VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 17 APR 2018 VMware vSphere 6.7 VMware ESXi 6.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware website at: https://docs.vmware.com/ If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to docfeedback@vmware.com VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com Copyright © 2018 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright and trademark information. VMware, Inc.
Contents 1 About VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 2 Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup 5 3 Overview of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process 6 4 About ESXi Evaluation and Licensed Modes 9 5 Installing and Setting Up ESXi 10 ESXi Requirements 10 Preparing for Installing ESXi Installing ESXi Setting Up ESXi 19 70 188 After You Install and Set Up ESXi 208 6 Troubleshooting ESXi Booting 212 Host Stops Unexpectedly at Bootup When Sharing a Boot Disk with Another Host Host Fails to Boo
About VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 1 VMware ESXi Installation and Setup describes how to install and configure VMware ESXi™. Intended Audience VMware ESXi Installation and Setup is intended for experienced administrators who want to install and configure ESXi. This information is written for experienced Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and data center operations.
Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup 2 vSphere 6.7 provides various options for installation and setup. To ensure a successful vSphere deployment, understand the installation and setup options, and the sequence of tasks. The two core components of vSphere are ESXi and vCenter Server. ESXi is the virtualization platform on which you can create and run virtual machines and virtual appliances. vCenter Server is a service that acts as a central administrator for ESXi hosts connected in a network.
Overview of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process 3 vSphere is a sophisticated product with multiple components to install and set up. To ensure a successful vSphere deployment, understand the sequence of tasks required. Installing vSphere includes the following tasks: VMware, Inc.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Figure 3‑1.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup c Determine where you want to locate and boot the ESXi installer. See Media Options for Booting the ESXi Installer. If you are using PXE to boot the installer, verify that your network PXE infrastructure is properly set up. See PXE Booting the ESXi Installer. d Create a worksheet with the information you will need when you install ESXi. See Required Information for ESXi Installation. e Install ESXi.
About ESXi Evaluation and Licensed Modes 4 You can use evaluation mode to explore the entire set of features for ESXi hosts. The evaluation mode provides the set of features equal to a vSphere Enterprise Plus license. Before the evaluation mode expires, you must assign to your hosts a license that supports all the features in use. For example, in evaluation mode, you can use vSphere vMotion technology, the vSphere HA feature, the vSphere DRS feature, and other features.
Installing and Setting Up ESXi 5 You can install and set up ESXi on your physical hardware so that it acts as a platform for virtual machines. This chapter includes the following topics: n ESXi Requirements n Preparing for Installing ESXi n Installing ESXi n Setting Up ESXi n After You Install and Set Up ESXi ESXi Requirements To install or upgrade ESXi, your system must meet specific hardware and software requirements.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n One or more Gigabit or faster Ethernet controllers. For a list of supported network adapter models, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility. n SCSI disk or a local, non-network, RAID LUN with unpartitioned space for the virtual machines. n For Serial ATA (SATA), a disk connected through supported SAS controllers or supported on-board SATA controllers. SATA disks are considered remote, not local.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup datastore. Although a 1GB USB or SD device suffices for a minimal installation, you should use a 4GB or larger device. The extra space is used for an expanded coredump partition on the USB/SD device. Use a high-quality USB flash drive of 16 GB or larger so that the extra flash cells can prolong the life of the boot media, but high-quality drives of 4 GB or larger are sufficient to hold the extended coredump partition. See Knowledge Base article http://kb.vmware.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Recommendations for Enhanced ESXi Performance To enhance performance, install or upgrade ESXi on a robust system with more RAM than the minimum required and with multiple physical disks. For ESXi system requirements, see ESXi Hardware Requirements. Table 5‑2. Recommendations for Enhanced Performance System Element Recommendation RAM ESXi hosts require more RAM than typical servers.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5‑2. Recommendations for Enhanced Performance (Continued) System Element Recommendation Processors Faster processors improve ESXi performance. For certain workloads, larger caches improve ESXi performance. Hardware compatibility Use devices in your server that are supported by ESXi 6.7 drivers. See the Hardware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5‑3. Incoming Firewall Connections (Continued) Port Protoc ol Service Description 2233 TCP vSAN Transport vSAN reliable datagram transport. Uses TCP and is used for vSAN storage IO. If disabled, vSAN does not work. 161 UDP SNMP Server Allows the host to connect to an SNMP server. 22 TCP SSH Server Required for SSH access. 8000 TCP vMotion Required for virtual machine migration with vMotion.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5‑4. Outgoing Firewall Connections (Continued) Port Protocol Service Description 6999 UDP NSX Distributed Logical Router Service The firewall port associated with this service is opened when NSX VIBs are installed and the VDR module is created. If no VDR instances are associated with the host, the port does not have to be open. 5671 TCP rabbitmqproxy A proxy running on the ESXi host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup If you redirect logs to non-default storage, such as a NAS or NFS store, you might also want to reconfigure log sizing and rotations for hosts that are installed to disk. You do not need to reconfigure log storage for ESXi hosts that use the default configuration, which stores logs in a scratch directory on the VMFS volume. For these hosts, ESXi 6.7 configures logs to best suit your installation, and provides enough space to accommodate log messages. Table 5‑6.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup ESXi Passwords ESXi enforces password requirements for access from the Direct Console User Interface, the ESXi Shell, SSH, or the VMware Host Client. n By default, you have to include a mix of characters from four character classes: lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters such as underscore or dash when you create a password. n By default, password length is more than 7 and less than 40.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup For legacy hosts, changing the /etc/pamd/passwd file is still supported, but changing the file is deprecated for future releases. Use the Security.PasswordQualityControl advanced option instead. Changing Default Password Restrictions You can change the default restriction on passwords or pass phrases by using the Security.PasswordQualityControl advanced option for your ESXi host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 Download the ESXi installer from the VMware Web site at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads. ESXi is listed under Datacenter & Cloud Infrastructure. 2 Confirm that the md5sum is correct. See the VMware Web site topic Using MD5 Checksums at http://www.vmware.com/download/md5.html. Options for Installing ESXi ESXi can be installed in several ways.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Figure 5‑1. Scripted Installation Scripted Create installation script (kickstart file) and copy to appropriate location. PXE boot Start installation Boot from CD HTTP HTTPS FTP NFS CDROM USB Boot from USB Issues command to specify location of installation script and start installation. vSphere Auto Deploy ESXi Installation vSphere 5.x and later provide several ways to install ESXi with vSphere Auto Deploy.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n PXE boot from the network. PXE Booting the ESXi Installer n Boot from a remote location using a remote management application. See Using Remote Management Applications Download and Burn the ESXi Installer ISO Image to a CD or DVD If you do not have an ESXi installation CD/DVD, you can create one. You can also create an installer ISO image that includes a custom installation script. See Create an Installer ISO Image with a Custom Installation or Upgrade Script.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 If your USB flash drive is not detected as /dev/sdb, or you are not sure how your USB flash drive is detected, determine how it is detected. a At the command line, run the command for displaying the current log messages. tail -f /var/log/messages b Plug in your USB flash drive. You see several messages that identify the USB flash drive in a format similar to the following message. Oct 25 13:25:23 ubuntu kernel: [ 712.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 Install the Syslinux bootloader on the USB flash drive. The locations of the Syslinux executable file and the mbr.bin file might vary for the different Syslinux versions. For example, if you downloaded Syslinux 6.02, run the following commands. /usr/bin/syslinux /dev/sdb1 cat /usr/lib/syslinux/mbr/mbr.bin > /dev/sdb 5 Create a destination directory and mount the USB flash drive to it.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup The instructions in this procedure assume that the USB flash drive is detected as /dev/sdb. Note Do not store the ks file containing the installation or upgrade script on the same USB flash drive that you are using to boot the installation or upgrade. Prerequisites n Linux machine n ESXi installation or upgrade script, the ks.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup What to do next When you boot the ESXi installer, point to the location of the USB flash drive for the installation or upgrade script. See Enter Boot Options to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script and PXELINUX Configuration Files. Create an Installer ISO Image with a Custom Installation or Upgrade Script You can customize the standard ESXi installer ISO image with your own installation or upgrade script.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 6 Recreate the ISO image using the mkisofs or the genisoimage command. Command Syntax mkisofs mkisofs -relaxed-filenames -J -R -o custom_esxi.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -bootinfo-table -eltorito-alt-boot -eltorito-platform efi -b efiboot.img -no-emul-boot /esxi_cdrom genisoimage genisoimage -relaxed-filenames -J -R -o custom_esxi.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Many DHCP servers can PXE boot hosts. If you are using a version of DHCP for Microsoft Windows, see the DHCP server documentation to determine how to pass the next-server and filename arguments to the target machine. Example of Booting Using TFTP with IPv4 This example shows how to configure an ISC DHCP server to boot ESXi using a TFTP server at IPv4 address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. # # ISC DHCP server configuration file snippet.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Example of Booting Using HTTP with IPv4 This example shows how to configure an ISC DHCP server to boot ESXi using a Web server at IPv4 address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. The example uses gPXELINUX for legacy BIOS hosts and iPXE for UEFI hosts. # # ISC DHCPv6 server configuration file snippet. This is not a complete # configuration file; see the ISC server documentation for details on # how to configure the DHCP server.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup } else { # Load the snponly.efi configuration of iPXE as initial bootloader option dhcp6.bootfile-url "tftp://[xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx::xxxx]/snponly.efi"; } When a machine attempts to PXE boot, the DHCP server provides an IP address and the location of the snponly.efi (iPXE) binary file on the TFTP server. iPXE then asks the DHCP server for the next file to load, and this time the server returns mboot.efi as the filename.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup PXE Boot Background Information Understanding the PXE boot process can help you during troubleshooting. TFTP Server Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is similar to the FTP service, and is typically used only for network booting systems or loading firmware on network devices such as routers. TFTP is available on Linux and Windows. n Most Linux distributions include a copy of the tftp-hpa server.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup iPXE can also be useful for UEFI systems that do not include PXE in firmware and for older UEFI systems with bugs in their PXE support. For such cases you can try installing iPXE on a USB flash drive and booting from there. Note Apple Macintosh products do not include PXE boot support. They include support for network booting via an Apple-specific protocol instead.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You can deploy an ESXi image created with vSphere ESXi Image Builder in either of the following ways: n By burning it to an installation DVD. n Through vCenter Server, using the Auto Deploy feature. Understanding vSphere ESXi Image Builder ® You can use the VMware vSphere ESXi™ Image Builder CLI to manage software depots, image profiles, and software packages (VIBs).
