VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x on Dell EMC PowerEdge Systems Installation Instructions and Important Information Guide July 2020 Rev.
Notes, cautions, and warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. © 2018 - 2019 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
Contents Chapter 1: Introduction................................................................................................................... 5 vSphere 6.0 architecture......................................................................................................................................................5 Overview of ESXi architecture............................................................................................................................................
Frequently Asked Questions.............................................................................................................................................. 23 What is the minimum RAM required to install VMware ESXi.................................................................................. 23 Why are network adapters not detected during ESXi installation...........................................................................24 Why are target devices not available in ESXi installer.....
1 Introduction This document helps you to deploy VMware ESXi 6 on Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, and provides specific information about recommended configurations, best practices, and additional resources.
The following figure shows the different components of vSphere. Figure 1. vSphere components Overview of ESXi architecture ESXi is a bare-metal enterprise class hypervisor that can be preinstalled on the PowerEdge servers. With the reduced footprint of the hypervisor, ESXi is integrated with PowerEdge servers by using embedded Secure Digital (SD) card.
Figure 2. ESXi architecture Virtual SAN installation For more information about VMware documentation for VSAN installation, see the VMware Virtual SAN Production Information Guide at www.dell.com/virtualizationsolutions.
2 Installing vSphere 6.0 NOTE: If you have ordered VMware ESXi with your PowerEdge server, the PowerEdge server comes preinstalled on the system.
• OpenManage vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB) can be installed on ESXi systems, where ESXi is installed using either the Dell EMC Customized ESXi image or the ESXi image that is provided by VMware. Installing, Enabling and Disabling ESXi NOTE: Only trained service technicians must perform any installation that requires removal of the system cover.
Overview - Dell Fault Resilient Memory CAUTION: Do not attempt to enable Fault Resilient Memory (FRM) on vSphere versions earlier than VMware ESXi 5.5. Up to 25 percent of system memory may be consumed to provide the FRM zone in 12th generation of the PowerEdge servers and 12.5 percent of system memory may be consumed to provide FRM zone in 13th Generation of the Dell PowerEdge servers.
Installing ESXi on flash media After installing the SD card in your system, locate the ESXi installer media that you had created in Download Dell EMC customized ESXi image on page 8. To install ESXi on the flash media, complete the following steps: NOTE: For more information about supported configurations of the PowerEdge servers with the SD memory card, see the VMware vSphere 6 on Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers Compatibility Matrix at www.dell.com/virtualizationsolutions.
2. Insert the ESXi installer media that you created earlier into the optical drive. For more information, see the Download the Dell EMC customized ESXi image section. 3. When the Dell EMC logo is displayed, press F11 immediately. 4. At the Boot Menu, use the up- and down-arrow keys to select the optical drive and press Enter. When the installer image loads, the system is ready to begin the installation process. CAUTION: Step 5 deletes all data on the selected BOSS-S1 device. 5.
Configuring one-time boot to ESXi 1. Turn on your system. The Dell EMC logo is displayed. 2. Press F11 to enter the one-time boot menu option. The menu entry changes to Entering Boot Menu, confirming your selection. 3. The boot menu displays several boot options. Using the up- and down-arrow keys, select Hard Drive C:. 4. Use the right-arrow key to select SD Card. 5. Press Enter to boot to the internal secure digital (SD) card.
5. Use a blank media to burn the ISO image. You have now created your vCenter Server installation media. Installing vCenter Server Install and use vCenter Server to centrally manage your vSphere environment and to use all the features of vSphere Essentials Plus, Standard, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus edition. 1. Insert the vCenter Server media into the optical drive. 2. Follow the on-screen instructions.
3 Deploying vSphere 6.0 Important information For the Dell EMC PowerEdge servers shipped from factory: • The Dell EMC PowerEdge 14th generation servers installed with ESXi have the username root and the password is your Service Tag of your system. NOTE: To locate your service tag of your system, refer to Locating Service Tag of your system on page 26 • The Dell EMC PowerEdge 13th generation servers installed with ESXi do not have password for the username root.
• • • • • vSphere configuration using iSCSI SAN Booting ESXi Configuring the password Configuring Lockdown mode Managing management network services vSphere configuration using Dell EMC Fibre Channel SAN If you use Fibre Channel storage, you can connect a single Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter (HBA) to a Fibre Channel switch that provides paths to both the storage controllers on the Fibre Channel storage unit.
Figure 4. Configuring vSphere with iSCSI SAN Booting ESXi This section describes performing the basic setup of your system based on the following assumptions: • You have already connected a keyboard, monitor, and mouse. • You have connected the first onboard NIC to your management network. • The network infrastructure between the two systems is working correctly prior to working with your system and the VMware management software. To set up your system: 1. Turn on your system. 2.
