I need to install an Orchestrator Server on a Windows Server that is not running vCenter Server without using the vCO appliance. However, in the downloads section I only see that you can download the Orchestrator Appliance. Is it still possible to get a .exe installable for the latest version of Orchestrator for a Windows Server that is not running vCenter Server on it?
You need to get a copy of vCenter ISO image. The latest available on vmware.com site is VMware vCenter Server 5.5.0.b. There are a few downloads there, look for product named VMware vCenter Server 5.5.0b and modules, the ISO image is a 3.3GB file named VMware-VIMSetup-all-5.5.0-1476387-20131201.iso
Once you have the ISO image file, you can open it with some program that can read ISO archives (WinRar, WinZip, 7-zip, etc). The Orchestrator installer executable is located at \vCenter-Server\vCO\vCenterOrchestrator.exe
If you want to install an older Orchestrator version and already have an older vCenter ISO image file, the procedure is the same, just the location of Orchestartor executable within the ISO image may be different.
When you install vCenter Server 5.1, Orchestrator 5.1 is silently installed on the system as an additional component and requires no further configuration.
you must start the Orchestrator Server service and then start the Orchestrator client to manage it.If I recall correct vCenterOrchestrator.exe used to exist on the vCenter server install media.
You need to get a copy of vCenter ISO image. The latest available on vmware.com site is VMware vCenter Server 5.5.0.b. There are a few downloads there, look for product named VMware vCenter Server 5.5.0b and modules, the ISO image is a 3.3GB file named VMware-VIMSetup-all-5.5.0-1476387-20131201.iso
Once you have the ISO image file, you can open it with some program that can read ISO archives (WinRar, WinZip, 7-zip, etc). The Orchestrator installer executable is located at \vCenter-Server\vCO\vCenterOrchestrator.exe
If you want to install an older Orchestrator version and already have an older vCenter ISO image file, the procedure is the same, just the location of Orchestartor executable within the ISO image may be different.
Just curious. Why not use the appliance? That way you will be saving on a windows license. And There's very less of work you do on windows even if you install vCO on it. Its from the browser you do all your work.
Just a suggestion.
To speak for myself, the reason I believe I still cannot use the Appliance is because I still rely on VIX and the VIX plug-in since we still have a couple of 4.x vCenter's. ![]()
Thanks for your input. I installed it with the suggested .exe file from the vCenter Installation Cd. To answer your questions:
1. Why not use the appliance? If you use the appliance and you want to run a PowerCLI script from Orchestrator, then you have to connect to another machine over the network, introducing moving parts such as physical network connectivity, OS authentication, etc. to become dependencies for your workflow to succeed. If Orchestrator and PowerCLI are on the same system then there are fewer moving parts. PowerCLI won't run directly on the Orchestrator appliance, so if you want them on the same system you need to install the Windows version of Orchestrator.
2. Why not use the version of orchestrator that is installed with vCenter Server? If you are using a test lab and need to reinstall vCenter Server when your trial license runs out, you also have to uninstall Orchestrator. If you reinstall vCenter by deploying a new VM then you have to reconfigure Orchestrator. If you keep your Orchestrator on a separate VM from vCenter, then it stays intact if you have to reinstall vCenter.
valid points IMHO.
I'd add to this that it is not only PS related stuff but other windows commands we need to execute since we've developed workflows over the years that do this. At some point in the future we might reconstruct these using the PS plugin but for now we just run the commands locally. In the past we hit a couple of bugs in the appliance that ended up being show stoppers for us. Since then I have stayed away from the appliance. I am curious if long term the Windows version is planned to be phased out and only the appliance will remain?
Makes sense.