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5‑7. Cases Where You Can Use vSphere ESXi Image Builder Use Case for vSphere ESXi Image Builder Description Create image profiles for use by vSphere Auto Deploy Use vSphere ESXi Image Builder to create an image profile that defines the VIBs that vSphere Auto Deploy uses to provision hosts.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup The following technical terms are used throughout the vSphere documentation set in discussions of installation and upgrade tasks. VIB A VIB is an ESXi software package. VMware and its partners package solutions, drivers, CIM providers, and applications that extend the ESXi platform as VIBs. VIBs are available in software depots. You can use VIBs to create and customize ISO images or to upgrade ESXi hosts by installing VIBs asynchronously onto the hosts.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5‑9. vSphere ESXi Image Builder Cmdlets (Continued) Cmdlet Description Set-EsxImageProfile Modifies a local ImageProfile object and performs validation tests on the modified profile. The cmdlet returns the modified object but does not persist it. Export-EsxImageProfile Exports an image profile as either an ESXi ISO image for ESXi installation, or as a ZIP file.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup When you make a change to an image profile, vSphere ESXi Image Builder checks that the change does not invalidate the profile. Dependency Validation When you add or remove a VIB, vSphere ESXi Image Builder checks that package dependencies are met. Each SoftwarePackage object includes a Depends property that specifies a list of other VIBs that VIB depends on.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup PartnerSupported VIBs with the PartnerSupported acceptance level are published by a partner that VMware trusts. The partner performs all testing. VMware does not verify the results. This level is used for a new or nonmainstream technology that partners want to enable for VMware systems. Today, driver VIB technologies such as Infiniband, ATAoE, and SSD are at this level with nonstandard hardware drivers.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Name Type Description Rules ImageProfileRule[] Any OEM hardware requirements and restrictions that the image profile might have. vSphere Auto Deploy verifies the value of this property when deploying an image profile and deploys the profile if matching hardware is available. Vendor System.String The organization that publishes the profile. 40 characters or fewer. VibList SoftwarePackage[] The list of VIB IDs the image contains.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Name Type Description Replaces SoftwareConstraint[] The list of SoftwareConstraint objects that identify VIBs that replace this VIB or make it obsolete. VIBs automatically replace VIBs with the same name but lower versions. ReleaseDate System.DateTime Date and time of VIB publication or release. SourceUrls System.String[] The list of source URLs from which this VIB can be downloaded. StatelessReady System.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Name Type Description OnlyInRef System.String[] The list of VIBs found only in the first profile that you passed to CompareEsxImageProfile. PackagesEqual System.Boolean True if the image profiles have identical sets of VIB packages. RefAcceptanceLevel System.String The acceptance level for the first profile that you passed to CompareEsxImageProfile. UpgradeFromRef System.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Name Type Description Version System.String The version to match the constraint against. This property can be $null if the constraint does not have a Relation and Version property. VersionObject SoftwareVersion The version represented by a SoftwareVersion object. SoftwareProvide Object Properties The SoftwareProvide object includes the following properties. Name Type Description Name System.String The name of the provide. Version System.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup What to do next Review Using vSphere ESXi Image Builder Cmdlets.If you are new to PowerCLI, read the PowerCLI documentation. Use vSphere ESXi Image Builder cmdlets and other PowerCLI cmdlets and PowerShell cmdlets to manage image profiles and VIBs. Use Get-Help cmdlet_name at any time for command-line help.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You can type cmdlets, parameters, and parameter values in the PowerCLI shell. n Get help for any cmdlet by running Get-Help cmdlet_name. n Remember that PowerShell is not case sensitive. n Use tab completion for cmdlet names and parameter names. n Format any variable and cmdlet output by using Format-List or Format-Table or their short forms fl or ft. See Get-Help Format-List. n Use wildcards for searching and filtering VIBs and image profiles.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Import a Software Depot If an offline depot is located on your local file system, you can import the ZIP file to the vSphere ESXi Image Builder inventory by using the vSphere Web Client. n Clone an Image Profile You can use the vSphere Web Client to clone image profiles.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Select the type of depot that you want to create. Option Action Online Depot a Enter the name of the depot in the inventory. b Enter the URL of the online depot. Custom Depot 4 Enter the name of the depot in the inventory. Click OK. What to do next n You can associate an image profile with a new vSphere Auto Deploy rule to provision ESXi hosts. See Create a Deploy Rule or Clone a Deploy Rule. n You can associate an image profile with an ESXi host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Clone an Image Profile You can use the vSphere Web Client to clone image profiles. You can clone an image profile when you want to make small changes to the VIB list in a profile, or if you want to use hosts from different vendors and want to use the same basic profile, but want to add vendor-specific VIBs. The acceptance level of the VIBs you add to the base image must be at least as high as the level of the base image.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 9 On the Ready to complete page, review the summary information for the new image profile and click Finish. What to do next n You can associate an image profile with a new vSphere Auto Deploy rule to provision ESXi hosts. See Create a Deploy Rule or Clone a Deploy Rule. n You can associate an image profile with an ESXi host. See Add a Host to the vSphere Auto Deploy Inventory. n Edit the Image Profile Association of a Host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 7 From the Available tab, select the VIBs that you want to add to the image profile and deselect the ones that you want to remove. You can view the VIBs that will be added to the image profile from the Selected tab. You can filter the VIBs by software depot from the Software depot drop-down list on the Available tab. Note The image profile must contain a bootable ESXi image to be valid. 8 Click Next.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 On the Image Profiles tab, select the image profile that you want to edit and click Edit. 4 (Optional) Change the name, vendor and description information of the image profile. 5 Click Next. 6 From the Available tab, select the VIBs that you want to add to the image profile and deselect the ones that you want to remove. You can view the VIBs that will be added to the image profile from the Selected tab.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 On the Image Profiles tab, select the image profile that you want to compare and click Compare To. 4 In the Compare Image Profile dialog box, from the Software Depot drop-down menu, select the software depot that contains the second image profile that you want to compare. 5 From the Image Profile drop-down menu, select the second image profile that you want to compare. 6 Under Software Packages, on the All tab, view the comparison of the two image profiles.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Add or import a software depot to the vSphere ESXi Image Builder inventory. See Add a Software Depot and Import a Software Depot. Procedure 1 On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Auto Deploy. By default, only the Administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere ESXi Image Builder service. 2 On the Software Depots tab, select the software depot that contains the image profile that you want to work with.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 In a PowerCLI session, run the Add-EsxSoftwareDepot cmdlet for each depot you want to work with. Option Action Remote depot Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl depot_url. ZIP file a Download the ZIP file to a local file system. b Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl C:\file_path\offlinebundle.zip The cmdlet returns one or more SoftwareDepot objects. 2 (Optional) Run the Get-EsxImageProfile cmdlet to find the name of the profile that you want to clone.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You can add VIBs even if the resulting image profile is invalid. Note VMware can support only environments and configurations that are proven to be stable and fully functional through rigorous and extensive testing. Use only those supported configurations. You can use custom VIBs if you lower your host acceptance level, and as a result, supportability.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Export an Image Profile to ISO or Offline Bundle ZIP You can export an image profile to an ISO image or a ZIP file of component files and folders. You cannot create both by running the cmdlet once. You can use the ISO image as an ESXi installer or upload the ISO into vSphere Update Manager for upgrades. You can use the ZIP file, which contains metadata and the VIBs specified in the image profile, for upgrades to ESXi 5.0 and later.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Follow these steps to export an image profile to a ZIP file of component files and folders. 1 Add the software depot. Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl url_or_file 2 View all available image profiles to find the name of the image profile to export. Get-EsxImageProfile 3 Export the image profile. Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile "myprofile" -ExportToBundle -FilePath C:\my_bundle.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 When you start a new PowerCLI session, add the depot that contains your image profile to access it. Add-EsxSoftwareDepot "C:\isos\temp-base-plus-vib25.zip" Compare Image Profiles You can compare two image profiles by using the Compare-EsxImageProfile cmdlet, for example, to see if they have the same VIB list or acceptance level . Comparing image profiles or their properties is also possible by using the PowerShell comparison operators.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 Compare the two image profiles by using the Compare-EsxImageProfile cmdlet or the -eq comparison operator, which returns a Boolean value. n Compare the two image profiles to get a full description of the differences by using the CompareEsxImageProfile cmdlet. Compare-EsxImageProfile -ReferenceProfile $imageProfile1 -ComparisonProfile $imageProfile2 n Compare the two image profiles by VIB list and acceptance level using the -eq comparison operator.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Before comparing the VIBs, assign them to variables. For example, you can create variables $vib1 and $vib2 to hold the names of the compared VIBs. $vib1 = Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -Name "ReferenceVIB" $vib2 = Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -Name "ComparisonVIB" 4 Use a comparison operator to compare the VIBs by contents and acceptance level or by a specific property. n Compare the two VIBs by their contents and acceptance level.