VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Update 3 VMware vSphere 7.0 VMware ESXi 7.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware website at: https://docs.vmware.com/ VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com Copyright VMware, Inc. © 2018-2022 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright and trademark information.
Contents 1 About VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 5 2 Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup 6 3 Overview of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process 7 4 About ESXi Evaluation and Licensed Modes 10 5 Installing and Setting Up ESXi 11 ESXi Requirements 11 ESXi System Storage Overview ESXi Hardware Requirements 11 14 Supported Remote Management Server Models and Firmware Versions Recommendations for Enhanced ESXi Performance 18 Incoming and Outgoing Firewall Ports for ESXi Hosts Required F
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Configuring Network Settings Storage Behavior 219 226 Configuring System Logging 228 Set the Host Image Profile Acceptance Level Remove All Custom Packages on ESXi 234 235 Deactivate Support for Non-ASCII Characters in Virtual Machine File and Directory Names 235 Reset the System Configuration After You Install and Set Up ESXi Licensing ESXi Hosts View System Logs 235 236 236 238 6 Troubleshooting ESXi Booting 239 Host Stops Unexpectedly at Bootup When Sharing
About VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 1 VMware ESXi Installation and Setup describes how to install and configure VMware ESXi™. At VMware, we value inclusion. To foster this principle within our customer, partner, and internal community, we have updated this guide to remove instances of non-inclusive language. Intended Audience VMware ESXi Installation and Setup is intended for experienced administrators who want to install and configure ESXi.
Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup 2 vSphere 7.0 provides various options for installation and setup. To ensure a successful vSphere deployment, you should 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.
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. vSphere Installation and Setup Workflow Start the vSphere installation and setup Install ESXi on at least one host Set up ESXi Deploy vCenter Server Appliance Log in to the vSphere Client to create and organize your vCenter Server inventory End of the vSphere installation and setup 1 Read the vSphere release notes. 2 Install ESXi. a Verify that your system meets the minimum hardware requirements. See ESXi Requirements.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup e Install ESXi. n Installing ESXi Interactively n Installing or Upgrading Hosts by Using a Script Note You can also provision ESXi hosts by using vSphere Auto Deploy, but vSphere Auto Deploy is installed together with vCenter Server. To provision ESXi hosts by using Auto Deploy, you must install vCenter Server. 3 Configure the ESXi boot and network settings, the direct console, and other settings. See Setting Up ESXi and After You Install and Set Up 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. ESXi System Storage Overview ESXi 7.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-1. ESXi 7.0 system storage partitions: (continued) Partition Use Type Boot-bank 1 System space to store ESXi boot modules. FAT16 ESX-OSData Acts as the unified location to store additional modules. VMFS-L Not used for booting and virtual machines. Consolidates the legacy /scratch partition, locker partition for VMware Tools, and core dump destinations.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You can review the boot media capacity and the automatic sizing as configured by the ESXi installer by using the vSphere Client and navigating to the Partition Details view. Alternatively, you can use ESXCLI, for example the esxcli storage filesystem list command. Table 5-2. ESXi 7.0 System Storage Sizes, Depending on the Used Boot Media and Its Capacity.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-3. ESXi 7.0 system storage symbolic links. (continued) System Storage Volume Symbolic Link Persistent data /productLocker /locker /var/core /usr/lib/vmware/isoimages /usr/lib/vmware/floppies Non-persistent data /var/run /var/log /var/vmware /var/tmp /scratch ESXi Hardware Requirements Make sure that the host meets the minimum hardware configurations supported by ESXi 7.0.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 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. These disks are not used as a scratch partition by default because they are seen as remote. Note You cannot connect a SATA CD-ROM device to a virtual machine on an ESXi host. To use the SATA CD-ROM device, you must use IDE emulation mode.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Starting with ESXi 7.0 Update 3, if the boot device is a USB or SD card with no local persistent storage, such as HDD, SSD, or a NVMe device, the VMware Tools partition is automatically created on the RAM disk. For more information, see Knowledge Base article 83376.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n The core dump partition is wiped. The application core dump files that are stored on the scratch partition are deleted. Note Rollback to an earlier version of ESXi is not possible due to the repartitioning process of the boot device. To use an earlier version of ESXi after upgrading to version 7.0, you must create a backup of the boot device before the upgrade, and restore the ESXi boot device from the backup.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-4. Supported Remote Management Server Models and Minimum Firmware Versions (continued) Remote Management Server Model Firmware Version Java HP ILO 2 1.8, 1.81 1.6.0_20, 1.6.0_23 HP ILO 3 1.28 1.7.0_60-b19 HP ILO 4 1.13 1.7.0_60-b19 HP ILO 5 2.15 N/A IBM RSA 2 1.03, 1.2 1.6.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-5. Recommendations for Enhanced Performance (continued) System Element Recommendation Disk location Place all data that your virtual machines use on physical disks allocated specifically to virtual machines. Performance is better when you do not place your virtual machines on the disk containing the ESXi boot image. Use physical disks that are large enough to hold disk images that all the virtual machines use.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup All vSphere components use this infrastructure. The default values for log capacity in this infrastructure vary, depending on the amount of storage available and on how you have configured system logging. Hosts that are deployed with Auto Deploy store logs on a RAM disk, which means that the amount of space available for logs is small.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup ESXi Passwords and Account Lockout For ESXi hosts, you must use a password with predefined requirements. You can change the required length and character class requirement or allow pass phrases using the Security.PasswordQualityControl advanced option. You can also set the number of passwords to remember for each user using the Security.PasswordHistory advanced option. Note The default requirements for ESXi passwords can change from one release to the next.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup The following password candidates do not meet requirements. n Xqat3hi: Begins with an uppercase character, reducing the effective number of character classes to two. The minimum number of required character classes is three. n xQaTEh2: Ends with a number, reducing the effective number of character classes to two. The minimum number of required character classes is three. ESXi Pass Phrase Instead of a password, you can also use a pass phrase.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup ESXi Account Lockout Behavior Account locking is supported for access through SSH and through the vSphere Web Services SDK. The Direct Console Interface (DCUI) and the ESXi Shell do not support account lockout. By default, a maximum of five failed attempts is allowed before the account is locked. The account is unlocked after 15 minutes by default.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup For product patches to ESXi, see VMware knowledge base article 1021623 or go to https:// my.vmware.com/group/vmware/patch. 7 Confirm the checksums. Options for Installing ESXi ESXi can be installed in several ways. To ensure the best vSphere deployment, understand the options thoroughly before beginning the installation. ESXi installations are designed to accommodate a range of deployment sizes.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup vSphere Auto Deploy can provision hundreds of physical hosts with ESXi software. You can specify the image to deploy and the hosts to provision with the image. Optionally, you can specify host profiles to apply to the hosts, a vCenter Server location (datacenter, folder, or cluster), and script bundle for each host. vCenter Server makes ESXi updates and patches available for download in the form of an image profile.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Format a USB Flash Drive to Boot the ESXi Installation or Upgrade You can format a USB flash drive to boot the ESXi installation or upgrade. The instructions in this procedure assume that the USB flash drive is detected as /dev/sdb. Note The ks.cfg file that contains the installation script cannot be located on the same USB flash drive that you are using to boot the installation or upgrade. The kickstart file does not have any dependency on BIOS or UEFI boot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Create a USB Flash Drive to Store the ESXi Installation Script or Upgrade Script You can use a USB flash drive to store the ESXi installation script or upgrade script that is used during scripted installation or upgrade of ESXi. When multiple USB flash drives are present on the installation machine, the installation software searches for the installation or upgrade script on all attached USB flash drives.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 5 Copy the ESXi installation script to the USB flash drive. cp ks.cfg /usbdisk 6 Unmount the USB flash drive. umount /usbdisk Results The USB flash drive contains the installation or upgrade script for ESXi. 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.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 5 Modify the boot.cfg file in both /esxi_cdrom/efi/boot/boot.cfg (for UEFI boot) and / esxi_cdrom/boot.cfg (for legacy BIOS boot) to specify the location of the installation or upgrade script by using the kernelopt option. You must use uppercase characters to provide the path of the script, for example, kernelopt=runweasel ks=cdrom:/KS_CUST.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Native UEFI HTTP uses DHCP and HTTP to boot over a network. UEFI HTTP boot requires a network infrastructure, UEFI firmware version on the ESXi host that includes HTTP boot feature, and a network adapter that supports UEFI networking. Booting by using HTTP is faster and more reliable than using TFTP. This is due to the capabilities of the TCP protocol that underlies the HTTP, such as built-in streaming and lost packet recovery.
