This is in sorts a multi part question and I am not sure where to post it to start with. Yet Vcenter touches every aspect or the environment and from hardware to deployment, monitoring and so on. ( Yes a bit of an understatement )
I am building a LAB for Virtualization experience and my own on going use as it relates to testing, learning, troubleshooting and most of all GEEKING OUT!
I have 1 dell PE 2950 on the approved Vsphere 5.5 list and running the Dell Build for ESXi 5.5, 4 GIG Nic's 8TB internal Storage 32BG Ram, Netgear 16 port Pro Safe Plus Smart Switch Layer 2 compliant, 2x Levno / EMC ix2-dl NAS 6 TB storage solutions ( Vmware approved ) several workstations and laptops.
Got the VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-5.5.0.5101-1398493_OVF10 to deploy by using VM ws 10 then uploading it to ESXi 5.5 host. Now when i try to provide the web interface with the credentials for AD under the Authentication tab via teh https://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:5480 no matter what i try to do it fales. I have 1 check box to check and 3 fields to fill in
check box Active Directory Enabled <-- Checked
Domain: vsphere.local
Administrator user: vcenter@vsphere.local
password: **********
((( Error: Invalid hostname. FQDN is required for joining a domain. )))
Still A NO GO.... hummm what am i not doing correctly and why does this not work?
It's a basic AD 2012. I tested the user id I created and given administrator and domain administrator rights too. This account DOES allow me to log into a DC and perform administration tasks.
All All my VM ware software for now is evaluation. I do have several working Microsoft VM's working including 2012 Server 2008 R2 Servers and some Linux boxes. I plan to buy a 2nd server to add the the environment for Vmotion, HA so on and so for the. I will also be building a faster Free NAS or buying one ( likely buy one that is VM Ware approved ) . I will also go with no less then a 24 port layer 3 switch.