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Acceptance levels are set for hosts, image profiles, and individual VIBs. The default acceptance level for an ESXi image or image profile is PartnerSupported. Host acceptance levels The host acceptance level determines which VIBs you can install on a host. You can change a host's acceptance level with ESXCLI commands. By default, ESXi hosts have an acceptance level of PartnerSupported to allow for easy updates with PartnerSupported VIBs.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup PartnerSupported VIBs with the PartnerSupported acceptance level are published by a partner that VMware trusts. The partner performs all testing. VMware does not verify the results. This level is used for a new or nonmainstream technology that partners want to enable for VMware systems. Today, driver VIB technologies such as Infiniband, ATAoE, and SSD are at this level with nonstandard hardware drivers.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 View the host acceptance level. esxcli --server=server_name software acceptance get 3 Change the acceptance level of the host. esxcli --server=server_name software acceptance set --level=acceptance_level The value for acceptance_level can be VMwareCertified, VMwareAccepted, PartnerSupported, or CommunitySupported. The values for acceptance_level are case-sensitive.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Set the acceptance level of the image profile. Set-EsxImageProfile -Name string -AcceptanceLevel level vSphere ESXi Image Builder Workflows vSphere ESXi Image Builder workflows are examples for cmdlet usage. Workflows do not represent actual tasks, but illustrate how you might explore different ways of using a cmdlet. Administrators trying out the workflows benefit from some experience with PowerCLI, Microsoft PowerShell, or both.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Retrieve software packages by using the Get-EsxSoftwarePackage cmdlet. You can filter, for example by vendor or version, and you can use the standard PowerShell wildcard characters. n Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -Vendor "V*" Returns all software packages from a vendor with a name that starts with the letter V.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Example: Depot Content Examination Using Variables This workflow example examines depot contents by passing in parameters as objects accessed by position in a variable, instead of passing in parameters by name. You can run the following commands in sequence from the PowerCLI prompt. Replace names with names that are appropriate in your installation. Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -Vendor "V*" Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -Vendor "V*" -Name "r*" Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -Version "2.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 View all available image profiles. Get-EsxImageProfile 5 To clone an image profile, enter its name, a new name for the new profile, and a name of the vendor. $ip = New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile base-tbd-v1 -Name "Test Profile 42" -Vendor "Vendor20" 6 (Optional) View the newly created image profile, $ip. PowerShell returns the information about the image profile in tabular format.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n You have access to a depot that includes a base image and one or more VIBs. VMware and VMware partners have public depots, accessible by a URL. VMware or VMware partners can create a ZIP file that you can unzip to your local environment and access by using a file path. Procedure 1 In a PowerCLI session, run the Add-EsxSoftwareDepot cmdlet for each depot you want to work with. Option Action Remote depot Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl depot_url.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Edit Image Profiles Workflow You can create a custom image by cloning and editing an image profile by using PowerCLI. You can add or remove one or more VIBs in the existing profile. If adding or removing VIBs prevents the image profile from working correctly, an error occurs. Prerequisites n PowerCLI and prerequisite software is installed. See Install vSphere ESXi Image Builder and Prerequisite Software.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 (Optional) If you are adding a VIB with a lower acceptance level than that of the image profile, change the acceptance level of the image profile. Set-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile "Test #2" -AcceptanceLevel VMwareAccepted PowerShell returns the information about the changed profile in tabular format. Name ---Test #2 4 Vendor -----Vendor42 Last Modified Acceptance Level ---------------------------9/22/2010 12:05:...
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Required Information for ESXi Installation In an interactive installation, the system prompts you for the required system information. In a scripted installation, you must supply this information in the installation script. For future use, note the values you use during the installation. These notes are useful if you must reinstall ESXi and reenter the values that you originally chose. Table 5‑10.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup In a typical interactive installation, you boot the ESXi installer and respond to the installer prompts to install ESXi to the local host disk. The installer reformats and partitions the target disk and installs the ESXi boot image. If you have not installed ESXi on the target disk before, all data on the drive is overwritten, including hardware vendor partitions, operating system partitions, and associated data.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 Set the BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM device or the USB flash drive. See your hardware vendor documentation for information on changing boot order. 3 On the Select a Disk page, select the drive on which to install ESXi, and press Enter. Press F1 for information about the selected disk. Note Do not rely on the disk order in the list to select a disk. The disk order is determined by the BIOS and might be out of order.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup After the installation is complete, you can migrate existing VMFS data to the ESXi host. You can boot a single machine from each ESXi image. Booting multiple devices from a single shared ESXi image is not supported. What to do next Set up basic administration and network configuration for ESXi. See After You Install and Set Up ESXi.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup What to do next On your iBFT adapter, reenable the option to boot to the iSCSI target, so the system will boot from the LUN you installed ESXi on. Installing or Upgrading Hosts by Using a Script You can quickly deploy ESXi hosts by using scripted, unattended installations or upgrades. Scripted installations or upgrades provide an efficient way to deploy multiple hosts. The installation or upgrade script contains the installation settings for ESXi.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup To specify the location of the installation script, set the ks=filepath option, where filepath is indicates the location of your Kickstart file. Otherwise, a scripted installation or upgrade cannot start. If ks=filepath is omitted, the text installer is run. Supported boot options are listed in Boot Options. Procedure 1 Start the host. 2 When the ESXi installer window appears, press Shift+O to edit boot options.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5‑12. Boot Options for ESXi Installation (Continued) Boot Option Description ks=cdrom:/path Performs a scripted installation with the script at path, which resides on the CD in the CD-ROM drive. Each CDROM is mounted and checked until the file that matches the path is found.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup About the Default ks.cfg Installation Script The ESXi installer includes a default installation script that performs a standard installation to the first detected disk. The default ks.cfg installation script is located in the initial RAM disk at /etc/vmware/weasel/ks.cfg. You can specify the location of the default ks.cfg file with the ks=file://etc/vmware/weasel/ks.cfg boot option. See Enter Boot Options to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Path to the Installation or Upgrade Script You can specify the path to an installation or upgrade script. ks=http://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/kickstart/KS.CFG is the path to the ESXi installation script, where XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is the IP address of the machine where the script resides. See About Installation and Upgrade Scripts. To start an installation script from an interactive installation, you enter the ks= option manually.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You can change the order of the disks by using a comma-separated list appended to the argument. If you provide a filter list, the default settings are overridden. You can combine filters to specify a particular disk, including esx for the first disk with ESXi installed on it, model and vendor information, or the name of the VMkernel device driver.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup driver rather than a normal local disk, the argument is --firstdisk=ST3120814A,mptsas,local. You can use localesx for local storage that contains ESXi image or remoteesx for remote storage that contains ESXi image. --ignoressd Excludes solid-state disks from eligibility for partitioning. This option can be used with the install command and the --firstdisk option. This option takes precedence over the --firstdisk option.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n VML name: --disk=vml.000000034211234 n vmkLUN UID: --disk=vmkLUN_UID For accepted disk name formats, see Disk Device Names. --firstdisk= disk-type1, [disk-type2,...] Partitions the first eligible disk found. By default, the eligible disks are set to the following order: 1 Locally attached storage (local) 2 Network storage (remote) 3 USB disks (usb) You can change the order of the disks by using a comma-separated list appended to the argument.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup keyboard (optional) Sets the keyboard type for the system. keyboardType VMware, Inc. Specifies the keyboard map for the selected keyboard type. keyboardType must be one of the following types.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n US Dvorak serialnum or vmserialnum (optional) Deprecated in ESXi 5.0.x. Supported in ESXi 5.1 and later. Configures licensing. If not included, ESXi installs in evaluation mode. --esx= Specifies the vSphere license key to use. The format is 5 five-character groups (XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX). network (optional) Specifies a network address for the system.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup part or partition (optional) Creates an additional VMFS datastore on the system. Only one datastore per disk can be created. Cannot be used on the same disk as the install command. Only one partition can be specified per disk and it can only be a VMFS partition. datastore name Specifies where the partition is to be mounted. --ondisk= or --ondrive= Specifies the disk or drive where the partition is created.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup upgrade Either the install, upgrade, or installorupgrade command is required to determine which disk to install or upgrade ESXi on. --disk= or --drive= Specifies the disk to partition. In the command --disk=diskname, the diskname can be in any of the forms shown in the following examples: n Path: --disk=/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0 n MPX name: --disk=mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0 n VML name: --disk=vml.