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 vSphere 7.0 introduced new ways of packaging VIBs along with legacy bulletins and patches, and software depots contain base images, vendor addons and components, along with VIBs and image profiles. VMware PowerCLI 12.0 and later provide cmdlets that work with the new content in software depots. VMware.ImageBuilder includes the following cmdlets. Note When you run VMware.ImageBuilder cmdlets, provide all parameters on the command line when you invoke the cmdlet.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-10. VMware.ImageBuilder Cmdlets Used with New Content in Software Depots Cmdlet Description Get-DepotAddons Retrieves an array of objects that provide basic information about addons in a software depot. Get-DepotBaseImages Retrieves an array of objects that provide basic information about base images in a software depot. Get-DepotComponents Retrieves an array of objects that provide basic information about components in a software depot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Two VIBs with the same name, but two different versions, cannot coexist. When you add a new version of a VIB, the new version replaces the existing version of the VIB. n No acceptance level validation issues exist. 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.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup testing for the same technology. Today, only I/O Vendor Program (IOVP) program drivers are published at this level. VMware takes support calls for VIBs with this acceptance level. VMwareAccepted VIBs with this acceptance level go through verification testing, but the tests do not fully test every function of the software. The partner runs the tests and VMware verifies the result. Today, CIM providers and PSA plug-ins are among the VIBs published at this level.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Name Type Description ModifiedTime System.DateTime The timestamp of last modification time. Name System.String The name of the image profile. 80 characters or fewer. ReadOnly System.Boolean When set to true, the profile cannot be edited. Use Set-EsxImageProfile -Readonly to make your custom image profiles read-only. Rules ImageProfileRule[] Any OEM hardware requirements and restrictions that the image profile might have.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Name Type Description Name System.String The name of the VIB. Usually uniquely describes the package on a running ESXi system. Provides SoftwareProvides The list of virtual packages or interfaces this VIB provides. See SoftwareProvide Object Properties. ReferenceURLs SupportReference[] The list of SupportReference objects with in-depth support information. The SupportReference object has two properties, Title and URL, both of type System.String.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Name Type Description CompAcceptanceLevel System.String The acceptance level for the second profile that you passed to CompareEsxImageProfile. DowngradeFromRef System.String[] The list of VIBs in the second profile that are downgrades from VIBs in the first profile. Equal System.Boolean True if the two image profiles have identical packages and acceptance levels. OnlyInComp System.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup The SoftwareConstraint object includes the following properties. Name Type Description Name System.String The name of the constraint. This name should match a corresponding SoftwareProvide Name property. Relation System.String An enum, or one of the following comparison indicators: <<, <=, = >=, >>. This property can be $null if the constraint does not have a Relation and Version property. Version System.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Prerequisites If you want to manage vSphere ESXi Image Builder with PowerCLI cmdlets, verify that Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 or 4.5.x and Windows PowerShell 3.0 or 4.0 are installed on a Microsoft Windows system. See thePowerCLI User's Guide. Procedure 1 Open PowerShell on your workstation. 2 Download a version of PowerCLI later than PowerCLI 6.5R1 from the PowerCLI home page. 3 To install all PowerCLI modules, run the command: Install-Module VMware.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Click Enable Image Builder to activate the service. The Software Depot page appears. What to do next n Add a Software Depot. n Import a Software Depot. n Clone an Image Profile. n Create an Image Profile. n Prepare Your System for vSphere Auto Deploy. n You can change the default configuration properties of the Image Builder Service. For more information, see "Configuring vCenter Server" in the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 When you run the cmdlet that needs the object as input, access the object by position, with the list starting with 0. Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile $profs[4] -SoftwarePackage partner-pkg The example adds the specified software package to the fifth image profile in the list returned by Get-EsxImageProfile. Most of the examples in the vCenter Server Installation and Setup documentation pass in parameters by name.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Export an Image Profile to ISO or Offline Bundle ZIP You can export an image profile to an ISO image or a ZIP file by using the vSphere Client. You can use the ISO image as an ESXi installer or to upgrade hosts with vSphere Lifecycle Manager. The ZIP file contains metadata and the VIBs of the image profile. You can use it for ESXi upgrades or as an offline depot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Results The software depot is added to the list. What to do next n 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. 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. n Remove a custom software depot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Clone an Image Profile You can use the vSphere 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. Prerequisites n Verify that the vSphere ESXi Image Builder service is enabled and running. See Configure the vSphere ESXi Image Builder.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup vSphere ESXi Image Builder verifies that the change does not invalidate the profile. Some VIBs depend on other VIBs and become invalid if you include them in an image profile separately. When you add or remove a VIB, vSphere ESXi Image Builder checks whether the package dependencies are met. 9 On the Ready to complete page, review the summary information for the new image profile and click Finish.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 6 From the drop-down menu, select an acceptance level for the image profile. 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. If you add a VIB with a lower acceptance level to the image profile, you must lower the image profile acceptance level. For more information, see Working with Acceptance Levels.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 Navigate to Home > Auto Deploy. By default, only the administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere ESXi Image Builder service. 2 On the Software Depots tab, use the drop-down menu to select the software depot that contains the image profile that you want to work with. 3 On the Image Profiles tab, select the image profile that you want to edit and click Edit. The Edit Image Profile wizard appears.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Prerequisites n Verify that the vSphere ESXi Image Builder service is enabled and running. See Configure the vSphere ESXi Image Builder. 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 Navigate to Home > Auto Deploy. By default, only the administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere ESXi Image Builder service.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 Navigate to Home > Auto Deploy. By default, only the administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere ESXi Image Builder service. 2 On the Software Depots tab, use the drop-down menu to select the software depot that contains the image profile that you want to work with. 3 On the Image Profiles tab, select an image profile and click Move to. 4 From the drop-down menu, select the custom depot in which you want to move the image profile.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 Select the type of the exported file. Option Description ISO Exports the image profile to a bootable ISO image. If you want to create an ISO image that you can burn to a CD or DVD and use to start a stateless ESXi instance, select the Do not include an installer on the ISO check box. ZIP Exports the image profile to a ZIP file. 5 (Optional) If you want to bypass the acceptance level verification of the image profile, select Skip acceptance level checking.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 If the rule is active, first you must deactivate the rule. a Click the Activate/Deactive Rules tab b In the dialog box, select the rule. c In the dialog box, select Deactivate and click OK. 4 Select Reacreate Image Profile and in the confirmation dialog box, click Recreate. 5 (Optional) Activate the rule again. a Click the Activate/Deactive Rules tab b In the dialog box, select the rule. c In the dialog box, select Activate and click OK.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 (Optional) Run the Get-EsxImageProfile cmdlet to find the name of the profile that you want to clone. You can use filtering options with Get-EsxImageProfile. 3 Run the New-EsxImageProfile cmdlet to create the new profile and use the -CloneProfile parameter to specify the profile you want to clone. New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile My_Profile -Name "Test Profile 42" This example clones the profile named My_Profile and assigns it the name Test Profile 42.
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 . ZIP file a Download the ZIP file to a local file system. b Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl C:\\.zip The cmdlet returns one or more SoftwareDepot objects. 2 Run the Get-EsxImageProfile cmdlet to list all image profiles in all currently visible depots.
