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d_mcintyre
Contributor
Contributor

Install VCSA 6.7U3 from Mac Catalina workstation?

Has anybody figured out a workaround for installing VCSA from a Catalina (10.15) OSX system?

Once it gets into deploying via ovftool, a bunch of error dialogs pop up about libcurl.4.dylib, etc. can't be opened because

"Apple cannot check it for malicious software.  This software needs to be updated."

The VMware docs are no help, they just state the minimum OSX versions are 10.9 - 10.13, which are getting pretty out of date.

Of course, I can bounce out to somewhere else to install it, but would be nice to directly on my desktop.

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sudeshnas
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hello d_mcintyre​,

Welcome to vmware community.

In order to install VCSA 6.7U3 from Mac Catalina workstation you have to download the "VMware-VCSA-all-version_number-build_number.iso" from the VMware Web site at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads.

Confirm that the md5sum is correct.

See the VMware Web site topic Using MD5 Checksums at http://www.vmware.com/download/md5.html.

Mount or extract the ISO image to the client machine from which you want to deploy the appliance.

Note: For Mac OS, you can use DiskImageMounter.

You can refer to the below doc for more details:

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/vsphere-vcenter-server-672-installation-guide.pdf

Regards,

Sudeshna Sarkar

Vmware-IUM team

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d_mcintyre
Contributor
Contributor

Yes, I know how it should work. I've installed or upgraded many vCenters many dozens of times from my Mac workstation.

I'm saying Catalina is _different_ due to Apple's increased security profile.

I can take the same ISO for the vCenter 6.7U3 installer on an older Mac workstation, and install it fine.

Using the same ISO mounted on two different Catalina Mac computers, I have problems. The first two problem seem to be able to get around. The one with the libraries not being from a trusted vendor put a stop in my ability to do this from Catalina.

And of course, it works fine from a windows workstation.

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d_mcintyre
Contributor
Contributor

BTW: If anybody stumbles across this post.


William Lam at VMware made a blog posting about this issue, and has a workaround listed in his blog

https://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2020/02/how-to-exclude-vcsa-ui-cli-installer-from-macos-catalina-sec...

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vTara
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi d_mcintyre,

You can try the below steps as a workaround if you are okay to disable the security until you finish the VC deployment. Else you to try to install VC from different machine.

1. Execute `sudo spctl --master-disable` in terminal and set "Allow apps download from" to "anywhere" in Security and Privacy settings.

2. Execute `sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine <Path to the iso>`

     Example: sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine VMware-VCSA-all-6.7.0-Update-15132721

3. Mount the iso and open UI Installer

4. Install/Upgrade vCenter Server 6.7/7.0

5. Execute `sudo spctl —master-enable` in terminal

—> This will turn the security back on to protect against other unsigned/verified apps.

If you think your queries have been answered. Mark this response as "Correct" or "Helpful".

Regards

Tami

Install-Upgrade Specialist

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vTara
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi d_mcintyre,

Have you got this sorted ?

Regards

Tami

Install-Upgrade Specialist

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DougMcIntyre
Contributor
Contributor

I used William Lam's instructions from the blog I linked above for successful installation of VCSA 6.7 (and now VCSA 7.0) from a Mac Catalina workstation.

So, yes, I'm all set, the instructions are a little different, you may not need the spctl as I didn't use it, but the xattr line was key I believe.

Thanks.

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