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup %post (optional) Runs the specified script after package installation is complete. If you specify multiple %post sections, they run in the order that they appear in the installation script. --interpreter Specifies an interpreter to use. The default is busybox. =[python|busybox] --timeout=secs Specifies a timeout for running the script. If the script is not finished when the timeout expires, the script is forcefully terminated.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup The boot.cfg file has the following syntax: # boot.cfg -- mboot configuration file # # Any line preceded with '#' is a comment. title=STRING prefix=DIRPATH kernel=FILEPATH kernelopt=STRING modules=FILEPATH1 --- FILEPATH2... --- FILEPATHn # Any other line must remain unchanged. The commands in boot.cfg configure the boot loader. Table 5‑14. Commands in boot.cfg . Command Description title=STRING Sets the boot loader title to STRING.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n The default installation or upgrade script (ks.cfg) or a custom installation or upgrade script is accessible to the system. See About Installation and Upgrade Scripts. n You have selected a boot command to run the scripted installation or upgrade. See Enter Boot Options to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script. For a complete list of boot commands, see Boot Options. Procedure 1 Boot the ESXi installer from the local CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n You have selected a boot option to run the scripted installation, upgrade, or migration. See Enter Boot Options to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script. Procedure 1 Boot the ESXi installer from the USB flash drive. 2 When the ESXi installer window appears, press Shift+O to edit boot options. 3 Type a boot option that calls the default installation or upgrade script or an installation or upgrade script file that you created. The boot option has the form ks=.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup ESXi is distributed in an ISO format that is designed to install to flash memory or to a local hard drive. You can extract the files and boot by using PXE. PXE uses Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) to boot an operating system over a network. PXE booting requires some network infrastructure and a machine with a PXE-capable network adapter. Most machines that can run ESXi have network adapters that can PXE boot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Figure 5‑3. Overview of PXE Boot Installation Process ESXi target host Give me an IP for the network adapter UDP DHCP server IP & TFTP server UDP TFTP server Give me the network boot loader mboot and supporting files Give me the kernel TCP or UDP Web server or TFTP server kernel UDP DHCP server IP TCP script depot Give me an IP for the kernel Give me an installation script ks.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup PXE Boot the ESXi Installer Using TFTP You can use a TFTP server to PXE boot the ESXi installer. The process differs slightly depending on whether you use UEFI or boot from a legacy BIOS. Because most environments include ESXi hosts that support UEFI boot and hosts that support only legacy BIOS, this topic discusses prerequisites and steps for both types of hosts.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 (Legacy BIOS only) Obtain and configure PXELINUX: a Obtain SYSLINUX version 3.86, unpack it, and copy the pxelinux.0 file to the toplevel /tftpboot directory on your TFTP server. b Create a PXELINUX configuration file using the following code model. ESXi-6.x.x-XXXXXX is the name of the TFTP subdirectory that contains the ESXi installer files. DEFAULT install NOHALT 1 LABEL install KERNEL ESXi-6.x.x-XXXXXX/mboot.c32 APPEND -c ESXi-6.x.x-XXXXXX/boot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 7 (Optional) For a scripted installation, in the boot.cfg file, add the kernelopt option to the line after the kernel command, to specify the location of the installation script. Use the following code as a model, where XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is the IP address of the server where the installation script resides, and esxi_ksFiles is the directory that contains the ks.cfg file. kernelopt=ks=http://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/esxi_ksFiles/ks.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n (Optional) Installation script (kickstart file). n Use a native VLAN in most cases. If you want to specify the VLAN ID to be used with PXE booting, check that your NIC supports VLAN ID specification. Verify that your environment also meets the following prerequisites required for PXE boot using a Web Server: n Verify that the HTTP Web server is accessible by your target ESXi hosts. n (UEFI) Obtain iPXE, available at http://ipxe.org.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 (Legacy BIOS only) Obtain and configure PXELINUX: a Obtain SYSLINUX version 3.86, unpack it, and copy the gpxelinux.0 file to the toplevel /tftpboot directory on your TFTP server. b Create a PXELINUX configuration file using the following code model. ESXi-6.x.x-XXXXXX is the name of the TFTP subdirectory that contains the ESXi installer files. DEFAULT install NOHALT 1 LABEL install KERNEL ESXi-6.x.x-XXXXXX/mboot.c32 APPEND -c ESXi-6.x.x-XXXXXX/boot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 9 (UEFI only) Specify whether you want for all UEFI hosts to boot the same installer. Option Description Same installer Copy or link the boot.cfg file to /tftpboot/boot.cfg Different installers a Create a subdirectory of /tftpboot named after the MAC address of the target host machine (01-mac_address_of_target_ESXi_host), for example, 01-23-45-67-89-0a-bc. b Place a copy of (or a link to) the host's boot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup State Information for ESXi Hosts vSphere Auto Deploy stores the information for the ESXi hosts to be provisioned in different locations. Information about the location of image profiles and host profiles is initially specified in the rules that map machines to image profiles and host profiles. Table 5‑15. vSphere Auto Deploy Stores Information for Deployment Information Type Description Source of Information Image state The executable software to run on an ESXi host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Figure 5‑4. vSphere Auto Deploy Architecture Auto Deploy PowerCLI Host profiles and host customization Host profile UI Rules Engine Image Builder PowerCLI Image Profiles Auto Deploy server (Web server) Host profile engine ESXi host Plug-in Fetch of predefined image profiles and VIBs HTTP fetch of images/VIBs and host profiles (iPXE boot and update) VIBs and image profiles Public depot vSphere Auto Deploy server Serves images and host profiles to ESXi hosts.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Host profiles Define machine-specific configuration such as networking or storage setup. Use the host profile UI to create host profiles. You can create a host profile for a reference host and apply that host profile to other hosts in your environment for a consistent configuration. For more information, see the vSphere Host Profiles documentation or the Setting Up a vSphere Auto Deploy Reference Host section.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You can specify the following parameters in a rule. Parameter Description Name Name of the rule, specified with the -Name parameter. Item One or more items, specified with the -Item parameter. An item can be an image profile, a host profile, a vCenter Server inventory location (datacenter, folder, cluster) for the target host, or a custom script. You can specify multiple items separated by commas.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 Test the working rule set rules against a host to make sure that everything is working correctly. 3 Refine and retest the rules in the working rule set. 4 Activate the rules in the working rule set. If you add a rule in a PowerCLI session and do not specify the NoActivate parameter, all rules that are currently in the working rule set are activated. You cannot activate individual rules.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup First Boot Overview When a host that has not yet been provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy boots (first boot), the host interacts with several vSphere Auto Deploy components. 1 When the administrator turns on a host, the host starts a PXE boot sequence. The DHCP Server assigns an IP address to the host and instructs the host to contact the TFTP server.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Figure 5‑5. vSphere Auto Deploy Installation, First Boot PXE Host sends hardware and network information to Auto Deploy server Auto Deploy server streams host and image profiles to the host Host boots using image profile Subsequent Boots Without Updates For hosts that are provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy and managed by avCenter Server system, subsequent boots can become completely automatic. 1 The administrator reboots the host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Subsequent Boots With Updates You can change the image profile, host profile, vCenter Server location, or script bundle for hosts. The process includes changing rules and testing and repairing the host's rule compliance. 1 The administrator uses the Copy-DeployRule PowerCLI cmdlet to copy and edit one or more rules and updates the rule set. See Overview of the vSphere Auto Deploy Process by Using PowerCLI for an example.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 The host creates the VMkernel NICs. The VMkernel NICs allow the host to connect to vSphere Auto Deploy and to the vCenter Server system. When the host is added to vCenter Server, vCenter Server removes the standard switch and reapplies the distributed switch to the host. Note Do not change the boot configuration parameters to avoid problems with your distributed switch.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup See Clone a Deploy Rule or Editing a Deploy Rule. 10 Activate the new rule and deactivate the old one. See Activate, Deactivate, and Reorder Deploy Rules. 11 Remediate the host associations to apply the new rule to the host. See Remediate a Non-compliant Host. 12 Verify that the hosts you provisioned meet the following requirements. n Each host is connected to the vCenter Server system. n The hosts are not in maintenance mode. n The hosts have no compliance failures.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n To create a custom image profile, use vSphere ESXi Image Builder cmdlets to clone an existing image profile and add the custom VIBs to the clone. Add the custom image profile to the PowerCLI session. You must use vSphere ESXi Image Builder for customization only if you have to add or remove VIBs. In most cases, you can add the depot where VMware hosts the image profiles to your PowerCLI session as a URL.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup See Test and Repair Rule Compliance. 13 Verify that the hosts you provisioned meet the following requirements. n Each host is connected to the vCenter Server system. n The hosts are not in maintenance mode. n The hosts have no compliance failures. n Each host with a host profile that requires user input has up-to-date host customization information. Remediate host associations and compliance problems and reboot hosts until all hosts meet the requirements.