Installing vCenter Server 5.1 on Windows Server 2012

[rbos3]

Hiya,

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First of all, I would like to use this topic for experiences running vCenter 5.1 on Windows Server 2012. Hopefully I will manage to get this all running and others will find answers in this topic for installing it for theirselves.

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OK, now further to my issue.

After migrating most of my testlab VMs to Windows Server 2012, it's time to migrate vCenter Server.

Currently, I have a freshly installed VM which will be my new vCenter Server.

Started with installing SSO using an existing DB (On a different VM, also Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012).

Had a few hickups, but finally without any errors, the setup (SSO) continues. The thing is it hangs at 'Configuring SSO, this will take a few minutes'.

I see no activity at the vCenter VM, neither at the DB. It seems the setup hangs and concluding from the log, it just stops processing. I left the configuration run for about 3 hours without any luck. These are the last lines of the install.log (C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\SSOServer\utils\logs):

2012-09-23 20:12:00,703 - vc02.stormdesigns.nl,,,,INFO: Got default domain DOMAINX
2012-09-23 20:12:00,703 - vc02.stormdesigns.nl,,,,INFO: Returning full domain: domainx.com
2012-09-23 20:12:00,750 - vc02.stormdesigns.nl,,,,Updating identity source preferences
2012-09-23 20:12:00,968 - vc02.stormdesigns.nl,,,,Generating HA node package
2012-09-23 20:12:01,030 - vc02.stormdesigns.nl,,,,Updating log properties file
2012-09-23 20:12:01,030 - vc02.stormdesigns.nl,,,,Writing to file: C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\SSOServer\utils\bin\log4cxx.properties
2012-09-23 20:12:01,030 - vc02.stormdesigns.nl,,,,Installing SSPI Windows service
2012-09-23 20:12:01,030 - vc02.stormdesigns.nl,,,,Writing to file: C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\SSOServer\webapps\ims\WEB-INF\classes\SPNegoAuthnPlugin.properties
2012-09-23 20:12:02,060 - vc02.stormdesigns.nl,,,,Copying JDBC driver
2012-09-23 20:12:02,060 - vc02.stormdesigns.nl,,,,Successfully executed action: 'install'

Hopefully someone else had a try as well!

Thanks for any replies!

Cheers,

René

[VirtThis]

According to the VMware support matrix they don't support 2012 for vCenter 5.1.

[rbos3]

Hey there,

I know it's not supported yet, but untill it is, some people might find it nice running vCenter on a 2012 environment.

That's why I started up this topic; because when it would be supported, the setup would run flawless on a clean install 😃

[hlimbada]

Hi there,

Did you have any luck with the install?

[rbos3]

No I haven't tried any further, just waiting for an update or new version that is supported. Untill then the only VM running 2008 R2 is vCenter 😃

[hlimbada]

Hi Rene,

I gave it a try, sso and inventory installed fine. i got error with vcenter itself.

guess we'll have to wait!

Thanks for the reply

[Ranga201110141]

Hi All,

I am trying to install vCenter 5.1 server in Windows server 2012, it's almost success but in last its giving error and stopped installation.

MSI (s) (C0:BC) [11:21:44:380]: Product: VMware vSphere Profile-Driven Storage -- Installation operation failed.

above error is displaying in the vim-sps-msi.log file.

trying to rectify the issue but no luck, is any one installed successfully.

Thanks

Ranga

[Bsan]

For those that are still testing I've found this little tid bit on another forum that might help out.

For those not aware, ESXi 5.1 was released today. Has official Win 8 and Server 2012 compatibility and in addition to that you can actually see the console when the client is run from Win 8 now.

I also upgraded vCenter which was interesting. Gets a little more complex with multiple services now. Now to get to the reason I'm posting (because someone on the internet somewhere will come across this) – I attempted to install vCenter on Windows Server 2012. The installation fails just before it tries to install the vSphere Profile-Driven Storage Service.

Here is why – to install that service, the Vcenter service needs to be running. However, the vcenter service does not start properly in windows server 2012. This is due to a missing dependency. In particular, the VirtualCenter Server service relies on the ProtectedStorage service which was removed from Win8/Server 2012. The work around is the following (at your own risk) – open regedit and go to \System\CurrentControlSet\Services\vpxd and the

Open the DependOnService key and remove ProtectedStorage from the list. Reboot the machine and the Vcenter service should come alive (might take a while). Then restart ONLY the vcenter installation again once everything has come up (you need to wait for vcenter service to come alive which can take a few minutes). The install will continue from where it kicked off and finish.

So the short version is, when the vcenter install fails, go to registry and remove ProtectedStorage dependency from the vpxd service, reboot and it should work. Restart the vcenter install and it will finish as per normal.

There is how I got vCenter working on Server 2012. I also installed the Web Client service without an issue.

Obviously vcenter isn't officially supported on Server 2012 so it is a work around. Hopefully this helps someone else like myself who upgrades there 2k8r2 install to 2012 just to see and then finds vcenter dies

reference: whrl.pl/RdjjZD

posted 2012-Sep-12, 12am AEST

edited 2012-Sep-16, 7pm AEST

[RParker]

You are putting the cart before the horse..

2012 is on migration path from 2008.

So the easiest and BEST thing to do is simply use Windows 2008 R2.  When 2012 is officially support by VMware, you can always upgrade to 2012.

