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Deploying the virtual appliance for VSC, VASA Provider, and SRA

You should deploy the virtual appliance for Virtual Storage Console (VSC), VASA Provider, and Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) in your environment, and specify the required parameters, to be able to use the appliance.

  • You must be running a supported release of vCenter Server.

    Note
    The virtual appliance for VSC, VASA Provider, and SRA can be registered either with a Windows deployment of vCenter Server or a VMware vCenter Server Virtual Appliance (vCSA) deployment.

  • You must have configured and set up your vCenter Server environment.

  • You must have set up an ESXi host for your virtual machine.

  • You must have downloaded the .ova file.

  • You must have the administrator login credentials for your vCenter Server instance.

  • You must have logged out of and closed all of the browser sessions of vSphere Client, and deleted the browser cache to avoid any browser cache issue during the deployment of the virtual appliance for VSC, VASA Provider, and SRA.

    Cleaning the vSphere cached downloaded plug-in packages

  • You must have enabled Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP).

    If ICMP is disabled, then the initial configuration of the virtual appliance for VSC, VASA Provider, and SRA fails, and VSC cannot start the VSC and VASA Provider services after deployment. You must manually enable the VSC and VASA Provider services after deployment.

If you are deploying a fresh installation of the virtual appliance for VSC, VASA Provider, and SRA, then VASA Provider is enabled by default. But in case of an upgrade from an earlier release of the virtual appliance, the state of VASA Provider is retained and you might need to enable VASA Provider manually.

Enabling VASA Provider for configuring virtual datastores

  1. Log in to the vSphere Client.
  2. Select Home > Host & Clusters.
  3. Right-click the required datacenter, and then click Deploy OVA template.
  4. Select the applicable method to provide the deployment file for VSC, VASA Provider, and SRA, and then click Next.
    LocationAction
    URLProvide the URL for the .ova file for the virtual appliance for VSC, VASA Provider, and SRA.
    FolderSelect the .ova file for the virtual appliance for VSC, VASA Provider, and SRA from the saved location.
  5. Enter the details to customize the deployment wizard.
    See Deployment customization considerations for complete details.
  6. Review the configuration data, and then click Next to finish deployment.
    As you wait for deployment to finish, you can view the progress of the deployment from the Tasks tab.
  7. Power on the virtual appliance virtual machine, and then open a console of the virtual machine running the virtual appliance.
  8. When prompted on the appliance console, return to the vCenter Server.
  9. In the Summary tab of the appliance virtual machine, select Install/Upgrade VMware Tools, and then click Mount.

    VMware Tools will automatically be installed. Follow the instructions in the appliance console to disconnect the Tools ISO when the installation complete.

  10. If the virtual appliance for VSC, VASA Provider, and SRA is not registered with any vCenter Server, use https://appliance_ip:8143/Register.html to register the VSC instance.
  11. Log out and re-log in to the vSphere Client to view the deployed virtual appliance for VSC, VASA Provider, and SRA.
    It might take a few minutes for the plug-in to be updated in the vSphere Client.
    Troubleshooting
    If you cannot view the plug-in even after logging in, you must clean the vSphere Client cache.

    Cleaning the vSphere cached downloaded plug-in packages

Note
If you are using ONTAP 9.6 or earlier, then to view the vVol dashboard, you must download and install OnCommand API Services. But for ONTAP 9.7 you do not require OnCommand API Services to be registered with VASA Provider.

Registering OnCommand API Services with the virtual appliance for VSC, VASA Provider, and SRA