VMware vCloud Automation Center 5.2 Detailed Installation Guide

VMware announced the release of vCloud Automation Center (vCAC) 5.2 in April, a dot-release follow on to vCAC 5.1.  This release shipped with it several improvements, bug fixes, tighter vCloud Director integration, and so on.  Some of the highlights include, but not limited to:

• Deeper integrations with vCloud Director – vCAC 5.1 added basic support for consuming vCD as an Endpoint to enable vApp deployments into VDC’s. Although functional, the options were limited, especially with “day 2” management of vApps. vCAC 5.2 adds greater functionality, deployment options, support for all three VDC allocation models (PAYG, Allocation Pool, Reservation Pool), and the ability to manage individual machine within the vApp independently…a much needed addition.
• Added support for vCloud Networking & Security (vCNS) use cases – vCNS integration brings with it the ability to discover vCNS network entities, such as VXLAN and security groups. This enables the consumption of these networks as part of an application deployment model for greater control and security.
• Support for KVM (RHEV) Hypervisor – Adding native support for KVM as a platform continues vCAC’s trend towards the “manage all infrastructures” model and adds to vCAC’s already extensive native (“out of the box”) support for heterogeneous infrastructure…with much more to come.
• Enhanced Performance Metrics Collection from vSphere Endpoints – Adding to vCAC’s metric collecting capability, this addition provides greater information and granularity for vSphere-based machine deployments.
• Enhanced Platform Support with Amazon Web Services (EC2) – Amazon EC2 customers gain support for vCAC’s popular reclaimation capability so idle machines can be pulled back / retired from EC2.
• Enhanced Installation Procedures – more streamlined installation with configuration wizards.
• Added OS Support for CentOS 5.9, CentOS 6.3, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012
• A ton of bug fixes
• And More…an extended list can be found in the vCAC 5.2 Release Notes…

On Topic: Installing vCAC 5.2

Back in the 5.1 days, I posted the vCAC 5.1 Detailed Installation Guide, which detailed the installation and configuration of vCAC and provided a ton of context around each step. The guide was downloaded more than 4,000 times (from what I have visibility into) and I received a ton of feedback from peers, partners, and customers alike regarding the usefulness of the guide.  With the release of vCAC 5.2, I figured I’d take the time to update the doc to reflect the changes and new capabilities. I took this opportunity to also updated some of the context and added more guidelines around each step’s objectives. The result was almost a complete re-write with the new screenshots and references. The installation workflow has been modified a bit as well…

The Guide

Use this guide to install vCAC 5.2 in your own environment to help understand the steps and concepts, or troubleshoot an existing install.

DISCLAIMER: This guide is intended for use in a test/dev or sandbox environment and NOT for a production build and comes with no guarantees, support, etc.

Happy Installing!