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n If you want to use VLANs in your vSphere Auto Deploy environment, you must set up the end to end networking properly. When the host is PXE booting, the firmware driver must be set up to tag the frames with proper VLAN IDs. You must do this set up manually by making the correct changes in the UEFI/BIOS interface. You must also correctly configure the ESXi port groups with the correct VLAN IDs. Ask your network administrator how VLAN IDs are used in your environment.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 Configure the vSphere Auto Deploy service startup type. a Log in to your vCenter Server system by using the vSphere Web Client. b On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Administration. c Under System Configuration click Services. d Select Auto Deploy, click the Actions menu, and select Edit Startup Type. n On Windows, the vSphere Auto Deploy service is disabled. In the Edit Startup Type window, select Manual or Automatic to enable vSphere Auto Deploy.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 6 Set up your DHCP server to point to the TFTP server on which the TFTP ZIP file is located. a Specify the TFTP Server's IP address in DHCP option 66, frequently called next-server. b Specify the boot file name, which is snponly64.efi.vmw-hardwired for UEFI or undionly.kpxe.vmw-hardwired for BIOS in the DHCP option 67, frequently called bootfilename.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You can type cmdlets, parameters, and parameter values in the PowerCLI shell. n Get help for any cmdlet by running Get-Helpcmdlet_name. n Remember that PowerShell is not case sensitive. n Use tab completion for cmdlet names and parameter names. n Format any variable and cmdlet output by using Format-List or Format-Table, or their short forms fl or ft. For more information, run the Get-Help Format-List cmdlet.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Assigning license keys through the vSphere Web Client and assigning licensing by using PowerCLI cmdlets function differently. Assign license keys with the vSphere Web Client You can assign license keys to a host when you add the host to the vCenter Server system or when the host is managed by a vCenter Server system. Assign license keys with LicenseDataManager PowerCLI You can specify a set of license keys to be added to a set of hosts.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 5 Update the license data for the data center with the LicenseData object and verify that the license is associated with the host container. $licenseDataManager.UpdateAssociatedLicenseData($hostContainer.Uid, $licenseData) $licenseDataManager.QueryAssociatedLicenseData($hostContainer.Uid) 6 Provision one or more hosts with vSphere Auto Deploy and assign them to the data center or to the cluster that you assigned the license data to.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5‑16. Rule Engine PowerCLI Cmdlets (Continued) Command Description Remove-DeployRule Removes one or more rules from the working rule set and from the active rule set. Run this command with the -Delete parameter to completely delete the rule. Set-DeployRuleset Explicitly sets the list of rules in the working rule set. Get-DeployRuleset Retrieves the current working rule set or the current active rule set.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5‑16. Rule Engine PowerCLI Cmdlets (Continued) Command Description List-ProxyServer Lists the proxy servers that are currently registered with vSphere Auto Deploy. Delete-ProxyServer Deletes one or more proxy servers from the list of proxy servers that are registered with vSphere Auto Deploy.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot to add the software depot that contains the image profile to the 3 PowerCLI session. Depot Type Cmdlet Remote depot Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot depot_url. ZIP file a Download the ZIP file to a local file path. b Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot C:\file_path\my_offline_depot.zip. In the depot, find the image profile that you want to use by running the Get-EsxImageProfile 4 cmdlet.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup * . serial=XX XX XX XX XX XX... * . uuid=XXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXX * . vendor=MyVendor ****************************************************************** What to do next n For hosts already provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy, perform the compliance testing and repair operations to provision them with the new image profile. See Test and Repair Rule Compliance. n Turn on unprovisioned hosts to provision them with the new image profile.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 5 Add the rule to the rule set. Add-DeployRule testrule2 By default, the working rule set becomes the active rule set, and any changes to the rule set become active when you add a rule. If you use the NoActivate parameter, the working rule set does not become the active rule set. What to do next n Assign a host already provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy to the new host profile by performing compliance test and repair operations on those hosts.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Add the rule to the rule set. Add-DeployRule testrule3 By default, the working rule set becomes the active rule set, and any changes to the rule set become active when you add a rule. If you use the NoActivate parameter, the working rule set does not become the active rule set. What to do next n Assign a host already provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy to the new folder or cluster location by performing test and repair compliance operation.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 Define a rule in which hosts with certain attributes, for example a range of IP addresses, are assigned to the script bundle. New-DeployRule -Name "testrule4" -Item "MyScriptBundle" -Pattern "vendor=Acme,Zven", "ipv4=192.XXX. 1.10-192.XXX.1.20" Double quotes are required if a name contains spaces, optional otherwise. Specify -AllHosts instead of a pattern to apply the item to all hosts. You create a rule named testrule4.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 Use PowerCLI to check which vSphere Auto Deploy rules are currently available. Get-DeployRule The system returns the rules and the associated items and patterns. 3 Make a change to one of the available rules. For example, you can change the image profile and the name of the rule. Copy-DeployRule -DeployRule testrule -ReplaceItem MyNewProfile You cannot edit a rule already added to the active rule set.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Register a Caching Proxy Server Address with vSphere Auto Deploy Simultaneously booting large number of stateless hosts places a significant load on the vSphere Auto Deploy server. You can load balance the requests between the vSphere Auto Deploy server and one or more proxy servers that you register with vSphere Auto Deploy.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 Name the Rule and Define Matching Criteria in the New Deploy Rule Wizard When you start the New Deploy Rule wizard, you must first enter a rule name and select a pattern to apply the rule to some or all hosts in the inventory. 3 Select an Image Profile in the New Deploy Rule Wizard In the New Deploy Rule wizard, you can optionally assign an image profile to the hosts that match the rule criteria.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 Select a pattern to apply the rule to the hosts in the inventory. You can select to apply the rule to all the hosts in the inventory or to apply the rule only to hosts that match a specific pattern. You can select one or more patterns. For example, the rule can apply only to hosts in a vCenter Single Sign-On domain, with a specific host name, or that match a specific IPv4 range. 3 Click Next.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Select Host Location in the New Deploy Rule Wizard In the New Deploy Rule wizard, you can optionally add the hosts that match the criteria of the rule to a specific location. Procedure 1 2 On the Select host location page of the wizard, select a location for the hosts that match the rule. Option Action If you do not want to select a host location Select the Do not include a location check box.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Select an Image Profile in the Clone Deploy Rule Wizard In the Clone Deploy Rule wizard, you can optionally assign an image profile to the hosts that match the rule criteria or keep the same image profile that the cloned rule uses. 4 Select a Host Profile in the Clone Deploy Rule Wizard In the Clone Deploy Rule wizard, you can optionally assign a host profile to the hosts that match the rule criteria or keep the same host profile used in the cloned rule.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Click Next. Select an Image Profile in the Clone Deploy Rule Wizard In the Clone Deploy Rule wizard, you can optionally assign an image profile to the hosts that match the rule criteria or keep the same image profile that the cloned rule uses. Prerequisites If you want to include an image profile to the rule, verify that the software depot you need is added to the inventory. See Add a Software Depot or Import a Software Depot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 2 On the Select host location page of the wizard, select a location for the hosts that match the rule. Option Action If you want to keep the host location used in the cloned rule Leave the default location. If you do not want the rule to include a host location Select the Do not include a host profile check box. If you want to select a new location for the selected hosts Select a data center, folder, or cluster as host location. Click Next.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Prerequisites n Prepare your system and install the Auto Deploy Server. For more information, see Prepare Your System for vSphere Auto Deploy. n Create a vSphere Auto Deploy rule. See Create a Deploy Rule. Procedure 1 On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Auto Deploy. By default, only the Administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere Auto Deploy service.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 4 Select the Select image profile page to assign an image profile to the hosts that match the rule criteria. Option Action If you do not want to change the image profile Select the Same image profile option. If you do not want to assign an image profile to the selected hosts Select the No image profile option. If you want to assign a new image profile to the selected hosts 1 Select the Browse for Image Profile option.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Prerequisites n Prepare your system and install the Auto Deploy Server. For more information, see Prepare Your System for vSphere Auto Deploy. n Create a vSphere Auto Deploy rule. See Create a Deploy Rule. Procedure 1 On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Auto Deploy. By default, only the Administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere Auto Deploy service.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 5 (Optional) If you want to reorder the rules in the active rule list, select a rule that you want to move up or down in the list and click the Move up or Move down icon above the list of active rules. The rules are listed by priority. For example, if two or more rules apply to the same host but are set to provision the host with different image profiles, host profiles, and locations, the rule that is highest in the list takes effect on the host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 Check the host associations compliance The Check Host Associations Compliance window displays the current status of the host and whether the host is compliant with the active rule set. You can view the currently assigned image profile, host profile, host location, script bundle, and the associations that will take effect after a remediation of the host. You can assign a script bundle to a host only by using PowerCLI cmdlets.