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
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.
• vSphere Essentials Plus
• vSphere Standard
• vSphere Enterprise (two and four CPU offerings only)
• vSphere Enterprise Plus (two and four CPU offerings only)
• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSAN
NOTE: Before deploying the system, Dell EMC recommends that you see the
VMware vSphere 6 on Dell EMC
PowerEdge Servers Release Notes
at Dell.com/virtualizationsolutions.
NOTE: vSphere Essentials Plus is an all-inclusive package that includes licenses for three physical systems, each system
with up to two processors. It also includes VMware vCenter Server to centrally manage the systems. vSphere Essentials
Plus edition is supported only on two-socket systems. More licenses must still be deployed on approved systems for Dell
EMC support.
NOTE: With the release of vSphere 6.7, all Partner Activation Codes that are shipped with current systems are for
vSphere 6.7 licensing. If you have an active vSphere subscription, you can downgrade or upgrade vSphere, as you
choose. To get your downgrade keys, register your Partner Activation Code and login to vmware.com/accounts. Go to
Manage Product Licenses > vSphere 6.7 on the license administration portal.
NOTE: VMware vSAN is licensed independently per socket, per server. To use VMware vSAN, the server requires a
vSphere license (per socket, per server) and a vCenter Server license.
Topics:
• vSphere 6.0 architecture
• Overview of ESXi architecture
vSphere 6.0 architecture
vSphere infrastructure consists of the following components:
ESXi
Allows multiple operating system to run simultaneously on a single system.
vCenter server Monitors and manages the management application of VMs and copies of ESXi. With a vCenter server, you can
create, start, stop, and migrate VMs across the entire physical data center. vCenter server is optional, but it is
required for advanced management capabilities such as VMware vMotion, Distributed Resource Scheduling
(DRS), and High Availability (HA).
vCenter server
database
Stores all the configuration data about a VMware infrastructure environment. Dell EMC recommends you to use a
production database such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle for the vCenter Server database.
vSphere Web
Client
Shares the functionality of the core administrative interface starting from ESXi 5.1, with the vSphere client.
vSphere client can be launched from Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, without requiring a specific client
installation.
vSphere client Requires an ESXi host to manage, by directly connecting to it or through vCenter Server. It can be installed on a
system running a supported Windows OS. vSphere Web Client can replace the vSphere Client for future releases.
The vSphere Web Client enables you to connect to a vCenter Server system to manage an ESXi host or multiple
hosts through a browser.
Virtual Machine
datastore
Stores VM configuration and virtual disk files. The VM storage can either be internal local storage to the ESXi or
external storage. Multiple ESXi system share VM storage. Advanced features such as HA and DRS require that
the hard disk drive and configuration files are stored on the external shared storage.
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