VMware App Volumes 2.xx – Prepare

Welcome to my VMware App Volumes series. In this session I will describe how I did the preparations-phase before installing App Volumes. After finishing my planning, I can now begin the preparations for my design.

My preparations will consist of the following tasks

1. Deploy new virtual machine, give computername and ip, join to domain, put computer account in correct OU
2. Download installation media
3. Create LDAP User and AppVol-admins group in MS Active Directory
4. Create Appvol user in VMware vSphere
5. Create AppvolDB and MS SQL-Login for appvol
6. Add vCenter root CA Certificate to Windows Server

Task 1:

I won’ go into deployment of the virtual machine etc. from task 1, as this is rudimentary and I assume my audience is familiar and proficient with this task already.

Task 2:

Prior to installation I will need to download installation media from My VMware. As VMware still recommend us to download App Volumes 2.xx, I will download this.

Task 3:

I create an LDAP-user for App Volumes in MS Active Directory. I give my new user a fairly descriptive and appropriate name and password etc.

Next, I will create a user group in AD for my App Volumes Admins, which in my LAB is the members of Domain Admins.

Task 4:

I can now proceed with task 4 and create my Appvol user in VMware vSphere. I log into vCenter, under Administration, I click Users and Groups

I click ADD USER and create my user, appvol-connect

After my vSphere.local user is created, I will add this user to the Administrators-group in vSphere.local. Under the Groups-tab, I select Administrators

I click ADD MEMBERS

I search and add my newly created user, appvol-connect

Task 5:

Now that I’m done with creating my necessary users and groups, I will proceed and setup a DB for App Volumes, for this database I will be using my existing MS SQL Database server.

Right-click Databases – New Database

I give the database a name, in this case it will be the App Volumes database, so I’ll call it AppvolDB

Next, I’ll setup sql-permissions for the App Volumes database, right-click Logins – New Login…

I will create a new sql-login: appvol, be sure to uncheck “Enforce password policy”

The Server Role “Public” will be sufficient for my appvol-user

I map my user to the newly created AppvolDB-database and give the user db_owner membership for this database.

I finally make sure to grant permission to connect and login to database is selected.

Task 6:

In order to add my vCenter to App Volumes, without error, I will need to import the vCenter root CA certificate. This is explained in my post here: VMware vCenter – Download trusted root CA certificates

This concludes my necessary preparations prior to installing VMware App Volumes, which I will cover here:

VMware App Volumes – Install

Official VMware App Volumes Documentation

VMware App Volumes planning, deployment etc.

Disclaimer: Every tips/tricks/posting I have published here, is tried and tested in different it-solutions. It is not guaranteed to work everywhere, but is meant as a tip for other users out there. Remember, Google is your friend and don’t be afraid to steal with pride! Feel free to comment below as needed.