--- title: "vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 – Part 2" date: "2014-11-03T09:00:44Z" tags: ["SQL Server", "SQL Server 2014", "Windows Server 2012 R2", "vCenter Server"] categories: ["Microsoft", "VMware"] --- ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 -Part 2][1] In the second post of vCenter installation on Windows Server 2012 R2 with Microsoft SQL Server 2014, I will cover vCenter Databases creation and ODBC connectivity. I used ISO **VMware-VIMSetup-all-5.5.0-2183112-20140901-update02.iso** which translates to the following version of vCenter **Server 5.5 Update 2b**, released 09 OCT 2014 with build number **2183111**. ## Microsoft SQL Server 2014 configuration 1. Open **SQL Server 2014 Management Studio** and authenticate with username and password. ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 2][2] 2. Provide username and password.
![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 3][3] 3. In SQL Server 2014 Management Studio and navigate to Security \ Logins and click **New Login**. ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 4][4] 4. In a previous post, we created application user called **ap-mssql** and **ap-vcenter**. I used the ap-mssql user to start all SQL Server 2014 services and ap-vcenter will be used to start all VMware services. I will use the ap-mssql user to connect to vCenter and SQL server. 5. In **General** section I provided username.
![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 5][5] 6. In **Server Roles** section we select only **public**. ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 6][6] ## vCenter Server 5.5 database creation We will create a vCenter database manually. We will use following options: * Collation - SQL Server Collation Model: SQL\_Latin1\_General\_CP1\_CI_AS. *  Recovery model - Full * Compatibility type - SQL Server 2014 1. Click on Databases and select **New Database**. ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 7][7] 2. Enter your database name. I used a simple name **vCenterDB **and owner of DB is previously created user **ap-mssql**. ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 8][8] 3. In Options, I changed collation to **SQL\_Latin1\_General\_CP1\_CI_AS**, recovery mode to **Simple** and SQL compatibility model to **SQL Server 2014**. ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 9][9] 4. Click OK. 5. The last step is to change application user **ap-mssql** Default Database. Navigate to **Logins** and select your user. In General select **Default Database** to your vCenter Database.
![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 10][10] 6. Now we are ready to install vCenter. ## vCenter Database backup In the earlier post I wrote that I will follow SQL Server Best Practices and I would like to configure **Transaction Log** backup in advance. Before we can execute **Transaction Log** backup we have to start the full backup. After full backup is completed we can prepare **Transaction Log **backup. 1. Click on vCenter Database, select **Tasks** and **Backup**.
![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 10][11] 2. In **General** select backup type as **Transaction Log**. If you configured disks and SQL server as I did in the earlier post, then the backup destination will be pre-selected.
![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 11][12] 3. In **Media,** I selected **Append to the existing backup set,** V**erify backup when finished **and **Back up the tail of the log, and leave the database in the restoring state**. ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 12][13] 4. In **Backup Options**, I selected expiration date of backup and compression level. ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 13][14] 5. Click ok. More detailed description is available on Microsoft MSDN article http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189606.aspx. ## MSSQL ODBC configuration The last step before we will install vCenter Server Database is ODBC configuration. 1. Go to **Control Panel** and then to **Administrative Tools **and we select **ODBC Data Sources (64-bit)**. ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 15][15] 2. Click **System DSN**, select **Add** and click **SQL Server Native Client 11.0**. ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 16][16] 3. Provide the name for the ODBC connection and select your SQL Server. ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 17][17] 4. Select **Change the default database to**: and select your database. ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 18][18] 5. Click next and finish. At the end click **Test Data Source**. If you configured everything correctly then you should see the same result as I have. ![vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Part 2 - 19][19] # Summary After preparing ODBC connectivity we can proceed with vCenter Server installation. This will be covered in the third post. [1]: /images/uploads/2014/11/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2.webp [2]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-2.webp [3]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-3.webp [4]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-4.webp [5]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-5.webp [6]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-6.webp [7]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-7.webp [8]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-8.webp [9]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-9.webp [10]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-14.webp [11]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-10.webp [12]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-11.webp [13]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-12.webp [14]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-13.webp [15]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-15.webp [16]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-16.webp [17]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-17.webp [18]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-18.webp [19]: /images/uploads/2014/10/vcenter-5.5-on-windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-part-2-19.webp