As discussed in the last post, we can configure all roles present in vCAV-C2C in a single appliance for Lab/POC deployment. In my lab, I am starting with a small deployment to have a general understanding of this product before doing a distributed deployment.
In my lab, I have 2 sites, and each site is configured with the following components:
- vSphere/vCenter Server 6.5 U2
- vCloud Director 9.0
- VMware NSX 6.3.6
vSphere and vCD are fully configured, and Org/Org vDCs are in place at both sites with external networks, etc., configured.
Let’s start the deployment with Site-A.
Deployment of the VCAV-C2C appliance is straightforward, and the steps are shown below.
Once appliance deployment is complete and it boots up, it will give you information on how to connect to the appliance for further configuration.
Configure vCloud Availability Replicator
To configure the vCloud Availability Replicator role, connect to https://VCAV-FQDN:8043 and click on the link under Additional Resources
Login with root credentials set during deployment.
Change the appliance root password and hit Next.
Register the replicator service with the lookup service and click Next.
Accept the lookup service certificate.
Hit finish to complete the Replicator service configuration.
Under the diagnostics tab, ensure the services status is showing green.
Configure vCloud Availability Replication Manager
To configure Replication Manager, connect to https://VCAV-FQDN:8044 and click on the link under Additional resources.
Login with root credentials.
Navigate to the configuration page.
Go to the “Set lookup service” tab and punch in your lookup service address and hit OK.
Accept the lookup service certificate.
You will be redirected to the main page. Under the diagnostics tab, ensure that the service status is green.
Configure vApp Replication Manager Server
Connect to https://VCAV-FQDN:8046 and click on the link under Additional Resources.
Login with root credentials.
Provide the name and optional description for the site and click Next.
Register the vApp Replication Manager to the lookup service and hit Next.
Accept the lookup service certificate.
On the Setup Manager page, punch in the IP address of the appliance where the Replication Manager role is configured. If you are performing “combined mode” deployment, then you can leave this field blank, as every role will be configured in the same appliance.
Accept the manager certificate.
On the Setup vCloud Director page, enter your VCD details and enter the admin credentials of VCD. Ensure to append /api in vCD FQDN.
Accept the vCD certificate.
On the Summary page, review your settings and click Finish.
On the diagnostics page, ensure that the service status is healthy.
Configure vCloud Availability Portal
To configure the vCloud Availability Portal, connect to https://vcav-fqdn:5480 and login with root credentials.
On the home page, you will see the vCD and vApp Replication manager status as red.
To fix this, navigate to the vApp RM tab.
Make sure the vApp RM Endpoint is set to https://localhost:8046.
Enter the vCD admin credentials and click on connect. If everything is configured correctly so far, you will see the successful connection for vApp RM.
Click on the test button to ensure the test results show green. Click on Done to finish the test.
Once the vApp RM connection is successful and the test is passed, apply the configuration changes.
Navigate to Setup Wizard > Database Connection and select (optional) “Enable reconfiguration” and click on the Test button.
Click Next if the DB connect test is successful.
On the Portal Service Configuration page, click on the Start Service button.
The progress of the service restart is shown in a new pop up window. Once the configuration is applied and the running process status is green, click Done.
Navigate back to the Home page and verify that all server/service statuses are showing green.
With this, the configuration of the primary site is completed.
Repeat the same steps for Site-B
And that’s it for this post. In the next post of this series, I will demonstrate how to replicate vApps/VMs between 2 vCD sites.
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