Standing up two-node cluster that also hosts vcenter (solved)

[cryostat]

Problem description:

I need to make a cluster to take advantage of HA and other features. For the time being, I have only two ESXi 7 nodes to work with; a third one will be installed in several months. I've installed VCSA 7 on one of the ESXi nodes and discovered that I'm in a circular impossible situation: the cluster cannot be created because a VM (which is VCSA's VM) is running on one of the nodes, but of course if I terminate that VM, I cannot use VCSA, which runs on it, to create a cluster. I've spent several days looking at documentation without finding an answer to this problem. Directions for setting up clusters seem to assume that you have a third, uninvolved ESXi host on which to run VCSA. I do not want to devote an entire non-cluster node to running VCSA.

Questions:

1) What is the process to set up a two-node VSphere 7 cluster that supports the VCSA VM on that same cluster?

2) If I had started with 3 nodes, I could install VCSA on one of them and use it to generate the cluster for the other two. At that point, can I migrate the VCSA machine to the cluster and afterwards include the third node in the cluster?

[ptarnawski]

Hey @cryostat ,

vCenter VM can run on the same hosts as the rest of VMs. What I am doing for instance, if I have enough hosts. I create a management cluster where I run all appliances, VCSA, vROps, vRNi etc. 

But I also have a cluster with 4 nodes where all production VMs are including VCSA. 

There is no need for a separate host. 

However, I do not understand what the issue is in your case.  Do you have the old version of VCSA and want to upgrade it to vSphere 7? Can you explain again, please? 

[cryostat]

Thanks for your reply, @ptarnowski.

I am not trying to upgrade or migrate; this is a new network. The problem is that I have only two hosts, and one of them hosts VCSA. I need VCSA to be running to set up a cluster, but I can't set up a cluster with the wizard (or helper, or whatever it's called) while VSCA is running on a host that will be added to the cluster; the wizard complains and will not go on.

I have solved this problem, and I'm sure you know the answer: exit the wizard and set the cluster up manually by dragging the hosts on to the cluster (done within the tree view on the left side of "inventory"). Is that how you did it?