Dell VMware ESXi 4.x Deployment Guide
VMware ESXi 4 on
Dell PowerEdge Systems
Deployment Guide
Notes and Cautions
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of
your computer.
CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates potential damage to hardware or loss of data if
instructions are not followed.
____________________
© 2009–2012 Dell Inc.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell™, the DELL logo, PowerEdge™, and PowerVault™ are trademarks
of Dell Inc. Intel
in the U.S. and other countries. AMD
of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Microsoft
registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Novell
and NetWare
Oracle
and vSphere™ are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States
or other countries.
®
and Xeon® are registered trademarks and Core™ is a trademark of Intel Corporation
®
are registered trademarks of Novell Inc. in the United States and other countries.
®
is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. VMware®, VMotion™,
®
is a registered trademark and AMD Opteron™ is a trademark
®
, SQL Server®, and Windows® are either trademarks or
®
2012 - 06 Rev. A15
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
VMware License Offerings
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
vSphere 4 Architecture Overview . . . . . . . . . . 6
ESXi Architecture Overview
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Supported Configurations
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Important Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Supported vSphere 4 Configuration Solutions
. . . . . 23
Configuring vSphere 4 Using
Dell Fibre
Channel SAN
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Configuring vSphere 4 Using
iSCSI SAN
ESXi and vCenter Deployment
Guidelines for Deploying ESXi
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
. . . . . . . . . . . 25
Best Practices Checklist for
Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Booting ESXi
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Configuring the Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Configuring Lockdown Mode
. . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Configuring, Restarting, Testing,
or Disabling the Management
Network Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Additional Setup Steps
Deploying vCenter Server
Installing vSphere Client
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Image Recovery
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Contents 3
Creating the ESXi Recovery
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Media
Image Recovery for ESXi
Embedded Edition
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Configuration Backup and Restore Procedures
. . . . . 33
Backing Up the Configuration
of Your ESXi Host
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Restoring the Configuration
of Your ESXi Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Troubleshooting
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Related Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4 Contents
Introduction
This document is a companion guide to the VMware ESXi 4 guides.
This document helps you to deploy ESXi 4 and provides specific information
on recommended configurations, best practices, and additional resources.
NOTE: For information on deploying ESX 4, see the
PowerEdge Systems Deployment Guide
at support.dell.com/manuals.
VMware ESX 4 on Dell
VMware License Offerings
Dell offers the following VMware editions:
• vSphere Essentials Plus
• vSphere Standard
• vSphere Enterprise
• vSphere Enterprise Plus
• vCenter Server
• vSphere Standard Acceleration Kit (8 sockets)
• vSphere Enterprise Acceleration Kit (6 sockets)
• vSphere Enterprise Plus Acceleration Kit (6 sockets)
NOTE: In addition to the above, Dell also offers ESXi Single Server edition.
For information on latest ESXi editions, see
vmware.com/products/vsphere/buy/editions_comparison.html.
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. The additional licenses must still
be deployed on approved systems for Dell support.
NOTE: vSphere Acceleration Kits are packages of vSphere licenses plus a vCenter
Server Standard license for initial deployments. All the licenses provided are on the
same VMware contract and Dell support contract. The additional licenses must be
deployed on approved systems for Dell support.
If you have ordered ESXi with your PowerEdge system, ESXi is pre-installed
and pre-activated with the Single Server edition license key. Ensure that you
note down the license key.
ESXi Deployment Guide 5
If you have ordered ESXi hypervisor-based vSphere
PowerEdge System as ESXi Host
vSphere Client/vSphere CLI
vCenter Server
Ethernet Fabric
vCenter Server Database
License
Server
Storage
Interconnect Fabric
Essentials Plus,
Standard,
Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus, replace the Single Server edition license key
with the purchased one.
vSphere 4 Architecture Overview
Figure 1. vSphere Components
vSphere infrastructure consists of the following components:
•
•
6 ESXi Deployment Guide
ESXi
— Allows multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on
a single system.
vCenter Server — Runs on Windows-based operating systems and
monitors and manages Virtual Machines (VMs) and copies of ESXi.
With vCenter Server, you can create, start, stop, and migrate VMs across
the entire physical data center. vCenter Server is optional and is required
for advanced management capabilities such as VMware VMotion,
Distributed Resource Scheduling (DRS), and High Availability (HA).
For more information, see "Deploying vCenter Server
•
vCenter Server Database
VMware infrastructure environment. It is recommended that you use a
production database such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle for the
vCenter Server database.
