Import the appliance OVA into vSphere, ESXi, Workstation or Fusion, size the virtual machine, and reach the dashboard.

Bring up a CID222 appliance on VMware from the shipped .ova file. The image is packaged for VMware specifically — a vmx-14 descriptor, SATA AHCI storage, an E1000 adapter and the default "VM Network" port group — so the import wizard maps it without asking you to choose hardware.

What do I need?

Licence: Any
Role: admin_user

Prerequisites

You have the appliance .ova file and the .sha256 file supplied next to it.
You can create a virtual machine on the target host, with at least 32 GB of RAM, 8 vCPU and 100 GB of datastore free.
The port group you will attach the appliance to serves DHCP.
A browser on your network can reach the address the appliance will receive.
You have read Requirements and sizing and Network prerequisites.

The branches this import takes

Settle each one before you start the wizard. The right-hand column is where the procedure below changes.

Situation	What changes
A standalone ESXi host rather than vCenter	The host client's Create/Register VM → Deploy a virtual machine from an OVF or OVA file replaces Deploy OVF Template. The remaining steps are the same
The port group serves no DHCP	The appliance comes up with a link-local address only, and the OVA offers no console path to a static one. Install from the ISO instead, using its manual-network boot entry
The datastore is thin-provisioned and nearly full	The import succeeds and the appliance fails later, when the disk grows into space that is not there. Confirm the full provisioned figure is free
The appliance needs a second network	Add the second adapter after the appliance is running, not during the import. The descriptor declares one
A site policy requires UEFI	The image does not boot under UEFI. Ask for an exception, or install from the ISO onto a machine you build
A site policy requires the newest VM hardware version	Leave the imported version alone. The descriptor is vmx-14 and the appliance is verified on it
You will hand this appliance to someone else to configure	Power it on, let it reach the setup wizard, then snapshot it. The wizard runs once

Import and start the appliance

Verify the download

Check the .ova against the .sha256 file supplied with it.

sha256sum -c cid222-appliance-v<version>.ova.sha256

The command prints OK. A mismatch means a corrupted download — fetch it again rather than importing it, because a damaged disk fails the import at around 89 per cent with a data corruption error.

Start the import wizard

In the vSphere client, right-click the target cluster, host or resource pool and select Deploy OVF Template. On Workstation or Fusion, select File → Open and choose the .ova.

The wizard reads the descriptor and shows the appliance name and its declared hardware: 32 GB of memory and 8 virtual processors.

Screenshot pendingThe vSphere Deploy OVF Template wizard showing the CID222 appliance and its declared 32 GB memory and 8 vCPU/assets/screenshots/vmware-deploy-ovf@0.4.png

Answer the OVF compliance prompt

If the wizard reports that the OVF does not comply with the specification, select Retry.

The import continues. This prompt is a strictness warning about the descriptor, not a corrupted file.

Choose the datastore

Select a datastore with at least 100 GB free for the Starter profile, or the disk figure for your package.

The wizard shows the provisioned and required space and lets you continue only when both fit.

Map the network

Map the appliance's single adapter to a port group that serves DHCP.

The source network is named VM Network, the default port group name, so on most hosts the wizard has already selected the right destination.

Raise the sizing before the first power-on

Finish the wizard without powering the appliance on, then edit the virtual machine's settings and set memory and processors to your package's recommended profile.

The settings dialog shows the new values. Changing them now avoids a reboot later, and the imported defaults are the supported minimum rather than a comfortable size.

Power on the appliance

Power the virtual machine on and open its console.

The guest boots and the console reaches a login prompt. First boot takes a few minutes while the services and the database initialise.

Find the appliance's address

Read the IPv4 address from the Summary tab of the virtual machine, or log in at the console and run ip a.

The summary shows an IPv4 address on the port group you selected. An address beginning fe80: with no IPv4 address alongside it means the port group served no DHCP.

Screenshot pendingA vSphere virtual machine Summary tab showing the appliance's IPv4 address/assets/screenshots/vmware-vm-summary-ip@0.4.png

Open the dashboard

Browse to http://<appliance-ip>/.

The appliance redirects to the first-boot setup wizard, because it has no administrator yet.

Warning

Snapshot the virtual machine now, with the setup wizard showing and unanswered. The wizard runs once — the administrator account, the deployment mode and the provider credential are afterwards changed from Settings, and there is no supported way to start it again.

Verify

The virtual machine's Summary tab shows an IPv4 address, and the guest's memory and processor counts match what you set.
http://<appliance-ip>/ loads and lands on the setup wizard rather than a login form. A login form means this appliance has been through setup already.
From a machine on the same network, curl -sS -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' http://<appliance-ip>/ returns 200.

If it fails

The import stops partway with a data corruption error → the disk in the .ova is damaged. Verify the .sha256 and request current media.
The guest panics at boot with an "attempted to kill init" message → the assigned disk controller has no driver in the guest. This is fixed in current images; on an older one, set the controller back to SATA and request current media.
The Summary tab shows only a link-local address → the port group has no DHCP server. Move the adapter to a network with DHCP, or install from the ISO using its manual-network boot entry — see Install from the ISO.
The page will not load and the console shows containers still starting → give it a few more minutes; a brief 502 during first boot is expected.
The page loads blank → you reached an appliance that serves HTTPS only. Open https://<appliance-ip>/ and accept the one-time certificate warning.
The import fails for lack of space although the wizard allowed it → the datastore was measured thin. Free the full provisioned figure and import again.
The Summary tab shows two IPv4 addresses → a second adapter was attached during the import. Detach the one your clients will not use, and confirm which address the dashboard answers on before you create DNS records.
Services start and are then killed → the machine has less memory than the package requires. See The machine has less RAM than the licensed package needs.

Next steps

First boot and the setup wizard — create the administrator and choose the deployment mode.
Licensing and activation — swap the built-in trial for your package.
Naming, DNS and TLS — give the appliance names and a trusted certificate before you connect clients.

Install on VMware