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 . ZIP file a Download the ZIP file to a local file system. b Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl C:\\.zip The cmdlet returns one or more SoftwareDepot objects. 2 Run Export-EsxImageProfile to export the image profile.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Export the image profile. Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile "myprofile" -ExportToBundle -FilePath C:\my_bundle.zip What to do next Use the ISO image in an ESXi installation or upload the ISO image into vSphere Lifecycle Manager to perform upgrades. Use the ZIP file to upgrade an ESXi installation. n Import the ZIP file into vSphere Lifecycle Manager for use with patch baselines.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup -----------------7.0.2-0.0.17867351 04/29/2021 00:00:00 b -----VMware, Inc. Get other packages, such as OEM addons, with cmdlets used with new metadata in software depots. For example: PS C:\> Get-DepotAddons -Depot C:\addon-depot.zip The command output is: Name Version Vendor Release date -------------------------testaddonv1 1.0.0-1 QE 02/20/2019 18:28:23 ID -testaddonv1:1.0.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Generate a custom ISO image by running the New-IsoImage cmdlet with the parameters Depots,SoftwareSpec and Destination. For example: New-IsoImage -Depots “c:\temp\VMware-ESXi-7.0U1d-17551050-depot.zip” , “c:\temp\HPE-701.0.0.10.6.5.12-Jan2021-Synergy-Addon-depot.zip” -SoftwareSpec “c:\temp\HPE-70U1d-custom.JSON” -Destination “c:\temp\HPE-70U1d-custom.iso” The depot(s) include the path to the zip files for the supported ESXi version and vendor add-on.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup b Get other packages, such as OEM addons, with cmdlets used with new metadata in software depots. For example: PS C:\> Get-DepotAddons -Depot C:\addon-depot.zip The command output is: Name Version Vendor Release date -------------------------testaddonv1 1.0.0-1 QE 02/20/2019 18:28:23 ID -testaddonv1:1.0.0-1 ESXLifecycle You can also list all components in a sofware depot with the Get-DepotComponents cmdlet: PS C:\> Get-DepotComponents -Depot C:\Inteli40en_1.12.3.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Generate a custom PXE image by running the New-PxeImage cmdlet with the parameters Depots,SoftwareSpec and Destination. For example: New-PxeImage -Depots “c:\temp\VMware-ESXi-7.0U1d-17551050-depot.zip” , “c:\temp\HPE-701.0.0.10.6.5.12-Jan2021-Synergy-Addon-depot.zip” -SoftwareSpec “c:\temp\HPE-70U1d-custom.JSON” –Destination “C:\pxe-image” The depot(s) include the path to the zip files for the supported ESXi version and vendor add-on.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Compare Image Profiles with PowerCLI Cmdlets 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. Prerequisites Install the PowerCLI and all prerequisite software. See Install vSphere ESXi Image Builder and Prerequisite Software.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Compare the two image profiles by VIB list and acceptance level using the -eq comparison operator. if ($imageProfile1 -eq $imageProfile2) { Write-host "Successfully verified that both image profiles are equal." } else { Write-host "Failed to verify that the image profiles are equal." } n Compare the two image profiles by a specific property using the -eq comparison operator. if ($imageProfile1.vendor -eq $imageProfile2.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 Use a comparison operator to compare the VIBs by contents and acceptance level or by a specific property. n Compare the two VIBs by their contents and acceptance level. if ($vib1 -eq $vib2) { Write-host "Successfully verified that both VIBs are equal." } else { Write-host "Failed to verify that the VIBs are equal." } n Compare a specific property of the VIBs by using a comparison operator such as -eq, -lt, -le, -gt, or -ge. if ($vib1.VersionObject -lt $vib2.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup A VIB's acceptance level is set when the VIB is created. Only the VIB creator can set the acceptance level. If you attempt to provision a host with an image profile or VIB that has a lower acceptance level than the host, an error occurs. Change the acceptance level of the host to install the image profile or VIB. See Change the Host Acceptance Level. Changing the acceptance level of the host changes the support level for that host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup The acceptance level of each VIB on a host must be at least as high as the acceptance level of the host. For example, you cannot install a VIB with PartnerSupported acceptance level on a host with VMwareAccepted acceptance level. You must first lower the acceptance level of the host. For more information on acceptance levels, see Acceptance Levels.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup The value for acceptance_level can be VMwareCertified, VMwareAccepted, PartnerSupported, or CommunitySupported. The values for acceptance_level are case-sensitive. Note If the host has a higher acceptance level than the VIB or image profile you want to add, you can run commands in the esxcli software vib or esxcli software profile namespace with the --force option.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup vSphere ESXi Image Builder Workflows with PowerCLI Cmdlets vSphere ESXi Image Builder workflows are examples for cmdlet use. 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. Examine Depot Contents You can examine software depots and VIBs with vSphere ESXi Image Builder cmdlets.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Returns all software packages from a vendor with a name that starts with the letter V. n Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -Vendor "V*" -Name "*scsi*" Returns all software packages with a name that contains the string scsi in it from a vendor with a name that starts with the letter V. n Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -Version "2.0*" Returns all software packages with a version string that starts with 2.0. 4 Use -Newest to find the latest package.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Create Image Profiles by Cloning Workflow You can use vSphere ESXi Image Builder cmdlets to check which depots are available, to add a depot, to view image profile information, and to create a new image profile by cloning one of the available image profiles. Published profiles are usually read-only and cannot be modified.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 6 (Optional) View the newly created image profile, $ip. PowerShell returns the information about the image profile in tabular format. Name ---Test Profile 42 Vendor -----Vendor20 Last Modified ------------9/15/2010 5:45:43...
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure In a PowerCLI session, run the Add-EsxSoftwareDepot cmdlet for each depot you want to 1 work with. Option Action Remote depot Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl . ZIP file a Download the ZIP file to a local file system. b Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl C:\\.zip The cmdlet returns one or more SoftwareDepot objects. Run the Get-EsxImageProfile cmdlet to list all image profiles in all currently visible depots.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Prerequisites n PowerCLI and prerequisite software is installed. See Install vSphere ESXi Image Builder and Prerequisite Software. n You have access to a depot that includes a base image and one or more VIBs. VMware and VMware partners make public depots, accessible by a URL, available. VMware or VMware partners can create a ZIP file that you can download to your local environment and access by using a file path.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 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:... VMwareAccepted Add a software package (VIB) to the image profile. You can add the package by name. Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile "Test #2" -SoftwarePackage NewPack3 PowerShell returns the information about the image profile in tabular format.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 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 selected. Table 5-11. Required Information for ESXi Installation Information Required or Optional Default Keyboard layout Required U.S.
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 Procedure 1 Insert the ESXi installer CD/DVD into the CD/DVD-ROM drive, or attach the Installer USB flash drive and restart the machine. 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.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 9 Set the first boot device to be the drive on which you installed ESXi in Step 3. For information about changing boot order, see your hardware vendor documentation. Note UEFI systems might require additional steps to set the boot device. See Host Fails to Boot After You Install ESXi in UEFI Mode Results 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.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 On the Select a Disk screen, select the iSCSI target you specified in the iBFT BIOS target parameter setting. If the target does not appear in this menu, make sure that the TCP/IP and initiator iSCSI IQN settings are correct. Check the network Access Control List (ACL) and confirm that the adapter has adequate permissions to access the target. 3 Follow the prompts to complete the installation. 4 Reboot the host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-12. Scripted Installation Choices Option Action Always install on the first disk on multiple machines. Create one script. Install ESXi on a different disk for each machine. Create multiple scripts. For information about the commands required to specify the disk to install on, see Installation and Upgrade Script Commands.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Example: Boot Option You type the following boot options: ks=http://00.00.00.00/kickstart/ks-osdc-pdp101.cfg nameserver=00.00.0.0 ip=00.00.00.000 netmask=255.255.255.0 gateway=00.00.00.000 Boot Options When you perform a scripted installation, you might need to specify options at boot time to access the kickstart file. Supported Boot Options Table 5-13.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-13. Boot Options for ESXi Installation (continued) Boot Option Description ksdevice=device Tries to use a network adapter device when looking for an installation script and installation media. Specify as a MAC address, for example, 00:50:56:C0:00:01. This location can also be a vmnicNN name. If not specified and files need to be retrieved over the network, the installer defaults to the first discovered network adapter that is plugged in.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 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. When you install ESXi using the ks.cfg script, the default root password is myp@ssw0rd. You cannot modify the default script on the installation media.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 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. See Enter Boot Options to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup any disk that uses the mptsas 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. dryrun (Optional) Parses and checks the installation script. Does not perform the installation. install Specifies that this is a fresh installation.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup --overwritevsan You must use the --overwritevsan option when you install ESXi on a disk, either SSD or HDD (magnetic), that is in a vSAN disk group. If you use this option and no vSAN partition is on the selected disk, the installation fails. When you install ESXi on a disk that is in vSAN disk group, the result depends on the disk that you select: n If you select an SSD, the SSD and all underlying HDDs in the same disk group is wiped.
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 ESX installed on it, model and vendor information, or the name of the VMkernel device driver.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Estonian n Finnish n French n German n Greek n Icelandic n Italian n Japanese n Latin American n Norwegian n Polish n Portuguese n Russian n Slovenian n Spanish n Swedish n Swiss French n Swiss German n Turkish n Ukrainian n United Kingdom n US Default n US Dvorak serialnum or vmserialnum (Optional) The command is supported in ESXi version 5.1 and later. Configures licensing.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup network (Optional) Specifies a network address for the system. --bootproto=[dhcp| static] --device= Specifies whether to obtain the network settings from DHCP or set them manually. Specifies either the MAC address of the network card or the device name, in the form vmnicNN, as in vmnic0. This option refers to the uplink device for the virtual switch. --ip= Sets an IP address for the machine to be installed, in the form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup part or partition (Optional) Creates an extra 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. --firstdisk= disk-type1, Partitions the first eligible disk found.
