Installing Platform services controller

In the previous post I discussed the reference architecture and design tips for the PSC.  Here are all the posts in the series:

In this article I will setup four platform services controllers at two sites.   In my home lab I didn’t want to create complexity by using two different routed networks so I left them on the same subnet but created two sites inside the domain.   By the end of this article I will have created:

Four PSC’s at two sites.   So lets get into the install:

I will use the 6.0 appliance for this article.  ​​​​ Before starting I have setup DNS for all the names both forward and reverse. ​​ 

Connect to the ESXi host:

Name here is the name that​​ will show up in vCenter

Choose a PSC

Creating a new SSO domain and calling it vsphere.local with the site name of site1

I changed the IP after this screenshot so it should read 192.168.10.160 and because it’s a demo I am syncing with my ESXi host.. in a real situation you want to sync with NTP. ​​ 

After installer is complete try to visit the web page for the newly installed PSC. ​​ If you don’t get this page remove the PSC and try again. ​​ Error handling is not the best.

 

 

I enabled ssh (if you​​ forgot login to the console and enable there) so I ssh’ed into the new PSC to perform some checks. ​​ Remember to use shell.set ---enabled True to enable bash shell then type shell to enter it.

Change the directory to /usr/lib/vmware-vmdir/bin/ ​​ and​​ execute the command vdcrepadmin as shown to identify all PSC’s in the domain

The command showpartners shows the replication partners (which don’t exist yet)

Psc2.griffiths.local

We are going to join current domain I will not repeat screen shots that​​ are redundant.  ​​​​ The key thing to notice here is that I am creating a replication agreement between psc1 and psc2 that is bi-directional (does the PSC support uni-directional replication: NO – can you do it yes..) ​​ 

Here we are joining the PSC domain and entering the name of it’s initial replication partner:

Notice how it pulls the site names out of psc1

 

 

Save and go to the web site to check after deployment

Login via SSH notice here that I have used the -h (host) to point to psc1.griffiths.local ​​​​ any PSC can be queried from any other.  ​​​​ Showservers now shows both PSC’s

 

 

Showpartners or replication agreements shows that psc1.griffiths.local is in a replication agreement with psc2. ​​ If you ran the command on host psc2 it would show psc1.griffiths.local as the replication member.

Now we want to add a second site and another PSC and replicate it with psc2

Key item: I have entered psc2 as the joining PSC not psc1.  ​​​​ If I had entered PSC 1 here it would be replicating with 1 and ignore 2. ​​ 

Once deployed go to web page to confirm working deployment

SSH to test connections notice the replicate agreement for psc2 now shows two partners. ​​ The showservers command also shows the site name for each PSC.  ​​​​ 

Here you can see the full replicate​​ agreements

PSC4

Skipping known steps and joining to psc3 site2

 

Once deployed check for working PSC via web portal

 

Login via ssh and check replication

 

Replication with only psc3.griffiths.local

We now have:

As expected.  ​​​​ This is not quite​​ the ring but closer. ​​​​ 

 

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