The Authentication Required screen is displayed. 2. Select Configure Password and then press Enter. 3. Enter the old and new passwords. If the password is accepted, the main DCUI screen is displayed. The new password is now set. 4. Press Esc to log out. Configuring Lockdown mode Lockdown mode prevents remote personnel from logging in to the ESXi host by using the root login name. By default, lockdown mode is disabled.
4 Configuration back up and restore procedures NOTE: Dell EMC recommends that you back up your VMware ESXi configuration after you complete the initial setup on a routine schedule that fits your datacenter environment. Backing up your configuration captures the license code (host serial number). To back up or restore the configuration information, use the VMware vSphere CLI.
The -portnumber and -protocol options are optional. If you exclude them, the defaults are port 443 and protocol HTTPS. NOTE: If you do not specify a password in the command line, you are prompted for one when the command executes. For example: vicfgcfgbackup --server 172.17.13.211 --username root –l backupdate.dat After a successful restore, the system reboots using the new configuration.
5 Licensing information This section discusses the different modes of obtaining license for your Dell EMC PowerEdge servers. NOTE: For more information about the different editions, see vmware.com. Topics: • • • • License evaluation vSphere licensing Administering license keys VMware Product Licensing License evaluation VMware allows a 60-day free evaluation period for all enterprise-level features of vSphere 6.0.
• • • • • • 22 vSOM Enterprise Plus vSOM Standard Acceleration Kit for 6 CPUs vSOM Enterprise Acceleration Kit for 6 CPUs vSOM Enterprise Plus Acceleration Kit for 6 CPUs VMware Virtual SAN VMware Virtual SAN 6 Advanced Licensing information
6 Troubleshooting ESXi Topics: • • ESXi installation Frequently Asked Questions ESXi installation This section provides troubleshooting steps for common issues encountered during deployment of ESXi. ESXi does not boot or displays a no OS found message at start up Check the boot order. The correct storage device may no longer be selected as the first boot device. This can happen if the device has recently been removed due to failure.
Why are network adapters not detected during ESXi installation Cause: This issue occurs due to one of the following reasons: • • • • The ESXi image does not contain the latest version of network drivers, for Network Daughter Cards (NDCs) or network adapters used in Dell EMC servers. PowerEdge server does not have an NDC installed. The NDC installed on the PowerEdge server is faulty PowerEdge server has an NDC installed, but the NDC setting is disabled in the BIOS or UEFI. Resolution: 1.
5. If the Storage controller is set to RAID mode, ensure that the virtual disks are created with the hard drives associated with the controller. Figure 7. Target devices not displayed Why does ESXi display the number of processors incorrectly Cause: This issue occurs if the Snoop mode option is set to Cluster on Die in the BIOS Memory Settings screen of a dual processor system.
7 Getting help Topics: • • • • • • Contacting Dell EMC Locating Service Tag of your system Related information for virtualization solutions Documentation resources Downloading the drivers and firmware Documentation feedback Contacting Dell EMC Dell EMC provides several online and telephone based support and service options. If you do not have an active internet connection, you can find contact information about your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill, or Dell EMC product catalog.
Table 2. Related information for virtualization solutions (continued) If you need information about See • • Installation Instructions and Important Information Guide at www.dell.com/virtualizationsolutions Information about downloading, installing, and configuring ESXi Supported hardware configurations for running ESXi on a Dell EMC PowerEdge server PowerEdge servers and compatibility with vMotion VMware ESXi vMotion Support on Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers Compatibility Matrix at www.dell.
NOTE: For more information that is related to the VMware ESXi installation on Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, go to Dell Virtualization. Virtualization videos for Dell EMC PowerEdge servers All the supported virtualization videos for Dell EMC PowerEdge servers are available in the Supported Operating Systems for Dell PowerEdge servers playlist. Table 3. Virtualization videos for Dell EMC PowerEdge servers Video title Links Downloading the Dell EMC customized ESXi image from support site www.youtube.
Table 4. Additional documentation resources for your server (continued) Task Managing your server Document Location For information about understanding Remote Access Controller Admin (RACADM) subcommands and supported RACADM interfaces, see the iDRAC RACADM CLI Guide. https://www.dell.com/idracmanuals For information about updating drivers and firmware, see Download drivers and firmware topic in this document. www.dell.
Table 4. Additional documentation resources for your server (continued) Task Document Location the PERC cards, see the Storage controller documentation. Understanding event and error For information about checking the www.dell.com/openmanagemanuals messages event and error messages generated by the system firmware and agents that monitor server components, see the Dell EMC Event and Error Messages Reference Guide.
