6.0.2

Table Of Contents
d Type p to print the partition table.
The result should be similar to the following text:
Disk /dev/sdb: 2004 MB, 2004877312 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 243 1951866 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
e Type w to write the partition table and quit.
3 Format the USB ash drive with the Fat32 le system.
/sbin/mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n USB /dev/sdb1
4 Mount the USB ash drive.
mount /dev/sdb1 /usbdisk
5 Copy the ESXi installation script to the USB ash drive.
cp ks.cfg /usbdisk
6 Unmount the USB ash drive.
The USB ash drive contains the installation or upgrade script for ESXi.
What to do next
When you boot the ESXi installer, point to the location of the USB ash drive for the installation or upgrade
script. See “Enter Boot Options to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script,” on page 172 and About PXE
Conguration Files,” on page 149.
Create an Installer ISO Image with a Custom Installation or Upgrade Script
You can customize the standard ESXi installer ISO image with your own installation or upgrade script. This
customization enables you to perform a scripted, unaended installation or upgrade when you boot the
resulting installer ISO image.
See also About Installation and Upgrade Scripts,” on page 174 and About the boot.cfg File,” on page 181.
Prerequisites
n
Linux machine
n
The ESXi ISO image VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.x.x-XXXXXX.x86_64.iso,where 6.x.x is the version of
ESXi you are installing, and XXXXXX is the build number of the installer ISO image
n
Your custom installation or upgrade script, the ks_cust.cfg kickstart le
Procedure
1 Download the ESXi ISO image from the VMware Web site.
2 Mount the ISO image in a folder:
mount -o loop VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.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
Chapter 8 Before Upgrading Hosts
VMware, Inc. 145