Installation guide

=[python|busybox]
--timeout=secs
Specifies a timeout for running the script. If the script is not finished when the
timeout expires, the script is forcefully terminated.
--ignorefailure
=[true|false]
If true, the installation is considered a success even if the %post script
terminated with an error.
%firstboot
Creates an init script that runs only during the first boot. The script has no effect on subsequent boots. If
multiple %firstboot sections are specified, they run in the order that they appear in the kickstart file.
NOTE You cannot check the semantics of %firstboot scripts until the system is booting for the first time. A
%firstboot script might contain potentially catastrophic errors that are not exposed until after the installation
is complete.
--interpreter
=[python|busybox]
Specifies an interpreter to use. The default is busybox.
NOTE You cannot check the semantics of the %firstboot script until the system boots for the first time. If the
script contains errors, they are not exposed until after the installation is complete.
Differences Between ESXi 4.x and ESXi 5.0 Scripted Installation and Upgrade Commands
Before you perform a scripted ESXi installation or upgrade, if you are familiar with ESXi version 4.x scripted
installation, note the differences between ESXi 4.x and ESXi 5.0 scripted installation and upgrade commands.
In ESXi 5.0, because the installation image is loaded directly into the host RAM when the host boots, you do
not need to include the location of the installation media in the installation script.
ESXi 5.0 supports scripted upgrades in addition to scripted installation.
Command differences are noted in the following summary.
accepteula or
vmaccepteula
Only in ESXi
autopart
Deprecated and replaced with install, upgrade, or installorupgrade.
auth or authconfig
Not supported in ESXi 5.0.
bootloader
Not supported in ESXi 5.0.
esxlocation
Deprecated and unused in ESXi.
firewall
Not supported in ESXi 5.0.
firewallport
Not supported in ESXi 5.0.
install,
installorupgrade,
upgrade
These commands replace the deprecated autopart command. Use one of these
command to specify the disk to partition, and the part command to create the
vmfs datastore. installorupgrade and upgrade are newly supported in ESXi
5.0.
serialnum or vmserialnum
Deprecated in ESXi 5.0. You can license the host only after installation.
timezone
Not supported in ESXi 5.0.
virtualdisk
Not supported in ESXi 5.0.
vSphere Upgrade
118 VMware, Inc.