•
License Server
hosts. It is recommended that you install the license server on the vCenter
Server host. This can also reside on a separate host. The license server is
required when using a centralized licensing model, but is not required for
host-based licensing.
•
vSphere Client
to it or through the vCenter Server. Installs on a system running a supported
Windows operating system.
•
VM DataStore
storage can either be an internal storage local to the ESXi or an external
storage that can be shared by multiple ESXi systems. Advanced features
such as VMotion, HA, and DRS require that the disk and configuration
files are stored on external shared storage.
•
vSphere CLI
4 Service Console. vSphere CLI commands can be used in scripts that run
on ESX/ESXi 4 hosts. vSphere CLI commands are useful for an ESXi 4
host, because the ESXi 4 host does not include a service console.
— Required if vCenter Server manages ESX 3.0.x/ESXi 3.5
— Required to manage an ESXi host by directly connecting
— Stores VM configuration and virtual disk files. The VM
— Performs operations that are performed using ESX Server
— Stores all the configuration data about a
" on page 33
.
ESXi Architecture Overview
ESXi is a bare-metal enterprise class hypervisor, which is pre-installed on
PowerEdge systems. With the reduced footprint of the hypervisor, ESXi is
integrated on PowerEdge systems through embedded Secure Digital (SD).
Integrated virtualization by VMware offers:
•Ease of deployment
• Integrated hardware monitoring
• Enhanced security
• Reduced patch management
• Improved reliability
ESXi Deployment Guide 7
Figure 2. ESXi 4 Architecture
Supported Configurations
For complete information about all the supported Dell PowerEdge systems
with ESXi, see VMware ESX/ESXi 4.x on Dell PowerEdge Systems and Storage
Compatibility Matrix at support.dell.com/manuals.
NOTE: SAS/SATA drives mentioned under Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3 also include
SSDs.
8 ESXi Deployment Guide
Table 1 lists the currently shipping modular-based Dell PowerEdge systems
that support ESXi Embedded.
Table 1. Modular-Based PowerEdge Systems
PowerEdge M820 Configuration
Processors Intel Xeon E5-4600 product family
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Up to four 2.5 inch SAS/SATA disks
Internal Flash Memory Supported SD memory card
Internal Storage Adapter PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H310, PERC
H710, and PERC H710P
External Disk Storage
Adapter
Fibre Channel HBA All supported HBAs
Networking BCM 57810S bNDC, Intel X520 bNDC, Qlogic
Remote Access Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller(iDRAC)7
PowerEdge M620 Configuration
Processors Intel Xeon E5-2600 product family
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Up to two 2.5 inch SAS/SATA disks
Internal Flash Memory Supported SD memory card
Internal Storage Adapter PERC H310, PERC H710, and PERC H710P
External Disk Storage
Adapter
Fibre Channel HBA All supported HBAs
Networking BCM 57810S bNDC, Intel X520 bNDC, Qlogic
Remote Access iDRAC7
Not applicable
QMD8262-k bNDC, and supported peripheral NICs
Not applicable
QMD8262-k bNDC, and supported peripheral NICs
ESXi Deployment Guide 9
Table 1. Modular-Based PowerEdge Systems
PowerEdge M520 Configuration
Processors Intel Xeon E5-2400 product family
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Up to two 2.5 inch SAS/SATA disks
Internal Flash Memory Supported SD memory card
Internal Storage Adapter PERC H310 Mini Blade, PERC H710 Mini Blade, and
PERC H710P Mini Blade
External Disk Storage
Adapter
Fibre Channel HBA All supported HBAs
Networking Four integrated network ports and all supported
Remote Access iDRAC7
PowerEdge M420 Configuration
Processors Intel Xeon E5-2400 product family
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Up to two 1.8 inch uSATA drive
Internal Storage Adapter PERC H310 adapter
External Disk Storage
Adapter
Fibre Channel HBA
(SAN connectivity)
Networking Two integrated network ports and all supported
Remote Access iDRAC7
Not applicable
peripheral NICs
Not applicable
All supported HBAs
peripheral NICs
(continued)
10 ESXi Deployment Guide
Table 1. Modular-Based PowerEdge Systems
PowerEdge M915 Configuration
Processors AMD Opteron 6100/6200 series
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Two 2.5 inch SAS/SATA disks
