Users Guide
Table Of Contents
- VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x on Dell EMC PowerEdge Systems Installation Instructions and Important Information Guide
- Introduction
- Installing vSphere 6.0
- Download Dell EMC customized ESXi image
- Installing, Enabling and Disabling ESXi
- Overview - Dell NUMA Fault Resilient Memory
- Enable Dell NUMA Fault Resilient Memory
- Overview - Dell Fault Resilient Memory
- Enabling Dell Fault Resilient Memory
- Installing ESXi on flash media
- Installing ESXi on the hard drive
- Installing ESXi on the BOSS-S1 device
- Enabling or Disabling Internal SD card
- Configuring one-time boot to ESXi
- Configuring boot sequence to ESXi
- Downloading patches and updates for ESXi
- Creating vCenter Server installation media
- Installing vCenter Server
- Deploying vSphere 6.0
- Configuration back up and restore procedures
- Licensing information
- Troubleshooting ESXi
- Getting help
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.
FRM is a Memory Operating mode available on the BIOS settings of high-end 12
th
generation Dell PowerEdge servers and later. This mode
establishes an area of memory that is fault resilient and protects the hypervisor against uncorrectable memory errors, the system stops
responding. Systems with ESXi that supports the FRM feature can load the operating system kernel to maximize system availability
and/or critical applications or services. VMWare ESXi version 5.5 update 2 and later supports FRM through its Reliable Memory (ReM)
technology.
Enabling Dell Fault Resilient Memory
The following conditions must be fulfilled before you enable base FRM:
• ESXi 6 must be deployed on one of the following PowerEdge servers:
Table 1. PowerEdge servers
yx4x PowerEdge servers yx3x PowerEdge servers
R940xa R930
R940 R830
R840 R730xd
R740xd R730
R740 R630
R640 M830
M640 M630
FC640 FC830
T640 FC630
MX740c T630
MX840c
• The BIOS version on your system must be 1.0.4 or later for yx3x Dell EMC PowerEdge servers.
• The memory modules must be populated on the memory channels to support Mirror Mode. For more information, see your system
Owner’s Manual at https://www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals.
• You need vSphere Enterprise or Enterprise Plus licensing to enable the VMware Reliable Memory technology. To enable the VMware
Reliability Memory feature, you must have the vSphere Enterprise or Enterprise Plus license on your server.
To enable FRM on your system, do the following:
1. Start the system and when the Dell EMC logo is displayed, press F2 to display the Setup menu. After the system boot is completed,
the System BIOS configuration menu is displayed.
2. Using the up-arrow and down-arrow keys, select the System Setup options, and then select the Memory Settings screen.
3. Select Dell Fault Resilient Mode as Memory Operating Mode.
CAUTION:
It is recommended that you do not modify other settings unless you are familiar with the settings.
Modifying settings could cause your system to fail to boot or function properly.
4. Press Enter, and follow the on-screen instructions to save these changes.
5. Restart your system.
NOTE: No further configuration changes are required for ESXi to use the reliable memory region.
10 Installing vSphere 6.0