema “dbo” for each. Assign the role “db_owner” for each database. Click “OK”.

A few final SQL Configuration steps and then we’ll install vCenter server. First let’s configure Microsoft SQL Server TCP/IP settings for JDBC. Follow these steps:

1. Start the “SQL Server Configuration Manager”.
2. Select “SQL Server Network Configuration” then “Protocols for <instance name>.
3. Enable “TCP/IP”.
4. Open TCP/IP Properties.
5. On the “Protocol” tab verify the following settings: Enabled: Yes, Listen All: Yes, Keep Alive: 30000.
6. On the “IP Addresses” tab, verify the following settings: Active: Yes, TCP Dynamic Ports: 0.
7. Restart the SQL Services if you made any changes.

Now let’s grant SQL 2008 “Local Launch” permissions in Component Services. Follow these instructions:

1. Open “Administrative Tools”, Open “Component Services”.
2. Navigate to ” Console Root > Component Services > Computers > My Computer > DCOM Config > MsDtsServer100.
3. Right Click on “MsDtsServer100”, select Properties.
4. Click the “Security” tab, Click “Customize” under the section labeled “Launch and Activation Permissions”. Click Edit.
5. Click “Add…” Add the account that’s used to run your SQL Services. Check the box labeled “Allow” for “Local Launch”. Click OK on all boxes.

Okay, we’re done with the SQL Configuration, it’s now time to create our ODBC driver. Follow these steps:

1. Open up Administrative Tools, and then click on “Data Sources (ODBC)”.
2. Click the “System DSN” tab and then click “Add…”.
3. Give a name and description to your driver, and then specify your server\instance name in the “Server:” section. Click “Next >”.
4. Change the Authentication type to “With SQL Server authentication…” and enter the username of “vpxuser” and the password you created for this account. Click “Next >”
5. Check the box for “Change the default database to:” and then select “VCDB”. Click “Next >”.
6. Click “Finish”. Click “Test” to verify that the driver is working.

Okay! We’re here, we’re finally going to install vCenter Server. Follow these steps:

1. This is actually pretty straight forward. Insert your installation media and select to install vCenter Server.
2. When prompted to select SQL 2005 Express or select a DSN, choose the option to select a DSN, and then choose your DSN from list. Click “Next”.
3. Enter the username and password for the dsn, which will be “vpxuser” and the password you set for that account in SQL. Click “Next”.
4. When prompted which account to use to run the VMWare services, change from “SYSTEM” to the account you created for this task, the one that was added to the SQL admins group during the SQL installation. Enter the password and click “Next”.
5. When the installation finishes, open “Services” and change both “VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices” and “VMware VirtualCenter Server” to “Automatic (Delayed Start).
6. Reboot your server.

That’s it. You can now connect to your vCenter server using the vSphere client and any Active Directory “Domain Admin” account.