Specifications

Administration Guide
54 VMware, Inc.
! Boot!a!Linux!virtual!machine!over!the!network!and!run! it!diskless.!
Use!PXE!with!your!virtual!machine!in!conjunction!with!remote!installation!tools!such!
as!Windows!2000!Remote!Installation!Services!or!the!Red!Hat!Linux!9.0!installer’s!PXE!
package.!You!can!use!Ghost! or!Altiris!to!stream!an!image!of
!an!already!configured!
virtual!disk!to!a!new!virtual!machine.
Make!sure!the!virtual!machine!has!a!virtual!network!adapter;!one!is!installed!by!
default.!ESX!Server!supports!PXE!when!the!virtual!machine!is!configured!to!use!either!
the!vmxnet!or!vlance!virtual!network!adapter.!
The!virtual!machine!must!have!a
!virtual!disk!without!a!guest!operating!system!
installed.
When!a!virtual!machine!boots!and!no!guest!operating!system!is!installed,!it!boots!from!
devices!(hard!disk,!CD‐ROM!drive,!floppy!drive,!network!adapter)!in!the!order!in!
which!they!occur!in!the!boot!sequence!specified!in!the!virtual!machine’s!BIOS.!To
!use!
PXE!with!a!virtual!machine,!put!the!network!adapter!at!the!top!of!the!boot!order.!When!
the!virtual!machine!first!boots,!press!F2!to!enter!the!virtual!machine’s!BIOS!and!change!
the!boot!order.
As!the!virtual!machine!boots!from!the!network!adapter,!it!tries!to!connect!to!a
!DHCP!
server.!The!DHCP!server!provides!the!virtual!machine!with!an!IP!address!and!a!list!of!
any!PXE!servers!available!on!the!network.!After!the!virtual!machine!connects!to!a!PXE!
server,!it!can!connect!to!a!bootable!disk!image!(such!as!an!operating!system!image!or!a!
Ghost!
or!Altiris!disk!image)!and!start!installing!a!guest!operating!system.!
VMware!has!tested!and!supports!the!following!PXE!configurations!with!ESX!Server:
! Remote!installation!of!a!Windows!Server!2003!guest!operating!system!from!a!
server!running!Windows!Server!2003!Automated!Deployment!Services
! Remote!installation!of!a!Windows!2000!guest!operating!system!from!a!server!
running!Windows!2000!Server/Advanced!Server!Remote!Installation!Services
! Remote!installation!of!a!Linux!guest!operating!system!from!a!Red!Hat!Enterprise!
Linux!3.0!AS!PXE!boot!server
! Remote!installation!of!a!supported!guest!operating!system!from!a!Ghost!image!
using!Windows!2000!and!Ghost!RIS!Boot!package
! Remote!installation!of!a!supported!guest!operating!system!from!an!Altiris!image!
using!a!Windows! 2000!Altiris!server
! Network!booting!a!Linux!virtual!machine!by!connecting!with!the!Linux!Diskless!
option!to!a!Red!Hat!Enterprise!Linux!3.0!AS!server