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Auto Deploy. By default, only the Administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere Auto Deploy service. 2 On the Deployed Hosts tab, select an ESXi host. 3 Click Edit Image Profile Association. The Edit Image Profile Association dialog box appears. 4 5 Edit the image profile association of the host. Option Action If you do not want to change the image profile Select the Same image profile option.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Auto Deploy. By default, only the Administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere Auto Deploy service. 2 On the Deployed Hosts tab, select an ESXi host. You can use Shift+left-click or Ctrl+left-click to select multiple hosts 3 Click Remediate Host Associations. If you remediate a host that has an edited image profile association, the host reverts to the settings defined in the rule that it matches.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 Select a Host Location in the Add to Inventory Wizard You can assign a location to a host that you want to add to the vSphere Auto Deploy inventory. 5 View the Summary of the Add to Inventory Wizard You can review the host associations before you complete the Add to Inventory wizard. What to do next n Edit a vSphere Auto Deploy rule. See Editing a Deploy Rule. n View the image profile, host profile, and location associations of a host. See View Host Associations.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 2 On the Select host profile page of the wizard, select a host profile. Option Action If you do not want to assign a host profile to the selected hosts Select the Do not include a host profile check box. If you want to assign a host profile to the selected hosts Select a host profile from the list. Click Next.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Write rules that assign an image profile to the host and optionally assign a host profile and a vCenter Server location to the host. See Managing vSphere Auto Deploy with PowerCLI Cmdlets or Managing vSphere Auto Deploy with the vSphere Web Client. When the setup is complete, the vSphere Auto Deploy service is enabled, DHCP setup is complete, and rules for the host that you want to provision are in the active rule set. Procedure 1 Turn on the host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Reprovision Hosts with Simple Reboot Operations A simple reboot of a host that is provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy requires only that all prerequisites are still met. The process uses the previously assigned image profile, host profile, custom script, and vCenter Server location. Prerequisites n Verify that the setup you performed during the first boot operation is in place. See Provision a Host (First Boot). n Verify that all associated items like are available.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Prerequisites n Verify that the image profile you want to use to reprovision the host is available. Use vSphere ESXi Image Builder in a PowerCLI session. See Customizing Installations with vSphere ESXi Image Builder. n Verify that the setup you performed during the first boot operation is in place. Procedure 1 At the PowerShell prompt, run the Connect-VIServer PowerCLI cmdlet to connect to the vCenter Server system that vSphere Auto Deploy is registered with.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 6 Test the rule compliance for each host that you want to deploy the image to. a Verify that you can access the host for which you want to test rule set compliance. Get-VMHost -Name ESXi_hostname b Run the cmdlet that tests rule set compliance for the host, and bind the return value to a variable for later use. $tr = Test-DeployRuleSetCompliance ESXi_hostname c Examine the differences between the contents of the rule set and configuration of the host. $tr.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Select the Select image profile page to assign an image profile to the hosts that match the rule criteria. Option Action If you do not want to change the image profile Select the Same image profile option. If you do not want to assign an image profile to the selected hosts Select the No image profile option. If you want to assign a new image profile to the selected hosts 1 Select the Browse for Image Profile option.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Prerequisites Attach a host profile that prompts for user input to the host. Procedure 1 2 Migrate all virtual machines to different hosts, and place the host into maintenance mode. Host Type Action Host is part of a DRS cluster VMware DRS migrates virtual machines to appropriate hosts when you place the host in maintenance mode. Host is not part of a DRS cluster You must migrate all virtual machines to different hosts and place each host in maintenance mode.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Configure a Host Profile to Use Stateless Caching When a host is set up to use stateless caching, the host uses a cached image if the vSphere Auto Deploy Server is not available. To use stateless caching, you must configure a host profile. You can apply that host profile to other hosts that you want to set up for stateless caching.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5‑17. Preparation for Stateless Caching or Stateful Installs Requirement or Decision Description Decide on VMFS partition overwrite When you install ESXi by using the interactive installer, you are prompted whether you want to overwrite an existing VMFS datastore. The System Cache Configuration host profile provides an option to overwrite existing VMFS partitions. The option is not available if you set up the host profile to use a USB drive.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Understanding Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs When you want to use vSphere Auto Deploy with stateless caching or stateful installs, you must set up a host profile, apply the host profile, and set the boot order. When you apply a host profile that enables caching to a host, vSphere Auto Deploy partitions the specified disk. What happens next depends on how you set up the host profile and how you set the boot order on the host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 vSphere Auto Deploy provisions each host with the image profile or by using the script bundle associated with the rule. The exact effect of applying the host profile depends on the host profile you selected. n n For stateful installs, vSphere Auto Deploy proceeds as follows: n During first boot, vSphere Auto Deploy installs the image on the host. n During subsequent boots, the host boots from disk.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 5 On the Edit host profile page of the wizard, select Advanced Configuration Settings > System Image Cache Configuration > System Image Cache Configuration. 6 In the System Image Cache Profile Settings drop-down menu, choose a policy option. 7 Option Description Enable stateless caching on the host Caches the image to disk. Enable stateless caching to a USB disk on the host Caches the image to a USB disk attached to the host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n For hosts that are already provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy, perform the test and repair compliance operations in a PowerCLI session, see Test and Repair Rule Compliance. n Power on unprovisioned hosts to provision them with the new host profile. Configure a Host Profile to Enable Stateful Installs To set up a host provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy to boot from disk, you must configure a host profile.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 7 (Optional) If you select Enable stateful installs on the host, specify information about the disk to use. Option Description Arguments for first disk By default, the system attempts to replace an existing ESXi installation, and then attempts to write to the local disk. You can use the Arguments for first disk field to specify a comma-separated list of disks to use, in order of preference. You can specify more than one disk.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Setting Up a vSphere Auto Deploy Reference Host In an environment where no state is stored on the host, a reference host helps you set up multiple hosts with the same configuration. You configure the reference host with the logging, coredump, and other settings that you want, save the host profile, and write a rule that applies the host profile to other hosts as needed.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup the reference host with the vSphere Web Client or with vCLI commands. Security setup includes shared user access settings for all hosts. You can achieve unified user access by setting up your reference host to use Active Directory. See the vSphere Security documentation. Note If you set up Active Directory by using host profiles, the passwords are not protected.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup To set up a reference host, you can use the approach that suits you best. vSphere Web Client The vSphere Web Client supports setup of networking, storage, security, and most other aspects of an ESXi host. Set up your environment and create a host profile from the reference host for use by vSphere Auto Deploy. vSphere CommandLine Interface You can use vCLI commands for setup of many aspects of your host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 Set up an ESXi system to use ESXi Dump Collector by running esxcli system coredump in the local ESXi Shell or by using vCLI. esxcli system coredump network set --interface-name vmk0 port 6500 --server-ip 10xx.xx.xx.xx --server- You must specify a VMkernel NIC and the IP address and optional port of the server to send the core dumps to. You can use an IPv4 address or an IPv6 address.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Verify that at least one partition has sufficient storage capability for core dumps from multiple hosts provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy. Procedure 1 In the vSphere Web Client, click Policies and Profiles, and select Host Profiles. 2 Right-click the host profile you want to modify and select Edit Settings. 3 Leave the name and description unchanged and click Next.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 Leave the name and description unchanged and click Next. 5 On the Edit host profile page of the wizard, select Advanced Configuration Settings > Advanced Options > Advanced configuration options. You can select specific sub-profiles and edit the syslog settings. 6 If you are setting up an ESXi 5.0 host that did not have a previously configured syslog server, you have to create an advanced configuration option. a Click the Add sub-profile icon.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 7 Click OK. What to do next n Extract a host profile from the reference host. See the Host Profiles documentation. n Create a rule that applies the host profile to all hosts that you want to provision with the settings specified in the reference host. For writing a rule in a PowerCLI session, see Write a Rule and Assign a Host Profile to Hosts.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Configure a Reference Host for Auto-Partitioning By default, vSphere Auto Deploy provisions hosts only if a partition is available on the host. The autopartitioning option creates a VMFS datastore on your host's local storage. You can set up a reference host to auto-partition all hosts that you provision with vSphere Auto Deploy. Caution If you change the default auto-partitioning behavior, vSphere Auto Deploy overwrites existing partitions regardless of their content.