Internal Storage Adapter PERC H200 Modular and PERC H700 Modular
External Disk Storage
Adapter
Fibre Channel HBA
(SAN connectivity)
Networking Four 1 GbE or 10 GbE integrated network ports and all
Remote Access iDRAC6
PowerEdge M910 Configuration
Processors Intel Xeon 6500 series or Intel Xeon 7500 series or Intel Xeon
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Two 2.5 inch SAS/SATA disks
Internal Flash Memory Supported SD memory card
Internal Storage Adapter PERC H200 Modular and PERC H700 Modular
External Disk Storage
Adapter
Fibre Channel HBA
(SAN connectivity)
Networking Four integrated network ports and all supported
Remote Access iDRAC6
Not applicable
All supported HBAs
supported peripheral NICs
E7-2800/4800/8800 product family
Not applicable
All supported daughter cards
peripheral NICs
(continued)
ESXi Deployment Guide 11
Table 1. Modular-Based PowerEdge Systems
PowerEdge M710HD Configuration
Processors Intel Xeon 5500/5600 series
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Up to four 2.5 inch SAS/SATA disks
Internal Flash Memory Supported SD memory card
Internal Storage Adapter PERC H200 Embedded
External Disk Storage
Adapter
Fibre Channel HBA
(SAN connectivity)
Networking Four 1 GbE or two 10 GbE integrated network ports and
Remote Access iDRAC6
PowerEdge M710 Configuration
Processors Intel Xeon 5500/5600 series
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Up to four 2.5 inch SAS/SATA disks
Internal Flash Memory Supported SD memory card
Internal Storage Adapter SAS 6/iR Integrated, Cost-Effective RAID Controller
External Disk Storage
Adapter
Fibre Channel HBA
(SAN connectivity)
Networking Four integrated network ports and all supported NIC
Remote Access iDRAC6
Not applicable
All supported daughter cards
all supported peripheral NICs
(CERC) 6/i, PERC 6/i Integrated, PERC H200 Modular,
and PERC H700 Modular
Not applicable
All supported daughter cards
daughter cards
(continued)
12 ESXi Deployment Guide
Table 1. Modular-Based PowerEdge Systems
PowerEdge M610x Configuration
Processors Intel Xeon 5500/5600 series
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Two 2.5 inch SAS/SATA disks
Internal Flash Memory Supported SD memory card
Internal Storage Adapter PERC H200 Modular and PERC H700 Modular
External Disk Storage
Adapter
Fibre Channel HBA
(SAN connectivity)
Networking Four integrated network ports and all supported NIC
Remote Access iDRAC6
PowerEdge M610 Configuration
Processors Intel Xeon 5500/5600 series
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Two 2.5 inch SAS/SATA disks
Internal Flash Memory Supported SD memory card
Internal Storage Adapter SAS 6/iR Integrated, CERC 6/i, PERC 6/i Integrated,
External Disk Storage
Adapter
Fibre Channel HBA
(SAN connectivity)
Networking Two integrated network ports and all supported NIC
Remote Access iDRAC6
PERC H800
All supported daughter cards
daughter cards
PERC H200 Modular, and PERC H700 Modular
Not applicable
All supported daughter cards
daughter cards
(continued)
ESXi Deployment Guide 13
Table 2 lists the currently shipping rack-based Dell PowerEdge systems that
support ESXi Embedded.
Table 2. Rack-Based PowerEdge Systems
PowerEdge R820 Configuration
Processors Intel Xeon E5-4600 product family
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Up to sixteen 2.5 inch SAS/SATA disks
Internal Flash Memory Supported SD memory card
Internal Storage Adapter PERC H310, PERC H710, and PERC H710P
External Disk Storage
Adapter
Fibre Channel HBA All supported HBAs
Networking Broadcom 57800S QP rNDC, Broadcom 5720 QP rNDC,
Remote Access iDRAC7
PowerEdge R720 Configuration
Processors Intel Xeon E5-2600 product family
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Up to sixteen 2.5 inch or eight 3.5 inch SAS/SATA disks
Internal Flash Memory Supported SD memory card
Internal Storage Adapter PERC H310, PERC H710, and PERC H710P
External Disk Storage
Adapter
Fibre Channel HBA All supported HBAs
Networking Broadcom 57800S QP rNDC, Broadcom 5720 QP rNDC,
Remote Access iDRAC7
PERC H810, 6Gbps SAS HBA
Intel X540 QP rNDC, Intel i350 rNDC, and supported
peripheral NICs
PERC H810, 6Gbps SAS HBA
Intel X540 QP rNDC, Intel i350 rNDC, and supported
peripheral NICs
14 ESXi Deployment Guide
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