VMware

Deploying a VMware vCloud Director (vCD) 5.1 Virtual Appliance with MS SQL Backend

Deploying vCloud in a Lab Environment: A Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction:

In this article, we will guide you through the process of deploying vCloud in a lab environment. We will cover the configuration of the database server, specifying mixed mode authentication during SQL Server setup, creating the database instance, setting the transaction isolation level, and assigning permissions to the vCloud Director database user account.

Step 1: Configure the Database Server

A database server configured with 16GB of memory, 100GB storage, and 4 CPUs should be adequate for most vCloud Director clusters. This is for production level quality, but you can adjust these values based on your specific needs.

Step 2: Specify Mixed Mode Authentication during SQL Server Setup

Windows Authentication is not supported when using SQL Server with vCloud Director. Therefore, you need to specify mixed mode authentication during SQL Server setup.

Step 3: Create the Database Instance

The following script creates the database and log files, specifying the proper collation sequence.

USE [master]

GO

CREATE DATABASE [vcloud] ON PRIMARY

(NAME = N’vcloud’, FILENAME = N’C:\vcloud.mdf’, SIZE = 100MB, FILEGROWTH = 10%)

LOG ON

(NAME = N’vcdb_log’, FILENAME = N’C:\vcloud.ldf’, SIZE = 1MB, FILEGROWTH = 10%)

COLLATE Latin1_General_CS_AS

GO

The values shown for SIZE are suggestions. You might need to use larger values based on your specific needs.

Step 4: Set the Transaction Isolation Level

The following script sets the database isolation level to READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT.

USE [vcloud]

GO

ALTER DATABASE [vcloud] SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;

ALTER DATABASE [vcloud] SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION ON;

ALTER DATABASE [vcloud] SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON WITH NO_WAIT;

ALTER DATABASE [vcloud] SET MULTI_USER;

GO

For more information about transaction isolation, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173763.aspx.

Step 5: Create the vCloud Director Database User Account

The following script creates database user name vcloud with password vcloudpass.

USE [vcloud]

GO

CREATE LOGIN [vcloud] WITH PASSWORD = ‘vcloudpass’, DEFAULT_DATABASE =[vcloud], DEFAULT_LANGUAGE =[us_english], CHECK_POLICY=OFF

GO

CREATE USER [vcloud] for LOGIN [vcloud]

GO

Step 6: Assign Permissions to the vCloud Director Database User Account

The following script assigns the db_owner role to the database user created in Step 5.

USE [vcloud]

GO

sp_addrolemember [db_owner], [vcloud]

GO

Good Links:

* VMware vCloud Director 5.1 Documentation Center

* VMware vCloud Directory Documentation

In conclusion, deploying vCloud in a lab environment involves configuring the database server, specifying mixed mode authentication during SQL Server setup, creating the database instance, setting the transaction isolation level, and assigning permissions to the vCloud Director database user account. By following these steps, you can set up a test environment for vCloud and gain hands-on experience with this powerful cloud management platform.