• You have reviewed the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.
• You have met all minimum software and hardware requirements for vSphere 5.5. For more information, see the System Requirements section in the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.
• You have configured both a forward and reverse lookup zone for this Microsoft Windows Server on your Domain Name System (DNS) Server(s). For more information on configuring reverse lookup zones in a Microsoft Active Directory domain, see the Microsoft TechNet article Adding a Reverse Lookup Zone.
  
  Note: The preceding link was correct as of September 19, 2013. If you find a link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.
  
  
• You have decided on using the Simple Install method and want to install the vSphere Web Client on a separate Microsoft Windows platform.
• You have already deployed the vCenter Single Sign-On (SSO) service instance. For more information, see Installing vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 on a Microsoft Windows platform (2058239).

Note: Having the services located on multiple Microsoft Windows servers increases the complexity of maintaining the environment. Additional complexity comes in the form of administration overhead and licensing costs. In addition, this configuration introduces points of failure, such as network connectivity and name resolution related issues which may involve engaging additional vendors during outages and maintenance windows. Please make sure that your infrastructure is configured in a redundant manner and you allocate appropriate resources considering these factors.

Download and Installation steps for the vSphere Web Client 5.5

1. Mount the vCenter Server 5.5 installation ISO file. To download vCenter Server 5.5, see VMware Downloads.
2. The installation wizard should open automatically.
3. In the left pane, under Custom Install, click vSphere Web Client and then click Install.
   
   Note: If any of the prerequisites are not met, they are listed in the right pane under Prerequisites.
   
   
4. Select the appropriate language from the dropdown and click OK.
5. In the welcome screen, click Next.
6. Review the End User License Agreement. If you agree, select the I accept the terms in the license agreement option and click Next.
7. Optionally, provide an alternative installation location and click Next.
   
   Notes:
   • The installation requires 2 GB of disk space to be available. For more information, see the Hardware Requirement for vCenter Server, the vSphere Web Client, vCenter Inventory Service, and vCenter Single Sign-On section in the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.
   • The path must conform to NTFS naming restrictions. For more information, see the Microsoft article Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces.
     
     The preceding link was correct as of September 19, 2013. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.
     
     
8. Optionally, provide an alternative TCP port number for the vSphere Web Client Service and click Next.
   
   Note: Changing the default ports is recommended only if you have an unchangeable port conflict in the same system.
   
   
9. Enter the SSO Lookup Service URL and SSO administrator username and password. You may be prompted to install the Lookup Service Certificate. Click Next.
   
   Notes:
10. • This dialog shows information related to a domain by the name vsphere.local. This is not a domain that is auto-detected within the existing environment, but a net new domain used internally by vSphere. The [email protected] account performs the same function as the admin@System-Domain account in previous versions of vSphere.
      
      For more information about the [email protected] account, see the vSphere Software Components section of the vCenter Server and Host Management Guide.
      
      
    • You must use the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) and not the IP address. Providing the IP address may allow you to proceed with the upgrade, but may result in certificate related errors when starting vCenter Server.
      
      
    • If you are configuring a HA SSO configuration, you must provide the FQDN of the load balancer. Providing the FQDN of a single node may allow you to proceed with the upgrade, but may result in certificate related errors when starting vCenter Server.
      
      
11. Review the Certificate Installation for Secure Connection information and then click Install Certificates.
12. In the Ready to Install screen, click Install to start the installation.
13. When the installation completes, click Finish.
    
    You should now see the message:
    
    The vSphere Web Client has been successfully installed. Allow a few minutes for all services to load before accessing the vSphere Web Client for the first time.

Post installation of vSphere Web Client 5.5

After installing the vSphere Web Client:

• Ensure that the browsers of the vSphere administrators meet all of the requirements to run the vSphere Web Client. For more information, see, Using the vSphere Web Client section in the vCenter Server and Host Management Guide.
  
  
• Log into the vSphere Web Client and authenticate using the [email protected] domain to verify that the SSO and vSphere Web Client are working correctly. You may also add an external identity source, such as Open LDAP and Active Directory, before deploying vCenter Server and Inventory Services. For more information on the different types of Identity Sources for vSphere 5.5, see the Add a vCenter Single Sign-On Identity Source section of the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.
  
  Note: If you have not deployed the Inventory Service or the VMware VirtualCenter Server service yet, the vSphere Web Client displays an empty inventory.
  
  
• Install the vCenter Inventory Service. For more information, see Installing vCenter Inventory Service 5.5 on a Microsoft Windows Platform (2058269).