vCenter Install Issue

[Felix001]

ive installed the free ESXi 6.5.

Im trying to install the VCenter 6.5 onto it. But it hangs at installing RPM at 80%.

Is there are limitation on installing VC onto free ESXi. The reason was I didn’t want to burn any of my VMUG licenses.

Any help would be great. As all I want to do is install VC. Which I thought would be an easy task :0(

[daphnissov]

This usually means you didn't use fully-qualified host names or you don't have NTP.

[Felix001]

Thanks , but I used 8.8.8.8 and also used the up as the host name. I do t believe e a ptr would of been needed

[daphnissov · Accepted solution]

No, you need to use fully-qualified host names with vCenter and create all the proper records. In addition, you need *internal* NTP and have time synchronization between the workstation from which you're running the install, the target ESXi host, and in the appliance configuration.

[Felix001]

Ok. I thought I had read that you could use an IP address instead, to negate this need for DNS. In terms of NTP. If all devices are sync'd to the same public NTP server, I should be ok?

So if I ensure that I used an FQDN when installing. I will also create an A name and PTR within the zone. But this will be available via public DNS.
And also I use a public NTP server. I should be ok, correct?

[daphnissov]

No, DNS is a core, basic infrastructure service which you must have in place to properly deploy vCSA. For NTP, while you really should be using an internal NTP server (even if you get your upstream time from an external source), so long as all elements in the deployment have their time in sync it should work. Time synchronization is another core infrastructure service, and so any skew larger than a few seconds can cause failure.

But this will be available via public DNS.

Not sure what you're saying here. You want to make your vCenter's DNS records available in a public zone?

And also I use a public NTP server. I should be ok, correct?

Again, maybe, although it's not recommended.

[Felix001]

Just an update I tried what you suggested and it worked. For anyone else I can confirm the following fixed the issue:

• Built the ESXI host as 6.5
• Created an A record for the VC on public DNS (not ideal, but quicker for me than building a local DNS server)
• Used public NTP servers.

Thanks for your help...