VMware Cloud Community
rajivkumar07
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Installation issues with 6.5 and 6.7

Please help!!! I am running into this weird installation issues with VCSA 6.5 / 6.7. No matter if I install externally PSC or embedded with vCenter, the process stuck at 80%.

I have VMUG membership and I downloaded 6.5 ESXi, 6.5 / 6.7 vCenter from there.

I have a small lab (on a shuttle box). Shuttle has i7 8700 CPU, 64gb ram, and plenty of HDD space on SSD with Windows 10 OS on it. Installed vmware workstation on it (Version 15). On top of that I installed ESXi 6.5 (WITHOUT any issues).

I have a domain controller server 2008 r2 where I created all entries using forward lookup / reverse lookup zone. So, I have host record entries for vcenter, psc, esxi, domain controller. I verified all this. ESXi has NTP set. Time is syncing with outside NTP server. (I also read somewhere that we need internal NTP server but even internal has to sync with something externally).

Problem I am getting into –

I have the vcenter binaries on domain controller which means I shouldn’t have connection issues (everywhere is 192.168.1.x range, esxi is pointing to domain controller for DNS server, I can ping back and forth).

When I run external PSC installation from domain controller, it stuck at 80% and sits there (waiting for vm to start), vm never starts and it fails. I checked the installer logs and it says – “ovfDeployTimer: ovf deployment failed after 3600000 ms passed in which no response from the server was received”. Why? domain controller and esxi have connectivity in between. I even deployed the OVF directly from ESXi but same thing (stuck at 80%).

I also downloaded the ISO from vmware directly. Tried 6.5 and 6.7 but same error on both.

I also bypassed DNS and used all IP addresses BUT SAME scenario (stuck at 80%).

I cant call VMWARE since its home lab. I tried everything I could.

PLEASE HELP!!! Let me know if someone came across this kinda issue and how was this fixed.

Reply
0 Kudos
36 Replies
piyush08
Contributor
Contributor

Please check right network is selected when deploying PSC.

Reply
0 Kudos
rajivkumar07
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

There is only one network 'VM Network' and no other option to select like management one etc.

Reply
0 Kudos
RajeevVCP4
Expert
Expert

I can help let me know when I can take your desktop remotely.

Rajeev Chauhan
VCIX-DCV6.5/VSAN/VXRAIL
Please mark help full or correct if my answer is use full for you
Reply
0 Kudos
ChrisFD2
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Don't use an external PSC, it's being deprecated so unless there's a specific reason you need to use one, don't bother.

What networking mode is the VM Workstation networking set to? I've installed many variants of nested hosts on Workstation for demo purposes, all the way back to 5.0 and I choose bridged networking and I've never had an issue installing vCenter.

Regards,
Chris
VCIX-DCV 2023 | VCIX-NV 2023 | vExpert *** | CCNA R&S
Reply
0 Kudos
rajivkumar07
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I even tried installing embedded vcenter too but no luck.

On the workstation side, I am using vmnet0 (Bridging).

Did you have to point your ESXi to some NTP server?

I pointed mine to pool.ntp.org but no luck. I even tried using NTP IP aswell.

Reply
0 Kudos
ChrisFD2
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

If the ESXi host has no NTP set, it will set its time using the hardware clock, which will be provided by your Windows OS.

Please check all your networking, subnet masks, default gateways etc are all correct as well as DNS for the vCenter server.

Where is your DC installed, on Workstation?

Regards,
Chris
VCIX-DCV 2023 | VCIX-NV 2023 | vExpert *** | CCNA R&S
Reply
0 Kudos
rajivkumar07
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Not sure if I tried installing without NTP on the host. I will try that.

Other than that, networking is super simple in my case.

vcenter networking - 192.168.1.50, /24, 192.168.1.1

Pointing vcenter to 192.168.1.1 for DNS.

I remember doing this in Version 6 back in the days and it went smooth.

Reply
0 Kudos
ChrisFD2
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Is the vCenter server VM starting on your host? If so can you drop to command line using Ctrl + Alt + F3, log in as root and then do an nslookup against it self.

Regards,
Chris
VCIX-DCV 2023 | VCIX-NV 2023 | vExpert *** | CCNA R&S
Reply
0 Kudos
rajivkumar07
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thats the thing. VM doesn't even power on. Installation is at 80%.

Reply
0 Kudos
ChrisFD2
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Are you deploying the appliance onto Workstation or onto the ESXi host?

Regards,
Chris
VCIX-DCV 2023 | VCIX-NV 2023 | vExpert *** | CCNA R&S
Reply
0 Kudos
rajivkumar07
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I tried both and both are getting stuck at 80%. VMWARE doesn't like me I think.

Reply
0 Kudos
ChrisFD2
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Have you tried running the installer from the Windows 10 machine rather than the 2008 DC?

Regards,
Chris
VCIX-DCV 2023 | VCIX-NV 2023 | vExpert *** | CCNA R&S
Reply
0 Kudos
rajivkumar07
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yes, I started from my Windows 10 machine (downloaded the binaries on it and ran the installer) just like I did for version 6 back then.

When I read about NTP and all, I also build another VM (domain controller with DNS and created all the entries) and ran the installer from domain controller directly too. What a pain this is.

Log says - ovfDeployTimer: ovf deployment failed after 3600000 ms passed in which no response from the server was received although I can ping back and forth with no issue. No drop.

Reply
0 Kudos
Alex_Romeo
Leadership
Leadership

Hi,

I don't know if I understand correctly..I think it's a Workstation problem. Try connecting from the DC 2008 domain controller and with the web interface (https: // <HostIPorHostName> / ui) install the vCenter starting from "Deploy to virtual machine from an OFV or OVA file".

Alessandro Romeo

Blog: https://www.aleadmin.it/
Reply
0 Kudos
rajivkumar07
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I'll try that and update. Thanks!

Reply
0 Kudos
lawbantell
Contributor
Contributor

I am having same issue, installation does not progress pass 80%; you can continue installation by browsing to the IP address of the vCenter:5480 but then I run into another issue where the second stage stops and says I have to deploy a new vCenter.

Am not sure what the issue is because I had 2 ESXi and vCenter setup in the past; I got another PC with 128Gb RAM and copied everything to the new PC and it doesn't work again so I rebuilt the whole thing from scratch using 6.7 setup files - now am not able to complete vCenter install.

Reply
0 Kudos
Alex_Romeo
Leadership
Leadership

Hi,

You have a computer with windows 10 where you installed WVmare Workstation 15 and you installed esxi 6.7, and you want to install a Vcenter?

I have exactly the same thing but on Windows 7 and it works all.

Try reviewing these steps:

https://www.vladan.fr/how-to-deploy-vmware-vcsa-6-7-u1-in-vmware-workstation/

Blog: https://www.aleadmin.it/
Reply
0 Kudos
Alex_Romeo
Leadership
Leadership

HI,

...in addition to the previous answer

From your Windows 10 computer you should reach the Esxi host (ping), in which case you can try installing Vcenter and PSC running it from Windows 10 and not from the 2008 domain controller.

Alessandro Romeo

Blog: https://www.aleadmin.it/
Reply
0 Kudos
rajivkumar07
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks Alessandro. This method finally worked. I know if external PSC is going away and there is going to be only VCSA embedded architecture.

'What if' I want external PSC using this method? What needs to be done? Thanks!

Reply
0 Kudos