Now before someone says something crazy like.. upgrade is not the same as a NEW install (which is COMPLETELY FALSE), an "upgrade" doesn't simply take binaries and upgrade them to newer versions, an upgrade means that the OLD version is used to confirm usage in order to install the new version.

So when you upgrade ALL binaries are replaced with NEW binaries retaining the old settings and registry.

That's ALL an upgrade does.

My advice, don't compound the issue, use what is supported, and ugrade later.. it's very easy to do.

[ElGarufo]

Hello to all!

I can´t find if this topic is solved or not, where is the matrix compatibility list to see if TODAY is possible and support to install Vcenter 5.1 on WINDOWS 2012??

thanks in advanced !!!

[rene_bos]

Hi ElGarufo,

I think the official support will be available starting from vSphere 6.

The Server 2012 project I started has completed with the exception of vCenter Server.

I will just wait untill it is officially supported 😃

[rbos3]

Hello everyone reading!

Well, after letting go of the vCenter 5.1 on Windows Server 2012 idea for a while; I gave it another shot this week.

Spoiler: I succeeded! 😃

What I exactly did, still doesn't appear to a solution to me, but maybe it will help others.

First of all, I migrated the vCenter Server 5.1 database from the SQL Server Express edition to a new SQL Server 2012 Standard machine.

Next, I tried to migrate the SSO database but because of all the dependencies, hard configuration files pointing to the original Express instance and more, I decided to re-install the SSO server on the same machine.

Being curious as I am, I snapshotted both of my vCenter Servers (2008 and 2012).

Next, I dropped all tables in the SSO and vCenter database on the SQL 2012 Server, and went installing SSO, Inventory Service and vCenter Server 5.1 on the Windows Server 2012 server with fingers crossed. To my surprise this all went well!

Migrating folder structures and dvSwitches required some creative thinking but I succeeded without downtime (for my test environment =)).

Oh yeah; I had to use the workaround described earlier in this topic (The profile driven storage dependency).

Currently my vCenter Server, ESXi hosts and VMs are happy! And all of my 2008 R2 VMs are gone 😃

Thanks for eveyones support and hopefully this will help others. Don't give up hope; it works!

René

[Fanta201110141]

Hi, all!

I tryed install vCenter 5.1.b on Windows 2012 and have error - Error 29114. Cannot connect to DB

http://clip2net.com/s/2NUkU

help me pls

[rbos3]

Hi Fanta201110141,

Could you try to install the different components (SSO, Inventory Service and vCenter Server) seperately instead of the simple install?

I wasn't able to install using the Simple Install so maybe this will help you as well 🙂

Cheers,

René

[Fanta201110141]

rbos3, yes i tryed install all this products step-by-step

but simlpe instal and step-by-step instal had same error - cannot connet to DB

also i tryed create DB/users manually by the manual of Derek - http://derek858.blogspot.com/2012/09/vmware-vcenter-51-installation-part-1.html

this manual not helped me too

Maybe it is problem of Windows Server 2012 ??

[rbos3]

Let's assume you will continue your installation by using the SSO-Inventory-vCenter steps instead of Simple Install.

I managed to install it on Windows Server 2012; so it works! 🙂

What kind of database server do you have? And did you install it on the same machine as where you are installing SSO?

At the end of the wizard telling you the installation has failed, it will tell you a location of where the logfile is.

Can you locate this file and copy-paste the last recent lines?

[YoshikiMa]

I'm trying to install all services as separated VMs and when I'm completing Inventory Service setup at the step where the Lookup service URL (SSO server address ) is inputed the installer stops working. I can't click next, it's like nothings happens, even the back button and the cancel button stop working at this place.

My log shows this:

[2013-02-22 12:23:31,182 main DEBUG com.vmware.vim.install.impl.RegistrationProviderImpl] Establishing socket connection to srv-vcsso-01.xxx.yyy/172.18.2.51:7444. Timeout is 60000
[2013-02-22 12:23:31,213 main DEBUG com.vmware.vim.install.impl.RegistrationProviderImpl] Creating client for SSO Admin on address: https://srv-vcsso-01.xxx.yyy:7444/sso-adminserver/sdk
[2013-02-22 12:23:33,167 main DEBUG com.vmware.vim.install.cli.commands.ValidateUsernameCommand] No solution user found with name: InventoryService_2013.02.22_121333
[2013-02-22 12:23:33,229 main DEBUG com.vmware.vim.install.cli.commands.ValidateUsernameCommand] No local user found with name: InventoryService_2013.02.22_121333
[2013-02-22 12:23:33,260 main INFO com.vmware.vim.install.cli.commands.ValidateUsernameCommand] No local user with name 'InventoryService_2013.02.22_121333' or subject DN 'CN=srv-vcis-01.xxx.yyy,OU=vCenterInventoryService,O=bla bla bla,L=bla bla,ST=city,C=xx' is registered
[2013-02-22 12:23:33,260 main INFO com.vmware.vim.install.cli.RegTool] Return code is: Success

Any idea?

[YoshikiMa]

I got it ! Seeing the other VMware logs files at %temp% I saw that "C:\ProgramData\VMware\SSL" was missing the file named with the hash of Root64.cer at that location ( I only had it on SSO VM ) so I copied it to here too. I think It should be te same case for later setting up vCenter VM too.

[rbos3]

Great job! So this is something to keep in mind when you are deploying SSO and the Inventory Service on different servers? 🙂

[YoshikiMa]

Yes. Maybe for a separate VM running vCenter too, have to check.