Installing vFabric Suite

Installing vFabric Suite is a multi-step process. The high-level steps are:

Install the vFabric License Server on the same computer on which your existing vCenter Server is installed.
Activate your vFabric licenses.
Install individual vFabric components (such as vFabric tc Server) on one or more virtual machines (VMs).
If you are installing vFabric components on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), you can choose whether to install from an RPM file from a repository using the yum command or from a ZIP or TAR file from the standard VMware download Web site. For all other supported operating systems (such as Windows), you install the vFabric components from a package that you download from the VMware download Web site. If you install from a download page, the package might be in a *.zip, *.tar, or *.exe format, depending on the component.

Note

The information that follows covers installation procedures for vFabric License Server and simple examples for vFabric components. For additional information about installing an individual vFabric component, refer to the product documentation.

Subtopics

Install vFabric License Server on Your vCenter Server

Activate vFabric Suite Licenses

RHEL: Example Walkthrough of Installing Component From the VMware RPM Repository

Windows/Linux: Example Walkthrough of Installing Component from Download Page

Upgrade vFabric License Server

Uninstall vFabric License Server from vCenter Server

Install vFabric License Server on Your vCenter Server

The vFabric License Server is an extension of the vCenter License Server, and thus you install it into your existing vCenter environment, or in other words, onto the same Windows computer on which vCenter Server is installed.

vFabric License Server requires a database to store and organize its data. The License Server fully supports using the database system associated with vCenter Server to store its license data. However, VMware recommends that you create a separate database instance for vFabric use so as to keep the data of the two products separate. (The term database instance refers to either an Oracle database schema or a Microsoft database.) You can also use a completely separate database system if you want. In either case, you are required to create an ODBC data source specifically for use by vFabric License Server, as described in the procedures below.

vFabric License Server supports Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle database systems. In general, the supported versions of each database systems are the same as those supported by vCenter Server.

Prerequisites

Install and configure vCenter Server on your Windows 64-bit computer and be sure it is running correctly.
See vSphere Installation and Setup.
Create an ODBC data source that connects to the either the vCenter database system or a separate database system; be sure that only vFabric License uses this ODBC data source. vFabric License Server supports Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle databases. See Create the Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Data Source or Create the Oracle ODBC Data Source for details.
From the Windows computer on which you are running vCenter Server, download the vFabric License Server installer program from the VMware Download Center and save it to your computer.
The installer program is called vFabric_License_Server-version.exe.

Procedure

On the same Windows computer on which you are running vCenter Server, login as the Administrator user (or user with administrator privileges) if you have User Account Control (UAC) enabled. If UAC is disabled, you can login as any user.
Double-click the vFabric License Server installer program from Windows Explorer to start the installation. After preparing the installation, the vFabric Welcome Screen appears.
Continue clicking Next to accept the license agreement and view where the installer will install the vFabric License Server.
You cannot change the location of the vFabric License Server, which is a Web application and thus must be located in the webapps directory of the vCenter Tomcat instance.
Enter the credentials of the vCenter user who has the appropriate privileges to register the vFabric License Server as an extension. At a minimum, the user must have the following vCenter privileges:
- Extension.Register
- Extension.Update
By default, vCenter users with the Administrator role have all these privileges, although you might have customized the users and roles for your particular environment, so check with your vCenter Server administrator. See Authentication and User Management for information on assigning vCenter privileges.
Click Next to continue. The installer program performs the required validations and other tasks.
Enter the login ID and password of the database user, and select the ODBC data source (DSN) that you created as a prerequisite to this procedure.
Click Install to proceed with the installation. The installer program installs the vFabric License Server, showing you a status of the installation as it performs its tasks.
The installer program completes successfully when you see the message InstallShield Wizard Completed.
To view details of the installation, click Show the Windows Installer Log. Click Finish to complete the installation.
Restart your vCenter Server to enable the vFabric License Server changes.

What to do next

Activate vFabric Suite licenses in your vCenter Server.
Install one or more vFabric components, such as vFabric tc Server, on a new or existing virtual machine (VM.) If you are installing on RHEL, see RHEL: Example Walkthrough of Installing Component From the VMware RPM Repository for an example, but refer to the installation instructions for the particular vFabric component for details. If you are installing on Windows or other Linux platform, see Windows/Linux: Example Walkthrough of Installing Component from Download Page for an example.
Monitor vFabric license usage by using the vFabric Suite command-line interface. See Monitoring vFabric License Usage.