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup vSphere Auto Deploy Best Practices and Security Consideration Follow best practices when installing vSphere Auto Deploy and when using vSphere Auto Deploy with other vSphere components. Set up a highly available vSphere Auto Deploy infrastructure in large production environments or when using stateless caching. Follow all security guidelines that you would follow in a PXE boot environment, and consider the recommendations in this chapter.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup vSphere Auto Deploy Networking Best Practices Prevent networking problems by following vSphere Auto Deploy networking best practices. vSphere Auto Deploy and IPv6 Because vSphere Auto Deploy takes advantage of the iPXE infrastructure, if the hosts that you plan to provision with vSphere Auto Deploy are with legacy BIOS, the vSphere Auto Deploy server must have an IPv4 address. PXE booting with legacy BIOS firmware is possible only over IPv4.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup vSphere Auto Deploy Load Management Best Practices Simultaneously booting large numbers of hosts places a significant load on the vSphere Auto Deploy server. Because vSphere Auto Deploy is a Web server at its core, you can use existing Web server scaling technologies to help distribute the load. For example, one or more caching reverse proxy servers can be used with vSphere Auto Deploy.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Using vSphere Auto Deploy in a Production Environment When you move from a proof of concept setup to a production environment, take care to make the environment resilient. n Protect the vSphere Auto Deploy server. See vSphere Auto Deploy and vSphere HA Best Practices. n Protect all other servers in your environment, including the DHCP server and the TFTP server.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Prerequisites For the management cluster, install ESXi on three hosts. Do not provision the management cluster hosts with vSphere Auto Deploy. Watch the video "Highly Available vSphere Auto Deploy Infrastructure" for information about the implementation of a highly available vSphere Auto Deploy infrastructure: Procedure 1 Enable vSphere HA and vSphere DRS on the management cluster. 2 Set up the following virtual machines on the management cluster.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Any other passwords associated with profiles are in the clear. If you set up Active Directory by using host profiles, the passwords are not protected. Use the vSphere Authentication Proxy to avoid exposing the Active Directory passwords. If you set up Active Directory using host profiles, the passwords are not protected. n The host's public and private SSL key and certificate are included in the boot image.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Upgrading Systems for Device Alias Profiles In ESXi versions earlier than 5.5, the Device Alias Configuration profile does not exist. Consider the following problems when you upgrade from previous versions of ESXi to a current version: n For installed hosts, that is, hosts not provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy, upgrading the ESXi host preserves aliases. After they are upgraded, aliases remain stable as long as the BIOS provides the information.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Download vSphere Auto Deploy Logs You can use the vSphere Auto Deploy logging information from the vSphere Web Client to resolve problems that you encounter with vSphere Auto Deploy. Prerequisites Use the vSphere Web Client to log in to the vCenter Server instance that vSphere Auto Deploy is registered with. Procedure 1 From Administration select Deployment > System Configuration. 2 Click one of the Nodes for which you want to retrieve a support bundle.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup To perform the tasks in this scenario, you should have the following background knowledge and privileges. n Experience with vSphere (vCenter Server and ESXi). n Basic knowledge of Microsoft PowerShell and PowerCLI. n Administrator rights to the target Windows and vCenter Server systems. Follow the tasks in the order presented in this scenario. Some steps can be performed in a different order, but the order used here limits repeated manipulation of some components.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Figure 5‑9.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 vSphere Auto Deploy Preinstallation Checklist Before you can start the tasks in this vSphere Auto Deploy scenario, make sure that your environment meets the hardware and software requirements, and that you have the necessary permissions for the components included in the setup. 2 Install the TFTP Server To set up a vSphere Auto Deploy infrastructure, you must install a TFTP server in your environment. .
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 11 Provision Hosts and Set Up Host Customizations With the rule in place that provisions hosts using an image profile and a host profile, you can provision specific target hosts. If any host profile items are set to prompt the user for input, the host comes up in maintenance mode. You apply the host profile or check host compliance to be prompted for the information. The system associates the host customization with the host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5‑18. Preinstallation Checklist (Continued) Required Software and Hardware Details PowerCLI PowerCLI installer binaries downloaded from the Downloads page on the VMware Web site. See the vSphere PowerCLI User's Guide for detailed instructions for PowerCLI installation. ESXi software depot The location of the ESXi software depot on the Downloads page of the VMware Web site.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup In this scenario, you install PowerCLI on the same system as the vCenter Server system. You can also install PowerCLI on a different Windows system. Prerequisites n Verify that Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 or 4.5.x is installed, or install it from the Microsoft Web site. n Verify that Windows PowerShell 3.0 or 4.0 is installed, or install it from the Microsoft Web site.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Prepare the DHCP Server for vSphere Auto Deploy Provisioning When you prepare the vSphere Auto Deploy target hosts, you must set up the DHCP server in this scenario to serve each target host with an iPXE binary. The environment in this scenario uses Active Directory with DNS and DHCP. The DHCP server is included with Windows 2008. Procedure 1 Log in to your DHCP Server with administrator privileges. 2 Create a DHCP scope for your IP address range.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 Set up the DHCP Server to point the hosts to the TFTP Server. a In the DHCP window, navigate to DHCP > hostname > IPv4 > Autodeploy Scope > Scope Options. b Right click Scope Options and choose Configure Options. c In the Scope Options window, click the General tab. d Click 066 Boot Server Host Name and enter the address of the TFTP server that you installed in the String value field below the Available Options. e Click 067 Bootfile Name and enter undionly.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Start the vSphere Auto Deploy service. a On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Administration. b Under System Configuration click Services. c Select Auto Deploy, click the Actions menu, and select Start. On Windows, the vSphere Auto Deploy service can be disabled. You can enable the service by changing the vSphere Auto Deploy service startup type. 4 In the inventory, navigate to the vCenter Server system.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 In a PowerCLI session, run the Connect-VIServer cmdlet to connect to the vCenter Server system that vSphere Auto Deploy is registered with. Connect-VIServer ipv4_address The cmdlet might return a server certificate warning. In a production environment, make sure no server certificate issues occur. In a development environment, you can ignore the warning. 3 Enter the vCenter Server credentials.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Hosts and Clusters. 4 Verify that the newly provisioned host is now in the vCenter Server inventory at the datacenter level. By default, vSphere Auto Deploy adds hosts at the datacenter level when the boot process completes. What to do next Extract a host profile from the host and configure it to require user input.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Create a Rule that Provisions Hosts from a Specific IP Range After creating a host profile from a reference host, you can create a rule that applies the previously verified image profile and the host profile that you extracted to target hosts from a specific IP range. Procedure 1 Log in with administrator privileges to the console of the Windows system on which vCenter Server is installed, either directly or by using RDP.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Provision Hosts and Set Up Host Customizations With the rule in place that provisions hosts using an image profile and a host profile, you can provision specific target hosts. If any host profile items are set to prompt the user for input, the host comes up in maintenance mode. You apply the host profile or check host compliance to be prompted for the information. The system associates the host customization with the host. Procedure 1 Boot the remaining hosts.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Solution n Ensure that your TFTP service is running and reachable by the host that you are trying to boot. n To view the diagnostic logs for details on the present error, see your TFTP service documentation. vSphere Auto Deploy Host Boots with Wrong Configuration A host is booting with a different ESXi image, host profile, or folder location than the one specified in the rules.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Package Warning Message When You Assign an Image Profile to a vSphere Auto Deploy Host When you run a vSphere PowerCLI cmdlet that assigns an image profile that is not vSphere Auto Deploy ready, a warning message appears. Problem When you write or modify rules to assign an image profile to one or more hosts, the following error results: Warning: Image Profile contains one or more software packages that are not stateless-ready.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 Use ESXCLI to configure the host to use ESXi Dump Collector. esxcli conn_options system coredump network set IP-addr,port esxcli system coredump network set -e true 3 Use ESXCLI to disable local coredump partitions. esxcli conn_options system coredump partition set -e false vSphere Auto Deploy Host Reboots After Five Minutes A vSphere Auto Deploy host boots and displays iPXE information, but reboots after five minutes.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Run the Test-DeployRuleSetCompliance cmdlet and use the output of that cmdlet as the input to the Repair-DeployRuleSetCompliance cmdlet. vSphere Auto Deploy Host Cannot Contact TFTP Server The host that you provision with vSphere Auto Deploy cannot contact the TFTP server.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Open a Web browser, enter the following URL, and check whether the vSphere Auto Deploy server is accessible. https://Auto_Deploy_Server_IP_Address:Auto_Deploy_Server_Port/vmw/rdb Note Use this address only to check whether the server is accessible. 