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Table Of Contents
- VMware ESXi Installation and Setup
- Contents
- About VMware ESXi Installation and Setup
- Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup
- Overview of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process
- About ESXi Evaluation and Licensed Modes
- Installing and Setting Up ESXi
- ESXi Requirements
- ESXi System Storage Overview
- ESXi Hardware Requirements
- Supported Remote Management Server Models and Firmware Versions
- Recommendations for Enhanced ESXi Performance
- Incoming and Outgoing Firewall Ports for ESXi Hosts
- Required Free Space for System Logging
- VMware Host Client System Requirements
- ESXi Passwords and Account Lockout
- Preparing for Installing ESXi
- Download the ESXi Installer
- Options for Installing ESXi
- Media Options for Booting the ESXi Installer
- Download and Burn the ESXi Installer ISO Image to a CD or DVD
- Format a USB Flash Drive to Boot the ESXi Installation or Upgrade
- Create a USB Flash Drive to Store the ESXi Installation Script or Upgrade Script
- Create an Installer ISO Image with a Custom Installation or Upgrade Script
- Network Booting the ESXi Installer
- Installing and Booting ESXi with Software FCoE
- Using Remote Management Applications
- Customizing Installations with vSphere ESXi Image Builder
- Understanding vSphere ESXi Image Builder
- vSphere ESXi Image Builder Installation and Usage
- Using vSphere ESXi Image Builder with the vSphere Client
- Using vSphere ESXi Image Builder with PowerCLI Cmdlets
- Clone an Image Profile with PowerCLI Cmdlets
- Add VIBs to an Image Profile with PowerCLI Cmdlets
- Export an Image Profile to an ISO or Offline Bundle ZIP with PowerCLI Cmdlets
- Create a Custom ESXi ISO Image with PowerCLI Cmdlets
- Create a Custom PXE Image with PowerCLI Cmdlets
- Preserve Image Profiles Across Sessions with PowerCLI Cmdlets
- Compare Image Profiles with PowerCLI Cmdlets
- Compare VIBs with PowerCLI Cmdlets
- Working with Acceptance Levels
- vSphere ESXi Image Builder Workflows with PowerCLI Cmdlets
- Required Information for ESXi Installation
- Installing ESXi
- Installing ESXi Interactively
- Installing or Upgrading Hosts by Using a Script
- Approaches for Scripted Installation
- Enter Boot Options to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script
- About Installation and Upgrade Scripts
- Install or Upgrade ESXi from a CD or DVD by Using a Script
- Install or Upgrade ESXi from a USB Flash Drive by Using a Script
- Performing a Scripted Installation or Upgrade of ESXi by Network Booting the Installer
- Overview of the Network Boot Installation Process
- Installing ESXi Using vSphere Auto Deploy
- Understanding vSphere Auto Deploy
- Preparing for vSphere Auto Deploy
- Managing vSphere Auto Deploy with PowerCLI Cmdlets
- vSphere Auto Deploy PowerCLI Cmdlet Overview
- Assign an Image Profile to Hosts
- Write a Rule and Assign a Host Profile to Hosts
- Write a Rule and Assign a Host to a Folder or Cluster
- Configure a Stateless System by Running a Custom Script
- Test and Repair Rule Compliance
- Register a Caching Proxy Server Address with vSphere Auto Deploy
- Managing vSphere Auto Deploy with the vSphere Client
- Create a Deploy Rule
- Clone a Deploy Rule
- Edit a Deploy Rule
- Activate, Deactivate, and Reorder Deploy Rules
- View Host Associations
- Edit the Image Profile Association of a Host
- Remediate a Non-compliant Host
- Add a Host to the vSphere Auto Deploy Inventory
- Add a Host to a Cluster That Uses a Single Image
- Working with Script Bundles
- Download vSphere Auto Deploy Logs
- Start, Stop, or Restart the vSphere Auto Deploy Service
- Provisioning ESXi Systems with vSphere Auto Deploy
- Using vSphere Auto Deploy for Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs
- Setting Up a vSphere Auto Deploy Reference Host
- Understanding Reference Host Setup
- Options for Configuration of a vSphere Auto Deploy Reference Host
- Configure ESXi Dump Collector with ESXCLI
- Configure ESXi Dump Collector from the Host Profiles Feature in the vSphere Client
- Configure Syslog from the Host Profiles Feature in the vSphere Client
- Enable NTP Client on a Reference Host in the vSphere Client
- Configure Networking for Your vSphere Auto Deploy Host in the vSphere Client
- Configure a Reference Host for Auto-Partitioning
- Converting Stateless Hosts to Stateful Hosts
- vSphere Auto Deploy Best Practices and Security Consideration
- Set Up vSphere Auto Deploy and Provision Hosts with vSphere PowerCLI
- vSphere Auto Deploy Preinstallation Checklist
- Install the TFTP Server
- Install PowerCLI