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 a disk name or a full disk filesystem path in ESXi, for example: n Disk name: --disk=naa.6d09466044143600247aee55ca2a6405 or n Device path: --disk=/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.
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 stopped.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup For more information on storage device names, see Storage Device Names and Identifiers in the vSphere Storage documentation. About the boot.cfg File The boot loader configuration file boot.cfg specifies the kernel, the kernel options, and the boot modules that the mboot.c32 or mboot.efi boot loader uses in an ESXi installation. The boot.cfg file is provided in the ESXi installer. You can modify the kernelopt line of the boot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You can start the installation or upgrade script by entering a boot option when you start the host. You can also create an installer ISO image that includes the installation script. With an installer ISO image, you can perform a scripted, unattended installation when you boot the resulting installer ISO image. See Create an Installer ISO Image with a Custom Installation or Upgrade Script.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Install or Upgrade ESXi from a USB Flash Drive by Using a Script You can install or upgrade ESXi from a USB flash drive by using a script that specifies the installation or upgrade options. Supported boot options are listed in Boot Options .
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Performing a Scripted Installation or Upgrade of ESXi by Network Booting the Installer ESXi 7.0 provides many options for booting the installer over a network and using an installation or upgrade script. n For information about setting up a network infrastructure, see Network Booting the ESXi Installer. n For information about creating and locating an installation script, see About Installation and Upgrade Scripts.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Figure 5-4. Overview of PXE Boot Installation Process ESXi target host UDP DHCP server IP & TFTP server TCP or UDP TFTP or HTTP server Give me the kernel kernel UDP DHCP server Give me the network boot loader mboot and supporting files TCP or UDP TFTP or HTTP server Give me an IP for the network adapter Give me the IP for the kernel IP TCP Give me an installation script ks.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Boot the ESXi Installer by Using PXE and 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 Procedure 1 If your ESXi host runs legacy BIOS firmware only, obtain and configure PXELINUX. a Obtain SYSLINUX version 3.86, unpack it, and copy the pxelinux.0 file to the top-level / tftpboot directory on your TFTP server. b Create a PXELINUX configuration file using the following code model. ESXi-7.x.x-XXXXXX is the name of the TFTP subdirectory that contains the ESXi installer files. DEFAULT install NOHALT 1 LABEL install KERNEL ESXi-7.x.x-XXXXXX/mboot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 6 Modify the boot.cfg file a Add the following line: prefix=ESXi-7.x.x-xxxxxx Here, ESXi-7.x.x-xxxxxx is the pathname of the installer files relative to the TFTP server's root directory. b If the filenames in the kernel= and modules= lines begin with a forward slash (/) character, delete that character. c 7 If the kernelopt= line contains the string cdromBoot, remove the string only. (Optional) For a scripted installation, in the boot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Prerequisites Verify that your environment has the following components: n ESXi installer ISO image, downloaded from the VMware Web site. n Target host with a hardware configuration that is supported for your version of ESXi. See the VMware Compatibility Guide. n Network adapter with PXE support on the target ESXi host. n DHCP server that you can configure for PXE booting. See Sample DHCP Configurations. n TFTP server.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 If your ESXi host runs legacy BIOS firmware only, obtain and configure PXELINUX. a Obtain SYSLINUX version 3.86, unpack it, and copy the pxelinux.0 file to the /tftpboot directory on your TFTP server. b Create a PXELINUX configuration file using the following code model. ESXi-7.x.x-XXXXXX is the name of the TFTP subdirectory that contains the ESXi installer files. DEFAULT install NOHALT 1 LABEL install KERNEL ESXi-7.x.x-XXXXXX/mboot.c32 APPEND -c ESXi-7.x.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 7 Modify the boot.cfg file a Add the following line: prefix=http://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/ESXi-7.x.x-XXXXXX where http://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/ESXi-7.x.x-XXXXXX is the location of the installer files on the HTTP server. b If the filenames in the kernel= and modules= lines begin with a forward slash (/) character, delete that character. c 8 If the kernelopt= line contains the string cdromBoot, remove the string only. (Optional) For a scripted installation, in the boot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Prerequisites Verify that your environment has the following components: n ESXi host with UEFI firmware that supports the HTTP boot feature. n ESXi installer ISO image, downloaded from the VMware Web site. n Target host with a hardware configuration that is supported for your version of ESXi. See the VMware Compatibility Guide. n Network adapter with UEFI networking support on the target ESXi host. n DHCP server that you can configure for UEFI HTTP booting.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 7 (Optional) Starting with ESXi 7.0 Update 2, you can use the virtual machine configuration parameters networkBootProtocol and networkBootUri to specify from where a virtual machines can boot. The setting networkBootProtocol specifies the boot protocol, IPv4 or IPv6. For example, networkBootProtocol = httpv4. The setting networkBootUri specifies the HTTP URL to the ESXi bootloader (bootx64.efi). For example, networkBootUri = http:// 192.168.30.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n PXELINUX is a SYSXLINUX configuration for booting from a TFTP server according to the PXE standard. If you use PXELINUX to boot the ESXi installer, the pxelinux.0 binary file, mboot.c32, the configuration file, the kernel, and other files are transferred by TFTP. Note VMware builds the mboot.c32 plugin to work with SYSLINUX version 3.86 and tests PXE booting only with that version. Other versions might be incompatible.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Required Files In the PXE configuration file, you must include paths to the following files: n mboot.c32 is the boot loader. n boot.cfg is the boot loader configuration file. See About the boot.cfg File Filename for the PXE Configuration File For the filename of the PXE configuration file, select one of the following options: n 01-mac_address_of_target_ESXi_host. For example, 01-23-45-67-89-0a-bc n The target ESXi host IP address in a hexadecimal notation.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup There are many DHCP servers that you can use. The following examples are for a ISC DHCP server. 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 PXE and TFTP with IPv4 This example shows how to configure an ISC DHCP server to PXE boot ESXi using a TFTP server at IPv4 address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Example of Booting Using iPXE and HTTP with IPv4 This example shows how to configure an ISC DHCP server to boot ESXi by loading iPXE from a TFTP server at IPv4 address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. # # ISC DHCP 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 option dhcp6.bootfile-url code 59 = string; if exists user-class and option user-class = "iPXE" { # Instruct iPXE to load mboot.efi as secondary bootloader option dhcp6.bootfile-url "tftp://[xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx::xxxx]/mboot.efi"; } else { # Load the snponly.efi configuration of iPXE as initial bootloader option dhcp6.bootfile-url "tftp://[xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx::xxxx]/snponly.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup option dhcp6.user-class code 15 = { integer 16, string }; option dhcp6.vendor-class code 16 = { integer 32, integer 16, string }; if option dhcp6.client-arch-type = 00:10 { # x86_64 HTTP clients option dhcp6.vendor-class 0 10 "HTTPClient"; option dhcp6.bootfile-url "http://www.example.com/esxi/mboot.efi"; } Installing ESXi Using vSphere Auto Deploy vSphere Auto Deploy lets you provision hundreds of physical hosts with ESXi software.
