Specifications

Table Of Contents
Procedure
1 Download the ESXi ISO image from the VMware Web site.
2 Mount the ISO image into a folder:
mount -o loop VMware-VMvisor-Installer-5.x.x-XXXXXX.x86_64.iso /esxi_cdrom_mount
XXXXXX is the ESXi build number for the version that you are installing or upgrading to.
3 Copy the contents of cdrom to another folder:
cp -r /esxi_cdrom_mount /esxi_cdrom
4 Copy the kickstart file to /esxi_cdrom
cp ks_cust.cfg /esxi_cdrom
5 (Optional) Modify the boot.cfg file to specify the location of the installation or upgrade script using the
kernelopt option.
This step makes the installation or upgrade completely automatic, without the need to specify the
kickstart file during the installation or upgrade.
6 Recreate the ISO image:
mkisofs -relaxed-filenames -J -R -o custom_esxi.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.cat -no-emul-boot
-boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table /esxi_cdrom
The ISO image now includes your custom installation or upgrade script.
What to do next
Install ESXi from the ISO image.
PXE Booting the ESXi Installer
You use the preboot execution environment (PXE) to boot a host and launch the ESXi installer from a
network interface.
ESXi 5.x is distributed in an ISO format that is designed to install to flash memory or to a local hard drive.
You can extract the files and boot using PXE.
PXE uses DHCP and Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) to boot an operating system over a network.
PXE booting requires some network infrastructure and a machine with a PXE-capable network adapter.
Most machines that are capable of running ESXi have network adapters that are able to PXE boot.
NOTE Ensure that the Auto Deploy server has an IPv4 address. PXE booting is supported only with IPv4.
About the TFTP Server, PXELINUX, and gPXE
Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is similar to the FTP service, and is typically used only for network
booting systems or loading firmware on network devices such as routers.
Most Linux distributions include a copy of the tftp-hpa server. If you require a supported solution, purchase
a supported TFTP server from your vendor of choice.
If your TFTP server will run on a Microsoft Windows host, use tftpd32 version 2.11 or later. See
http://tftpd32.jounin.net/. Earlier versions of tftpd32 were incompatible with PXELINUX and gPXE.
You can also acquire a TFTP server from one of the packaged appliances on the VMware Marketplace.
vSphere Upgrade
158 VMware, Inc.