- Prepare the vSphere Auto Deploy Target Hosts
- Prepare the DHCP Server for vSphere Auto Deploy Provisioning
- Configure the vSphere Auto Deploy and TFTP Environment in the vSphere Client
- Prepare the ESXi Software Depot and Write a Rule
- Provision the First Host with vSphere Auto Deploy
- Extract and Configure a Host Profile from the Reference Host
- Create a Rule that Provisions Hosts from a Specific IP Range
- Provision Hosts and Set Up Host Customizations
- Troubleshooting vSphere Auto Deploy
- vSphere Auto Deploy TFTP Timeout Error at Boot Time
- vSphere Auto Deploy Host Boots with Wrong Configuration
- Host Is Not Redirected to vSphere Auto Deploy Server
- Package Warning Message When You Assign an Image Profile to a vSphere Auto Deploy Host
- vSphere Auto Deploy Host with a Built-In USB Flash Drive Does Not Send Coredumps to Local Disk
- vSphere Auto Deploy Host Reboots After Five Minutes
- vSphere Auto Deploy Host Cannot Contact TFTP Server
- vSphere Auto Deploy Host Cannot Retrieve ESXi Image from vSphere Auto Deploy Server
- vSphere Auto Deploy Host Does Not Get a DHCP Assigned Address
- vSphere Auto Deploy Host Does Not Network Boot
- Recovering from Database Corruption on the vSphere Auto Deploy Server
- Setting Up ESXi
- ESXi Autoconfiguration
- About the Direct Console ESXi Interface
- Enable ESXi Shell and SSH Access with the Direct Console User Interface
- Managing ESXi Remotely
- Set the Password for the Administrator Account
- Configuring the BIOS Boot Settings
- Configuring Network Settings
- Network Access to Your ESXi Host
- ESXi Networking Security Recommendations
- Choose Network Adapters for the Management Network
- Set the VLAN ID
- Configuring IP Settings for ESXi
- Configuring DNS for ESXi
- Configure the Network Settings on a Host That Is Not Attached to the Network
- Test the Management Network
- Restart the Management Agents
- Restart the Management Network
- Test Connectivity to Devices and Networks
- Restoring the Standard Switch
- Storage Behavior
- Configuring System Logging
- Set the Host Image Profile Acceptance Level
- Remove All Custom Packages on ESXi
- Deactivate Support for Non-ASCII Characters in Virtual Machine File and Directory Names
- Reset the System Configuration
- After You Install and Set Up ESXi
- ESXi Requirements
- Troubleshooting ESXi Booting
- Decommission an ESXi Host
5 Modify the boot.cfg file in both /esxi_cdrom/efi/boot/boot.cfg (for UEFI boot) and /
esxi_cdrom/boot.cfg (for legacy BIOS boot) to specify the location of the installation or
upgrade script by using the kernelopt option.
You must use uppercase characters to provide the path of the script, for example,
kernelopt=runweasel ks=cdrom:/KS_CUST.CFG
The installation or upgrade becomes completely automatic, without the need to specify the
kickstart file during the installation or upgrade.
6 Recreate the ISO image using the mkisofs or the genisoimage command.
Command Syntax
mkisofs mkisofs -relaxed-filenames -J -R -o custom_esxi.iso -b
ISOLINUX.BIN -c BOOT.CAT -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4
-boot-info-table -eltorito-alt-boot -eltorito-platform efi -b
EFIBOOT.IMG -no-emul-boot /esxi_cdrom
genisoimage genisoimage -relaxed-filenames -J -R -o custom_esxi.iso -b
ISOLINUX.BIN -c BOOT.CAT -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4
-boot-info-table -eltorito-alt-boot -e EFIBOOT.IMG -no-emul-
boot /esxi_cdrom
You can use this ISO installer image for regular boot or UEFI secure boot. However, the
vSphere Lifecycle Manager cannot verify the checksum of such an ISO image and you cannot
use it for upgrades by using vSphere Lifecycle Manager workflows.
Results
The ISO image includes your custom installation or upgrade script.
What to do next
Install ESXi from the ISO image.
Network Booting the ESXi Installer
You can use preboot execution environment (PXE) to boot an ESXi host from a network device, if
your host uses legacy BIOS or UEFI. Alternatively, if your ESXi host supports native UEFI HTTP,
you can use hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) to boot the host from a network device.
ESXi is distributed in an ISO format that is used to install to flash memory or to a local hard drive.
You can extract the files and boot them over a network interface.
PXE uses Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) to
boot an operating system over a network.
PXE booting requires some network infrastructure and a machine with a PXE-capable network
adapter. Most machines that can run ESXi have network adapters that can PXE boot.
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup
VMware, Inc. 29