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 5-16. 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 5-5. 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) Fetch of predefined image profiles and VIBs Plug-in Host profile engine ESXi host 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 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. Host customization Stores information that the user provides when host profiles are applied to the host. Host customization might contain an IP address or other information that the user supplied for that host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 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. Pattern The pattern specifies the host or group of hosts to which the rule applies. vendor Machine vendor name.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup type is mapped by the rules, the vSphere Auto Deploy server uses the item that is first in the rule set. Working Rule Set The working rule set allows you to test changes to rules before making the changes active. For example, you can use vSphere Auto Deploy cmdlets for testing compliance with the working rule set. The test verifies that hosts managed by a vCenter Server system are following the rules in the working rule set.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n n Identify an image profile to be used in one of the following ways. n Choose an ESXi image profile in a public depot. n (Optional) Create a custom image profile by using vSphere ESXi Image Builder, and place the image profile in a depot that the vSphere Auto Deploy server can access. The image profile must include a base ESXi VIB.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You must reapply the host profile and update the host customization to have the host exit maintenance mode. When you update the host customization, answer any questions when prompted. 8 If the host is part of a DRS cluster, virtual machines from other hosts might be migrated to the host after the host has successfully been added to the vCenter Server system. See Provision a Host (First Boot). Figure 5-6.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup vSphere Auto Deploy cannot set up vSphere distributed switches if vCenter Server is unavailable, and virtual machines are assigned to hosts only if they participate in an HA cluster. Until the host is reconnected to vCenter Server and the host profile is applied, the switch cannot be created. Because the host is in maintenance mode, virtual machines cannot start. See Reprovision Hosts with Simple Reboot Operations.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup When you configure the distributed switch, the boot configuration parameters policy is automatically set to match the network parameters required for host connectivity after a reboot. When vSphere Auto Deploy provisions the ESXi host with the host profile, the host goes through a two-step process. 1 The host creates a standard virtual switch with the properties specified in the boot configuration parameters field. 2 The host creates the VMkernel NICs.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup See Create a Deploy Rule. Note vSphere Auto Deploy is optimized for provisioning hosts that have a fixed MAC address to IP address mapping in DHCP (sometimes called DHCP reservations). If you want to use static IP addresses, you must set up the host profile to prompt for host customization. For more information, see the vSphere Host Profiles documentation. 6 Power on the hosts that you want to provision.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup See Set Up vSphere Auto Deploy and Provision Hosts with vSphere PowerCLI for a step-by-step exercise that helps you set up your first vSphere Auto Deploy environment. To provision the hosts in your environment with vSphere Auto Deploy successfully, you can follow these steps. 1 Deploy vCenter Server. The vSphere Auto Deploy server is included. 2 Configure the vSphere Auto Deploy service startup type. See Prepare Your System for vSphere Auto Deploy.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 9 Set up the host you provisioned as a reference host for your host profile. You can specify the reference host syslog settings, firewall settings, storage, networking, and so on. See Setting Up a vSphere Auto Deploy Reference Host. 10 Create and export a host profile for the reference host. See the Host Profiles documentation. 11 To provision multiple hosts with the host profile, use the Copy-DeployRule cmdlet to edit the previously created rule.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Using vSphere Auto Deploy Cmdlets vSphere Auto Deploy cmdlets are implemented as Microsoft PowerShell cmdlets and included in PowerCLI. Users of vSphere Auto Deploy cmdlets can take advantage of all PowerCLI features. n Set Up Bulk Licensing You can use the vSphere Client or ESXi Shell to specify individual license keys, or you can set up bulk licensing by using PowerCLI cmdlets.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Obtain administrative privileges to the DHCP server that manages the network segment you want to boot from. You can use a DHCP server already in your environment, or install a DHCP server. For your vSphere Auto Deploy setup, replace the gpxelinux.0 filename with snponly64.efi.vmw-hardwired for UEFI or undionly.kpxe.vmw-hardwired for BIOS. For more information on DHCP configurations, see Sample DHCP Configurations.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 Configure the TFTP server. a Click the Configure tab. b Click Download TFTP Boot Zip to download the TFTP configuration file and unzip the file to the directory in which your TFTP server stores files. c (Optional) To use a proxy server, click Add on the Auto Deploy Runtime Summary pane and enter a proxy server URL in the text box. Using reverse proxy servers can offload the requests made to the vSphere Auto Deploy server.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n (Optional) Configure the first host that you provision as a reference host. Use the storage, networking, and other settings you want for your target hosts to share. Create a host profile for the reference host and write a rule that assigns both the already tested image profile and the host profile to target hosts.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 View the itemlist property of the object to see the difference between what is in the rule set and what the host is currently using. $tr.itemlist 3 Remediate the host to use the revised rule set by using the RepairDeployRuleSetCompliance cmdlet with the variable. Repair-DeployRuleSetCompliance $tr The example remediates the host the next time you boot the host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 Run a cmdlet that retrieves the data center in which the hosts for which you want to use the bulk licensing feature are located. $hostContainer = Get-Datacenter -Name Datacenter-X You can also run a cmdlet that retrieves a cluster to use bulk licensing for all hosts in a cluster, or retrieves a folder to use bulk licensing for all hosts in a folder. 3 Create a LicenseData object and a LicenseKeyEntry object with associated type ID and license key.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Detailed help: Get-Help cmdlet_name -Detailed Note When you run vSphere Auto Deploy cmdlets, provide all parameters on the command line when you invoke the cmdlet. Supplying parameters in interactive mode is not recommended. Table 5-17. Rule Engine PowerCLI Cmdlets Command Description Get-DeployCommand Returns a list of vSphere Auto Deploy cmdlets. New-DeployRule Creates a new rule with the specified items and patterns.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-17. Rule Engine PowerCLI Cmdlets (continued) Command Description Get-VMHostAttributes Retrieves the attributes for a host that are used when the vSphere Auto Deploy server evaluates the rules. Get-DeployMachineIdentity Returns a string value that vSphere Auto Deploy uses to logically link an ESXi host in vCenter Server to a physical machine. Set-DeployMachineIdentity Logically links a host object in the vCenter Server database to a physical machine.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup If you call the New-DeployRule cmdlet on an image profile that includes VIBs at the CommunitySupported level which violate the rule, set $DeployNoSignatureCheck = $true before adding the image profile. With that setting, the system ignores signature validation and does not perform the extensibility rules check. Note Image profiles that include VIBs at the CommunitySupported level are not supported on production systems.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 6 Add the rule to the rule set. Add-DeployRule testrule By default, the rule is added to both the working rule set and the active rule set. If you use the NoActivate parameter, the working rule set does not become the active rule set. Results When the host boots from iPXE, it reports attributes of the machine to the console. Use the same format of the attributes when writing deploy rules.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 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_or_ipv6_address The cmdlet might return a server certificate warning. In a production environment, make sure no server certificate warnings result. In a development environment, you can ignore the warning.
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 Verify that the folder you select is in a data center or in a cluster. You cannot assign the host to a standalone top-level folder. Procedure 1 In a PowerCLI session, run the Connect-VIServer cmdlet to connect to the vCenter Server system that vSphere Auto Deploy is registered with.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Prerequisites n Verify that the script bundle you want to associate with a vSphere Auto Deploy rule is in .tgz format, with a maximum size of 10 MB, and written in Python or BusyBox ash scripting language. Procedure 1 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_or_ipv6_address The cmdlet might return a server certificate warning.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 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 scripts. See Test and Repair Rule Compliance . n Turn on unprovisioned hosts to provision them with the new scripts. Test and Repair Rule Compliance When you add a rule to the vSphere Auto Deploy rule set or modify one or more rules, hosts are not updated automatically.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 5 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 MyEsxi42 6 Examine the differences between the contents of the rule set and configuration of the host. $tr.itemlist If the host for which you want to test the new rule set compliance is compliant with the active rule set, the system returns a table of current and expected items.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You can run the cmdlet multiple times to register multiple proxy servers. The address can contain a port number. 3 (Optional) Run the List-ProxyServer cmdlet to verify that the caching proxy server is registered with vSphere Auto Deploy. Managing vSphere Auto Deploy with the vSphere Client You can add ESXi hosts to the vSphere Auto Deploy inventory, create, monitor, and manage the vSphere Auto Deploy rules, and ESXi host associations by using the vSphere Client.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Option Action Host Location Add the hosts that match the criteria of the rule to a specific location. Image Profile Assign an image profile to the hosts that match the rule criteria. Host Profile Assign a host profile to the hosts that match the rule criteria. Script Bundle Assign a script bundle to the host that match the rule criteria.
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. n 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. Procedure Procedure 1 Navigate to Home > Auto Deploy.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 7 8 9 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 Select the Same Host location check box. If you want to select a new location for the selected hosts 1 Select the Browse for Host location check box. 2 Select a data center, folder, or cluster as host location. 3 Click Next.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Create a vSphere Auto Deploy rule. See Create a Deploy Rule. Procedure 1 Navigate to Home > Auto Deploy. By default, only the administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere Auto Deploy service. 2 On the Deploy Rules tab, from the list of rules in the inventory select the rule and click Edit. The Edit Deploy Rule dialog box appears. 3 (Optional) On the Name and hosts page of the wizard, enter a new name for the rule.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 7 8 On the Select image profile page of the wizard, select an image profile. Option Action If you do not want to change the image profile Select the Same image profile check box. If you want to assign a new image profile to the selected hosts 1 Select the Browse for Image Profile check box. 2 Select a software depot from the drop-down menu. 3 Select an image profile from the list.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 On the Deploy Rules tab, click Activate/Deactivate rules. The Activate and Reorder wizard appears. 3 (Optional) If you want to deactivate an active rule, select the rule from the active rules list and click the Deactivate button. 4 From the list of inactive rules, select the rule that you want to activate and click the Activate button.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Activate a vSphere Auto Deploy rule. See Activate, Deactivate, and Reorder Deploy Rules. Procedure 1 Navigate to Home > Auto Deploy. By default, only the administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere Auto Deploy service. 2 Check the host associations compliance. The Check Host Associations Compliance window displays the status of the host and whether the host is compliant with the active rule set.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 Navigate to Home > 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 check box.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 Navigate to Home > Auto Deploy. By default, only the administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere Auto Deploy service. 2 On the Deployed Hosts tab, select a single or multiple ESXi 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. You can monitor the progress of the remediation process in the Recent Tasks pane.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 3 Select Add to Inventory. Alternatively, click Remove to dismiss the selected hosts from the Discovered Hosts tab. The Add to Inventory wizard appears. 4 On the Select host location page of the wizard, select a data center, folder, or cluster as host location for the hosts that match the rule. 5 On the Select image profile page of the wizard, use the drop-down menu to select a software depot and choose an image profile from the list.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Verify that solutions, which are not integrated with vSphere Lifecycle Manager are not enabled for the cluster. Procedure 1 Navigate to Home > Auto Deploy. By default, only the administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere Auto Deploy service. 2 On the Deploy Rules tab, click New Deploy Rule. The New Deploy Rule wizard appears. 3 On the Name and hosts page of the wizard, enter a name for the new rule.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Since vSphere 6.7 Update 1, you can add or remove a custom script by using the vSphere Client. A script bundle can include multiple scripts and must be delivered as a single compressed file with the .tgz extension. After uploaded to the vCenter Server, you can include the script bundle to an Auto Deploy rule. Prerequisites n Verify that you can run the script in the ESXi Shell. Procedure 1 Navigate to Home > Auto Deploy.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 Select one of the nodes for which you want to retrieve a support bundle. The support bundle holds the services logs. 3 Click Export Support Bundle. 4 Select only VirtualAppliance > Auto Deploy. 5 Click the Export Support Bundle button to download the log files. Start, Stop, or Restart the vSphere Auto Deploy Service You can start, stop, or restart the Auto Deploy service in the vCenter Server Management Interface.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Provision a Host (First Boot) Provisioning a host that has never been provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy (first boot) differs from subsequent boot processes. You must prepare the host and fulfill all other prerequisites before you can provision the host. You can optionally define a custom image profile with vSphere ESXi Image Builder by using the vSphere Client or PowerCLI cmdlets. Prerequisites n Make sure your host meets the hardware requirements for ESXi hosts.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Reprovisioning Hosts vSphere Auto Deploy supports multiple reprovisioning options. You can perform a simple reboot or reprovision with a different image profile or a different host profile. A first boot using vSphere Auto Deploy requires that you set up your environment and add rules to the rule set. See Preparing for vSphere Auto Deploy. The following reprovisioning operations are available. n Simple reboot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Several options for reprovisioning hosts exist. n If the VIBs that you want to use support live update, you can use an esxcli software vib command. In that case, you must also update the rule set to use an image profile that includes the new VIBs. n During testing, you can apply an image profile to an individual host with the ApplyEsxImageProfile cmdlet and reboot the host so the change takes effect.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 5 Run Copy-DeployRule and specify the ReplaceItem parameter to change the rule that assigns an image profile to hosts. The following cmdlet replaces the current image profile that the rule assigns to the host with the my_new_imageprofile profile. After the cmdlet completes, myrule assigns the new image profile to hosts. The old version of myrule is renamed and hidden.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 Navigate to Home > Auto Deploy. By default, only the administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere Auto Deploy service. 2 On the Deploy Rules tab, from the list of rules in the inventory select the rule and click Edit. The Edit Deploy Rule dialog box appears. 3 (Optional) On the Name and hosts page of the wizard, enter a name for the new rule.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 10 Click Activate/Deactivate rules. 11 From the list of inactive rules, select the rule that you want to activate and click the Activate button. 12 (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 Move up or Move down above the list of active rules. The rules are listed by priority.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 Click Remediate Host Associations. You can monitor the progress of the remediation process in the Recent Tasks pane. 5 When prompted, provide the user input. 6 Direct the host to exit maintenance mode. Results The host customization is saved and takes effect the next time you boot the host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Using vSphere Auto Deploy for Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs The vSphere Auto Deploy stateless caching feature lets you cache the host's image. The vSphere Auto Deploy stateful installs feature lets you install hosts over the network. After the initial network boot, these hosts boot like other ESXi hosts. The stateless caching solution is primarily intended for situations when several hosts boot simultaneously.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Set up and apply a host profile for stateful installs. When you provision a host with vSphere Auto Deploy, the image is installed on the local disk, a remote disk, or a USB drive. For subsequent boots, you boot from the disk. The host no longer uses vSphere Auto Deploy. Preparation To successfully use stateless caching or stateful installs, decide how to configure the system and set the boot order. Table 5-18.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n If both vCenter Server and vSphere Auto Deploy are unavailable, you can connect to each ESXi host by using the VMware Host Client, and add virtual machines to each host. n If vCenter Server is not available, vSphere DRS does not work. The vSphere Auto Deploy server cannot add hosts to the vCenter Server. You can connect to each ESXi host by using the VMware Host Client, and add virtual machines to each host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Using PowerCLI to Set Up vSphere Auto Deploy for Stateless Caching or Stateful Installs You can create a host profile for a reference host and write a vSphere Auto Deploy rule that applies that host profile to other target hosts in a PowerCLI session. The following workflow results. 1 You provision a reference host with vSphere Auto Deploy and create a host profile to enable a form of caching.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Set up the host to attempt a network boot first and to boot from disk if network boot fails. See your hardware vendor's documentation. n Create a host profile. See the Host Profiles documentation. Procedure 1 Navigate to Home > Policies and Profiles > Host Profiles. 2 Click the host profile you want to configure and select the Configure tab. 3 Click Edit Host Profile.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 6 (Optional) If you select Enable stateless caching on the host, specify the information about the disk to use. Option Description Arguments for first disk When configuring a System Image Install disk, you have multiple options to define the device you want ESXi to be installed to and booted from.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup What to do next Apply the host profile to individual hosts by using the Host Profiles feature in the vSphere Client. See the Host Profiles documentation. Alternatively, you can create a rule to assign the host profile to hosts with the vSphere Client or by using PowerCLI. See Write a Rule and Assign a Host Profile to Hosts. 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.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 5 In the System Image Cache Profile Settings drop-down menu, choose a policy option. Option Description Enable stateful installs on the host Caches the image to a disk. Enable stateful installs to a USB disk on the host Caches the image to a USB disk attached to the host. VMware, Inc.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 6 (Optional) If you select Enable stateful installs on the host, specify information about the disk to use. Option Description Arguments for first disk When configuring a System Image Install disk, you have multiple options to define the device you want ESXi to be installed to and booted from.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup What to do next Apply the host profile to individual hosts by using the Host Profiles feature in the vSphere Client. See the Host Profiles documentation. Alternatively, you can create a rule to assign the host profile to hosts with the vSphere Client or by using PowerCLI. See Write a Rule and Assign a Host Profile to Hosts. 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.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Core Dump Setup You can set up your reference host to send core dumps to a shared SAN LUN, or you can install ESXi Dump Collector in your environment and configure the reference host to use ESXi Dump Collector. See Configure ESXi Dump Collector with ESXCLI . You can either install ESXi Dump Collector by using the vCenter Server installation media or use the ESXi Dump Collector that is included in vCenter Server.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Options for Configuration of a vSphere Auto Deploy Reference Host explains how to perform this setup. Watch the video "Auto Deploy Reference Hosts" for information about the reference host setup: (vSphere Auto Deploy Reference Hosts ) Options for Configuration of a vSphere Auto Deploy Reference Host You can configure a reference host by using the vSphere Client, ESXCLI, or host profiles. To set up a reference host, you can use the approach that suits you best.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup A core dump is the state of working memory if there is host failure. By default, a core dump is saved to the local disk. ESXi Dump Collector is especially useful for vSphere Auto Deploy, but is supported for any ESXi host. ESXi Dump Collector supports other customization, including sending core dumps to the local disk and is included with the vCenter Server management node.
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 ESXi Dump Collector from the Host Profiles Feature in the vSphere Client Hosts provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy do not have a local disk to store core dumps on.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Configure Syslog from the Host Profiles Feature in the vSphere Client Hosts provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy usually do not have sufficient local storage to save system logs. You can specify a remote syslog server for those hosts by setting up a reference host, saving the host profile, and applying that host profile to other hosts as needed.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Enable NTP Client on a Reference Host in the vSphere Client When you collect logging information in large environments, you must ensure that log times are coordinated. You can set up the reference host to use the NTP server in your environment, extract the host profile and create a vSphere Auto Deploy rule to apply it to other hosts. Procedure 1 Navigate to Home > Hosts and Clusters, and select an ESXi host that you want to use as a reference host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 After the reference host is configured, reboot the system to verify that vmk0 is connected to the Management Network. 5 If no host profile exists for your reference host, create a host profile. What to do next 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 7 If no host profile exists for your reference host, create a host profile. Results Auto-partitioning is performed when the hosts boot. What to do next n Use vSphere Auto Deploy to create a rule that applies the host profile of your reference host to all hosts immediately when they boot. To create a rule with the vSphere Client, see Create a Deploy Rule. For writing a rule in a PowerCLI session, see Write a Rule and Assign a Host Profile to Hosts.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 Extract a host profile from a running ESXi host or duplicate an existing host profile with a specified configuration and a host location. The existing host profile can be attached either to a host or to a cluster. 3 Right-click the new host profile, select Edit Host Profile, and browse to Advanced Configuration Settings > System Image Cache Configuration > System Image Cache Configuration.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup What to do next Add the ESXi hosts to a cluster that you manage by a single image. For more information, see Add a Host from the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation. Convert a Stateless ESXi Host with Enabled Stateless Caching To add your stateless ESXi hosts to a cluster that you manage by an image, you must first convert the hosts to stateful hosts by installing a standard ESXi 7.0 image.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 12 Click Remediate Host Associations for the ESXi host. You can monitor the progress of the remediation process in the Recent Tasks pane. 13 Restart the ESXi hosts. If an ESXi host has a legacy BIOS, you can change the boot order in the BIOS setup to first to boot from the local storage. For UEFI-based ESXi hosts the boot order changes automatically during the reboot. Each ESXi host boots from the network and installs the ESXi 7.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 Select Enable stateful installs on the host from the drop-down menu, enter localesx in the Arguments for first disk text box. 5 If you duplicated an existing host profile and the host profile was attached to a cluster, attach the new host profile to the cluster. 6 From the home menu, click Auto Deploy. 7 Deactivate the Auto Deploy rule that contains an Image Profile, and click Edit. The Edit Deploy Rule dialog box appears.
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 in the VMware ESXi Installation and Setup documentation. n The ESXi host is booting from an Auto Deploy rule that contains an Image Profile. n The Auto Deploy service is running. Procedure 1 From the home menu, click Policies and Profiles, and select Host Profiles.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Results The ESXi hosts boot by default from the new partition and operate as if the ESXi 7.0 image is installed from a standard DVD. What to do next Add the ESXi hosts to a cluster that you manage by a single image. For more information, see Add a Host from the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup server must have an IPv4 address. PXE booting with legacy BIOS firmware is possible only over IPv4. PXE booting with UEFI firmware is possible with either IPv4 or IPv6. IP Address Allocation Use DHCP reservations for address allocation. Fixed IP addresses are supported by the host customization mechanism, but providing input for each host is not recommended. VLAN Considerations Use vSphere Auto Deploy in environments that do not use VLANs.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup the static files that make up the majority of an ESXi boot image. Configure the reverse proxy to cache static content and pass all requests through to the vSphere Auto Deploy server. For more information, watch the video "Using Reverse Web Proxy Servers for vSphere Auto Deploy Scalability": (Using Reverse Web Proxy Servers for vSphere Auto Deploy Scalability ) Use multiple TFTP servers to point to different proxy servers. Use one TFTP server for each reverse proxy server.
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 Figure 5-9.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 2 Set up the following virtual machines on the management cluster. Infrastructure Component Description PXE boot infrastructure TFTP and DHCP servers. Infrastructure VM Active Directory, DNS, vCenter Server. vSphere Auto Deploy environment PowerCLI, vSphere Auto Deploy server, vCenter Server. Set up this environment on a single virtual machine or on three separate virtual machines in production systems.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Device Alias Configuration Device aliases, also called device names, are short names associated with I/O adapters in an I/O subsystem. For example, network uplinks have aliases such as vmnic0, vmnic1, and so on. SCSI adapter objects in the storage subsystem and graphics device objects also have aliases. A hardware device can be presented as multiple I/O adapters in the I/O subsystem. The I/O adapters can be of a different type from the underlying physical device.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n A stack upgrade might result in changes to parts of a multi-module driver setup, or to the ESXi I/O stack that supports a multi-module driver. n BIOS or device firmware upgrades might lead to incomplete port or slot information. n Changes in the slot position of a device. Note If you remove a device from the system, the alias configuration of the I/O adapters of the device is removed.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Command Description network nic list Lists aliases and general information about network devices. storage core adapter list Lists all storage I/O adapters. Note ESXCLI commands are supported commands. Using alternative sources for displaying alias information is not recommended.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 To list the current assignment of aliases to device addresses, in the ESXi Shell, run localcli --plugin-dir /usr/lib/vmware/esxcli/int/ deviceInternal alias list. For I/O adapters that are based on PCI hardware, you usually see a logical and a PCI alias entry. For some I/O adapters, you usually see a logical alias entry only. For PCI hardware devices without I/O adapters, you usually see a PCI alias entry only.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Basic knowledge of Microsoft PowerShell and PowerCLI. n Administrator rights to a Windows system and a vCenter Server system. 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, Inc.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Figure 5-10.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup vSphere Auto Deploy takes advantage of the iPXE infrastructure and PXE booting with legacy BIOS firmware is possible only over IPv4. If the hosts that you want to provision with vSphere Auto Deploy are with legacy BIOS, the vSphere Auto Deploy server must have an IPv4 address. PXE booting with UEFI firmware is possible with either IPv4 or IPv6.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 9 Extract and Configure a Host Profile from the Reference Host After provisioning the first host, you can extract and configure a host profile that can be used to apply the same configuration to other target hosts. Configuration that differs for different hosts, such as a static IP address, can be managed through the host customization mechanism.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-19. Preinstallation Checklist (continued) Required Software and Hardware Details ESXi software depot The location of the ESXi software depot on the Downloads page of the VMware website. You use a URL to point to the image profile stored at that location, or you download a ZIP file to work with a local depot. Do not download the ESXi image. TFTP server TFTP installer software such as WinAgents TFTP server.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup n Check system requirements for the version of PowerCLI that you selected by using the Compatibility Matrix on the PowerCLI home page for the respective PowerCLI version. n Open PowerShell on your workstation. In Windows Server configurations where PowerShell Gallery is not available by default, you must add the PowerShell Gallery as a trusted repository. Procedure 1 Download a version of PowerCLI later than PowerCLI 6.5R1 from the PowerCLI home page.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup What to do next Set up the DHCP server to serve each target host with an iPXE binary. 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 in the vSphere supported Windows Server versions.
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 2 Start the vSphere Auto Deploy service. a Navigate to Home > Auto Deploy. b On the Auto Deploy page, select your vCenter Server from the drop-down menu at the top. c Click Enable Auto Deploy and Image Builder to activate the service. If the Image Builder service is already active, select the Configure tab and click Enable Auto Deploy Service. 3 In the Auto Deploy inventory, click the Configure tab. 4 Click the Download TFTP Zip File.
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 2 Use the vSphere Client to connect to the vCenter Server system that manages the vSphere Auto Deploy server. 3 On the vSphere 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, 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.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Cause The TFTP server is down or unreachable. 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 deactivate 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 Cause This problem happens only with hosts that are provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy. 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 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.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Connect a keyboard and monitor to the host to use the direct console. After the host completes the autoconfiguration phase, the direct console appears on the monitor. You can examine the default network configuration and change any settings that are not compatible with your network environment.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Create a Security Banner for the Direct Console A security banner is a message that is displayed on the direct console Welcome screen. Procedure 1 From the vSphere Client, connect to the vCenter Server. 2 Select the host in the inventory. 3 Click the Configure tab. 4 Under System, select Advanced System Settings. 5 Select Annotations.WelcomeMessage. 6 Click the Edit icon. 7 Enter a security message.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Prerequisites Verify that the serial port is not in use for serial logging and debugging. Procedure 1 Start the host. 2 When the Loading VMware Hypervisor window appears, press Shift+O to edit boot options. 3 Deactivate 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.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Results You can now manage the ESXi host remotely from a console that is connected to the serial port. Redirect the Direct Console to a Serial Port in a Host Deployed with Auto Deploy After you redirect the direct console to a serial port, you can make that setting part of the host profile that persists when you reprovision the host with Auto Deploy. Prerequisites The serial port must not already be in use for serial logging and debugging.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 5 (Optional) Set the timeout for the ESXi Shell. By default, timeouts for the ESXi Shell is 0 (not active). The availability timeout setting is the number of minutes that can elapse before you must log in after the ESXi Shell is enabled. After the timeout period, if you have not logged in, the shell is deactivated. Note If you are logged in when the timeout period elapses, your session will persist.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup 4 Retype the new password and press Enter. Configuring the BIOS Boot Settings If your server has multiple drives, you might need to configure the BIOS settings. The BIOS boot configuration determines how your server boots. Generally, the CD-ROM device is listed first. Note If you are using ESXi Embedded, the BIOS boot configuration determines whether your server boots into the ESXi boot device or another boot device.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Virtual media is a method of connecting a remote storage media such as CD-ROM, USB mass storage, ISO image, and floppy disk to a target server that can be anywhere on the network. The target server has access to the remote media, and can read from and write to it as if it were physically connected to the server's USB port. Prerequisites ESXi Installable and ESXi Embedded cannot exist on the same host. Procedure 1 Connect the media to the virtual device.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-21. Network Configuration Scenarios Supported by ESXi Scenario Approach You want to accept the DHCP-configured IP settings. In the ESXi direct console, you can find the IP address assigned through DHCP to the ESXi management interface. You can use that IP address to connect to the host from the vSphere Client and customize settings, including changing the management IP address.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Choose Network Adapters for the Management Network Traffic between an ESXi host and any external management software is transmitted through an Ethernet network adapter on the host. You can use the direct console to choose the network adapters that are used by the management network. Examples of external management software include the vCenter Server and SNMP client.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup When you have access to the direct console, you can optionally configure a static network address. The default subnet mask is 255.255.0.0. Configure IP Settings from the Direct Console If you have physical access to the host or remote access to the direct console, you can use the direct console to configure the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway. Procedure 1 Select Configure Management Network and press Enter. 2 Select IP Configuration and press Enter.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup In network environments where automatic DNS is not available or not desirable, you can configure static DNS information, including a host name, a primary name server, a secondary name server, and DNS suffixes. Configure DNS Settings from the Direct Console If you have physical access to the host or remote access to the direct console, you can use the direct console to configure DNS information. Procedure 1 Select Configure Management Network and press Enter.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Test the Management Network You can use the direct console to do simple network connectivity tests. The direct console performs the following tests. n Pings the default gateway n Pings the primary DNS name server n Pings the secondary DNS nameserver n Resolves the configured host name Procedure 1 From the direct console, select Test Management Network and press Enter. 2 Press Enter to start the test.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 From the direct console, select Restart Management Network and press Enter. 2 Press F11 to confirm the restart. Test Connectivity to Devices and Networks You can use the direct console to perform some simple network connectivity tests. In addition to the management network, you can specify other devices and networks. Procedure 1 From the direct console, select Test Management Network and press Enter.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Storage Behavior When you start ESXi, the host enters an autoconfiguration phase during which system storage devices are configured with defaults. When you reboot the ESXi host after installing the ESXi image, the host configures the system storage devices with default settings. By default, all visible blank internal disks are formatted with VMFS, so you can store virtual machines on the disks.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup About the Scratch Partition For new installations of ESXi, during the autoconfiguration phase, a scratch partition is created on the installation disk if it is a high-endurance device such as a hard drive or SSD. Note Partitioning for hosts that are upgraded to ESXi 7.0 from earlier versions differs significantly from partitioning for new installations of ESXi.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Configuring System Logging ESXi hosts run the syslog service (vmsyslogd), which writes messages from the VMkernel and other system components to log files and can forward messages to syslog collectors in the network. You can configure the amount and location of the logs. You can also create and apply log filters to modify the logging policy of an ESXi host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Apart from the base settings, such as Syslog.global.logHost, starting from ESXi 7.0 Update 1, a list of advanced options is available for customizations, and NIAP compliance. Note All audit record settings, beginning with Syslog.global.auditRecord, take effect immediately. However, for other settings that you define by using ESXCLI, make sure to run the esxcli system syslog reload command to enable the changes. Table 5-22.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-22. Legacy Syslog Options (continued) Option ESXCLI command Description Syslog.global.logDirUnique esxcli system syslog config set --logdir-unique= Specifies the ESXi host name to be concatenated to the value of Syslog.global.logDir. It is critical that you enable this setting when multiple ESXi hosts log to a shared file system. Selecting this option creates a subdirectory with the name of the ESXi host under the directory specified by Syslog.global.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-23. Syslog Options Available Starting from ESXi 7.0 Update 1 (continued) Option ESXCLI command Description Syslog.global.certificate.chec kCRL esxcli system syslog config set --crl-check= Enables checking the revocation status of all the certificates in an SSL certificate chain. Enables verification of X.509 CRLs, which are not checked by default in compliance with industry conventions. A NIAP-validated configuration requires CRL checks.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-23. Syslog Options Available Starting from ESXi 7.0 Update 1 (continued) Option ESXCLI command Description Syslog.global.logFilters esxcli system syslog logfile [add | remove | set] ... Specifies one or more log filtering specifications. Each log filter must be separated by a double vertical bar "||". The format of a log filter is: numLogs | ident | logRegexp. numLogs sets the maximum number of log entries for the specified log messages.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Table 5-23. Syslog Options Available Starting from ESXi 7.0 Update 1 (continued) Option ESXCLI command Description Syslog.global.remoteHost.maxMs gLen esxcli system syslog config set --remote-host-maxmsg-len= For the TCP and SSL protocols, this parameter specifies the maximum length of a syslog transmission before truncation occurs, in bytes. The default maximum length for remote host messages is 1 KiB.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Procedure 1 To get to the ESXCLI system syslog config logfilter, run a command such as: [root@xxx-xx-dhcp-xx-xx:~] esxcli system syslog config logfilter ESXCLI commands to configure logfilters follow this pattern: esxcli system syslog config logfilter {cmd} [cmd options] 2 To get to the ESXCLI system syslog config logfilter, run a command such as: [root@xxx-xx-dhcp-xx-xx:~] esxcli system syslog config logfilter Set the Host Image Profile Acceptance Level The Host Im
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Remove All Custom Packages on ESXi After adding custom packages, you might decide to remove them. Prerequisites Before you remove custom packages, shut down or migrate running virtual machines off of the ESXi host. Procedure 1 Reboot the ESXi host. 2 In the direct console, select Remove Custom Extensions and press F11 to confirm. 3 Reboot the host. Results All custom packages are removed.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup When you reset the configuration, the software overrides all your configuration changes, deletes the password for the administrator account (root), and reboots the host. Configuration changes made by your hardware vendor, such as IP address settings and license configuration, might also be deleted. Resetting the configuration does not remove virtual machines on the ESXi host.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup You can use one of following methods to license ESXi hosts: n License multiple hosts at a time by using the license management function in the vSphere Client. The hosts must be connected to a vCenter Server system. For more information, see vCenter Server and Host Management. n Set up bulk licensing by using PowerCLI commands. Bulk licensing works for all ESXi hosts, but is especially useful for hosts provisioned with Auto Deploy.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup View System Logs System logs provide detailed information about system operational events. Procedure 1 From the direct console, select View System Logs. 2 Press a corresponding number key to view a log. vCenter Server Agent (vpxa) logs appear if you add the host to vCenter Server. 3 Press Enter or the spacebar to scroll through the messages. 4 Perform a regular expression search. a Press the slash key (/). b Type the text to find. c Press Enter.
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 7 In the ScratchConfig.ConfiguredScratchLocation text box, enter a directory path that is unique for this host. For example, /vmfs/volumes/DatastoreUUID/DatastoreFolder. 8 Reboot the host for the changes to take effect. Host Fails to Boot After You Install ESXi in UEFI Mode After you install ESXi on a host machine in UEFI mode, the machine might fail to boot.
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. If you installed ESXi in UEFI mode, delete the boot option VMware ESXi or any other boot option created manually. 3 Install another operating system in its place.