4 If the server is not accessible, a firewall problem is likely. a Try setting up permissive TCP Inbound rules for the vSphere Auto Deploy server port.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 As a temporary workaround, turn off the firewall to see whether that resolves the problem. a Open the command prompt by clicking Start > Program > Accessories > Command prompt. b Type the following command to temporarily turn off the firewall. Do not turn off the firewall in a production environment. netsh firewall set opmode disable c Attempt to provision the host with vSphere Auto Deploy. d Type the following command to turn the firewall back on.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Solution 1 Stop the vSphere Auto Deploy server service. 2 Find the vSphere Auto Deploy log by going to the vSphere Auto Deploy page in the vSphere Web Client. 3 Check the logs for the following message: DatabaseError: database disk image is malformed. If you see the message, replace the existing database with the most recent backup. 4 Go to the vSphere Auto Deploy data directory.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Key operations available to you in the direct console include: n Configuring hosts n Setting up administrative access n Troubleshooting You can also use vSphere Web Client to manage the host by using vCenter Server. Table 5‑19.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 Select the host in the inventory. 3 Click the Manage tab. 4 Click Settings. 5 Under System, select Advanced System Settings. 6 Select Annotations. 7 Click the Edit icon. 8 Enter a security message. The message is displayed on the direct console Welcome screen. Redirecting the Direct Console to a Serial Port To manage your ESXi host remotely from a serial console, you can redirect the direct console to a serial port.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Disable the logPort and gdbPort on com1 and set tty2Port to com1 by entering the following boot options: "gdbPort=none logPort=none tty2Port=com1"; To use com2 instead, replace com1 with com2. The direct console is redirected to the serial port until you reboot the host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Click the Manage tab. 4 Select Settings. 5 Select Advanced System Settings. 6 Make sure that the VMkernel.Boot.logPort and VMkernel.Boot.gdbPort fields are not set to use the com port that you want to redirect the direct console to. 7 Set VMkernel.Boot.tty2Port to the serial port to redirect the direct console to: com1 or com2. 8 Click OK. 9 Save the host profile and attach the host to the profile. See the vSphere Host Profiles documentation.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup c Press Enter. d Enter the idle timeout. The idle timeout is the number of minutes that can elapse before the user is logged out of an idle interactive sessions. Changes to the idle timeout apply the next time a user logs in to the ESXi Shell and do not affect existing sessions. 6 Press Esc until you return to the main menu of the Direct Console User Interface.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You can change the boot setting by configuring the boot order in the BIOS during startup or by selecting a boot device from the boot device selection menu. When you change the boot order in the BIOS, the new setting affects all subsequent reboots. When you select a boot device from the boot device selection menu, the selection affects the current boot only.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 While the server is powering on, enter the device selection menu. Depending on your server hardware, the key might be a function key or Delete. 4 Follow the instructions to select the virtual device. The server boots from the configured device once and goes back to the default boot order for subsequent boots. Configuring Network Settings ESXi requires one IP address for the management network.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup ESXi Networking Security Recommendations Isolation of network traffic is essential to a secure ESXi environment. Different networks require different access and level of isolation. Your ESXi host uses several networks. Use appropriate security measures for each network, and isolate ® traffic for specific applications and functions. For example, ensure that VMware vSphere vMotion traffic does not travel over networks where virtual machines are located.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Set the VLAN ID You can set the virtual LAN (VLAN) ID number of the ESXi host. Procedure 1 From the direct console, select Configure Management Network and press Enter. 2 Select VLAN and press Enter. 3 Enter a VLAN ID number from 1 through 4094. Configuring IP Settings for ESXi By default, DHCP sets the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway. For future reference, write down the IP address. For DHCP to work, your network environment must have a DHCP server.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 6 Select IPv4 settings. 7 Select Use static IPv4 settings. 8 Enter or change the static IPv4 address settings. 9 (Optional) Set static IPv6 addresses. a Select IPv6 settings. b Select Static IPv6 addresses. c Click the add icon. d Type the IPv6 address and click OK. 10 Click OK. Configuring DNS for ESXi You can select either manual or automatic DNS configuration of the ESXi host. The default is automatic.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Configure the Network Settings on a Host That Is Not Attached to the Network Some highly secure environments do not permit unconfigured hosts on the network to be powered on. You can configure the host before you attach the host to the network. Prerequisites Verify that no network cables are connected to the host. Procedure 1 Power on the host. 2 Use the direct console user interface to configure the password for the administrator account (root).
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 From the direct console, select Troubleshooting Options and press Enter. 2 Select Restart Management Agents and press Enter. 3 Press F11 to confirm the restart. The ESXi host restarts the management agents and services. Restart the Management Network Restarting the management network interface might be required to restore networking or to renew a DHCP lease.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n The Distributed Switch needs to be repaired to restore connectivity to vCenter Server and the hosts need to remain accessible. n You do not want vCenter Server to manage the host. When the host is not connected to vCenter Server, most Distributed Switch features are unavailable to the host. Prerequisites Verify that your management network is connected to a distributed switch. Procedure 1 From the direct console, select Restore Standard Switch and press Enter.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5‑21. Partitions Created by ESXi on the Host Drive ESXi Version Partitions Created ESXi Installable For fresh installations, several new partitions are created for the boot banks, the scratch partition, and the locker. Fresh ESXi installations use GUID Partition Tables (GPT) instead of MSDOS-based partitioning. The partition table itself is fixed as part of the binary image, and is written to the disk at the time the system is installed.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup When ESXi boots, the system tries to find a suitable partition on a local disk to create a scratch partition. The scratch partition is not required. It is used to store vm-support output, which you need when you create a support bundle. If the scratch partition is not present, vm-support output is stored in a ramdisk. In low-memory situations, you might want to create a scratch partition if one is not present.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Configuring System Logging The ESXi hosts run the syslog service (vmsyslogd), which writes messages from the VMkernel and other system components to log files. You can configure the amount and location of the log. You can also create and apply log filters to modify the logging policy of an ESXi host. Configure Syslog on ESXi Hosts You can use the vSphere Web Client or the esxcli system syslog vCLI command to configure the syslog service.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 6 7 (Optional) To overwrite the default log size and log rotation for any of the logs. a Click the name of the log that you want to customize. b Click Edit and enter the number of rotations and the log size you want. Click OK. Changes to the syslog options take effect immediately. Configure Log Filtering on ESXi Hosts The log filtering capability lets you modify the logging policy of the syslog service that is running on an ESXi host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n logRegexp specifies a case-sensitive phrase with Python regular expression syntax to filter the log messages by their content. For example, to set a limit of maximum two-log entries from the hostd component for messages that resemble the SOCKET connect failed, error 2: No such file or directory phrase with any error number, add the following entry: 2 | hostd | SOCKET connect failed, error .
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 7 Select the acceptance level and click OK. Table 5‑22.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Reset the System Configuration If you are having trouble determining the source of a problem with your ESXi host, you can reset the system configuration. Changes in the system configuration can be related to various problems, including problems with connectivity to the network and devices. Resetting the system configuration might solve such problems.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Licensing ESXi Hosts After you install ESXi, it has a 60-day evaluation period during which you can explore the full set of vSphere features provided with a vSphere Enterprise Plus license. You must assign the host an appropriate license before the evaluation period expires. ESXi hosts are licensed with vSphere licenses that have per-CPU capacity.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Recording the License Key of an ESXi Host If a host becomes inaccessible or unbootable, you should have a record of its license key. You can write down the license key and tape it to the server, or put the license key in a secure location. You can access the license key from the direct console user interface or the vSphere Web Client.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 Perform a regular expression search. a Press the slash key (/). b Type the text to find. c Press Enter. The found text is highlighted on the screen. 5 Press q to return to the direct console. What to do next See also Configure Syslog on ESXi Hosts. VMware, Inc.
Troubleshooting ESXi Booting 6 The ESXi booting troubleshooting topics provide solutions to problems that you might encounter during the ESXi booting.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 8 In the ScratchConfig.ConfiguredScratchLocation text box, enter a directory path that is unique for this host. For example, /vmfs/volumes/DatastoreUUID/DatastoreFolder. 9 Reboot the host for the changes to take effect. Host Fails to Boot After You Install ESXi in UEFI Mode When you install ESXi on a host machine in UEFI mode, the machine might fail to boot. Problem When you reboot after installing ESXi on a host machine in UEFI mode, the reboot might fail.
Decommission an ESXi Host 7 If you do not want your server to be an ESXi host, you can decommission the ESXi host machine. Procedure 1 Remove VMFS datastores on the internal disks so that the internal disks are no longer set up to store virtual machines. 2 Change the boot setting in the BIOS so that the host no longer boots into ESXi. 3 Install another operating system in its place. VMware, Inc.