Create the Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Data Source

Before you install vFabric License Server, you must create an ODBC data source that connects to either the database system associated with vCenter Server or to a separate database system. If using the vCenter database system, VMware recommends that you create a separate SQL Server database instance for vFabric use so as to keep the data of the two products separate. This ODBC data source should be used only by vFabric License Server. This section provides instructions for the Microsoft SQL Server database system.

Prerequisites

Ensure that the Windows computer on which vCenter Server is running has the SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver installed on it; if not, download and install the driver from the Microsoft SQL Server Web site.
Create the database instance that will contain vFabric license data. See Guidelines for Creating the vFabric License Server Database Instance.

Procedure

On the same Windows computer on which you are running vCenter Server, invoke the ODBC Data Source Administrator window using Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Data Source (ODBC).
Click the System DSN tab.
Click the Add... button.
Select the SQL Server Native Client driver. Click Finish.
Enter a name and description of the data source, then select the SQL Server you want this data source to connect to from the drop-down list. Click Next.
The SQL Server can be the one used by the vCenter Server or a different one, whichever works best for your environment.
Specify that you want SQL Server to verify the authenticity using a login ID and password entered by the user, then enter the Login ID and password of the SQL Server user. This database user must have privileges to load the schema.
VMware recommends that you not specify integrated Windows authentication.
Continue clicking Next, and then Finish, taking all default values, until you see a summary of the data source configuration. Test the data source to ensure you have configured it correctly, then click OK.

Create the Oracle ODBC Data Source

Before you install vFabric License Server, you must create an ODBC data source that connects to either the database system associated with vCenter Server or to a separate database system. If using the vCenter database system, VMware recommends that you create a separate database instance (also referred to as an Oracle database schema) for vFabric use so as to keep the data of the two products separate. This ODBC data source should be used only by vFabric License Server. This section provides instructions for the Oracle database system.

Prerequisites

Install the appropriate Oracle ODBC driver on the vCenter Server Windows computer; you will use this driver to connect to your Oracle database.
Warning: The following procedure provides only general guideline for installing the Oracle ODBC driver; contact your Oracle database administrator for the instructions for your particular environment.
1. Download the following ZIP files from the Instant Client for Microsoft Windows (x64) Web site and unzip them into a directory:
  - Instant Client Package - Basic: All files required to run OCI, OCCI, and JDBC-OCI applications
  - Instant Client Package - ODBC: Additional libraries for enabling ODBC applications
  For the remainder of this procedure it is assumed you unzipped the files into the C:\instantclient_11_2 directory.
2. Set the TNS_ADMIN environment variable to the C:\instantclient_11_2 directory and add the C:\instantclient_11_2 directory to the PATH environment variable.
3. Open a command prompt and execute the following commands to install the ODBC driver:
```
prompt> cd C:\instantclient_11_2
prompt> odbc_install.exe
```
  If it succeeds, you should see the message Oracle ODBC Driver is installed successfully.
4. If necessary, create or update the C:\instantclient_11_2\tnsnames.ora file and define your Oracle database address so the ODBC driver can connect to it.
Create the database instance that will contain vFabric license data. See Guidelines for Creating the vFabric License Server Database Instance.

Procedure

On the same Windows computer on which you are running vCenter Server, invoke the ODBC Data Source Administrator window using Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Data Source (ODBC).
Click the System DSN tab.
Click the Add... button.
Select the Oracle driver from the list. Click Finish.
In the Oracle ODBC Driver Configuration window, enter a Data Source Name and Description of the data source.
Select the Oracle database system and database you want this data source to connect to from the TNS Service Name drop-down list. The entries in the list come from the c:\instantclient_11_2\tnsnames.ora file.
The Oracle database system can be the one used by the vCenter Server or another one, whichever works best for your environment.
Finally, enter the Oracle database user name in the User ID field.
Click Test Connection, enter the user's password, and ensure that you can connect to the Oracle database.
Click OK.

Guidelines for Creating the vFabric License Server Database Instance

vFabric License Server fully supports using the database system associated with vCenter Server to store its license data. However, VMware recommends that you create a separate database instance for vFabric use so as to keep the data of the two products separate. (The term database instance refers to either an Oracle database schema or a Microsoft database.)

Follow these general guidelines when creating the database instance:

Access permissions: In general, use the same database access permissions defined for the vCenter Server database.
Database Size: Estimating the size of the vFabric License Server database is an inexact science and depends on a number of variables. Most important is the number of vFabric component installations across all the VMs on your vCenter Server. The more installations you have, the more data collected by the license server, and the bigger the database. However, the amount of data collected by the license server for a particular component installation is relatively small. In sum, 5 GB should be more than adequate for the vFabric license server database instance.

For reference information about creating databases (Microsoft SQL Server) and schemas (Oracle) as well as users and their required permissions, see: