This document supports the version of each product listed and
supports all subsequent versions until the document is
replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of
this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
EN-001986-04
vSphere Installation and Setup
You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:
hp://www.vmware.com/support/
The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.
If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:
Installing or Upgrading Hosts by Using a Script 60
Installing ESXi Using vSphere Auto Deploy 74
Using vSphere ESXi Image Builder 139
Seing Up ESXi163
5
ESXi Autoconguration 164
About the Direct Console ESXi Interface 164
Set the Password for the Administrator Account 167
Conguring the BIOS Boot Seings 167
Host Fails to Boot After You Install ESXi in UEFI Mode 168
3
vSphere Installation and Setup
Network Access to Your ESXi Host 169
Congure the Network Seings on a Host That Is Not Aached to the Network 169
Managing ESXi Remotely 170
Conguring Network Seings 170
Storage Behavior 175
Enable ESXi Shell and SSH Access with the Direct Console User Interface 177
View System Logs 178
Congure Syslog on ESXi Hosts 178
Congure Log Filtering on ESXi Hosts 179
Set the Host Image Prole Acceptance Level 180
Reset the System Conguration 181
Remove All Custom Packages on ESXi 181
Disable Support for Non-ASCII Characters in Virtual Machine File and Directory Names 182
Decommission an ESXi Host 182
After You Install and Set Up ESXi183
6
Managing the ESXi Host 183
Licensing ESXi Hosts 183
Install the vSphere Client 185
Before You Install vCenter Server or Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance187
7
Preparing vCenter Server Databases 187
How vCenter Single Sign-On Aects Installation 207
Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network 211
Using a User Account for Running vCenter Server 211
Installing vCenter Server on IPv6 Machines 212
Running the vCenter Server Installer from a Network Drive 212
Required Information for Installing vCenter Server 212
Required Information for Deploying the vCenter Server Appliance 216
Installing vCenter Server on a Windows Virtual Machine or Physical Server225
8
Download the vCenter Server for Windows Installer 225
Install vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller 226
Installing vCenter Server with an External Platform Services Controller 228
Installing vCenter Server in an Environment with Multiple NICs 233
Deploying the vCenter Server Appliance235
9
Download the vCenter Server Appliance Installer 236
Install the Client Integration Plug-In 236
Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded Platform Services Controller 237
Deploying a vCenter Server Appliance with an External Platform Services Controller 240
Troubleshooting vCenter Server Installation or Deployment247
10
Collecting Logs for Troubleshooting a vCenter Server Installation or Upgrade 247
Aempt to Install a Platform Services Controller After a Prior Installation Failure 249
Microsoft SQL Database Set to Unsupported Compatibility Mode Causes vCenter Server
Installation or Upgrade to Fail 250
4 VMware, Inc.
After You Install vCenter Server or Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance251
11
Log in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Web Client 251
Collect vCenter Server Log Files 252
Install or Upgrade vSphere Authentication Proxy 252
Uninstall vCenter Server 254
Repoint the Connections Between vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller 254
Recongure a Standalone vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller to a
vCenter Server with an External Platform Services Controller 256
Recongure Multiple Joined Instances of vCenter Server with an Embedded
Platform Services Controller to vCenter Server with an External Platform Services Controller 259
Contents
Backing Up and Restoring a vCenter Server Environment269
12
General vSphere Data Protection Workow 270
Backing Up and Restoring vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller 277
Backing Up and Restoring a vCenter Server Environment with a Single External
Platform Services Controller 278
Backing Up and Restoring a vCenter Server Environment with Multiple
Platform Services Controller Instances 281
Index291
VMware, Inc. 5
vSphere Installation and Setup
6 VMware, Inc.
About vSphere Installation and Setup
vSphere Installation and Setup describes how to install and congure VMware® vCenter Server, deploy the
vCenter Server Appliance, and ESXi.
Intended Audience
vSphere Installation and Setup is intended for experienced administrators who want to install and congure
vCenter Server, deploy and congure the vCenter Server Appliance, and install and congure ESXi.
This information is wrien for experienced Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with
virtual machine technology and data center operations. The information about using the Image Builder and
Auto Deploy is wrien for administrators who have experience with Microsoft PowerShell and PowerCLI.
VMware, Inc.
7
vSphere Installation and Setup
8 VMware, Inc.
Updated Information
This vSphere Installation and Setup is updated with each release of the product or when necessary.
This table provides the update history of the vSphere Installation and Setup.
RevisionDescription
EN-001986-04
EN-001986-03
EN-001986-02
EN-001986-01
EN-001986-00 Initial release.
Updated “vCenter Server for Windows Hardware Requirements,” on page 30 and “vCenter Server
n
Appliance Hardware Requirements,” on page 31 to state that the hardware requirements for
vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller and vCenter Server with an external
Platform Services Controller are the same.
Updated “Recongure Each vCenter Server Instance and Repoint It from an Embedded to External
n
Platform Services Controller Instance,” on page 265 to add a step for creating direct replication
agreement between the embedded and the external Platform Services Controller instances if not
present.
Revised the prerequisites and steps in “Format a USB Flash Drive to Boot the ESXi Installation or
n
Upgrade,” on page 44.
Updated “Install the Client Integration Plug-In,” on page 236 to improve the information about the
n
location of the executable le.
Updated information on ports 389, 636, 11711, and 11712 in “Required Ports for vCenter Server and
n
Platform Services Controller,” on page 33.
Minor revisions of the examples in “Create an Installer ISO Image with a Custom Installation or
n
Upgrade Script,” on page 47 and “Boot Options,” on page 61.
Updated topics “Set the Scratch Partition from the vSphere Web Client,” on page 176 and “Host
n
Stops Unexpectedly at Bootup When Sharing a Boot Disk with Another Host,” on page 177 to add an
example for seing a directory path for the scratch partition.
n
Updated the psc_restore script name in Chapter 12, “Backing Up and Restoring a vCenter Server
Environment,” on page 269 section.
Updated topic “Auto Deploy Best Practices,” on page 114 to state that Auto Deploy is deployed
n
together with the vCenter Server system.
Corrected URL in topic “Create a Backup Job in vSphere Data Protection,” on page 273.
n
Updated information on number of vCenter Server instances in “How vCenter Single Sign-On
n
Aects Installation,” on page 207.
Updated topic “Recongure a Standalone vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services
n
Controller to a vCenter Server with an External Platform Services Controller,” on page 256 and
added “Recongure Multiple Joined Instances of vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform
Services Controller to vCenter Server with an External Platform Services Controller,” on page 259 to
improve the information about reconguring a standalone and multiple instances of vCenter Server
with an embedded Platform Services Controller.
VMware, Inc. 9
vSphere Installation and Setup
10 VMware, Inc.
Introduction to vSphere Installation
and Setup1
vSphere 6.0 provides various options for installation and setup. To ensure a successful vSphere deployment,
understand the installation and setup options, and the sequence of tasks.
The two core components of vSphere are VMware ESXi® and VMware vCenter Server®. ESXi is the
virtualization platform on which you can create and run virtual machines and virtual appliances.
vCenter Server is a service that acts as a central administrator for ESXi hosts connected in a network.
vCenter Server lets you pool and manage the resources of multiple hosts.
You can install vCenter Server on a Windows virtual machine or physical server, or deploy the
vCenter Server Appliance. The vCenter Server Appliance is a precongured Linux-based virtual machine
optimized for running vCenter Server and the vCenter Server components. You can deploy the
vCenter Server Appliance on ESXi hosts 5.0 or later, or on vCenter Server instances 5.0 or later.
Starting with vSphere 6.0, all prerequisite services for running vCenter Server and the vCenter Server
components are bundled in the VMware Platform Services Controller. You can deploy vCenter Server with
an embedded or external Platform Services Controller, but you must always install or deploy the
Platform Services Controller before installing or deploying vCenter Server.
This chapter includes the following topics:
“vCenter Server Components and Services,” on page 11
n
“vCenter Server Deployment Models,” on page 13
n
“Overview of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process,” on page 16
n
“vSphere Security Certicates Overview,” on page 17
n
“Enhanced Linked Mode Overview,” on page 20
n
vCenter Server Components and Services
vCenter Server provides a centralized platform for management, operation, resource provisioning, and
performance evaluation of virtual machines and hosts.
When you install vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller, or deploy the
vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller, vCenter Server, the
vCenter Server components, and the services included in the Platform Services Controller are deployed on
the same system.
When you install vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller, or deploy the
vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller, vCenter Server and the
vCenter Server components are deployed on one system, and the services included in the
Platform Services Controller are deployed on another system.
VMware, Inc.
11
vSphere Installation and Setup
The following components are included in the vCenter Server and vCenter Server Appliance installations:
The VMware Platform Services Controller group of infrastructure services contains vCenter Single Sign-
n
On, License service, Lookup Service, and VMware Certicate Authority.
The vCenter Server group of services contains vCenter Server, vSphere Web Client, Inventory Service,
n
vSphere Auto Deploy, vSphere ESXi Dump Collector, VMware vSphere Syslog Collector on Windows
and VMware Sphere Syslog Service for the vCenter Server Appliance.
Services Installed with VMware Platform Services Controller
vCenter Single Sign-On
vSphere License
Service
VMware Certificate
Authority
The vCenter Single Sign-On authentication service provides secure
authentication services to the vSphere software components. By using
vCenter Single Sign-On, the vSphere components communicate with each
other through a secure token exchange mechanism, instead of requiring each
component to authenticate a user separately with a directory service like
Active Directory. vCenter Single Sign-On constructs an internal security
domain (for example, vsphere.local) where the vSphere solutions and
components are registered during the installation or upgrade process,
providing an infrastructure resource. vCenter Single Sign-On can
authenticate users from its own internal users and groups, or it can connect
to trusted external directory services such as Microsoft Active Directory.
Authenticated users can then be assigned registered solution-based
permissions or roles within a vSphere environment.
vCenter Single Sign-On is available and required with vCenter Server 5.1.x
and later.
The vSphere License service provides common license inventory and
management capabilities to all vCenter Server systems that are connected to
a Platform Services Controller or multiple linked
Platform Services Controllers.
VMware Certicate Authority (VMCA) provisions each ESXi host with a
signed certicate that has VMCA as the root certicate authority, by default.
Provisioning occurs when the ESXi host is added to vCenter Server explicitly
or as part of the ESXi host installation process. All ESXi certicates are stored
locally on the host.
Services Installed with vCenter Server
These additional components are installed silently when you install vCenter Server. The components cannot
be installed separately as they do not have their own installers.
vCenter Inventory
Service
PostgreSQL
vSphere Web Client
vSphere ESXi Dump
Collector
12 VMware, Inc.
Inventory Service stores vCenter Server conguration and inventory data,
enabling you to search and access inventory objects across vCenter Server
instances.
A bundled version of the VMware distribution of PostgreSQL database for
vSphere and vCloud Hybrid Services.
The vSphere Web Client lets you connect to vCenter Server instances by
using a Web browser, so that you can manage your vSphere infrastructure.
The vCenter Server support tool. You can congure ESXi to save the
VMkernel memory to a network server, rather than to a disk, when the
system encounters a critical failure. The vSphere ESXi Dump Collector
collects such memory dumps over the network.
Chapter 1 Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup
VMware vSphere Syslog
Collector
VMware Syslog Service
vSphere Auto Deploy
The vCenter Server on Windows support tool that enables network logging
and combining of logs from multiple hosts. You can use the vSphere Syslog
Collector to direct ESXi system logs to a server on the network, rather than to
a local disk. The recommended maximum number of supported hosts to
collect logs from is 30. For information about conguring vSphere Syslog
Collector, see hp://kb.vmware.com/kb/2021652.
The vCenter Server Appliance support tool that provides a unied
architecture for system logging, network logging and collecting logs from
hosts. You can use the VMware Syslog Service to direct ESXi system logs to a
server on the network, rather than to a local disk. The recommended
maximum number of supported hosts to collect logs from is 30. For
information about conguring VMware Syslog Service, see vCenter ServerAppliance Conguration.
The vCenter Server support tool that can provision hundreds of physical
hosts with ESXi software. You can specify the image to deploy and the hosts
to provision with the image. Optionally, you can specify host proles to
apply to the hosts, and a vCenter Server location (folder or cluster) for each
host.
vCenter Server Deployment Models
You can install vCenter Server on a virtual machine or a physical server running Microsoft Windows Server
2008 SP2 or later, or can deploy the vCenter Server Appliance. The vCenter Server Appliance is a
precongured Linux-based virtual machine, optimized for running vCenter Server.
vSphere 6.0 introduces vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller and vCenter Server
with an external Platform Services Controller.
I This documentation provides information about the basic deployment models. For information
about the recommended topologies, see List of recommended topologies for vSphere 6.0.x.
vCenter Server with an
embedded
Platform Services
Controller
vCenter Server with an
external
Platform Services
Controller
N After you deploy vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller, you can
recongure your topology and switch to vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller. This
is a one-way process after which you cannot switch back to vCenter Server with an embedded
Platform Services Controller. You can repoint the vCenter Server instance only to an external
Platform Services Controller that is congured to replicate the infrastructure data within the same domain.
All services bundled with the Platform Services Controller are deployed on
the same virtual machine or physical server as vCenter Server.
The services bundled with the Platform Services Controller and
vCenter Server are deployed on dierent virtual machines or physical
servers.
You rst must deploy the Platform Services Controller on one virtual
machine or physical server and then deploy vCenter Server on another
virtual machine or physical server.
vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller
vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller are deployed on a single virtual machine or physical
server.
VMware, Inc. 13
Platform Services
Controller
Virtual Machine
or Physical Server
vCenter Server
Platform Services
Controller
Virtual Machine
or Physical Server
Virtual Machine
or Physical Server
vCenter Server
Virtual Machine
or Physical Server
vCenter Server
vSphere Installation and Setup
Figure 1‑1. vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller
Installing vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller has the following advantages:
The connection between vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller is not over the network,
n
and vCenter Server is not prone to outages because of connectivity and name resolution issues between
vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller.
If you install vCenter Server on Windows virtual machines or physical servers, you will need fewer
n
Windows licenses.
You will have to manage fewer virtual machines or physical servers.
n
You do not need a load balancer to distribute the load across Platform Services Controller.
n
Installing with an embedded Platform Services Controller has the following disadvantages:
There is a Platform Services Controller for each product which might be more than required. This
n
consumes more resources.
The model is suitable for small-scale environments.
n
vCenter Server with an External Platform Services Controller
vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller are deployed on separate virtual machine or physical
server. The Platform Services Controller can be shared across several vCenter Server instances. You can
install a Platform Services Controller and then install several vCenter Server instances and register them
with the Platform Services Controller. You can then install another Platform Services Controller, congure it
to replicate data with the rst Platform Services Controller, and then install vCenter Server instances and
register them with the second Platform Services Controller.
Figure 1‑2. vCenter Server with an External Platform Services Controller
14 VMware, Inc.
Installing vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller has the following advantages:
Less resources consumed by the combined services in the Platform Services Controllers enables a
n
n
reduced footprint and reduced maintenance.
Your environment can consist of more vCenter Server instances.
Platform Services
Controller on Windows
Windows Virtual Machine
or Physical Server
Virtual Machine
vCenter Server
Appliance
Virtual Machine
or Physical Server
vCenter Server
on Windows
Platform Services
Controller Appliance
Linux Virtual Machine
Virtual Machine
vCenter Server
Appliance
Virtual Machine
or Physical Server
vCenter Server
on Windows
Chapter 1 Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup
Installing vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller has the following disadvantages:
The connection between vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller is over the network and is
n
prone to connectivity and name resolution issues.
If you install vCenter Server on Windows virtual machines or physical servers, you need more
n
Microsoft Windows licenses.
You must manage more virtual machines or physical servers.
n
Mixed Operating Systems Environment
A vCenter Server instance installed on Windows can be registered with either a Platform Services Controller
installed on Windows or a Platform Services Controller appliance. A vCenter Server Appliance, can be
registered with either a Platform Services Controller installed on Windows or a Platform Services Controller
appliance. Both vCenter Server and the vCenter Server Appliance can be registered with the same
Platform Services Controller within a domain.
Figure 1‑3. Example of a Mixed Operating Systems Environment with an External Platform Services
Controller on Windows
Figure 1‑4. Example of a Mixed Operating Systems Environment with an External Platform Services
Controller Appliance
Having many Platform Services Controllers that replicate their infrastructure data, allows you to ensure
high availability of your system.
If an external Platform Services Controller with which your vCenter Server instance or
vCenter Server Appliance was initially registered, stops responding, you can repoint your vCenter Server or
vCenter Server Appliance to another external Platform Services Controller in the domain. For more
information, see “Repoint the Connections Between vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller,” on
page 254.
VMware, Inc. 15
vSphere Installation and Setup
Overview of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process
vSphere is a sophisticated product with multiple components to install and set up. To ensure a successful
vSphere deployment, understand the sequence of tasks required.
Installing vSphere includes the following tasks:
1Read the vSphere release notes.
2Verify that your system meets vSphere hardware and software requirements. See Chapter 2, “System
Requirements,” on page 23.
3Install ESXi.
aVerify that your system meets the minimum hardware requirements. See “ESXi Requirements,” on
page 23.
bDetermine the ESXi installation option to use. See “Options for Installing ESXi,” on page 41.
cDetermine where you want to locate and boot the ESXi installer. See “Media Options for Booting
the ESXi Installer,” on page 44. If you are PXE-booting the installer, verify that your network PXE
infrastructure is properly set up. See “PXE Booting the ESXi Installer,” on page 48.
dCreate a worksheet with the information you will need when you install ESXi. See “Required
Information for ESXi Installation,” on page 55.
eInstall ESXi.
“Installing ESXi Interactively,” on page 57
n
“Installing or Upgrading Hosts by Using a Script,” on page 60
n
“Installing ESXi Using vSphere Auto Deploy,” on page 74
n
I In vSphere 6.0, Auto Deploy is installed together with vCenter Server. To provision
ESXi hosts by using Auto Deploy, you must install vCenter Server or deploy the
vCenter Server Appliance.
4Congure ESXi boot and network seings, the direct console, and other seings. See Chapter 5, “Seing
Up ESXi,” on page 163 and Chapter 6, “After You Install and Set Up ESXi,” on page 183.
5Consider seing up a syslog server for remote logging, to ensure sucient disk storage for log les.
Seing up logging on a remote host is especially important for hosts with limited local storage. See
“Required Free Space for System Logging,” on page 40 and “Congure Syslog on ESXi Hosts,” on
page 178.
6Install vCenter Server on a Windows virtual machine or physical server or deploy the
vCenter Server Appliance.
In vSphere 6.0, you can install vCenter Server or deploy the vCenter Server Appliance, and connect
them in Enhanced Linked Mode conguration by registering the vCenter Server instance and the
vCenter Server Appliance to Platform Services Controllers that replicate their infrastructure data.
Concurrent installations are not supported. After you install or deploy a Platform Services Controller,
you must install vCenter Server instances or deploy vCenter Server Appliance sequentially.
Install vCenter Server on a Windows virtual machine or physical server.
n
1Verify that your system meets the hardware and software requirements for installing
vCenter Server. See “vCenter Server for Windows Requirements,” on page 29.
2(Optional) Set up an external vCenter Server database. See “Preparing vCenter Server
Databases,” on page 187.
16 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 1 Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup
For an environment with up to 20 hosts and 200 virtual machines, you can use the bundled
PostgreSQL database. For production and large scale environments, set up an external
database, because the migration from the embedded PostgreSQL database to an external
database is not a trivial manual process.
3Create a worksheet with the information you need for installation. See “Required Information
for Installing vCenter Server,” on page 212.
4Install vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller. See Chapter 8, “Installing vCenter
Server on a Windows Virtual Machine or Physical Server,” on page 225.
You can install vCenter Server with an embedded or with an external
Platform Services Controller.
vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller deployment is suitable for
small-scale environments. vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller
deployment is suitable for environments with several vCenter Server instances. See “vCenter
Server Deployment Models,” on page 13 .
Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance.
n
1Review the topics in “vCenter Server Appliance Requirements,” on page 31 and verify that
your system meets the hardware and software requirements for deploying the
vCenter Server Appliance.
2(Optional) Set up an external Oracle database. The vCenter Server Appliance supports only
Oracle database as an external database. See “Preparing vCenter Server Databases,” on
page 187.
You can also use the bundled PostgreSQL database, which is suitable for environments that
contain up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines.
3Use the topic “Required Information for Deploying the vCenter Server Appliance,” on
page 216 to create a worksheet with the information you need for installation.
4Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller or with
an external Platform Services Controller. See Chapter 9, “Deploying the vCenter Server
Appliance,” on page 235.
vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller deployment is suitable for
small-scale environments. vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller
deployment is suitable for environments with several vCenter Server instances. See “vCenter
Server Deployment Models,” on page 13 .
7Connect to vCenter Server from the vSphere Web Client. See Chapter 11, “After You Install vCenter
Server or Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance,” on page 251.
8Congure vCenter Server and the vCenter Server Appliance. See vCenter Server and Host Management
and vCenter Server Appliance Conguration.
vSphere Security Certificates Overview
ESXi hosts and vCenter Server communicate securely over SSL to ensure condentiality, data integrity and
authentication.
In vSphere 6.0, the VMware Certicate Authority (VMCA) provisions each ESXi host with a signed
certicate that has VMCA as the root certicate authority, by default. Provisioning happens when the ESXi
host is added to vCenter Server explicitly or as part of the ESXi host installation. All ESXi certicates are
stored locally on the host.
You can also use custom certicates with a dierent root Certicate Authority (CA). For information about
managing certicates for ESXi hosts, see the vSphere Security documentation.
VMware, Inc. 17
CA-Cert
VECS
Machine-Cert
Signed
VMCA
vSphere Installation and Setup
All certicates for vCenter Server and the vCenter Server services are stored in the VMware Endpoint
Certicate Store (VECS).
You can replace the VMCA certicate for vCenter Server with a dierentcerticate signed by a CA. If you
want to use a third party certicate, install the Platform Services Controller, add the new CA-signed root
certicate to VMCA, and then install vCenter Server. For information about managing vCenter Server
certicates, see the vSphere Security documentation.
Certificate Replacement Overview
You can perform dierent types of certicate replacement depending on company policy and requirements
for the system that you are conguring. You can perform each replacement with the vSphere Certicate
Manager utility or manually by using the CLIs included with your installation.
VMCA is included in each Platform Services Controller and in each embedded deployment. VMCA
provisions each node, each vCenter Server solution user, and each ESXi host with a certicate that is signed
by VMCA as the certicate authority. vCenter Server solution users are groups of vCenter Server services.
See vSphere Security for a list of solution users.
You can replace the default certicates. For vCenter Server components, you can use a set of command-line
tools included in your installation. You have several options.
See the vSphere Security publication for details on the replacement workows and on the vSphere Certicate
Manager utility.
Replace With Certificates Signed by VMCA
If your VMCA certicate expires or you want to replace it for other reasons, you can use the certicate
management CLIs to perform that process. By default, the VMCA root certicate expires after ten years, and
all certicates that VMCA signs expire when the root certicate expires, that is, after a maximum of ten
years.
Figure 1‑5. Certificates Signed by VMCA Are Stored in VECS
18 VMware, Inc.
CA-Cert
VECS
Machine-Cert
Signed
VMware vSphere
VMCA
Root
CA-Cert
Enterprise
CA-Cert
SignedSigned
Chapter 1 Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup
Make VMCA an Intermediate CA
You can replace the VMCA root certicate with a certicate that is signed by an enterprise CA or third-party
CA. VMCA signs the custom root certicate each time it provisions certicates, making VMCA an
intermediate CA.
N If you perform a fresh install that includes an external Platform Services Controller, install the
Platform Services Controller rst and replace the VMCA root certicate. Next, install other services or add
ESXi hosts to your environment. If you perform a fresh install with an embedded
Platform Services Controller, replace the VMCA root certicate before you add ESXi hosts. If you do, all
certicates are signed by the whole chain, and you do not have to generate new certicates.
Figure 1‑6. Certificates Signed by a Third-Party or Enterprise CA Use VMCA as an Intermediate CA
Do Not Use VMCA, Provision with Custom Certificates
You can replace the existing VMCA-signed certicates with custom certicates. If you use that approach,
you are responsible for all certicate provisioning and monitoring.
VMware, Inc. 19
Unused
VECS
Machine-Cert
VMware vSphere
VMCA
External CA
(Commercial or
Enterprise)
Signed
vSphere Installation and Setup
Figure 1‑7. External Certificates are Stored Directly in VECS
Hybrid Deployment
You can have VMCA supply some of the certicates, but use custom certicates for other parts of your
infrastructure. For example, because solution user certicates are used only to authenticate to vCenter Single
Sign-On, consider having VMCA provision those certicates. Replace the machine SSL certicates with
custom certicates to secure all SSL trac.
ESXi Certificate Replacement
For ESXi hosts, you can change certicate provisioning behavior from the vSphere Web Client.
VMware Certificate
Authority mode (default)
When you renew certicates from the vSphere Web Client, VMCA issues the
certicates for the hosts. If you changed the VMCA root certicate to includea certicate chain, the host certicates include the full chain.
Custom Certificate
Authority mode
Thumbprint mode
Allows you to manually update and use certicates that are not signed or
issued by VMCA.
Can be used to retain 5.5 certicates during refresh. Use this mode only
temporarily in debugging situations.
Enhanced Linked Mode Overview
Enhanced Linked Mode connects multiple vCenter Server systems together by using one or more
Platform Services Controllers.
Enhanced Linked Mode lets you view and search across all linked vCenter Server systems and replicate
roles, permissions, licenses, policies, and tags.
When you install vCenter Server or deploy the vCenter Server Appliance with an external
Platform Services Controller, you must rst install the Platform Services Controller. During installation of
the Platform Services Controller, you can select whether to create a new vCenter Single Sign-On domain or
join an existing domain. You can select to join an existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain if you have
already installed or deployed a Platform Services Controller, and have created a vCenter Single Sign-On
domain. When you join an existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain, the data between the existing
Platform Services Controller and the new Platform Services Controller is replicated, and the infrastructure
data is replicated between the two Platform Services Controllers.
20 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 1 Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup
With Enhanced Linked Mode, you can connect not only vCenter Server systems running on Windows but
also many vCenter Server Appliances. You can also have an environment where multiple vCenter Server
systems and vCenter Server Appliances are linked together.
If you install vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller, you rst must deploy the
Platform Services Controller on one virtual machines or physical server and then deploy vCenter Server on
another virtual machines or physical server. While installing vCenter Server, you must select the external
Platform Services Controller. Make sure that the Platform Services Controller you select is an external
standalone Platform Services Controller. Selecting an existing Platform Services Controller that is a part of
an embedded installation is not supported and cannot be recongured after the deployment. For
information about the recommended topologies, see hp://kb.vmware.com/kb/2108548.
VMware, Inc. 21
vSphere Installation and Setup
22 VMware, Inc.
System Requirements2
Systems running vCenter Server on Windows, the vCenter Server Appliance, and ESXi instances must meet
specic hardware and operating system requirements.
If you are using Auto Deploy to provision ESXi hosts, see also “Preparing for vSphere Auto Deploy,” on
page 84.
This chapter includes the following topics:
“ESXi Requirements,” on page 23
n
“vCenter Server for Windows Requirements,” on page 29
n
“vCenter Server Appliance Requirements,” on page 31
n
“Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller,” on page 33
n
“vSphere DNS Requirements,” on page 37
n
“vSphere Web Client Software Requirements,” on page 38
n
“Client Integration Plug-In Software Requirements,” on page 38
n
“vSphere Client Requirements,” on page 39
n
“Required Free Space for System Logging,” on page 40
n
ESXi Requirements
To install ESXi 6.0 or upgrade to ESXi 6.0, your system must meet specic hardware and software
requirements.
ESXi Hardware Requirements
Make sure the host meets the minimum hardware congurations supported by ESXi 6.0.
Hardware and System Resources
To install or upgrade ESXi 6.0, your hardware and system resources must meet the following requirements:
Supported server platform . For a list of supported platforms, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at
n
hp://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
ESXi 6.0 requires a host machine with at least two CPU cores.
n
ESXi 6.0 supports 64-bit x86 processors released after September 2006. This includes a broad range of
n
multi-core processors. For a complete list of supported processors, see the VMware compatibility guide
at hp://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
VMware, Inc.
23
vSphere Installation and Setup
ESXi 6.0 requires the NX/XD bit to be enabled for the CPU in the BIOS.
n
ESXi requires a minimum of 4GB of physical RAM. It is recommended to provide at least 8 GB of RAM
n
to run virtual machines in typical production environments.
To support 64-bit virtual machines, support for hardware virtualization (Intel VT-x or AMD RVI) must
n
be enabled on x64 CPUs.
One or more Gigabit or faster Ethernet controllers. For a list of supported network adapter models, see
n
the VMware Compatibility Guide at hp://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
SCSI disk or a local, non-network, RAID LUN with unpartitioned space for the virtual machines.
n
For Serial ATA (SATA), a disk connected through supported SAS controllers or supported on-board
n
SATA controllers. SATA disks will be considered remote, not local. These disks will not be used as a
scratch partition by default because they are seen as remote.
N You cannot connect a SATA CD-ROM device to a virtual machine on an ESXi 6.0 host. To use the
SATA CD-ROM device, you must use IDE emulation mode.
Storage Systems
For a list of supported storage systems, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at
hp://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility. For Software Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), see
“Installing and Booting ESXi with Software FCoE,” on page 55.
ESXi Booting Requirements
vSphere 6.0 supports booting ESXi hosts from the Unied Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). With UEFI,
you can boot systems from hard drives, CD-ROM drives, or USB media. Network booting or provisioning
with VMware Auto Deploy requires the legacy BIOS rmware and is not available with UEFI.
ESXi can boot from a disk larger than 2TB provided that the system rmware and the rmware on any addin card that you are using support it. See the vendor documentation.
N Changing the boot type from legacy BIOS to UEFI after you install ESXi 6.0 might cause the host to
fail to boot. In this case, the host displays an error message similar to Not a VMware boot bank. Changing the
host boot type between legacy BIOS and UEFI is not supported after you install ESXi 6.0.
Storage Requirements for ESXi 6.0 Installation or Upgrade
Installing ESXi 6.0 or upgrading to ESXi 6.0 requires a boot device that is a minimum of 1GB in size. When
booting from a local disk, SAN or iSCSI LUN, a 5.2GB disk is required to allow for the creation of the VMFS
volume and a 4GB scratch partition on the boot device . If a smaller disk or LUN is used, the installer
aempts to allocate a scratch region on a separate local disk. If a local disk cannot be found the scratch
partition, /scratch, is located on the ESXi host ramdisk, linked to /tmp/scratch. You can
recongure/scratch to use a separate disk or LUN. For best performance and memory optimization, do not
leave /scratch on the ESXi host ramdisk.
To recongure/scratch, see “Set the Scratch Partition from the vSphere Web Client,” on page 176.
Due to the I/O sensitivity of USB and SD devices the installer does not create a scratch partition on these
devices. When installing or upgrading on USB or SD devices, the installer aempts to allocate a scratch
region on an available local disk or datastore. If no local disk or datastore is found, /scratch is placed on the
ramdisk. After the installation or upgrade, you should recongure/scratch to use a persistent datastore.
Although a 1GB USB or SD device suces for a minimal installation, you should use a 4GB or larger device.
The extra space will be used for an expanded coredump partition on the USB/SD device. Use a high quality
USB ash drive of 16GB or larger so that the extra ash cells can prolong the life of the boot media, but high
quality drives of 4GB or larger are sucient to hold the extended coredump partition. See Knowledge Base
article hp://kb.vmware.com/kb/2004784.
24 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 2 System Requirements
In Auto Deploy installations, the installer aempts to allocate a scratch region on an available local disk or
datastore. If no local disk or datastore is found, /scratch is placed on ramdisk. You should
recongure/scratch to use a persistent datastore following the installation.
For environments that boot from a SAN or use Auto Deploy, you need not allocate a separate LUN for each
ESXi host. You can co-locate the scratch regions for many ESXi hosts onto a single LUN. The number of
hosts assigned to any single LUN should be weighed against the LUN size and the I/O behavior of the
virtual machines.
Supported Remote Management Server Models and Firmware Versions
You can use remote management applications to install or upgrade ESXi, or to manage hosts remotely.
Table 2‑1. Supported Remote Management Server Models and Minimum Firmware Versions
Remote Management Server
ModelFirmware VersionJava
Table 2‑2. Recommendations for Enhanced Performance
System ElementRecommendation
RAMESXi hosts require more RAM than typical servers. Provide
Dedicated Fast Ethernet adapters for virtual machinesPlace the management network and virtual machine
Disk locationPlace all data that your virtual machines use on physical
VMFS5 partitioningThe ESXi installer creates the initial VMFS volumes on the
ProcessorsFaster processors improve ESXi performance. For certain
Hardware compatibilityUse devices in your server that are supported by ESXi 6.0
at least 8GB of RAM to take full advantage of ESXi features
and run virtual machines in typical production
environments. An ESXi host must have sucient RAM to
run concurrent virtual machines. The following examples
are provided to help you calculate the RAM required by
the virtual machines running on the ESXi host.
Operating four virtual machines with
Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Windows XP requires at least
3GB of RAM for baseline performance. This gure includes
approximately 1024MB for the virtual machines, 256MB
minimum for each operating system as recommended by
vendors.
Running these four virtual machines with 512MB RAM
requires that the ESXi host have approximately 4GB RAM,
which includes 2048MB for the virtual machines.
These calculations do not take into account possible
memory savings from using variable overhead memory for
each virtual machine. See vSphere Resource Management.
networks on dierent physical network cards. Dedicated
Gigabit Ethernet cards for virtual machines, such as Intel
PRO 1000 adapters, improve throughput to virtual
machines with high network trac.
disks allocated specically to virtual machines.
Performance is beer when you do not place your virtual
machines on the disk containing the ESXi boot image. Use
physical disks that are large enough to hold disk images
that all the virtual machines use.
rst blank local disk found. To add disks or modify the
original conguration, use the vSphere Web Client. This
practice ensures that the starting sectors of partitions are
64K-aligned, which improves storage performance.
N For SAS-only environments, the installer might not
format the disks. For some SAS disks, it is not possible to
identify whether the disks are local or remote. After the
installation, you can use the vSphere Web Client to set up
VMFS.
Incoming and Outgoing Firewall Ports for ESXi Hosts
The vSphere Web Client allows you to open and close rewall ports for each service or to allow trac from
selected IP addresses.
The following table lists the rewalls for services that are usually installed. If you install other VIBs on your
host, additional services and rewall ports might become available.
26 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 2 System Requirements
Table 2‑3. Incoming Firewall Connections
ServicePortComment
CIM Server5988 (TCP)Server for CIM (Common Information Model).
CIM Secure Server5989 (TCP)Secure server for CIM.
CIM SLP427 (TCP, UDP)The CIM client uses the Service Location Protocol,
version 2 (SLPv2) to nd CIM servers.
DHCPv6546 (TCP, UDP)DHCP client for IPv6.
DVSSync8301, 8302 (UDP)DVSSync ports are used for synchronizing states
of distributed virtual ports between hosts that
have VMware FT record/replay enabled. Only
hosts that run primary or backup virtual machines
must have these ports open. On hosts that are not
using VMware FT these ports do not have to be
open.
NFC902 (TCP)Network File Copy (NFC) provides a le-type-
aware FTP service for vSphere components. ESXi
uses NFC for operations such as copying and
moving data between datastores by default.
Virtual SAN Clustering Service12345, 23451 (UDP)Virtual SAN Cluster Monitoring and Membership
Directory Service. Uses UDP-based IP multicast to
establish cluster members and distribute Virtual
SAN metadata to all cluster members. If disabled,
Virtual SAN does not work.
DHCP Client68 (UDP)DHCP client for IPv4.
DNS Client53 (UDP)DNS client.
Fault Tolerance8200, 8100, 8300 (TCP, UDP)Trac between hosts for vSphere Fault Tolerance
(FT).
NSX Distributed Logical Router
Service
Virtual SAN Transport2233 (TCP)Virtual SAN reliable datagram transport. Uses
SNMP Server161 (UDP)Allows the host to connect to an SNMP server.
SSH Server22 (TCP)Required for SSH access.
vMotion8000 (TCP)Required for virtual machine migration with
vSphere Web Client902, 443 (TCP)Client connections
vsanvp8080 (TCP)VSAN VASA Vendor Provider. Used by the
vSphere Web Access80 (TCP)Welcome page, with download links for dierent
6999 (UDP)NSX Virtual Distributed Router service. The
rewall port associated with this service is opened
when NSX VIBs are installed and the VDR module
is created. If no VDR instances are associated with
the host, the port does not have to be open.
This service was called NSX Distributed Logical
Router in earlier versions of the product.
TCP and is used for Virtual SAN storage IO. If
disabled, Virtual SAN does not work.
vMotion.
Storage Management Service (SMS) that is part of
vCenter to access information about Virtual SAN
storage proles, capabilities, and compliance. If
disabled, Virtual SAN Storage Prole Based
Management (SPBM) does not work.
interfaces.
VMware, Inc. 27
vSphere Installation and Setup
Table 2‑4. Outgoing Firewall Connections
ServicePortComment
CIM SLP427 (TCP, UDP)The CIM client uses the Service Location Protocol,
DHCPv6547 (TCP, UDP)DHCP client for IPv6.
DVSSync8301, 8302 (UDP)DVSSync ports are used for synchronizing states
HBR44046, 31031 (TCP)Used for ongoing replication trac by vSphere
NFC902 (TCP)Network File Copy (NFC) provides a le-type-
WOL9 (UDP)Used by Wake on LAN.
Virtual SAN Clustering Service12345 23451 (UDP)Cluster Monitoring, Membership, and Directory
rabbitmqproxy5671 (TCP)A proxy running on the ESXi host that allows
Virtual SAN Transport2233 (TCP)Used for RDT trac (Unicast peer to peer
vMotion8000 (TCP)Required for virtual machine migration with
VMware vCenter Agent902 (UDP)vCenter Server agent.
vsanvp8080 (TCP)Used for Virtual SAN Vendor Provider trac.
version 2 (SLPv2) to nd CIM servers.
of distributed virtual ports between hosts that
have VMware FT record/replay enabled. Only
hosts that run primary or backup virtual machines
must have these ports open. On hosts that are not
using VMware FT these ports do not have to be
open.
Replication and VMware Site Recovery Manager.
aware FTP service for vSphere components. ESXi
uses NFC for operations such as copying and
moving data between datastores by default.
Service used by Virtual SAN.
6999 (UDP)The rewall port associated with this service is
opened when NSX VIBs are installed and the VDR
module is created. If no VDR instances are
associated with the host, the port does not have to
be open.
applications running inside virtual machines to
communicate to the AMQP brokers running in the
vCenter network domain. The virtual machine
does not have to be on the network, that is, no NIC
is required. The proxy connects to the brokers in
the vCenter network domain. Therefore, the
outgoing connection IP addresses should at least
include the current brokers in use or future
brokers. Brokers can be added if customer would
like to scale up.
communication) between Virtual SAN nodes.
vMotion.
28 VMware, Inc.
vCenter Server for Windows Requirements
To install vCenter Server on a Windows virtual machine or physical server, your system must meet specic
hardware and software requirements.
Synchronize the clocks of the virtual machines on which you plan to install vCenter Server and the
n
Platform Services Controller. See “Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network,” on page 211.
Verify that the DNS name of the virtual machine or physical server matches the actual full computer
n
name.
Verify that the host name of the virtual machine or physical server that you are installing or upgrading
n
vCenter Server on complies with RFC 1123 guidelines.
Verify that the system on which you are installing vCenter Server is not an Active Directory domain
n
controller.
If your vCenter Server service is running in a user account other than the Local System account, verify
n
that the user account in which the vCenter Server service is running has the following permissions:
Member of the Administrators group
n
Log on as a service
n
Act as part of the operating system (if the user is a domain user)
n
Chapter 2 System Requirements
If the system that you use for your vCenter Server installation belongs to a workgroup rather than a
n
domain, not all functionality is available to vCenter Server. If assigned to a workgroup, the
vCenter Server system is not able to discover all domains and systems available on the network when
using some features. Your host machine must be connected to a domain if you want to add Active
Directory identity sources after the installation.
Verify that the LOCAL SERVICE account has read permission on the folder in which vCenter Server is
n
installed and on the HKLM registry.
Verify that the connection between the virtual machine or physical server and the domain controller is
n
working.
vCenter Server for Windows Pre-Install Checks
When you install vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller, the installer does a pre-install check,
for example, to verify that enough space is available on the virtual machine or physical server where you are
installing vCenter Server, and veries that the external database, if any, can be successfully accessed.
When you deploy vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller, or an external
Platform Services Controller, vCenter Single Sign-On is installed as part of the Platform Services Controller.
At the time of installation, the installer provides you with the option to join an existing vCenter Single SignOn server domain. When you provide the information about the other vCenter Single Sign-On service, the
installer uses the administrator account to check the host name and password, to verify that the details of
the vCenter Single Sign-On server you provided can be authenticated before proceeding with the
installation process.
The pre-install checker performs checks for the following aspects of the environment:
Windows version
n
Minimum processor requirements
n
Minimum memory requirements
n
Minimum disk space requirements
n
Permissions on the selected install and data directory
n
VMware, Inc. 29
vSphere Installation and Setup
Internal and external port availability
n
External database version
n
External database connectivity
n
Administrator privileges on the Windows machine
n
Any credentials that you enter
n
For information about the minimum storage requirements, see “vCenter Server for Windows Storage
Requirements,” on page 30. For information about the minimum hardware requirements, see “vCenter
Server for Windows Hardware Requirements,” on page 30.
vCenter Server for Windows Hardware Requirements
When you install vCenter Server on a virtual machine or physical server running Microsoft Windows, your
system must meet specic hardware requirements.
You can install vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller on the same virtual machine or physical
server or on dierent virtual machines or physical servers. When you install vCenter Server with an
embedded Platform Services Controller, you install vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller on
the same virtual machine or physical server. When you install the vCenter Server with an external
Platform Services Controller, rst install the Platform Services Controller that contains all of the required
services on one virtual machine or physical server, and then install vCenter Server and the vCenter Server
components on another virtual machine or physical server.
N Installing vCenter Server on a network drive or USB ash drive is not supported.
Table 2‑5. Minimum Recommended Hardware Requirements for Installing vCenter Server and
Platform Services Controller on Windows
vCenter
Server with an
Embedded or
External
Platform
Services
Controller for
a Tiny
Environment
(up to 10
Hosts, 100
Platform Services
Controller
Number of CPUs 224816
Memory2 GB RAM8 GB RAM16 GB RAM24 GB RAM32 GB RAM
Virtual
Machines)
vCenter
Server with an
Embedded or
External
Platform
Services
Controller for
a Small
Environment
(up to 100
Hosts, 1000
Virtual
Machines)
vCenter
Server with an
Embedded or
External
Platform
Services
Controller for
a Medium
Environment
(up to 400
Hosts, 4,000
Virtual
Machines)
For the hardware requirements of your database, see the database documentation. The database
requirements are in addition to the vCenter Server requirements if the database and vCenter Server run on
the same machine.
vCenter Server for Windows Storage Requirements
When you install vCenter Server, your system must meet minimum storage requirements.
vCenter Server
with an
Embedded or
External
Platform
Services
Controller for a
Large
Environment
(up to 1,000
Hosts, 10,000
Virtual
Machines)
The storage requirements per folder depend on the deployment model that you decide to install. During
installation, you can select a folder other than the default C:\Program Files\VMware folder to install
vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller. You can also select a folder other than the default
C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\ in which to store data.
30 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 2 System Requirements
Table 2‑6. vCenter Server Minimum Storage Requirements Depending On the Deployment Model
Default Folder
Program Files
ProgramData
System folder (to cache the
MSI installer)
vCenter Server with an
Embedded
Platform Services
Controller
6 GB6 GB1 GB
8 GB8 GB2 GB
3 GB3 GB1 GB
vCenter Server with an
External
Platform Services
Controller
External
Platform Services
Controller
vCenter Server for Windows Software Requirements
Make sure that your operating system supports vCenter Server.
vCenter Server requires a 64-bit operating system, and the 64-bit system DSN is required for vCenter Server
to connect to the external database.
The earliest Windows Server version that vCenter Server supports is Windows Server 2008 SP2. Your
Windows Server must have the latest updates and patches installed. For a full list of supported operating
systems, see hp://kb.vmware.com/kb/2091273.
vCenter Server for Windows Database Requirements
vCenter Server requires a database to store and organize server data.
Each vCenter Server instance must have its own database. For environments with up to 20 hosts and 200
virtual machines, you can use the bundled PostgreSQL database that the vCenter Server installer can install
and set up for you during the vCenter Server installation. A larger installation requires a supported external
database for the size of the environment.
During vCenter Server installation or upgrade, you must select to install the embedded database or point
the vCenter Server system to any existing supported database. vCenter Server supports Oracle and
Microsoft SQL Server databases. For information about supported database server versions, see the VMware
Product Interoperability Matrix at
You can deploy the vCenter Server Appliance on an ESXi host 5.0 or later, or on a vCenter Server instance
5.0 or later. Your system must also meet specic software and hardware requirements.
When you use Fully Qualied Domain Names, make sure that the machine you use for deploying the
vCenter Server Appliance and the ESXi host are on the same DNS server.
Before you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance, synchronize the clocks of all virtual machines on the
vSphere network. Unsynchronized clocks might result in authentication problems and can cause the
installation to fail or prevent the vCenter Server services from starting. See “Synchronizing Clocks on the
vSphere Network,” on page 211.
vCenter Server Appliance Hardware Requirements
When you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance, you can select to deploy an appliance that is suitable for
the size of your vSphere environment. The option that you select determine the number of CPUs and the
amount of memory that the appliance will have.
The hardware requirements such as number of CPUs and memory depend on the size of your vSphere
inventory.
VMware, Inc. 31
vSphere Installation and Setup
Table 2‑7. Hardware Requirements for VMware vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller
Appliance
vCenter
Server
Appliance with
an Embedded
or External
Platform
Services
Controller for
a Tiny
Environment
(up to 10
Hosts, 100
Platform Services
Resources
Number of CPUs 224816
Memory2 GB RAM8 GB RAM16 GB RAM24 GB RAM32 GB RAM
Controller Appliance
Virtual
Machines)
vCenter Server Appliance Storage Requirements
When you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance, the host on which you deploy the appliance must meet
minimum storage requirements. The required storage depends not only on the size of the vSphere
environment, but also on the disk provisioning mode.
vCenter
Server
Appliance with
an Embedded
or External
Platform
Services
Controller for
a Small
Environment
(up to 100
Hosts, 1,000
Virtual
Machines)
vCenter
Server
Appliance with
an Embedded
or External
Platform
Services
Controller for
a Medium
Environment
(up to 400
Hosts, 4,000
Virtual
Machines)
vCenter Server
Appliance with
an Embedded
or External
Platform
Services
Controller for a
Large
Environment
(up to 1,000
Hosts, 10,000
Virtual
Machines)
The storage requirements depend on the deployment model that you select to deploy.
Table 2‑8. vCenter Server Minimum Storage Requirements Depending On the Deployment Model
Tiny environment (up to 10
hosts, 100 virtual machines)
Small environment (up to
100 hosts, 1,000 virtual
machines)
Medium environment (up to
400 hosts, 4,000 virtual
machine)
Large environment (up to
1,000 hosts, 10,000 virtual
machines)
vCenter Server Appliance
with an Embedded
Platform Services
Controller
120 GB86 GB30 GB
150 GB108 GB30 GB
300 GB220 GB30 GB
450 GB280 GB30 GB
vCenter Server Appliance
with an External
Platform Services
Controller
External
Platform Services
Controller Appliance
Software Included in the vCenter Server Appliance
The vCenter Server Appliance is a precongured Linux-based virtual machine optimized for running
vCenter Server and associated services.
The vCenter Server Appliance package contains the following software:
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Update 3 for VMware, 64-bit edition
n
PostgreSQL
n
vCenter Server 6.0 and vCenter Server 6.0 components.
n
32 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 2 System Requirements
vCenter Server Appliance Software Requirements
The VMware vCenter Server Appliance can be deployed on ESXi hosts 5.0 or later, or on vCenter Server
instances 5.0 or later.
You can deploy the vCenter Server Appliance only by using the Client Integration Plug-In, which is an
HTML installer for Windows that you use to connect to the target server and deploy the
vCenter Server Appliance on the server. You can connect directly to an ESXi 5.0.x, ESXi 5.1.x, ESXi 5.5.x, or
ESXi 6.0.x host on which to deploy the appliance. You can also connect to a vCenter Server 5.0.x,
vCenter Server 5.1.x, vCenter Server 5.5.x, or vCenter Server 6.0.x instance to deploy the appliance on an
ESXi host or DRS cluster that resides in the vCenter Server inventory.
I You cannot deploy the vCenter Server Appliance by using the vSphere Client or the
vSphere Web Client. During the deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance you must provide various
inputs, such as operating system and vCenter Single Sign-On passwords. If you try to deploy the appliance
by using the vSphere Client or the vSphere Web Client, you are not prompted to provide such inputs and
the deployment fails.
vCenter Server Appliance Database Requirements
The vCenter Server Appliance requires a database to store and organize server data.
Each vCenter Server Appliance instance must have its own database. You can use the bundled PostgreSQL
database that is included in the vCenter Server Appliance, which supports up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000
virtual machines.
For external databases, the vCenter Server Appliance supports only Oracle databases. These Oracle
databases are of the same versions shown in the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix for the version of
the vCenter Server that you are installing. See the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix at
If you want to use an external database, make sure that you create a 64-bit DSN so that vCenter Server can
connect to the Oracle database.
Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller
The vCenter Server system both on Windows and in the appliance, must be able to send data to every
managed host and receive data from the vSphere Web Client and the Platform Services Controller services.
To enable migration and provisioning activities between managed hosts, the source and destination hosts
must be able to receive data from each other.
If a port is in use or is blacklisted, the vCenter Server installer displays an error message. You must use
another port number to proceed with the installation. There are internal ports that are used only for interprocess communication.
VMware uses designated ports for communication. Additionally, the managed hosts monitor designated
ports for data from vCenter Server. If a rewall exists between any of these elements, the installer opens the
ports during the installation or upgrade process. For custom rewalls, you must manually open the required
ports. If you have a rewall between two managed hosts and you want to perform source or target activities,
such as migration or cloning, you must congure a means for the managed hosts to receive data.
N In Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and later, rewall is enabled by default.
VMware, Inc. 33
vSphere Installation and Setup
Table 2‑9. Ports Required for Communication Between Components
PortProtocolDescriptionRequired for
22TCP/UDPSystem port for SSHD.Appliance
80TCPvCenter Server requires port 80 for
88TCPActive Directory server.Windows
389TCP/UDPThis port must be open on the local
direct HTTP connections. Port 80
redirects requests to HTTPS port 443.
This redirection is useful if you
accidentally use hp://server instead
of hps://server.
WS-Management (also requires port
443 to be open).
If you use a Microsoft SQL database
that is stored on the same virtual
machine or physical server as the
vCenter Server, port 80 is used by the
SQL Reporting Service. When you
install or upgrade vCenter Server, the
installer prompts you to change the
HTTP port for vCenter Server.
Change the vCenter Server HTTP
port to a custom value to ensure a
successful installation or upgrade.
I You can change this port
number during the vCenter Server
and Platform Services Controller
installations on Windows.
and all remote instances of
vCenter Server. This is the LDAP port
number for the Directory Services for
the vCenter Server group. If another
service is running on this port, it
might be preferable to remove it or
change its port to a dierent port. You
can run the LDAP service on any port
from 1025 through 65535.
If this instance is serving as the
Microsoft Windows Active Directory,
change the port number from 389 to
an available port from 1025 through
65535.
deployments of
vCenter Server
n
Platform Services
n
Controller
Windows
installations and
appliance
deployments of
vCenter Server
n
Platform Services
n
Controller
installations and
appliance
deployments of
Platform Services
Controller
Windows
installations and
appliance
deployments of
Platform Services
Controller
Used for Node-toNode
Communication
No
No
No
vCenter Server to
n
Platform Services
Controller
Platform Services
n
Controller to
Platform Services
Controller
34 VMware, Inc.
Table 2‑9. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued)
PortProtocolDescriptionRequired for
443TCPThe default port that the
vCenter Server system uses to listen
for connections from the
vSphere Web Client. To enable the
vCenter Server system to receive data
from the vSphere Web Client, open
port 443 in the rewall.
The vCenter Server system also uses
port 443 to monitor data transfer from
SDK clients.
This port is also used for the
following services:
WS-Management (also requires
n
port 80 to be open)
Third-party network
n
management client connections to
vCenter Server
Third-party network
n
management clients access to
hosts
I You can change this port
number during the vCenter Server
and Platform Services Controller
installations on Windows.
514UDPvSphere Syslog Collector port for
vCenter Server on Windows and
vSphere Syslog Service port for
vCenter Server Appliance
I You can change this port
number during the vCenter Server
and Platform Services Controller
installations on Windows.
636TCPvCenter Single Sign-On LDAPSWindows
902TCP/UDPThe default port that the
vCenter Server system uses to send
data to managed hosts. Managed
hosts also send a regular heartbeat
over UDP port 902 to the
vCenter Server system. This port
must not be blocked by rewalls
between the server and the hosts or
between hosts.
Port 902 must not be blocked between
the vSphere Client and the hosts. The
vSphere Client uses this port to
display virtual machine consoles
I You can change this port
number during the vCenter Server
installations on Windows.
Windows
installations and
appliance
deployments of
vCenter Server
n
Platform Services
n
Controller
Windows
installations and
appliance
deployments of
vCenter Server
n
Platform Services
n
Controller
installations and
appliance
deployments of
Platform Services
Controller
Windows
installations and
appliance
deployments of
vCenter Server
Chapter 2 System Requirements
Used for Node-toNode
Communication
vCenter Server to
n
vCenter Server
vCenter Server to
n
Platform Services
Controller
Platform Services
n
Controller to
vCenter Server
No
vCenter Server to
Platform Services
Controller
No
VMware, Inc. 35
vSphere Installation and Setup
Table 2‑9. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued)
PortProtocolDescriptionRequired for
1514TCP/UDPvSphere Syslog Collector TLS port for
2012TCPControl interface RPC for vCenter
2014TCPRPC port for all VMCA (VMware
2020TCP/UDPAuthentication framework
6500TCP/UDPESXi Dump Collector port
6501TCPAuto Deploy service
6502TCPAuto Deploy management
7444TCPSecure Token ServiceWindows
vCenter Server on Windows and
vSphere Syslog Service TLS port for
vCenter Server Appliance
I You can change this port
number during the vCenter Server
and Platform Services Controller
installations on Windows.
Single Sign-On
Certicate Authority) APIs
I You can change this port
number during the
Platform Services Controller
installations on Windows.
management
I You can change this port
number during the vCenter Server
and Platform Services Controller
installations on Windows.
I You can change this port
number during the vCenter Server
installations on Windows.
I You can change this port
number during the vCenter Server
installations on Windows.
I You can change this port
number during the vCenter Server
installations on Windows.
Windows
installations and
appliance
deployments of
vCenter Server
n
Platform Services
n
Controller
Windows
installations and
appliance
deployments of
Platform Services
Controller
Windows
installations and
appliance
deployments of
Platform Services
Controller
Windows
installations and
appliance
deployments of
vCenter Server
n
Platform Services
n
Controller
Windows
installations and
appliance
deployments of
vCenter Server
Windows
installations and
appliance
deployments of
vCenter Server
Windows
installations and
appliance
deployments of
vCenter Server
installations and
appliance
deployments of
Platform Services
Controller
Used for Node-toNode
Communication
No
vCenter Server to
n
Platform Services
Controller
Platform Services
n
Controller to
vCenter Server
Platform Services
n
Controller to
Platform Services
Controller
vCenter Server to
n
Platform Services
Controller
Platform Services
n
Controller to
vCenter Server
vCenter Server to
n
Platform Services
Controller
Platform Services
n
Controller to
vCenter Server
No
No
No
vCenter Server to
n
Platform Services
Controller
Platform Services
n
Controller to
vCenter Server
36 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 2 System Requirements
Table 2‑9. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued)
Used for Node-toNode
PortProtocolDescriptionRequired for
9443TCPvSphere Web Client HTTPSWindows
installations and
appliance
deployments of
vCenter Server
11711TCPvCenter Single Sign-On LDAP-For backward
11712TCPvCenter Single Sign-On LDAPS-For backward
Communication
No
compatibility with
vSphere 5.5 only.
vCenter Single SignOn 5.5 to
Platform Services
Controller 6.0
compatibility with
vSphere 5.5 only.
vCenter Single SignOn 5.5 to
Platform Services
Controller 6.0
To congure the vCenter Server system to use a dierent port to receive vSphere Web Client data, see the
vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.
For more information about rewallconguration, see the vSphere Security documentation.
vSphere DNS Requirements
You install or upgrade vCenter Server, like any other network server, on a host machine with a xed IP
address and well-known DNS name, so that clients can reliably access the service.
Assign a static IP address and host name to the Windows server that will host the vCenter Server system.
This IP address must have a valid (internal) domain name system (DNS) registration. When you install
vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller, you must provide the fully qualied domain name
(FQDN) or the static IP of the host machine on which you are performing the install or upgrade. The
recommendation is to use the FQDN.
When you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance, you can assign a static IP to the appliance. This way, you
ensure that in case of system restart, the IP address of the vCenter Server Appliance remains the same.
Ensure that DNS reverse lookup returns an FQDN when queried with the IP address of the host machine on
which vCenter Server is installed. When you install or upgrade vCenter Server, the installation or upgrade
of the Web server component that supports the vSphere Web Client fails if the installer cannot look up the
fully qualied domain name of the vCenter Server host machine from its IP address. Reverse lookup is
implemented using PTR records.
If you use DHCP instead of a static IP address for vCenter Server, make sure that the vCenter Server
computer name is updated in the domain name service (DNS). If you can ping the computer name, the
name is updated in DNS.
Ensure that the ESXi host management interface has a valid DNS resolution from the vCenter Server and all
vSphere Web Client instances. Ensure that the vCenter Server has a valid DNS resolution from all ESXi hosts
and all vSphere Web Clients.
VMware, Inc. 37
vSphere Installation and Setup
Verify That the FQDN is Resolvable
You install or upgrade vCenter Server, like any other network server, on a virtual machine or physical server
with a xed IP address and well-known DNS name, so that clients can reliably access the service.
If you plan to use a FQDN, for the virtual machine or physical server on which you install or upgrade
vCenter Server, you must verify that the FQDN is resolvable.
Procedure
At the Windows command prompt, run the nslookup command.
If the FQDN is resolvable, the nslookup command returns the IP address and name of the vCenter Server
virtual machine or physical server.
vSphere Web Client Software Requirements
Make sure that your browser supports the vSphere Web Client.
The vSphere Web Client 6.0 requires Adobe Flash Player 16 or later. The latest Adobe Flash Player version
for Linux systems is 11.2. Therefore, the vSphere Web Client cannot run on Linux platforms.
VMware has tested and supports the following guest operating systems and browser versions for the
vSphere Web Client. For best performance, use Google Chrome.
Table 2‑10. Supported Guest Operating Systems and Minimum Browser Versions for the
vSphere Web Client
Operating systemBrowser
WindowsMicrosoft Internet Explorer 10.0.19 and later.
Mozilla Firefox 34 and later.
Google Chrome 39 and later.
Mac OSMozilla Firefox 34 and later.
Google Chrome 39 and later.
Client Integration Plug-In Software Requirements
If you plan to install the Client Integration Plug-in separately from the vSphere Web Client so that you can
connect to an ESXi host and deploy or upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance, make sure that your browser
supports the Client Integration Plug-in.
To use the Client Integration Plug-in, verify that you have one of the supported Web browsers.
Table 2‑11. Supported Web Browsers
BrowserSupported Versions
Microsoft Internet ExplorerVersion 10 and 11
Mozilla FirefoxVersion 30 and later
Google ChromeVersion 35 and later
38 VMware, Inc.
vSphere Client Requirements
You can install the vSphere Client to manage single ESXi host. The Windows system on which you install
the vSphere Client must meet specic hardware and software requirements.
vSphere Client Hardware Requirements
Make sure that the vSphere Client hardware meets the minimum requirements.
vSphere Client Minimum Hardware Requirements and Recommendations
Table 2‑12. vSphere Client Minimum Hardware Requirements and Recommendations
vSphere Client HardwareRequirements and Recommendations
CPU1 CPU
Processor500MHz or faster Intel or AMD processor (1GHz
Memory500MB (1GB recommended)
Disk Storage1.5GB free disk space for a complete installation, which
NetworkingGigabit connection recommended
Chapter 2 System Requirements
recommended)
includes the following components:
Microsoft .NET 2.0 SP2
n
Microsoft .NET 3.0 SP2
n
Microsoft .NET 3.5 SP1
n
Microsoft Visual J#
n
Remove any previously installed versions of Microsoft
Visual J# on the system where you are installing the
vSphere Client.
vSphere Client
n
If you do not have any of these components already
installed, you must have 400MB free on the drive that has
the %temp% directory.
If you have all of the components already installed, 300MB
of free space is required on the drive that has the %temp%
directory, and 450MB is required for vSphere Client.
vSphere Client Software Requirements
Make sure that your operating system supports the vSphere Client.
For the most current, complete list of supported operating systems for the vSphere Client, see Supported
host operating systems for vSphere Client (Windows) installation.
The vSphere Client requires the Microsoft .NET 3.5 SP1 Framework. If it is not installed on your system, the
vSphere Client installer installs it. The .NET 3.5 SP1 installation might require Internet connectivity to
download more les.
TCP and UDP Ports for the vSphere Client
ESXi hosts and other network components are accessed using predetermined TCP and UDP ports. If you
manage network components from outside a rewall, you might be required to recongure the rewall to
allow access on the appropriate ports.
The table lists TCP and UDP ports, and the purpose and the type of each. Ports that are open by default at
installation time are indicated by (Default).
VMware, Inc. 39
vSphere Installation and Setup
Table 2‑13. TCP and UDP Ports
PortPurposeTraffic Type
443 (Default)HTTPS access
vSphere Client access to vCenter Server
vSphere Client access to ESXi hosts
vSphere Client access to vSphere Update Manager
902 (Default)vSphere Client access to virtual machine consolesIncoming TCP to the
903Remote console trac generated by user access to virtual machines on a
specic host.
vSphere Client access to virtual machine consoles
MKS transactions (xinetd/vmware-authd-mks)
Required Free Space for System Logging
If you used Auto Deploy to install your ESXi 6.0 host, or if you set up a log directory separate from the
default location in a scratch directory on the VMFS volume, you might need to change your current log size
and rotation seings to ensure that enough space is available for system logging .
Incoming TCP to the
ESXi host
ESXi host, outgoing
TCP from the ESXi
host, outgoing UDP
from the ESXi host
Incoming TCP to the
ESXi host
All vSphere components use this infrastructure. The default values for log capacity in this infrastructure
vary, depending on the amount of storage available and on how you have congured system logging. Hosts
that are deployed with Auto Deploy store logs on a RAM disk, which means that the amount of space
available for logs is small.
If your host is deployed with Auto Deploy, recongure your log storage in one of the following ways:
Redirect logs over the network to a remote collector.
n
Redirect logs to a NAS or NFS store.
n
If you redirect logs to non-default storage, such as a NAS or NFS store, you might also want to recongure
log sizing and rotations for hosts that are installed to disk.
You do not need to recongure log storage for ESXi hosts that use the default conguration, which stores
logs in a scratch directory on the VMFS volume. For these hosts, ESXi 6.0 congures logs to best suit your
installation, and provides enough space to accommodate log messages.
Table 2‑14. Recommended Minimum Size and Rotation Configuration for hostd, vpxa, and fdm Logs
Number of Rotations to
LogMaximum Log File Size
Management Agent
(hostd)
VirtualCenter Agent
(vpxa)
vSphere HA agent (Fault
Domain Manager, fdm)
10 MB10100 MB
5 MB1050 MB
5 MB1050 MB
PreserveMinimum Disk Space Required
For information about seing up a remote log server, see “Congure Syslog on ESXi Hosts,” on page 178.
40 VMware, Inc.
Before You Install ESXi3
Before you install ESXi, understand the installation process and options.
This chapter includes the following topics:
“Options for Installing ESXi,” on page 41
n
“Media Options for Booting the ESXi Installer,” on page 44
n
“Using Remote Management Applications,” on page 55
n
“Required Information for ESXi Installation,” on page 55
n
“Download the ESXi Installer,” on page 56
n
Options for Installing ESXi
ESXi can be installed in several ways. To ensure the best vSphere deployment, understand the options
thoroughly before beginning the installation.
ESXi installations are designed to accommodate a range of deployment sizes.
Depending on the installation method you choose, dierent options are available for accessing the
installation media and booting the installer.
Interactive ESXi Installation
Interactive installations are recommended for small deployments of fewer than ve hosts.
You boot the installer from a CD or DVD, from a bootable USB device, or by PXE booting the installer from a
location on the network. You follow the prompts in the installation wizard to install ESXi to disk. See
“Installing ESXi Interactively,” on page 57.
Scripted ESXi Installation
Running a script is an ecient way to deploy multiple ESXi hosts with an unaended installation.
The installation script contains the host congurationseings. You can use the script to congure multiple
hosts with the same seings. See “Installing or Upgrading Hosts by Using a Script,” on page 60.
The installation script must be stored in a location that the host can access by HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, NFS,
CDROM, or USB. You can PXE boot the ESXi installer or boot it from a CD/DVD or USB drive.
VMware, Inc.
41
scripted
HTTP
HTTPS
FTP
NFS
CDROM
USB
create installation script (kickstart file)
and copy to appropriate location
issue command
to specify location of
installation script and
start installation
PXE boot
start
installation
boot
from CD
boot
from USB
vSphere Installation and Setup
Figure 3‑1. Scripted Installation
Auto Deploy ESXi Installation
vSphere 5.x and vSphere 6.0 provide several ways to install ESXi with Auto Deploy.
These topics describe Auto Deploy options for ESXi installation.
Provisioning ESXi Hosts by Using vSphere Auto Deploy
With the vSphere Auto Deploy ESXi feature, you can provision and reprovision large numbers of ESXi hosts
eciently with vCenter Server.
When you provision hosts by using Auto Deploy, vCenter Server loads the ESXi image directly into the host
memory. Auto Deploy does not store the ESXi state on the host disk.
vCenter Server makes ESXi updates and patches available for download in the form of an image prole.
Optionally, the host conguration is provided in the form of a host prole. You can create host proles by
using the vSphere Web Client. You can create custom image proles by using ESXi Image Builder CLI. See
“Using vSphere ESXi Image Builder,” on page 139 and vSphere Host Proles.
The rst time you provision a host by using Auto Deploy, the host PXE boots and establishes contact with
the Auto Deploy server, which streams the image prole and any host prole to the host. The host starts
using the image prole, and Auto Deploy assigns the host to the appropriate vCenter Server system.
When you restart the host, the Auto Deploy server continues to provision the host with the appropriate
image and host prole. To provision the host with a dierent image prole, you must change the rule that
species the image prole, and perform a test and repair compliance operation. To propagate changes to all
hosts that the rule species, change the rule and perform the test and repair operation. The ability to
propagate changes to multiple hosts makes Auto Deploy an ecient way to provision and reprovision large
numbers of hosts, and to enforce compliance to a master ESXi image.
See “Understanding vSphere Auto Deploy,” on page 74.
42 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 3 Before You Install ESXi
Using vSphere Auto Deploy for Stateful Installations
In some situations, it is useful to provision hosts with Auto Deploy and to perform all subsequent boots
from disk.
You can use vSphere Auto Deploy to provision an ESXi host, and set up a host prole that causes the host to
store the ESXi image and conguration on the local disk, a remote disk, or a USB drive. Subsequently, the
ESXi host boots from this local image. Auto Deploy no longer provisions the host. This process is similar to
performing a scripted installation. With a scripted installation, the script provisions a host and the host then
boots from disk. For this case, Auto Deploy provisions a host and the host then boots from disk.
See “Using Auto Deploy for Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs,” on page 96.
vSphere Auto Deploy and Stateless Caching
You can use vSphere Auto Deploy to provision an ESXi host, and set up a host prole that causes the host to
store the ESXI image and conguration on the local disk, a remote disk, or a USB drive.
Subsequently, the Auto Deploy server continues to provision this host. If the Auto Deploy server is not
available, the host uses the image on disk.
See “Using Auto Deploy for Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs,” on page 96.
Customizing Installations with ESXi Image Builder CLI
You can use ESXi Image Builder CLI to create ESXi installation images with a customized set of updates,
patches, and drivers.
ESXi Image Builder CLI is a PowerShell CLI command set that you can use to create an ESXi installation
image with a customized set of ESXi updates and patches. You can also include third-party network or
storage drivers that are released between vSphere releases.
You can deploy an ESXi image created with Image Builder in either of the following ways:
By burning it to an installation DVD.
n
Through vCenter Server, using the Auto Deploy feature.
n
See “Using vSphere ESXi Image Builder,” on page 139 and “Installing ESXi Using vSphere Auto Deploy,” on
page 74.
About ESXi Evaluation and Licensed Modes
You can use evaluation mode to explore the entire set of features for ESXi hosts. The evaluation mode
provides the set of features equal to a vSphere Enterprise Plus license. Before the evaluation mode expires,
you must assign to your hosts a license that supports all the features in use.
For example, in evaluation mode, you can use vSphere vMotion technology, the vSphere HA feature, the
vSphere DRS feature, and other features. If you want to continue using these features, you must assign a
license that supports them.
The installable version of ESXi hosts is always installed in evaluation mode. ESXi Embedded is preinstalled
on an internal storage device by your hardware vendor. It might be in evaluation mode or prelicensed.
The evaluation period is 60 days and begins when you turn on the ESXi host. At any time during the 60-day
evaluation period, you can convert from licensed mode to evaluation mode. The time available in the
evaluation period is decreased by the time already used.
VMware, Inc. 43
vSphere Installation and Setup
For example, suppose that you use an ESXi host in evaluation mode for 20 days and then assign a
vSphere Standard Edition license key to the host. If you set the host back in evaluation mode, you can
explore the entire set of features for the host for the remaining evaluation period of 40 days.
For information about managing licensing for ESXi hosts, see the vCenter Server and Host Management
documentation.
Media Options for Booting the ESXi Installer
The ESXi installer must be accessible to the system on which you are installing ESXi.
The following boot media are supported for the ESXi installer:
Boot from a CD/DVD. See “Download and Burn the ESXi Installer ISO Image to a CD or DVD,” on
n
page 44.
Boot from a USB ash drive. See “Format a USB Flash Drive to Boot the ESXi Installation or Upgrade,”
n
on page 44.
PXE boot from the network. “PXE Booting the ESXi Installer,” on page 48
n
Boot from a remote location using a remote management application. See “Using Remote Management
n
Applications,” on page 55
Download and Burn the ESXi Installer ISO Image to a CD or DVD
If you do not have an ESXi installation CD/DVD, you can create one.
You can also create an installer ISO image that includes a custom installation script. See “Create an Installer
ISO Image with a Custom Installation or Upgrade Script,” on page 47.
Procedure
1Download the ESXi installer from the VMware Web site at
hps://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads.
ESXi is listed under Datacenter & Cloud Infrastructure.
2Conrm that the md5sum is correct.
See the VMware Web site topic Using MD5 Checksums at
hp://www.vmware.com/download/md5.html.
3Burn the ISO image to a CD or DVD.
Format a USB Flash Drive to Boot the ESXi Installation or Upgrade
You can format a USB ash drive to boot the ESXi installation or upgrade.
The instructions in this procedure assume that the USB ash drive is detected as /dev/sdb.
N The ks.cfgle that contains the installation script cannot be located on the same USB ash drive that
you are using to boot the installation or upgrade.
Prerequisites
Linux machine with superuser access to it
n
USB ash drive that can be detected by the Linux machine
n
The ESXi ISO image, VMware-VMvisor-Installer-version_number-build_number.x86_64.iso, which
n
includes the isolinux.cfgle
Syslinux package
n
44 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 3 Before You Install ESXi
Procedure
1If your USB ash drive is not detected as /dev/sdb, or you are not sure how your USB ash drive is
detected, determine how it is detected.
aAt the command line, run the command for displaying the current log messages.
tail -f /var/log/messages
bPlug in your USB ash drive.
You see several messages that identify the USB ash drive in a format similar to the following
message.
In this example, sdb identies the USB device. If your device is identied dierently, use that
identication, in place of sdb.
2Create a partition table on the USB ash device.
/sbin/fdisk /dev/sdb
aEnter d to delete partitions until they are all deleted.
bEnter n to create a primary partition 1 that extends over the entire disk.
cEnter t to set the type to an appropriate seing for the FAT32 le system, such as c.
dEnter a to set the active ag on partition 1.
eEnter p to print the partition table.
The result should be similar to the following message.
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)
fEnter w to write the partition table and exit the program.
3Format the USB ash drive with the Fat32 le system.
/sbin/mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n USB /dev/sdb1
4Install the Syslinux bootloader on the USB ash drive.
The locations of the Syslinux executable le and the mbr.binle might vary for the dierent Syslinux
versions. For example, if you downloaded Syslinux 6.02, run the following commands.
/usr/bin/syslinux /dev/sdb1
cat /usr/lib/syslinux/mbr/mbr.bin > /dev/sdb
5Create a destination directory and mount the USB ash drive to it.
mkdir /usbdisk
mount /dev/sdb1 /usbdisk
6Create a destination directory and mount the ESXi installer ISO image to it.
mkdir /esxi_cdrom
mount -o loop VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.x.x-XXXXXX.x86_64.iso /esxi_cdrom
7Copy the contents of the ISO image to the USB ash drive.
cp -r /esxi_cdrom/* /usbdisk
VMware, Inc. 45
vSphere Installation and Setup
8Rename the isolinux.cfgle to syslinux.cfg.
mv /usbdisk/isolinux.cfg /usbdisk/syslinux.cfg
9In the /usbdisk/syslinux.cfgle, edit the APPEND -c boot.cfg line to APPEND -c boot.cfg -p 1.
10 Unmount the USB ash drive.
umount /usbdisk
11 Unmount the installer ISO image.
umount /esxi_cdrom
The USB ash drive can boot the ESXi installer.
Create a USB Flash Drive to Store the ESXi Installation Script or Upgrade Script
You can use a USB ash drive to store the ESXi installation script or upgrade script that is used during
scripted installation or upgrade of ESXi.
When multiple USB ash drives are present on the installation machine, the installation software searches
for the installation or upgrade script on all aached USB ash drives.
The instructions in this procedure assume that the USB ash drive is detected as /dev/sdb.
N The ksle containing the installation or upgrade script cannot be located on the same USB ash
drive that you are using to boot the installation or upgrade.
Prerequisites
Linux machine
n
ESXi installation or upgrade script, the ks.cfg kickstart le
n
USB ash drive
n
Procedure
1Aach the USB ash drive to a Linux machine that has access to the installation or upgrade script.
2Create a partition table.
/sbin/fdisk /dev/sdb
aType d to delete partitions until they are all deleted.
bType n to create primary partition 1 that extends over the entire disk.
cType t to set the type to an appropriate seing for the FAT32 le system, such as c.
dType 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)
eType w to write the partition table and quit.
3Format the USB ash drive with the Fat32 le system.
/sbin/mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n USB /dev/sdb1
46 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 3 Before You Install ESXi
4Mount the USB ash drive.
mount /dev/sdb1 /usbdisk
5Copy the ESXi installation script to the USB ash drive.
cp ks.cfg /usbdisk
6Unmount 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 60 and “About PXE
Conguration Files,” on page 51.
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, unaended installation or upgrade when you boot the
resulting installer ISO image.
See also “About Installation and Upgrade Scripts,” on page 62 and “About the boot.cfg File,” on page 71.
Prerequisites
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
n
ESXi you are installing, and XXXXXX is the build number of the installer ISO image
Your custom installation or upgrade script, the ks_cust.cfg kickstart le
n
Procedure
1Download the ESXi ISO image from the VMware Web site.
2Mount 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.
3Copy the contents of cdrom to another folder:
cp -r /esxi_cdrom_mount /esxi_cdrom
4Copy the kickstart le to /esxi_cdrom.
cp ks_cust.cfg /esxi_cdrom
5(Optional) Modify the boot.cfgle 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 le
during the installation or upgrade.
The ISO image includes your custom installation or upgrade script.
What to do next
Install ESXi from the ISO image.
PXE Booting the ESXi Installer
You use the preboot execution environment (PXE) to boot a host and start the ESXi installer from a network
interface.
ESXi 6.0 is distributed in an ISO format that is designed to install to ash memory or to a local hard drive.
You can extract the les and boot by using PXE.
PXE uses Dynamic Host Conguration 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.
N Ensure that the vSphere Auto Deploy server has an IPv4 address. PXE booting is supported only
with IPv4.
About the TFTP Server, PXELINUX, and gPXE
Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is similar to the FTP service, and is typically used only for network
booting systems or loading rmware on network devices such as routers.
Most Linux distributions include a copy of the tftp-hpa server. If you require a supported solution, purchase
a supported TFTP server from your vendor of choice.
If your TFTP server will run on a Microsoft Windows host, use tftpd32 version 2.11 or later. See
hp://tftpd32.jounin.net/. Earlier versions of tftpd32 were incompatible with PXELINUX and gPXE.
You can also acquire a TFTP server from one of the packaged appliances on the VMware Marketplace.
The PXELINUX and gPXE environments allow your target machine to boot the ESXi installer. PXELINUX is
part of the SYSLINUX package, which can be found at hp://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/,
although many Linux distributions include it. Many versions of PXELINUX also include gPXE. Some
distributions, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 5.3, include earlier versions of PXELINUX that do
not include gPXE.
If you do not use gPXE, you might experience problems while booting the ESXi installer on a heavily loaded
network TFTP is sometimes unreliable for transferring large amounts of data. If you use PXELINUX without
gPXE, the pxelinux.0 binary le, the congurationle, the kernel, and other les are transferred by TFTP. If
you use gPXE, only the gpxelinux.0 binary le and congurationle are transferred by TFTP. With gPXE,
you can use a Web server to transfer the kernel and other les required to boot the ESXi installer.
N VMware tests PXE booting with PXELINUX version 3.86. This is not a statement of limited support.
For support of third-party agents that you use to set up your PXE booting infrastructure, contact the vendor.
48 VMware, Inc.
Figure 3‑2. Overview of PXE Boot Installation Process
DHCP server
DHCP server
Web server
ESXi target host
ESXi host
Give me an IP
for the virtual
network adapter
UDP
IP & TFTP server
kernel
IP
TCP for gPXELINUX
UDP for PXELINUX
UDP
Give me
the kernel
Give me an IP
for the kernel
TFTP server
gpxelinux.0 or pxelinux.0
UDP
Give me the
network boot loader
scripts depot
Installer
starts
ks.cfg
TCP
Give me an
installation script
Chapter 3 Before You Install ESXi
Sample DHCP Configuration
To PXE boot the ESXi installer, the DHCP server must send the address of the TFTP server and a pointer to
the pxelinux.0 or gpxelinux.0 directory.
The DHCP server is used by the target machine to obtain an IP address. The DHCP server must be able to
determine whether the target machine is allowed to boot and the location of the PXELINUX binary (which
usually resides on a TFTP server). When the target machine rst boots, it broadcasts a packet across the
network requesting this information to boot itself. The DHCP server responds.
C Do not set up a new DHCP server if your network already has one. If multiple DHCP servers
respond to DHCP requests, machines can obtain incorrect or conicting IP addresses, or can fail to receive
the proper boot information. Talk to a network administrator before seing up a DHCP server. For support
on conguring DHCP, contact your DHCP server vendor.
VMware, Inc. 49
vSphere Installation and Setup
Many DHCP servers can PXE boot hosts. If you are using a version of DHCP for Microsoft Windows, see the
DHCP server documentation to determine how to pass the next-server and filename arguments to the
target machine.
gPXE Example
This example shows how to congure a ISC DHCP version 3.0 server to enable gPXE.
match if substring(option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "PXEClient";
next-server TFTP server address;
if not exists gpxe.bus-id {
filename "/gpxelinux.0";
}
}
subnet Network address netmask Subnet Mask {
range Starting IP AddressEnding IP Address;
}
When a machine aempts to PXE boot, the DHCP server provides an IP address and the location of the
gpxelinux.0 binary le on the TFTP server. The IP address assigned is in the range dened in the subnet
section of the congurationle.
PXELINUX (without gPXE) Example
This example shows how to congure a ISC DHCP version 3.0 server to enable PXELINUX.
#
# DHCP Server Configuration file.
# see /usr/share/doc/dhcp*/dhcpd.conf.sample
#
ddns-update-style ad-hoc;
allow booting;
allow bootp;
class "pxeclients" {
match if substring(option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "PXEClient";
next-server xxx.xxx.xx.xx;
filename = "pxelinux.0";
}
subnet 192.168.48.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.48.100 192.168.48.250;
}
When a machine aempts to PXE boot, the DHCP server provides an IP address and the location of the
pxelinux.0 binary le on the TFTP server. The IP address assigned is in the range dened in the subnet
section of the congurationle.
50 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 3 Before You Install ESXi
About PXE Configuration Files
The PXE congurationledenes the menu displayed to the target ESXi host as it boots up and contacts the
TFTP server. You need a PXE congurationle to PXE boot the ESXi installer.
The TFTP server constantly listens for PXE clients on the network. When it detects that a PXE client is
requesting PXE services, it sends the client a network package that contains a boot menu.
Required Files
In the PXE congurationle, you must include paths to the following les:
mboot.c32 is the boot loader.
n
boot.cfg is the boot loader congurationle.
n
See “About the boot.cfg File,” on page 71
File Name for the PXE Configuration File
For the le name of the PXE congurationle, select one of the following options:
01-mac_address_of_target_ESXi_host. For example, 01-23-45-67-89-0a-bc
n
The target ESXi host IP address in hexadecimal notation.
n
default
n
The initial boot le,pxelinux.0 or gpxelinux.0, tries to load a PXE congurationle. It tries with the MAC
address of the target ESXi host, prexed with its ARP type code, which is 01 for Ethernet. If that aempt
fails, it tries with the hexadecimal notation of target ESXi system IP address. Ultimately, it tries to load a le
named default.
File Location for the PXE Configuration File
Save the le in var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/ on the TFTP server.
For example, you might save the le on the TFTP server at /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/01-00-21-5a-ce-40-f6.
The MAC address of the network adapter on the target ESXi host is 00-21-5a-ce-40-f6.
PXE Boot the ESXi Installer by Using PXELINUX and a PXE Configuration File
You can use a TFTP server to PXE boot the ESXi installer, using PXELINUX and a PXE congurationle.
See also “About Installation and Upgrade Scripts,” on page 62 and “About the boot.cfg File,” on page 71.
Prerequisites
Verify that your environment has the following components:
The ESXi installer ISO image downloaded from the VMware Web site.
n
TFTP server that supports PXE booting with gPXE. See “About the TFTP Server, PXELINUX, and
n
gPXE,” on page 48.
DHCP server congured for PXE booting. See “Sample DHCP Conguration,” on page 49.
n
PXELINUX.
n
Server with a hardware conguration that is supported with your version of ESXi. See VMware
n
Compatibility Guide at hp://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.
Network security policies to allow TFTP trac (UDP port 69).
n
(Optional) Installation script, the kickstart le. See “About Installation and Upgrade Scripts,” on
n
page 62.
VMware, Inc. 51
vSphere Installation and Setup
Network adapter with PXE support on the target ESXi host.
n
IPv4 networking. IPv6 is not supported for PXE booting.
n
Use a native VLAN in most cases. To specify the VLAN ID to be used with PXE booting, verify that your
NIC supports VLAN ID specication.
Procedure
1Create the /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg directory on your TFTP server.
2On the Linux machine, install PXELINUX.
PXELINUX is included in the Syslinux package. Extract the les, locate the pxelinux.0le, and copy it
to the /tftpboot directory on your TFTP server.
3Congure the DHCP server to send the following information to each client host:
The name or IP address of your TFTP server
n
The name of your initial boot le,pxelinux.0
n
4Copy the contents of the ESXi installer image to the /var/lib/tftpboot directory on the TFTP server.
5(Optional) For a scripted installation, in the boot.cfgle, add the kernelopt option to the line after the
kernel command, to specify the location of the installation script.
Use the following code as a model, where XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is the IP address of the server where the
installation script resides, and esxi_ksFiles is the directory that contains the ks.cfgle.
This ledenes how the host boots when no operating system is present. The PXE congurationle
references the boot les. Use the following code as a model, where XXXXXX is the build number of the
ESXi installer image.
DEFAULT menu.c32
MENU TITLE ESXi-6.x.x-XXXXXX-full Boot Menu
NOHALT 1
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 80
LABEL install
KERNEL mboot.c32
APPEND -c location of boot.cfg
MENU LABEL ESXi-6.x.x-XXXXXX-full ^Installer
LABEL hddboot
LOCALBOOT 0x80
MENU LABEL ^Boot from local disk
7Name the le with the media access control (MAC) address of the target host machine: 01-
mac_address_of_target_ESXi_host.
For example, 01-23-45-67-89-0a-bc.
8Save the PXE congurationle in /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg on the TFTP server.
9Boot the machine with the network adapter.
52 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 3 Before You Install ESXi
PXE Boot the ESXi Installer by Using PXELINUX and an isolinux.cfg PXE
Configuration File
You can PXE boot the ESXi installer by using PXELINUX, and you can use the isolinux.cfg le as the PXE
conguration le.
See also “About Installation and Upgrade Scripts,” on page 62 and “About the boot.cfg File,” on page 71
Prerequisites
Verify that your environment has the following components:
The ESXi installer ISO image downloaded from the VMware Web site.
n
TFTP server that supports PXE booting with PXELINUX. See “About the TFTP Server, PXELINUX, and
n
gPXE,” on page 48.
DHCP server congured for PXE booting. See “Sample DHCP Conguration,” on page 49.
n
PXELINUX.
n
Server with a hardware conguration that is supported with your version of ESXi. See the VMware
You can install and boot ESXi from an FCoE LUN using VMware software FCoE adapters and network
adapters with FCoE ooad capabilities. Your host does not require a dedicated FCoE HBA.
See the vSphere Storage documentation for information about installing and booting ESXi with software
FCoE.
Using Remote Management Applications
Remote management applications allow you to install ESXi on servers that are in remote locations.
Remote management applications supported for installation include HP Integrated Lights-Out (iLO), Dell
Remote Access Card (DRAC), IBM management module (MM), and Remote Supervisor Adapter II (RSA II).
For a list of currently supported server models and remote management rmware versions, see “Supported
Remote Management Server Models and Firmware Versions,” on page 25. For support on remote
management applications, contact the vendor.
You can use remote management applications to do both interactive and scripted installations of ESXi
remotely.
If you use remote management applications to install ESXi, the virtual CD might encounter corruption
problems with systems or networks operating at peak capacity. If a remote installation from an ISO image
fails, complete the installation from the physical CD media.
Required Information for ESXi Installation
In an interactive installation, the system prompts you for the required system information. In a scripted
installation, you must supply this information in the installation script.
For future use, note the values you use during the installation. These notes are useful if you must reinstall
ESXi and reenter the values that you originally chose.
VMware, Inc. 55
vSphere Installation and Setup
Table 3‑1. Required Information for ESXi Installation
Information
Keyboard layoutRequiredU.S. English
VLAN IDOptionalNoneRange: 0 through 4094
IP addressOptionalDHCPYou can allow DHCP to congure the network
Subnet maskOptionalCalculated based on the IP
GatewayOptionalBased on the congured IP
Primary DNSOptionalBased on the congured IP
Secondary DNSOptionalNone
Host nameRequired for
Install locationRequiredNoneMust be at least 5 GB if you install the
Root passwordOptionalNoneThe root password must contain between 8 and
Required or
OptionalDefaultComments
during installation. After installation, you can
change the network seings.
name or the IP address to access the ESXi host.
components on a single disk.
ESXi installer oers a choice between
preserving or overwriting the VMFS datastore
during installation
40 characters. For information about passwords
see the vSphere Security documentation.
static IP
seings
Required if
you are
installing
ESXi on a
drive with an
existing ESXi
installation.
address
address and subnet mask
address and subnet mask
NoneThe vSphere Web Client can use either the host
NoneIf you have an existing ESXi 5.x installation, the
Download the ESXi Installer
Download the installer for ESXi.
Prerequisites
Create a My VMware account at hps://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/.
Procedure
1Download the ESXi installer from the VMware Web site at
hps://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads.
ESXi is listed under Datacenter & Cloud Infrastructure.
2Conrm that the md5sum is correct.
See the VMware Web site topic Using MD5 Checksums at
hp://www.vmware.com/download/md5.html.
56 VMware, Inc.
Installing ESXi4
You can install ESXi interactively, with a scripted installation, or with vSphere Auto Deploy.
This chapter includes the following topics:
“Installing ESXi Interactively,” on page 57
n
“Installing or Upgrading Hosts by Using a Script,” on page 60
n
“Installing ESXi Using vSphere Auto Deploy,” on page 74
n
“Using vSphere ESXi Image Builder,” on page 139
n
Installing ESXi Interactively
Use the interactive installation option for small deployments of less than ve hosts.
In a typical interactive installation, you boot the ESXi installer and respond to the installer prompts to install
ESXi to the local host disk. The installer reformats and partitions the target disk and installs the ESXi boot
image. If you have not installed ESXi on the target disk before, all data located on the drive is overwrien,
including hardware vendor partitions, operating system partitions, and associated data.
N To ensure that you do not lose any data, migrate the data to another machine before you install ESXi.
If you are installing ESXi on a disk that contains a previous installation of ESXi or ESX, or a VMFS datastore,
the installer provides you with options for upgrading. See the vSphere Upgrade documentation.
Install ESXi Interactively
You use the ESXi CD/DVD or a USB ash drive to install the ESXi software onto a SAS, SATA, SCSI hard
drive, or USB drive.
Prerequisites
You must have the ESXi installer ISO in one of the following locations:
n
On CD or DVD. If you do not have the installation CD/DVD, you can create one. See “Download
n
and Burn the ESXi Installer ISO Image to a CD or DVD,” on page 44
On a USB ash drive. See “Format a USB Flash Drive to Boot the ESXi Installation or Upgrade,” on
n
page 44.
N You can also PXE boot the ESXi installer to launch an interactive installation or a scripted
installation. See “PXE Booting the ESXi Installer,” on page 48.
Verify that the server hardware clock is set to UTC. This seing is in the system BIOS.
n
VMware, Inc.
57
vSphere Installation and Setup
Verify that a keyboard and monitor are aached to the machine on which the ESXi software will be
n
installed. Alternatively, use a remote management application. See “Using Remote Management
Applications,” on page 55.
Consider disconnecting your network storage. This action decreases the time it takes the installer to
n
search for available disk drives. Note that when you disconnect network storage, any les on the
disconnected disks are unavailable at installation.
Do not disconnect a LUN that contains an existing ESX or ESXi installation. Do not disconnect a VMFS
datastore that contains the Service Console of an existing ESX installation. These actions can aect the
outcome of the installation.
Gather the information required by the ESXi installation wizard. See “Required Information for ESXi
n
Installation,” on page 55.
Verify that ESXi Embedded is not present on the host machine. ESXi Installable and ESXi Embedded
n
cannot exist on the same host.
Procedure
1Insert the ESXi installer CD/DVD into the CD/DVD-ROM drive, or aach the Installer USB ash drive
and restart the machine.
2Set the BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM device or the USB ash drive.
See your hardware vendor documentation for information on changing boot order.
3On the Select a Disk page, select the drive on which to install ESXi and press Enter.
Press F1 for information about the selected disk.
N Do not rely on the disk order in the list to select a disk. The disk order is determined by the BIOS
and might be out of order. This might occur on systems where drives are continuously being added and
removed.
If you select a disk that contains data, the Conrm Disk Selection page appears.
If you are installing on a disc with a previous ESXi or ESX installation or VMFS datastore, the installer
provides several choices.
I If you are upgrading or migrating an existing ESX/ESXi installation, see the vSphere
Upgrade documentation. The instructions in this vSphere Installation and Setup documentation are for a
fresh installation of ESXi.
If you select a disk that is in Virtual SAN disk group, the resulting installation depends on the type of
disk and the group size:
If you select an SSD, the SSD and all underlying HDDs in the same disk group will be wiped.
n
If you select an HDD, and the disk group size is greater than two, only the selected HDD will be
n
wiped.
If you select an HDD disk, and the disk group size is two or less, the SSD and the selected HDD
n
will be wiped.
For more information about managing Virtual SAN disk groups, see the vSphere Storage documentation.
4Select the keyboard type for the host.
You can change the keyboard type after installation in the direct console.
5Enter the root password for the host.
You can leave the password blank, but to secure the system from the rst boot, enter a password. You
can change the password after installation in the direct console.
58 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
6Press Enter to start the installation.
7When the installation is complete, remove the installation CD, DVD, or USB ash drive.
8Press Enter to reboot the host.
If you are performing a new installation, or you chose to overwrite an existing VMFS datastore, during
the reboot operation, VFAT scratch and VMFS partitions are created on the host disk.
9Set the rst boot device to be the drive on which you installed ESXi in Step 3.
For information about changing boot order, see your hardware vendor documentation.
N UEFI systems might require additional steps to set the boot device. See “Host Fails to Boot After
You Install ESXi in UEFI Mode,” on page 168
After the installation is complete, you can migrate existing VMFS data to the ESXi host.
You can boot a single machine from each ESXi image. Booting multiple devices from a single shared ESXi
image is not supported.
What to do next
Set up basic administration and network conguration for ESXi. See Chapter 6, “After You Install and Set Up
ESXi,” on page 183.
Install ESXi on a Software iSCSI Disk
When you install ESXi to a software iSCSI disk, you must congure the target iSCSI qualied name (IQN).
During system boot, the system performs a Power-On Self Test (POST), and begins booting the adapters in
the order specied in the system BIOS. When the boot order comes to the iSCSI Boot Firmware Table (iBFT)
adapter, the adapter aempts to connect to the target, but does not boot from it. See Prerequisites.
If the connection to the iSCSI target is successful, the iSCSI boot rmware saves the iSCSI boot conguration
in the iBFT. The next adapter to boot must be the ESXi installation media, either a mounted ISO image or a
physical CD-ROM.
Prerequisites
Verify that the target IQN is congured in the iBFT BIOS target parameter seing. This seing is in the
n
option ROM of the network interface card (NIC) to be used for the iSCSI LUN. See the vendor
documentation for your system.
Disable the iBFT adapter option to boot to the iSCSI target. This action is necessary to make sure that
n
the ESXi installer boots, rather than the iSCSI target. When you start your system, follow the prompt to
log in to your iBFT adapter and disable the option to boot to the iSCSI target. See the vendor
documentation for your system and iBFT adapter. After you nish the ESXi installation, you can
reenable the option to boot from the LUN you install ESXi on.
Procedure
1Start an interactive installation from the ESXi installation CD/DVD or mounted ISO image.
2On the Select a Disk screen, select the iSCSI target you specied in the iBFT BIOS target parameter
seing.
If the target does not appear in this menu, make sure that the TCP/IP and initiator iSCSI IQN seings
are correct. Check the network Access Control List (ACL) and conrm that the adapter has adequate
permissions to access the target.
3Follow the prompts to complete the installation.
4Reboot the host.
VMware, Inc. 59
vSphere Installation and Setup
5In the host BIOS seings, enter the iBFT adapter BIOS conguration, and change the adapter parameter
to boot from the iSCSI target.
See the vendor documentation for your system.
What to do next
On your iBFT adapter, reenable the option to boot to the iSCSI target, so the system will boot from the LUN
you installed ESXi on.
Installing or Upgrading Hosts by Using a Script
You can quickly deploy ESXi hosts by using scripted, unaended installations or upgrades. Scripted
installations or upgrades provide an ecient way to deploy multiple hosts.
The installation or upgrade script contains the installation seings for ESXi. You can apply the script to all
hosts that you want to have a similar conguration.
For a scripted installation or upgrade, you must use the supported commands to create a script. You can edit
the script to change seings that are unique for each host.
The installation or upgrade script can reside in one of the following locations:
FTP server
n
HTTP/HTTPS server
n
NFS server
n
USB ash drive
n
CD-ROM drive
n
Approaches for Scripted Installation
You can install ESXi on multiple machines using a single script for all of them or a separate script for each
machine.
For example, because disk names vary from machine to machine, one of the seings that you might want to
congure in a script is the selection for the disk to install ESXi on.
Table 4‑1. Scripted Installation Choices
OptionAction
Always install on the rst disk on multiple machines.Create one script.
Install ESXi on a dierent disk for each machine.Create multiple scripts.
For information about the commands required to specify the disk to install on, see “Installation and
Upgrade Script Commands,” on page 64.
Enter Boot Options to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script
You can start an installation or upgrade script by typing boot options at the ESXi installer boot command
line.
At boot time you might need to specify options to access the kickstart le. You can enter boot options by
pressing Shift+O in the boot loader. For a PXE boot installation, you can pass options through the
kernelopts line of the boot.cfg le. See “About the boot.cfg File,” on page 71 and “PXE Booting the ESXi
Installer,” on page 48.
60 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
To specify the location of the installation script, set the ks=filepath option, where lepath is indicates the
location of your Kickstart le. Otherwise, a scripted installation or upgrade cannot start. If ks=filepath is
omied, the text installer is run.
Supported boot options are listed in “Boot Options,” on page 61.
Procedure
1Start the host.
2When the ESXi installer window appears, press Shift+O to edit boot options.
3At the runweasel command prompt, type
ks=location of installation script plus boot command-line options.
When you perform a scripted installation, you might need to specify options at boot time to access the
kickstart le.
Supported Boot Options
Table 4‑2. Boot Options for ESXi Installation
Boot OptionDescription
BOOTIF=hwtype-MAC addressSimilar to the netdevice option, except in the PXELINUX
format as described in the IPAPPEND option under
SYSLINUX at the syslinux.zytor.com site.
gateway=ip address
ip=ip address
Sets this network gateway as the default gateway to be used
for downloading the installation script and installation
media.
Sets up a static IP address to be used for downloading the
installation script and the installation media. Note: the
PXELINUX format for this option is also supported. See the
IPAPPEND option under SYSLINUX at the
syslinux.zytor.com site.
VMware, Inc. 61
vSphere Installation and Setup
Table 4‑2. Boot Options for ESXi Installation (Continued)
Boot OptionDescription
ks=cdrom:/path
ks=file://path
ks=protocol://serverpath
ks=usb
ks=usb:/path
ksdevice=device
nameserver=ip address
netdevice=device
netmask=subnet mask
vlanid=vlanid
Performs a scripted installation with the script at path,
which resides on the CD in the CD-ROM drive. Each
CDROM is mounted and checked until the le that matches
the path is found.
I If you have created an installer ISO image with
a custom installation or upgrade script, you must use
uppercase characters to provide the path of the script, for
example, ks=cdrom:/KS_CUST.CFG.
Performs a scripted installation with the script at path.
Performs a scripted installation with a script located on the
network at the given URL. protocol can be http, https, ftp,
or nfs. An example using nfs protocol is
ks=nfs://host/porturl-path. The format of an NFS URL
is specied in RFC 2224.
Performs a scripted installation, accessing the script from an
aached USB drive. Searches for a le named ks.cfg. The
le must be located in the root directory of the drive. If
multiple USB ash drives are aached, they are searched
until the ks.cfgle is found. Only FAT16 and FAT32 le
systems are supported.
Performs a scripted installation with the script le at the
specied path, which resides on USB.
Tries to use a network adapter device when looking for an
installation script and installation media. Specify as a MAC
address, for example, 00:50:56:C0:00:01. This location can
also be a vmnicNN name. If not specied and les need to
be retrieved over the network, the installer defaults to the
rst discovered network adapter that is plugged in.
Species a domain name server to be used for downloading
the installation script and installation media.
Tries to use a network adapter device when looking for an
installation script and installation media. Specify as a MAC
address, for example, 00:50:56:C0:00:01. This location can
also be a vmnicNN name. If not specied and les need to
be retrieved over the network, the installer defaults to the
rst discovered network adapter that is plugged in.
Species subnet mask for the network interface that
downloads the installation script and the installation media.
Congure the network card to be on the specied VLAN.
About Installation and Upgrade Scripts
The installation/upgrade script is a text le, for example ks.cfg, that contains supported commands.
The command section of the script contains the ESXi installation options. This section is required and must
appear rst in the script.
62 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
About the Default ks.cfg Installation Script
The ESXi installer includes a default installation script that performs a standard installation to the rst
detected disk.
The default ks.cfg installation script is located in the initial RAM disk at /etc/vmware/weasel/ks.cfg. You
can specify the location of the default ks.cfgle with the ks=file://etc/vmware/weasel/ks.cfg boot option.
See “Enter Boot Options to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script,” on page 60.
When you install ESXi using the ks.cfg script, the default root password is mypassword.
You cannot modify the default script on the installation media. After the installation, you can use the
vSphere Web Client to log in to the vCenter Server that manages the ESXi host and modify the default
seings.
The default script contains the following commands:
#
# Sample scripted installation file
#
# Accept the VMware End User License Agreement
vmaccepteula
# Set the root password for the DCUI and Tech Support Mode
rootpw mypassword
# Install on the first local disk available on machine
install --firstdisk --overwritevmfs
# Set the network to DHCP on the first network adapter
network --bootproto=dhcp --device=vmnic0
# A sample post-install script
%post --interpreter=python --ignorefailure=true
import time
stampFile = open('/finished.stamp', mode='w')
stampFile.write( time.asctime() )
Locations Supported for Installation or Upgrade Scripts
In scripted installations and upgrades, the ESXi installer can access the installation or upgrade script, also
called the kickstart le, from several locations.
The following locations are supported for the installation or upgrade script:
CD/DVD. See “Create an Installer ISO Image with a Custom Installation or Upgrade Script,” on
n
page 47.
USB Flash drive. See “Create a USB Flash Drive to Store the ESXi Installation Script or Upgrade Script,”
n
on page 46.
A network location accessible through the following protocols: NFS, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP
n
VMware, Inc. 63
vSphere Installation and Setup
Path to the Installation or Upgrade Script
You can specify the path to an installation or upgrade script.
ks=http://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/kickstart/KS.CFG is the path to the ESXi installation script, where
XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is the IP address of the machine where the script resides. See “About Installation and
Upgrade Scripts,” on page 62.
To start an installation script from an interactive installation, you enter the ks= option manually. See “Enter
Boot Options to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script,” on page 60.
Installation and Upgrade Script Commands
To modify the default installation or upgrade script or to create your own script, use supported commands.
Use supported commands in the installation script, which you specify with a boot command when you boot
the installer.
To determine which disk to install or upgrade ESXi on, the installation script requires one of the following
commands: install, upgrade, or installorupgrade. The install command creates the default partitions,
including a VMFS datastore that occupies all available space after the other partitions are created.
accepteula or vmaccepteula (required)
Accepts the ESXi license agreement.
clearpart (optional)
Clears any existing partitions on the disk. Requires the install command to be specied. Carefully edit the
clearpart command in your existing scripts.
--drives=
--alldrives
Remove partitions on the specied drives.
Ignores the --drives= requirement and allows clearing of partitions on every
drive.
--ignoredrives=
--overwritevmfs
Removes partitions on all drives except those specied. Required unless the
--drives= or --alldrives ag is specied.
Allows overwriting of VMFS partitions on the specied drives. By default,
overwriting VMFS partitions is not allowed.
--firstdisk=
disk-type1
[disk-type2,...]
Partitions the rst eligible disk found. By default, the eligible disks are set to
the following order:
1Locally aached storage (local)
2Network storage (remote)
3USB disks (usb)
You can change the order of the disks by using a comma-separated list
appended to the argument. If you provide a lter list, the default seings are
overridden. You can combine lters to specify a particular disk, including
esx for the rst disk with ESXi installed on it, model and vendor
information, or the name of the VMkernel device driver. For example, to
prefer a disk with the model name ST3120814A and any disk that uses the
mptsas driver rather than a normal local disk, the argument is
--firstdisk=ST3120814A,mptsas,local.
dryrun (optional)
Parses and checks the installation script. Does not perform the installation.
64 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
install
Species that this is a fresh installation. Replaces the deprecated autopart command used for ESXi 4.1
scripted installations. Either the install, upgrade, or installorupgrade command is required to determine
which disk to install or upgrade ESXi on.
--disk= or --drive=
--firstdisk=
disk-type1,
[disk-type2,...]
Species the disk to partition. In the command --disk=diskname, the diskname
can be in any of the forms shown in the following examples:
For accepted disk name formats, see “Disk Device Names,” on page 71.
Partitions the rst eligible disk found. By default, the eligible disks are set to
the following order:
1Locally aached storage (local)
2Network storage (remote)
3USB disks (usb)
You can change the order of the disks by using a comma-separated list
appended to the argument. If you provide a lter list, the default seings are
overridden. You can combine lters to specify a particular disk, including
esx for the rst disk with ESX installed on it, model and vendor information,
or the name of the vmkernel device driver. For example, to prefer a disk with
the model name ST3120814A and any disk that uses the mptsas driver rather
than a normal local disk, the argument is
--firstdisk=ST3120814A,mptsas,local.
--ignoressd
--overwritevsan
Excludes solid-state disks from eligibility for partitioning. This option can be
used with the install command and the --firstdisk option. This option
takes precedence over the --firstdisk option. This option is invalid with
the --drive or --disk options and with the upgrade and installorupgrade
commands. See the vSphere Storage documentation for more information
about preventing SSD formaing during auto-partitioning.
You must use the --overwritevsan option when you install ESXi on a disk,
either SSD or HDD (magnetic), that is in a Virtual SAN disk group. If you use
this option and no Virtual SAN partition is on the selected disk, the
installation will fail. When you install ESXi on a disk that is in Virtual SAN
disk group, the result depends on the disk that you select:
If you select an SSD, the SSD and all underlying HDDs in the same disk
n
group will be wiped.
If you select an HDD, and the disk group size is greater than two, only
n
the selected HDD will be wiped.
If you select an HDD disk, and the disk group size is two or less, the SSD
n
and the selected HDD will be wiped.
For more information about managing Virtual SAN disk groups, see the
vSphere Storage documentation.
VMware, Inc. 65
vSphere Installation and Setup
--overwritevmfs
Required to overwrite an existing VMFS datastore on the disk before
installation.
--preservevmfs
--novmfsondisk
Preserves an existing VMFS datastore on the disk during installation.
Prevents a VMFS partition from being created on this disk. Must be used
with --overwritevmfs if a VMFS partition already exists on the disk.
installorupgrade
Either the install, upgrade, or installorupgrade command is required to determine which disk to install or
upgrade ESXi on.
--disk= or --drive=
Species the disk to partition. In the command --disk=diskname, the diskname
can be in any of the forms shown in the following examples:
For accepted disk name formats, see “Disk Device Names,” on page 71.
--firstdisk=
disk-type1,
[disk-type2,...]
Partitions the rst eligible disk found. By default, the eligible disks are set to
the following order:
1Locally aached storage (local)
--overwritevsan
2Network storage (remote)
3USB disks (usb)
You can change the order of the disks by using a comma-separated list
appended to the argument. If you provide a lter list, the default seings are
overridden. You can combine lters to specify a particular disk, including
esx for the rst disk with ESX installed on it, model and vendor information,
or the name of the vmkernel device driver. For example, to prefer a disk with
the model name ST3120814A and any disk that uses the mptsas driver rather
than a normal local disk, the argument is
--firstdisk=ST3120814A,mptsas,local.
You must use the --overwritevsan option when you install ESXi on a disk,
either SSD or HDD (magnetic), that is in a Virtual SAN disk group. If you use
this option and no Virtual SAN partition is on the selected disk, the
installation will fail. When you install ESXi on a disk that is in a Virtual SAN
disk group, the result depends on the disk that you select:
If you select an SSD, the SSD and all underlying HDDs in the same disk
n
group will be wiped.
If you select an HDD, and the disk group size is greater than two, only
n
the selected HDD will be wiped.
66 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
If you select an HDD disk, and the disk group size is two or less, the SSD
n
and the selected HDD will be wiped.
For more information about managing Virtual SAN disk groups, see the
vSphere Storage documentation.
--overwritevmfs
Install ESXi if a VMFS partition exists on the disk, but no ESX or ESXi
installation exists. Unless this option is present, the installer will fail if a
VMFS partition exists on the disk, but no ESX or ESXi installation exists.
keyboard (optional)
Sets the keyboard type for the system.
keyboardType
Species the keyboard map for the selected keyboard type. keyboardType
must be one of the following types.
Belgian
n
Brazilian
n
Croatian
n
Czechoslovakian
n
Danish
n
Default
n
Estonian
n
Finnish
n
French
n
German
n
Greek
n
Icelandic
n
Italian
n
Japanese
n
Latin American
n
Norwegian
n
Polish
n
Portuguese
n
Russian
n
Slovenian
n
Spanish
n
Swedish
n
Swiss French
n
Swiss German
n
Turkish
n
US Dvorak
n
VMware, Inc. 67
vSphere Installation and Setup
serialnum or vmserialnum (optional)
Deprecated in ESXi 5.0.x. Supported in ESXi 5.1 and later. Congures licensing. If not included, ESXi installs
in evaluation mode.
Ukrainian
n
United Kingdom
n
--esx=<license-key>
Species the vSphere license key to use. The format is 5 ve-character groups
(XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX).
network (optional)
Species a network address for the system.
--bootproto=[dhcp|
static]
--device=
Species whether to obtain the network seings from DHCP or set them
manually.
Species either the MAC address of the network card or the device name, in
the form vmnicNN, as in vmnic0. This options refers to the uplink device for the
virtual switch.
--ip=
Sets an IP address for the machine to be installed, in the form
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. Required with the --bootproto=static option and
ignored otherwise.
--gateway=
--nameserver=
Designates the default gateway as an IP address, in the form
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. Used with the --bootproto=static option.
Designates the primary name server as an IP address. Used with the --
bootproto=static option. Omit this option if you do not intend to use DNS.
The --nameserver option can accept two IP addresses. For example: --
nameserver="10.126.87.104[,10.126.87.120]"
--netmask=
--hostname=
--vlanid= vlanid
Species the subnet mask for the installed system, in the form
255.xxx.xxx.xxx. Used with the --bootproto=static option.
Species the host name for the installed system.
Species which VLAN the system is on. Used with either the
--bootproto=dhcp or --bootproto=static option. Set to an integer from 1
to 4096.
--addvmportgroup=(0|1)
Species whether to add the VM Network port group, which is used by
virtual machines. The default value is 1.
paranoid (optional)
Causes warning messages to interrupt the installation. If you omit this command, warning messages are
logged.
68 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
part or partition (optional)
Creates an additional VMFS datastore on the system. Only one datastore per disk can be created. Cannot be
used on the same disk as the install command. Only one partition can be specied per disk and it can only
be a VMFS partition.
datastore name
--ondisk= or --ondrive=
--firstdisk=
disk-type1,
[disk-type2,...]
Species where the partition is to be mounted.
Species the disk or drive where the partition is created.
Partitions the rst eligible disk found. By default, the eligible disks are set to
the following order:
1Locally aached storage (local)
2Network storage (remote)
3USB disks (usb)
You can change the order of the disks by using a comma-separated list
appended to the argument. If you provide a lter list, the default seings are
overridden. You can combine lters to specify a particular disk, including
esx for the rst disk with ESX installed on it, model and vendor information,
or the name of the vmkernel device driver. For example, to prefer a disk with
the model name ST3120814A and any disk that uses the mptsas driver rather
than a normal local disk, the argument is
--firstdisk=ST3120814A,mptsas,local.
reboot (optional)
Reboots the machine after the scripted installation is complete.
<--noeject>
The CD is not ejected after the installation.
rootpw (required)
Sets the root password for the system.
--iscrypted
password
Species that the password is encrypted.
Species the password value.
upgrade
Either the install, upgrade, or installorupgrade command is required to determine which disk to install or
upgrade ESXi on.
--disk= or --drive=
Species the disk to partition. In the command --disk=diskname, the diskname
can be in any of the forms shown in the following examples:
For accepted disk name formats, see “Disk Device Names,” on page 71.
--firstdisk=
disk-type1,
[disk-type2,...]
Partitions the rst eligible disk found. By default, the eligible disks are set to
the following order:
1Locally aached storage (local)
VMware, Inc. 69
vSphere Installation and Setup
%include or include (optional)
Species another installation script to parse. This command is treated similarly to a multiline command, but
takes only one argument.
2Network storage (remote)
3USB disks (usb)
You can change the order of the disks by using a comma-separated list
appended to the argument. If you provide a lter list, the default seings are
overridden. You can combine lters to specify a particular disk, including
esx for the rst disk with ESX installed on it, model and vendor information,
or the name of the vmkernel device driver. For example, to prefer a disk with
the model name ST3120814A and any disk that uses the mptsas driver rather
than a normal local disk, the argument is
--firstdisk=ST3120814A,mptsas,local.
filename
For example: %include part.cfg
%pre (optional)
Species a script to run before the kickstart conguration is evaluated. For example, you can use it to
generate les for the kickstart le to include.
--interpreter
=[python|busybox]
Species an interpreter to use. The default is busybox.
%post (optional)
Runs the specied script after package installation is complete. If you specify multiple %post sections, they
run in the order that they appear in the installation script.
--interpreter
=[python|busybox]
--timeout=secs
Species an interpreter to use. The default is busybox.
Species a timeout for running the script. If the script is not nished 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 rst boot. The script has no eect on subsequent boots. If
multiple %firstboot sections are specied, they run in the order that they appear in the kickstart le.
N You cannot check the semantics of %firstboot scripts until the system is booting for the rst time. A
%firstboot script might contain potentially catastrophic errors that are not exposed until after the
installation is complete.
--interpreter
=[python|busybox]
Species an interpreter to use. The default is busybox.
N You cannot check the semantics of the %firstboot script until the system boots for the rst time. If
the script contains errors, they are not exposed until after the installation is complete.
70 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
Disk Device Names
The install, upgrade, and installorupgrade installation script commands require the use of disk device
names.
Table 4‑3. Disk Device Names
FormatExampleDescription
VMLvml.00025261The device name as reported by
the VMkernel
MPXmpx.vmhba0:C0:T0:L0The device name
About the boot.cfg File
The boot loader congurationleboot.cfgspecies the kernel, the kernel options, and the boot modules
that the mboot.c32 boot loader uses in an ESXi installation.
The boot.cfgle is provided in the ESXi installer. You can modify the kernelopt line of the boot.cfgle to
specify the location of an installation script or to pass other boot options.
The boot.cfgle has the following syntax:
# boot.cfg -- mboot configuration file
#
# Any line preceded with '#' is a comment.
title=STRING
kernel=FILEPATH
kernelopt=STRING
modules=FILEPATH1 --- FILEPATH2... --- FILEPATHn
# Any other line must remain unchanged.
The commands in boot.cfgcongure the boot loader.
Table 4‑4. Commands in boot.cfg .
CommandDescription
title=STRINGSets the boot loader title to STRING.
kernel=FILEPATHSets the kernel path to FILEPATH.
kernelopt=STRINGAppends STRING to the kernel boot options.
modules=FILEPATH1 --- FILEPATH2... ---
FILEPATHn
Lists the modules to be loaded, separated by three hyphens
(---).
See “Create an Installer ISO Image with a Custom Installation or Upgrade Script,” on page 47, “PXE Boot
the ESXi Installer by Using PXELINUX and a PXE Conguration File,” on page 51, “PXE Boot the ESXi
Installer by Using PXELINUX and an isolinux.cfg PXE Conguration File,” on page 53, and “PXE Booting
the ESXi Installer,” on page 48.
VMware, Inc. 71
vSphere Installation and Setup
Install or Upgrade ESXi from a CD or DVD by Using a Script
You can install or upgrade ESXi from a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive by using a script that species the
installation or upgrade options.
You can start the installation or upgrade script by entering a boot option when you start the host. You can
also create an installer ISO image that includes the installation script. With an installer ISO image, you can
perform a scripted, unaended installation when you boot the resulting installer ISO image. See “Create an
Installer ISO Image with a Custom Installation or Upgrade Script,” on page 47.
Prerequisites
Before you run the scripted installation or upgrade, verify that the following prerequisites are met:
The system on which you are installing or upgrading meets the hardware requirements. See “ESXi
n
Hardware Requirements,” on page 23.
You have the ESXi installer ISO on an installation CD or DVD . See “Download and Burn the ESXi
n
Installer ISO Image to a CD or DVD,” on page 44.
The default installation or upgrade script (ks.cfg) or a custom installation or upgrade script is
n
accessible to the system. See “About Installation and Upgrade Scripts,” on page 62.
You have selected a boot command to run the scripted installation or upgrade. See “Enter Boot Options
n
to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script,” on page 60. For a complete list of boot commands, see “Boot
Options,” on page 61.
Procedure
1Boot the ESXi installer from the local CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
2When the ESXi installer window appears, press Shift+O to edit boot options.
3Type a boot option that calls the default installation or upgrade script or an installation or upgrade
script le that you created.
The boot option has the form ks=.
4Press Enter.
The installation, upgrade, or migration runs, using the options that you specied.
Install or Upgrade ESXi from a USB Flash Drive by Using a Script
You can install or upgrade ESXi from a USB ash drive by using a script that species the installation or
upgrade options.
Supported boot options are listed in “Boot Options,” on page 61.
72 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
Prerequisites
Before running the scripted installation or upgrade, verify that the following prerequisites are met:
The system that you are installing or upgrading to ESXi meets the hardware requirements for the
n
installation or upgrade. See “ESXi Hardware Requirements,” on page 23.
You have the ESXi installer ISO on a bootable USB ash drive. See “Format a USB Flash Drive to Boot
n
the ESXi Installation or Upgrade,” on page 44.
The default installation or upgrade script (ks.cfg) or a custom installation or upgrade script is
n
accessible to the system. See “About Installation and Upgrade Scripts,” on page 62.
You have selected a boot option to run the scripted installation, upgrade, or migration. See “Enter Boot
n
Options to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script,” on page 60.
Procedure
1Boot the ESXi installer from the USB ash drive.
2When the ESXi installer window appears, press Shift+O to edit boot options.
3Type a boot option that calls the default installation or upgrade script or an installation or upgrade
script le that you created.
The boot option has the form ks=.
4Press Enter.
The installation, upgrade, or migration runs, using the options that you specied.
Performing a Scripted Installation or Upgrade of ESXi by Using PXE to Boot the
Installer
ESXi 6.0 provides many options for using PXE to boot the installer and using an installation or upgrade
script.
For information about seing up a PXE infrastructure, see “PXE Booting the ESXi Installer,” on page 48.
n
For information about creating and locating an installation script, see “About Installation and Upgrade
n
Scripts,” on page 62.
For specic procedures to use PXE to boot the ESXi installer and use an installation script, see one of the
n
following topics:
“PXE Boot the ESXi Installer by Using PXELINUX and an isolinux.cfg PXE Conguration File,” on
n
page 53
“PXE Boot the ESXi Installer by Using PXELINUX and a PXE Conguration File,” on page 51
n
“PXE Boot the ESXi Installer Using gPXE,” on page 54
n
VMware, Inc. 73
vSphere Installation and Setup
For information about using vSphere Auto Deploy to perform a scripted installation by using PXE to
n
boot, see “Installing ESXi Using vSphere Auto Deploy,” on page 74.
Installing ESXi Using vSphere Auto Deploy
vSphere Auto Deploy lets you provision hundreds of physical hosts with ESXi software.
Using Auto Deploy, experienced system administrators can manage large deployments eciently. Hosts are
network-booted from a central Auto Deploy server. Optionally, hosts are congured with a host prole of a
reference host. The host prole can be set up to prompt the user for input. After boot up and conguration
complete, the hosts are managed by vCenter Server just like other ESXi hosts.
Auto Deploy can also be used for stateless caching or stateful installs.
I Auto Deploy requires a secure separation between the production network and the
management or deployment networks as discussed in “Auto Deploy Security Considerations,” on page 118.
Using Auto Deploy without this separation is insecure.
Stateless caching
By default, Auto Deploy does not store ESXi conguration or state on the
host disk. Instead, an image proledenes the image that the host is
provisioned with, and other host aributes are managed through host
proles. A host that uses Auto Deploy for stateless caching still needs to
connect to the Auto Deploy server and the vCenter Server.
Stateful installs
You can provision a host with Auto Deploy and set up the host to store the
image to disk. On subsequent boots, the host boots from disk.
Understanding vSphere Auto Deploy
vSphere Auto Deploy can provision hundreds of physical hosts with ESXi software. You can specify the
image to deploy and the hosts to provision with the image. Optionally, you can specify host proles to apply
to the hosts, and a vCenter Server location (folder or cluster) for each host.
Introduction to Auto Deploy
When you start a physical host that is set up for Auto Deploy, Auto Deploy uses PXE boot infrastructure in
conjunction with vSphere host proles to provision and customize that host. No state is stored on the host
itself. Instead, the Auto Deploy server manages state information for each host.
State Information for ESXi Hosts
Auto Deploy stores the information for the ESXi hosts to be provisioned in dierent locations. Information
about the location of image proles and host proles is initially specied in the rules that map machines to
image proles and host proles.
Table 4‑5. Auto Deploy Stores Information for Deployment
Information Type DescriptionSource of Information
Image stateThe executable software to run on an ESXi host.Image prole, created with Image Builder
PowerCLI.
Conguration
state
Dynamic stateThe runtime state that is generated by the
74 VMware, Inc.
The congurableseings that determine how
the host is congured, for example, virtual
switches and their seings, driver seings, boot
parameters, and so on.
running software, for example, generated
private keys or runtime databases.
Host prole, created by using the host prole UI.
Often comes from a template host.
Host memory, lost during reboot.
Table 4‑5. Auto Deploy Stores Information for Deployment (Continued)
Information Type DescriptionSource of Information
Virtual machine
state
User inputState that is based on user input, for example,
The virtual machines stored on a host and
virtual machine autostart information
(subsequent boots only).
an IP address that the user provides when the
system starts up, cannot automatically be
included in the host prole.
Virtual machine information sent by
vCenter Server to Auto Deploy must be available
to supply virtual machine information to Auto
Deploy.
Host customization information, stored by
vCenter Server during rst boot.
You can create a host prole that requires user
input for certain values.
When Auto Deploy applies a host prole that
requires user provided information, the host is
placed in maintenance mode. Use the host prole
UI to check the host prole compliance, and
respond to the prompt to customize the host.
Auto Deploy Architecture
The Auto Deploy infrastructure consists of several components.
For more information, watch the video "Auto Deploy Architecture":
Auto Deploy Architecture (hp://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid2296383276001?
bctid=ref:video_auto_deploy_architecture)
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
VMware, Inc. 75
Host profiles
and host
customization
Host profile
UI
Autp Deploy
PowerCLI
Rules Engine
Auto Deploy
server
(Web server)
Image Builder
PowerCLI
Image
profiles
Plug-in
Host
profile
engine
ESXi
host
HTTP fetch of images/VIBs
and host profiles (iPXE boot
and update)
VIBs and
image profiles
Fetch of predefined image
profiles and VIBs
public depot
vSphere Installation and Setup
Figure 4‑1. vSphere Auto Deploy Architecture
Auto Deploy server
Auto Deploy rules
engine
Image profiles
Host profiles
Host customization
Serves images and host proles to ESXi hosts.
Sends information to the Auto Deploy server which image prole and which
host prole to serve to which host. Administrators use the Auto Deploy
PowerCLI to dene the rules that assign image proles and host proles to
hosts.
Dene the set of VIBs to boot ESXi hosts with.
VMware and VMware partners make image proles and VIBs available
n
in public depots. Use the Image Builder PowerCLI to examine the depot,
and use the Auto Deploy rules engine to specify which image prole to
assign to which host.
VMware customers can create a custom image prole based on the
n
public image proles and VIBs in the depot and apply that image prole
to the host. See “Using vSphere ESXi Image Builder,” on page 139.
Denemachine-specicconguration such as networking or storage setup.
Use the host prole UI to create host proles. You can create a host prole for
a reference host and apply that host prole to other hosts in your
environment for a consistent conguration.
Stores information that the user provides when host proles are applied to
the host. Host customization might contain an IP address or other
information that the user supplied for that host. See “Host Customization in
the vSphere Web Client,” on page 111.
Host customization was called answer le in earlier releases of Auto Deploy.
76 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
Rules and Rule Sets
You specify the behavior of the Auto Deploy server by using a set of rules wrien in PowerCLI. The Auto
Deploy rules engine checks the rule set for matching host paerns to decide which items (image prole, host
prole, or vCenter Server location) to provision each host with.
The rules engine maps software and congurationseings to hosts based on the aributes of the host. For
example, you can deploy image proles or host proles to two clusters of hosts by writing two rules, each
matching on the network address of one cluster.
For hosts that have not yet been added to a vCenter Server system, the Auto Deploy server checks with the
rules engine before serving image proles, host proles, and inventory location information to hosts. For
hosts that are managed by a vCenter Server system, the image prole, host prole, and inventory location
that vCenter Server has stored in the host object is used. If you make changes to rules, you can use Auto
Deploy PowerCLI cmdlets to test and repair rule compliance. When you repair rule compliance for a host,
that host's image prole and host prole assignments are updated.
The rules engine includes rules and rule sets.
Rules
Active Rule Set
Working Rule Set
Rules can assign image proles and host proles to a set of hosts, or specify
the location (folder or cluster) of a host on the target vCenter Server system.
A rule can identify target hosts by boot MAC address, SMBIOS information,
BIOS UUID, Vendor, Model, or xed DHCP IP address. In most cases, rules
apply to multiple hosts. You create rules by using Auto Deploy PowerCLI
cmdlets. After you create a rule, you must add it to a rule set. Only two rule
sets, the active rule set and the working rule set, are supported. A rule can
belong to both sets, the default, or only to the working rule set. After you add
a rule to a rule set, you can no longer change the rule. Instead, you copy the
rule and replace items or paerns in the copy.
When a newly started host contacts the Auto Deploy server with a request
for an image prole, the Auto Deploy server checks the active rule set for
matching rules. The image prole, host prole, and vCenter Server inventory
location that are mapped by matching rules are then used to boot the host. If
more than one item of the same type is mapped by the rules, the Auto
Deploy server uses the item that is rst in the rule set.
The working rule set allows you to test changes to rules before making the
changes active. For example, you can use Auto Deploy PowerCLI cmdlets for
testing compliance with the working rule set. The test veries that hosts
managed by a vCenter Server system are following the rules in the working
rule set. By default, cmdlets add the rule to the working rule set and activate
the rules. Use the NoActivate parameter to add a rule only to the working
rule set.
You use the following workow with rules and rule sets.
1Make changes to the working rule set.
2Use cmdlets that execute the working rule set rules against a host to make sure that everything is
working correctly.
3Rene and retest the rules in the working rule set.
4Activate the rules in the working rule set.
If you add a rule and do not specify the NoActivate parameter, all rules that are currently in the
working rule set are activated. You cannot activate individual rules.
See the PowerCLI command-line help and “Managing Auto Deploy with PowerCLI Cmdlets,” on page 89.
VMware, Inc. 77
vSphere Installation and Setup
Auto Deploy Boot Process
When you boot a host that you want to provision or reprovision with vSphere Auto Deploy, the Auto
Deploy infrastructure supplies the image prole and, optionally, a host prole and a vCenter Server location
for that host.
The boot process is dierent for hosts that have not yet been provisioned with Auto Deploy (rst boot) and
for hosts that have been provisioned with Auto Deploy and added to a vCenter Server system (subsequent
boot).
First Boot Prerequisites
Before a rst boot process, you must set up your system. Setup includes the following tasks, which are
discussed in more detail in “Preparing for vSphere Auto Deploy,” on page 84.
Set up a DHCP server that assigns an IP address to each host upon startup and that points the host to
n
the TFTP server to download the iPXE boot loader from.
Verify that the Auto Deploy server has an IPv4 address. PXE booting is supported only with IPv4.
n
Identify an image prole to be used in one of the following ways.
n
Choose an ESXi image prole in a public depot.
n
(Optional) Create a custom image prole by using the Image Builder PowerCLI, and place the
n
image prole in a depot that the Auto Deploy server can access. The image prole must include a
base ESXi VIB.
(Optional) If you have a reference host in your environment, export the host prole of the reference host
n
and dene a rule that applies the host prole to one or more hosts. See “Seing Up an Auto Deploy
Reference Host,” on page 103.
Specify rules for the deployment of the host and add the rules to the active rule set.
n
First Boot Overview
When a host that has not yet been provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy boots (rst boot), the host
interacts with several Auto Deploy components.
1When the administrator turns on a host, the host starts a PXE boot sequence.
The DHCP Server assigns an IP address to the host and instructs the host to contact the TFTP server.
2The host contacts the TFTP server and downloads the iPXE le (executable boot loader) and an iPXE
congurationle.
3iPXE starts executing.
The congurationle instructs the host to make a HTTP boot request to the Auto Deploy server. The
HTTP request includes hardware and network information.
4In response, the Auto Deploy server performs these tasks:
aQueries the rules engine for information about the host.
bStreams the components specied in the image prole, the optional host prole, and optional
vCenter Server location information.
5The host boots using the image prole.
If the Auto Deploy server provided a host prole, the host prole is applied to the host.
6Auto Deploy adds the host to the vCenter Server system that Auto Deploy is registered with.
aIf a rule species a target folder or cluster on the vCenter Server system, the host is placed in that
folder or cluster. The target folder must be under a data center.
78 VMware, Inc.
Auto Deploy first boot
host sends
hardware & network
information to
Auto Deploy server
Auto Deploy
server streams
host & image
profiles to the host
host boots
using image
profile
host assigned
to vCenter Server,
which stores host &
image profiles
PXE
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
bIf no rule exists that species a vCenter Server inventory location, Auto Deploy adds the host to the
rst datacenter displayed in the vSphere Web Client UI.
7(Optional) If the host prole requires the user to specify certain information, such as a static IP address,
the host is placed in maintenance mode when the host is added to the vCenter Server system.
You must reapply the host prole and update the host customization to have the host exit maintenance
mode. When you update the host customization, answer any questions when prompted.
8If the host is part of a DRS cluster, virtual machines from other hosts might be migrated to the host after
the host has successfully been added to the vCenter Server system.
See “Provision a Host (First Boot),” on page 93.
Figure 4‑2. Auto Deploy Installation, First Boot
Subsequent Boots Without Updates
For hosts that are provisioned with Auto Deploy and managed by a vCenter Server system, subsequent
boots can become completely automatic.
VMware, Inc. 79
1The administrator reboots the host.
2As the host boots up, Auto Deploy provisions the host with its image prole and host prole.
3Virtual machines are brought up or migrated to the host based on the seings of the host.
Standalone host. Virtual machines are powered on according to autostart rules dened on the host.
n
DRS cluster host. Virtual machines that were successfully migrated to other hosts stay there.
n
Virtual machines for which no host had enough resources are registered to the rebooted host.
Auto Deploy subsequent boots
vCenter Server
provisions host
using host &
image profiles
edit and
update rule set
subsequent boot with
image update
subsequent boot
with no update
check
ruleset
compliance
use updated
image profile
update the host
& image profile
associations
stored in
vCenter Server
reboot
host
(optional)
vSphere Installation and Setup
If the vCenter Server system is unavailable, the host contacts the Auto Deploy and is provisioned with an
image prole. The host continues to contact the Auto Deploy server until Auto Deploy reconnects to the
vCenter Server system.
Auto Deploy cannot set up vSphere distributed switches if vCenter Server is unavailable, and virtual
machines are assigned to hosts only if they participate in an HA cluster. Until the host is reconnected to
vCenter Server and the host prole is applied, the switch cannot be created. Because the host is in
maintenance mode, virtual machines cannot start. See “Reprovision Hosts with Simple Reboot Operations,”
on page 94.
Any hosts that are set up to require user input are placed in maintenance mode. See “Update the Host
Customization in the vSphere Web Client,” on page 96.
Subsequent Boots With Updates
You can change the image prole, host prole, or vCenter Server location for hosts. The process includes
changing rules and testing and repairing the host's rule compliance.
1The administrator uses the Copy-DeployRule PowerCLI cmdlet to copy and edit one or more rules and
updates the rule set. See “Auto Deploy Quick Start,” on page 81 for an example.
2The administrator runs the Test-DeployRulesetCompliance cmdlet to check whether each host is using
the information that the current rule set species.
3The host returns a PowerCLI object that encapsulates compliance information.
4The administrator runs the Repair-DeployRulesetCompliance cmdlet to update the image prole, host
prole, or vCenter Server location the vCenter Server system stores for each host.
5When the host reboots, it uses the updated image prole, host prole, or vCenter Server location for the
host.
If the host prole is set up to request user input, the host is placed in maintenance mode. Follow the
steps in “Update the Host Customization in the vSphere Web Client,” on page 96.
See “Test and Repair Rule Compliance,” on page 92.
Figure 4‑3. Auto Deploy Installation, Subsequent Boots
80 VMware, Inc.
Provisioning of Systems that Have Distributed Switches
You can congure the host prole of an Auto Deploy reference host with a distributed switch.
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
When you congure the distributed switch, the boot conguration parameters policy is automatically set to
match the network parameters required for host connectivity after a reboot.
When Auto Deploy provisions the ESXi host with the host prole, the host goes through a two-step process.
1The host creates a standard virtual switch with the properties specied in the boot conguration
parameters eld.
2The host creates the VMkernel NICs. The VMkernel NICs allow the host to connect to Auto Deploy and
to the vCenter Server system.
When the host is added to vCenter Server, vCenter Server removes the standard switch and reapplies the
distributed switch to the host.
N Do not change the boot conguration parameters to avoid problems with your distributed switch.
Auto Deploy Quick Start and Cmdlet Overview
To be successful with Auto Deploy, you have to know the tasks involved in provisioning hosts, understand
the Auto Deploy components and their interaction, and know the PowerCLI cmdlets.
Auto Deploy Quick Start
Geing started with Auto Deploy requires that you learn how Auto Deploy works, install the Auto Deploy
server, install vSphere PowerCLI, write vSphere PowerCLI rules that provision hosts, and power on your
hosts to be booted with the image prole you specify. You can customize of the image prole, host prole,
and vCenter Server location.
See “Auto Deploy Proof of Concept Setup,” on page 126 for a step-by-step exercise that helps you set up
your rst Auto Deploy environment on a Windows Server 2008 system.
To provision the hosts in your environment with Auto Deploy successfully, you can follow these steps.
1Install vCenter Server and the vCenter Server components, or deploy the vCenter Server Appliance.
The Auto Deploy server is included with the management node.
2Install vSphere PowerCLI, which includes Auto Deploy and Image Builder cmdlets.
See “Install vSphere PowerCLI and Prerequisite Software,” on page 86 and “Using Auto Deploy
Cmdlets,” on page 87.
3Find the image prole that includes the VIBs that you want to deploy to your hosts.
In most cases, you add the depots containing the required software to your vSphere PowerCLI
n
session, and then select an image prole from one of those depots.
To create a custom image prole, use Image Builder cmdlets to clone an existing image prole and
n
add the custom VIBs to the clone. Add the custom image prole to the vSphere PowerCLI session.
You must use Image Builder for customization only if you have to add or remove VIBs. In most cases,
you can add the depot where VMware hosts the image proles to your vSphere PowerCLI session as a
URL.
4Use the New-DeployRule vSphere PowerCLI cmdlet to write a rule that assigns the image prole to one
host, to multiple hosts specied by a paern, or to all hosts.
See “Assign an Image Prole to Hosts,” on page 89.
N Auto Deploy is optimized for provisioning hosts that have a xed MAC address to IP address
mapping in DHCP (sometimes called DHCP reservations). If you want to use static IP addresses, you
must set up the host prole to prompt for host customization. See “Set Up Host Proles for Static IP
Addresses in the vSphere Web Client,” on page 110.
VMware, Inc. 81
vSphere Installation and Setup
5Power on the host to have Auto Deploy provision the host with the specied image prole.
6Set up the host you provisioned as a reference host for your host prole.
You can specify the reference host syslog seings,rewallseings, storage, networking, and so on. See
“Seing Up an Auto Deploy Reference Host,” on page 103.
7Create and export a host prole for the reference host.
See the Host Proles documentation.
8To provision multiple hosts, you can use the Copy-DeployRule cmdlet.
You can revise the rule to assign not only an image prole but also a host prole and a cluster location.
Where my_host_prole_from_reference_host is the name of the reference host prole, and my_target_cluster
is the name of the target cluster.
9Power on the hosts that you want to provision.
If the hosts that are specied by the paern are not currently managed by a vCenter Server system,
Auto Deploy provisions them with the already stored image prole and the specied host prole, and
adds them to the target cluster.
10 Verify that the hosts you provisioned meet the following requirements.
Each host is connected to the vCenter Server system.
n
The hosts are not in maintenance mode.
n
The hosts have no compliance failures.
n
Each host with a host prole that requires user input has up-to-date host customization
n
information.
Remedy host customization and compliance problems and reboot hosts until all hosts meet the
requirements.
Read “Understanding vSphere Auto Deploy,” on page 74 for an introduction to the boot process, dierences
between rst and subsequent boots, and an overview of using host customization.
Auto Deploy PowerCLI Cmdlet Overview
You specify the rules that assign image proles and host proles to hosts using a set of PowerCLI cmdlets
that are included in VMware PowerCLI.
If you are new to PowerCLI, read the PowerCLI documentation and review “Using Auto Deploy Cmdlets,”
on page 87. You can get help for any command at the PowerShell prompt.
Basic help: Get-Helpcmdlet_name
n
Detailed help: Get-Help cmdlet_name-Detailed
n
N When you run Auto Deploy cmdlets, provide all parameters on the command line when you invoke
the cmdlet. Supplying parameters in interactive mode is not recommended.
Table 4‑6. Rule Engine PowerCLI Cmdlets
CommandDescription
Get-DeployCommand
New-DeployRule
82 VMware, Inc.
Returns a list of Auto Deploy cmdlets.
Creates a new rule with the specied items and paerns.
Repair-DeployRulesetComplianceGiven the output of Test-DeployRulesetCompliance,
Apply-EsxImageProfile
Get-VMHostImageProfile
Repair-DeployImageCache
Get-VMHostAttributes
Get-DeployMachineIdentity
Set-DeployMachineIdentity
Get-DeployOption
Set-DeployOption
Updates an existing rule with the specied items and
paerns. You cannot update a rule that is part of a rule set.
Retrieves the rules with the specied names.
Clones and updates an existing rule.
Adds one or more rules to the working rule set and, by
default, also to the active rule set. Use the NoActivate
parameter to add a rule only to the working rule set.
Removes one or more rules from the working rule set and
from the active rule set. Run this command with the Delete parameter to completely delete the rule.
Explicitly sets the list of rules in the working rule set.
Retrieves the current working rule set or the current active
rule set.
Activates a rule set so that any new requests are evaluated
through the rule set.
Retrieves rules matching a paern. For example, you can
retrieve all rules that apply to a host or hosts. Use this
cmdlet primarily for debugging.
Checks whether the items associated with a specied host
are in compliance with the active rule set.
this cmdlet updates the image prole, host prole, and
location for each host in the vCenter Server inventory. The
cmdlet might apply image proles, apply host proles, or
move hosts to prespecied folders or clusters on the
vCenter Server system.
Associates the specied image prole with the specied
host.
Retrieves the image prole in use by a specied host. This
cmdlet diers from the Get-EsxImageProfile cmdlet in
the Image Builder PowerCLI.
Use this cmdlet only if the Auto Deploy image cache is
accidentally deleted.
Retrieves the aributes for a host that are used when the
Auto Deploy server evaluates the rules.
Returns a string value that Auto Deploy uses to logically
link an ESXi host in vCenter to a physical machine.
Logically links a host object in the vCenter Server database
to a physical machine. Use this cmdlet to add hosts without
specifying rules.
Retrieves the Auto Deploy global conguration options.
This cmdlet currently supports the vlan-id option, which
species the default VLAN ID for the ESXi Management
Network of a host provisioned with Auto Deploy. Auto
Deploy uses the value only if the host boots without a host
prole.
Sets the value of a global conguration option. Currently
supports the vlan-id option for seing the default VLAN
ID for the ESXi Management Network.
VMware, Inc. 83
vSphere Installation and Setup
Preparing for vSphere Auto Deploy
Before you can start to use vSphere Auto Deploy, you must prepare your environment. You start with server
setup and hardware preparation. You must register the Auto Deploy software with the vCenter Server
system that you plan to use for managing the hosts you provision, and install the VMware PowerCLI.
Prepare Your System and Install the Auto Deploy Server on page 84
n
Before you can PXE boot an ESXi host with vSphere Auto Deploy, you must install prerequisite
software and set up the DHCP and TFTP servers that Auto Deploy interacts with.
Install vSphere PowerCLI and Prerequisite Software on page 86
n
Before you can run Auto Deploy cmdlets to create and modify the rules and rule sets that govern Auto
Deploy behavior, you must install vSphere PowerCLI and all prerequisite software. The Auto Deploy
cmdlets are included with the vSphere PowerCLI installation.
Using Auto Deploy Cmdlets on page 87
n
Auto Deploy cmdlets are implemented as Microsoft PowerShell cmdlets and included in
vSphere PowerCLI. Users of Auto Deploy cmdlets can take advantage of all vSphere PowerCLI
features.
Set Up Bulk Licensing on page 87
n
You can use the vSphere Web Client or ESXi Shell to specify individual license keys, or you can set up
bulk licensing by using PowerCLI cmdlets. Bulk licensing works for all ESXi hosts, but is especially
useful for hosts provisioned with Auto Deploy.
Prepare Your System and Install the Auto Deploy Server
Before you can PXE boot an ESXi host with vSphere Auto Deploy, you must install prerequisite software and
set up the DHCP and TFTP servers that Auto Deploy interacts with.
Prerequisites
Verify that the hosts that you plan to provision with Auto Deploy meet the hardware requirements for
n
ESXi. See “ESXi Hardware Requirements,” on page 23.
N You cannot provision EFI hosts with Auto Deploy unless you switch the EFI system to BIOS
compatibility mode.
Verify that the ESXi hosts have network connectivity to vCenter Server and that all port requirements
n
are met. See “Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller,” on page 33.
If you want to use VLANs in your Auto Deploy environment, you must set up the end to end
n
networking properly. When the host is PXE booting, the UNDI driver must be set up to tag the frames
with proper VLAN IDs. You must do this set up manually by making the correct changes in the BIOS.
You must also correctly congure the ESXi port groups with the correct VLAN IDs. Ask your network
administrator how VLAN IDs are used in your environment.
Verify that you have enough storage for the Auto Deploy repository. The Auto Deploy server uses the
n
repository to store data it needs, including the rules and rule sets you create and the VIBs and image
proles that you specify in your rules.
Best practice is to allocate 2 GB to have enough room for four image proles and some extra space. Each
image prole requires approximately 350 MB. Determine how much space to reserve for the Auto
Deploy repository by considering how many image proles you expect to use.
Obtain administrative privileges to the DHCP server that manages the network segment you want to
n
boot from. You can use a DHCP server already in your environment, or install a DHCP server. For your
Auto Deploy setup, replace the gpxelinux.0le name with undionly.kpxe.vmw-hardwired.
84 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
Secure your network as you would for any other PXE-based deployment method. Auto Deploy
n
transfers data over SSL to prevent casual interference and snooping. However, the authenticity of the
client or the Auto Deploy server is not checked during a PXE boot.
Set up a remote Syslog server. See the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation for Syslog
n
server conguration information. Congure the rst host you boot to use the remote Syslog server and
apply that host's host prole to all other target hosts. Optionally, install and use the vSphere Syslog
Collector, a vCenter Server support tool that provides a unied architecture for system logging and
enables network logging and combining of logs from multiple hosts.
Install ESXi Dump Collector, set up your rst host so that all core dumps are directed to ESXi Dump
n
Collector, and apply the host prole from that host to all other hosts. See “Congure ESXi Dump
Collector with ESXCLI,” on page 105.
Verify that the Auto Deploy server has an IPv4 address. Auto Deploy does not support a pure IPv6
n
environment end-to-end. The PXE boot infrastructure does not support IPv6. After the deployment you
can manually recongure the hosts to use IPv6 and add them to vCenter Server over IPv6. However,
when you reboot a stateless host, its IPv6 conguration is lost.
Procedure
1Install vCenter Server or deploy the vCenter Server Appliance.
The Auto Deploy server is included with the management node.
2Congure the Auto Deploy service startup type.
aLog in to your vCenter Server system by using the vSphere Web Client.
bOn the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Administration.
cUnder System click Services.
dSelect Auto Deploy, click the Actions menu, and select Edit Startup Type.
On Windows, the Auto Deploy service is disabled. In the Edit Startup Type window, select
n
Manual or Automatic to enable Auto Deploy.
On the vCenter Server Appliance, the Auto Deploy service by default is set to Manual. If you
n
want the Auto Deploy service to start automatically upon OS startup, select Automatic.
3Congure the TFTP server.
aIn a vSphere Web Client connected to the vCenter Server system, go to the inventory list and select
the vCenter Server system.
bClick the Manage tab, select , and click Auto Deploy.
cClick Download TFTP Boot Zip to download the TFTP congurationle and unzip the le to the
directory in which your TFTP server stores les.
4Set up your DHCP server to point to the TFTP server on which the TFTP ZIP le is located.
aSpecify the TFTP Server's IP address in DHCP option 66, frequently called next-server.
bSpecify the boot le name, which is undionly.kpxe.vmw-hardwired in the DHCP option 67,
frequently called boot-filename.
5Set each host you want to provision with Auto Deploy to network boot or PXE boot, following the
manufacturer's instructions.
6Locate the image prole that you want to use and the depot in which it is located.
In most cases, you point to an image prole that VMware makes available in a public depot. If you want
to include custom VIBs with the base image, you can use the vSphere ESXi Image Builder to create an
image prole and use that image prole.
VMware, Inc. 85
vSphere Installation and Setup
7Write a rule that assigns an image prole to hosts.
8(Optional) If you set up your environment to use Thumbprint mode, you can use your own Certicate
Authority (CA) by replacing the OpenSSL certicaterbd-ca.crt and the OpenSSL private key rbd-
ca.key with your own certicate and key le.
On Windows, the les are in the SSL subfolder of the Auto Deploy installation directory. For
n
example, on Windows 7 the default is C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware vSphere Auto Deploy\ssl.
On the vCenter Server Appliance, the les are in /etc/vmware-rbd/ssl/.
n
By default, vCenter Server 6.0 and later uses vSphere Certicate Authority.
When you start a host that is set up for Auto Deploy, the host contacts the DHCP server and is directed to
the Auto Deploy server, which provisions the host with the image prolespecied in the active rule set.
What to do next
Install vSphere PowerCLI. See “Install vSphere PowerCLI and Prerequisite Software,” on page 86.
n
Use the vSphere PowerCLI cmdlets to dene a rule that assigns an image prole and optional host
n
prole to the host.
(Optional) Congure the rst host that you provision as a reference host. Use the storage, networking,
n
and other seings you want for your target hosts to share. Create a host prole for the reference host
and write a rule that assigns both the already tested image prole and the host prole to target hosts.
If you want to have Auto Deploy overwrite existing partitions, set up a reference host to do auto
n
partitioning and apply the host prole of the reference host to other hosts. See “Consider and
Implement Your Partitioning Strategy,” on page 109.
If you have to congurehost-specic information, set up the host prole of the reference host to prompt
n
for user input. See “Host Customization in the vSphere Web Client,” on page 111.
Install vSphere PowerCLI and Prerequisite Software
Before you can run Auto Deploy cmdlets to create and modify the rules and rule sets that govern Auto
Deploy behavior, you must install vSphere PowerCLI and all prerequisite software. The Auto Deploy
cmdlets are included with the vSphere PowerCLI installation.
You install vSphere PowerCLI and prerequisite software on a Microsoft Windows system. See the Microsoft
Web site for information about installing the Microsoft software. See the vSphere PowerCLI User's Guide for
detailed instructions for vSphere PowerCLI installation.
Prerequisites
Verify that Microsoft .NET 4.5 SP2 is installed, or install it from the Microsoft Web site following the
n
instructions on that Web site.
Verify that Windows PowerShell 3.0 is installed, or install it from the Microsoft Web site following the
n
instructions on that Web site.
Procedure
Install vSphere PowerCLI, which includes the Auto Deploy cmdlets.
u
What to do next
Review “Using Auto Deploy Cmdlets,” on page 87. If you are new to vSphere PowerCLI, read the
vSphere PowerCLI documentation.
Use Auto Deploy cmdlets and other vSphere PowerCLI cmdlets and PowerShell cmdlets to manage Auto
Deploy rules and rule sets. Use Get-Helpcmdlet_name for command-line help.
86 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
Using Auto Deploy Cmdlets
Auto Deploy cmdlets are implemented as Microsoft PowerShell cmdlets and included in vSphere PowerCLI.
Users of Auto Deploy cmdlets can take advantage of all vSphere PowerCLI features.
Experienced PowerShell users can use Auto Deploy cmdlets just like other PowerShell cmdlets. If you are
new to PowerShell and vSphere PowerCLI, the following tips might be helpful.
You can type cmdlets, parameters, and parameter values in the vSphere PowerCLI shell.
Get help for any cmdlet by running Get-Helpcmdlet_name.
n
Remember that PowerShell is not case sensitive.
n
Use tab completion for cmdlet names and parameter names.
n
Format any variable and cmdlet output by using Format-List or Format-Table, or their short forms fl
n
or ft. For more information, run the Get-Help Format-List cmdlet.
Passing Parameters by Name
You can pass in parameters by name in most cases and surround parameter values that contain spaces or
special characters with double quotes.
Most examples in the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation pass in parameters by name.
Passing Parameters as Objects
You can pass parameters as objects if you want to perform scripting and automation. Passing in parameters
as objects is useful with cmdlets that return multiple objects and with cmdlets that return a single object.
Consider the following example.
1Bind the object that encapsulates rule set compliance information for a host to a variable.
$tr = Test-DeployRuleSetCompliance MyEsxi42
2View the itemlist property of the object to see the dierence between what is in the rule set and what
the host is currently using.
$tr.itemlist
3Remediate the host to use the revised rule set by using the Repair-DeployRuleSetCompliance cmdlet
with the variable.
Repair-DeployRuleSetCompliance $tr
The example remediates the host the next time you boot the host.
Set Up Bulk Licensing
You can use the vSphere Web Client or ESXi Shell to specify individual license keys, or you can set up bulk
licensing by using PowerCLI cmdlets. Bulk licensing works for all ESXi hosts, but is especially useful for
hosts provisioned with Auto Deploy.
The following example assigns licenses to all hosts in a data center. You can also associate licenses with hosts
and clusters.
The following example is for advanced PowerCLI users who know how to use PowerShell variables.
Prerequisites
Install PowerCLI. See “Install vSphere PowerCLI and Prerequisite Software,” on page 86.
VMware, Inc. 87
vSphere Installation and Setup
Assigning license keys through the vSphere Web Client and assigning licensing by using PowerCLI cmdlets
function dierently.
Assign license keys
with the
You can assign license keys to a host when you add the host to the vCenter
Server system or when the host is managed by a vCenter Server system.
vSphere Web Client
Assign license keys
with
LicenseDataManager
PowerCLI
You can specify a set of license keys to be added to a set of hosts. The license
keys are added to the vCenter Server database. Each time a host is added to
the vCenter Server system or reconnects to the vCenter Server system, the
host is assigned a license key. A license key that is assigned through the
PowerCLI is treated as a default license key. When an unlicensed host is
added or reconnected, it is assigned the default license key. If a host is
already licensed, it keeps its license key.
Procedure
1Connect to the vCenter Server system you want to use and bind the associated license manager to a
You can also run a cmdlet that retrieves a cluster to use bulk licensing for all hosts in a cluster, or
retrieves a folder to use bulk licensing for all hosts in a folder.
3Create a new LicenseData object and a LicenseKeyEntry object with associated type ID and license key.
6Provision one or more hosts with Auto Deploy and assign them to the data center or to the cluster that
you assigned the license data to.
7You can use the vSphere Web Client to verify that the host is successfully assigned to the default license
XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX.
All hosts that you assigned to the data center are now licensed automatically.
88 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Installing ESXi
Managing Auto Deploy with PowerCLI Cmdlets
You can use Auto Deploy PowerCLI cmdlets to create rules that associate hosts with image proles, host
proles, and a location on the vCenter Server target. You can also update hosts by testing rule compliance
and repairing compliance issues.
Assign an Image Profile to Hosts
Before you can provision a host, you must create rules that assign an image prole to each host that you
want to provision by using Auto Deploy.
Auto Deploy extensibility rules enforce that VIBs at the CommunitySupported level can only contain les
from certain predened locations, such as the ESXCLI plug-in path, jumpstart plug-in path, and so on. If
you add a VIB that is in a dierent location to an image prole, a warning results. You can override the
warning by using the force option.
If you call the New-DeployRule cmdlet on an image prole that includes VIBs at the CommunitySupported
level which violate the rule, set $DeployNoSignatureCheck = $true before adding the image prole. With
that seing, the system ignores signature validation and does not perform the extensibility rules check.
N Image proles that include VIBs at the CommunitySupported level are not supported on production
systems.
Prerequisites
Install VMware PowerCLI and all prerequisite software.
n
If you encounter problems running PowerCLI cmdlets, consider changing the execution policy. See
n
“Using Auto Deploy Cmdlets,” on page 87.
Procedure
1Run the Connect-VIServer PowerCLI cmdlet to connect to the vCenter Server system that Auto Deploy
is registered with.
Connect-VIServer 192.XXX.X.XX
The cmdlet might return a server certicate warning. In a production environment, make sure no server
certicate warnings result. In a development environment, you can ignore the warning.
2Determine the location of a public software depot, or dene a custom image prole using the Image
Builder PowerCLI.
3Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot to add the software depot that contains the image prole to the PowerCLI
4In the depot, nd the image prole that you want to use by running the Get-EsxImageProfile cmdlet.
By default, the ESXi depot includes one base image prole that includes VMware tools and has the
string standard in its name, and one base image prole that does not include VMware tools.
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5Dene a rule in which hosts with certain aributes, for example a range of IP addresses, are assigned to
the image prole.
New-DeployRule -Name "testrule" -Item "My Profile25" -Pattern "vendor=Acme,Zven",
"ipv4=192.XXX.1.10-192.XXX.1.20"
Double quotes are required if a name contains spaces, optional otherwise. Specify -AllHosts instead of
a paern to apply the item to all hosts.
The cmdlet creates a rule named testrule. The rule assigns the image prole named My Prole25 to all
hosts with a vendor of Acme or Zven that also have an IP address in the specied range.
6Add the rule to the rule set.
Add-DeployRule testrule
By default, the rule is added to both the working rule set and the active rule set. If you use the
NoActivate parameter, the working rule set does not become the active rule set.
When the host boots from iPXE, it reports aributes of the machine to the console. Use the same format of
the aributes when writing deploy rules.
For hosts already provisioned with Auto Deploy, perform the compliance testing and repair operations
n
to provision them with the new image prole. See “Test and Repair Rule Compliance,” on page 92.
Turn on unprovisioned hosts to provision them with the new image prole.
n
Write a Rule and Assign a Host Profile to Hosts
Auto Deploy can assign a host prole to one or more hosts. The host prole might include information
about storage conguration, network conguration, or other characteristics of the host. If you add a host to a
cluster, that cluster's host prole is used.
In many cases, you assign a host to a cluster instead of specifying a host prole explicitly. The host uses the
host prole of the cluster.
Prerequisites
Install vSphere PowerCLI and all prerequisite software. See “Install vSphere PowerCLI and Prerequisite
n
Software,” on page 86.
Export the host prole that you want to use.
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Procedure
1Run the Connect-VIServer vSphere PowerCLI cmdlet to connect to the vCenter Server system that Auto
Deploy is registered with.
Connect-VIServer 192.XXX.X.XX
The cmdlet might return a server certicate warning. In a production environment, make sure no server
certicate warnings result. In a development environment, you can ignore the warning.
2Using the vSphere Web Client, set up a host with the seings you want to use and create a host prole
from that host.
3Find the name of the host prole by running Get-VMhostProfile vSphere PowerCLI cmdlet, passing in
the ESXi host from which you create a host prole.
4At the vSphere PowerCLI prompt, dene a rule in which host proles are assigned to hosts with certain
The specied item is assigned to all hosts with the speciedaributes. This example species a rule
named testrule2. The rule assigns the specied host prolemy_host_prole to all hosts with an IP
address inside the specied range and with a manufacturer of Acme or Zven.
5Add the rule to the rule set.
Add-DeployRule testrule2
By default, the working rule set becomes the active rule set, and any changes to the rule set become
active when you add a rule. If you use the NoActivate parameter, the working rule set does not become
the active rule set.
What to do next
Assign a host already provisioned with Auto Deploy to the new host prole by performing compliance
n
test and repair operations on those hosts. For more information, see “Test and Repair Rule
Compliance,” on page 92.
Power on unprovisioned hosts to provision them with the host prole.
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Write a Rule and Assign a Host to a Folder or Cluster
Auto Deploy can assign a host to a folder or cluster. When the host boots, Auto Deploy adds it to the
specied location on the vCenter Server. Hosts assigned to a cluster inherit the cluster's host prole.
Prerequisites
Install vSphere PowerCLI and all the prerequisite software.
n
Verify that the folder you select is in a data center or in a cluster. You cannot assign the host to a
n
standalone top-level folder.
Procedure
1Run the Connect-VIServer vSphere PowerCLI cmdlet to connect to the vCenter Server system that Auto
Deploy is registered with.
Connect-VIServer 192.XXX.X.XX
The cmdlet might return a server certicate warning. In a production environment, make sure no server
certicate warnings appear. In a development environment, you can ignore the warning.
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2Dene a rule in which hosts with certain aributes, for example a range of IP addresses, are assigned to
a folder or a cluster.
New-DeployRule -Name testrule3 -Item "my folder" -Pattern "vendor=Acme,Zven",
"ipv4=192.XXX.1.10-192.XXX.1.20"
This example passes in the folder by name. You can instead pass in a folder, cluster, or data center object
that you retrieve with the Get-Folder, Get-Cluster, or Get-Datacenter cmdlet.
3Add the rule to the rule set.
Add-DeployRule testrule3
By default, the working rule set becomes the active rule set, and any changes to the rule set become
active when you add a rule. If you use the NoActivate parameter, the working rule set does not become
the active rule set.
What to do next
Assign a host already provisioned with Auto Deploy to the new folder or cluster location by
n
performing test and repair compliance operation. See “Test and Repair Rule Compliance,” on page 92.
Power on unprovisioned hosts to add them to the specied vCenter Server location.
n
Test and Repair Rule Compliance
When you add a rule to the Auto Deploy rule set or make changes to one or more rules, hosts are not
updated automatically. Auto Deploy applies the new rules only when you test their rule compliance and
perform remediation.
Prerequisites
Install vSphere PowerCLI and all prerequisite software.
n
Verify that your infrastructure includes one or more ESXi hosts provisioned with Auto Deploy, and that
n
the host on which you installed vSphere PowerCLI can access those ESXi hosts.
Procedure
1Use vSphere PowerCLI to check which Auto Deploy rules are currently available.
Get-DeployRule
The system returns the rules and the associated items and paerns.
2Make a change to one of the available rules.
For example, you can change the image prole and the name of the rule.
You cannot edit a rule already added to a rule set. Instead, you copy the rule and replace the item or
paern you want to change.
3Verify that you can access the host for which you want to test rule set compliance.
Get-VMHost -Name MyEsxi42
4Run the cmdlet that tests rule set compliance for the host, and bind the return value to a variable for
later use.
$tr = Test-DeployRuleSetCompliance MyEsxi42
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5Examine the dierences between the contents of the rule set and conguration of the host.
$tr.itemlist
The system returns a table of current and expected items.
CurrentItem ExpectedItem
----------- ------------
My Profile 25MyProfileUpdate
6Remediate the host to use the revised rule set the next time you boot the host.
Repair-DeployRuleSetCompliance $tr
What to do next
If the rule you changed specied the inventory location, the change takes eect when you repair compliance.
For all other changes, boot your host to have Auto Deploy apply the new rule and to achieve compliance
between the rule set and the host.
Provisioning ESXi Systems with vSphere Auto Deploy
vSphere Auto Deploy can provision hundreds of physical hosts with ESXi software. You can provision hosts
that did not previously run ESXi software (rst boot), reboot hosts, or reprovision hosts with a dierent
image prole, host prole, or folder or cluster location.
The Auto Deploy process diers depending on the state of the host and on the changes that you want to
make.
Provision a Host (First Boot)
Provisioning a host that has never been provisioned with Auto Deploy (rst boot) diers from subsequent
boot processes. You must prepare the host and fulll all other prerequisites before you can provision the
host. You can optionally dene a custom image prole with Image Builder PowerCLI cmdlets.
Prerequisites
Make sure your host meets the hardware requirements for ESXi hosts.
n
See “ESXi Hardware Requirements,” on page 23.
Prepare the system for vSphere Auto Deploy (see “Preparing for vSphere Auto Deploy,” on page 84).
n
Write rules that assign an image prole to the host and optionally assign a host prole and a vCenter
n
Server location to the host. See “Managing Auto Deploy with PowerCLI Cmdlets,” on page 89.
When setup is complete, the Auto Deploy server and PowerCLI are installed, DHCP setup is complete,
and rules for the host that you want to provision are in the active rule set.
Procedure
1Turn on the host.
The host contacts the DHCP server and downloads iPXE from the location the server points it to. Next,
the Auto Deploy server provisions the host with the image specied by the rule engine. The Auto
Deploy server might also apply a host prole to the host if one is specied in the rule set. Finally, Auto
Deploy adds the host to the vCenter Server system that is specied in the rule set.
2(Optional) If Auto Deploy applies a host prole that requires user input such as an IP address, the host
is placed in maintenance mode. Reapply the host prole with the vSphere Web Client and provide the
user input when prompted.
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After the rst boot process, the host is running and managed by a vCenter Server system. The vCenter
Server stores the host's image prole, host prole, and location information.
You can now reboot the host as needed. Each time you reboot, the host is reprovisioned by the vCenter
Server system.
What to do next
Reprovision hosts as needed. See “Reprovisioning Hosts,” on page 94.
If you want to change the image prole, host prole, or location of the host, update the rules and perform a
test and repair compliance operation. See “Test and Repair Rule Compliance,” on page 92.
Reprovisioning Hosts
vSphere Auto Deploy supports multiple reprovisioning options. You can perform a simple reboot or
reprovision with a dierent image prole or a dierent host prole.
A rst boot using Auto Deploy requires that you set up your environment and add rules to the rule set. See
“Preparing for vSphere Auto Deploy,” on page 84.
The following reprovisioning operations are available.
Simple reboot.
n
Reboot of hosts for which the user answered questions during the boot operation.
n
Reprovision with a dierent image prole.
n
Reprovision with a dierent host prole.
n
Reprovision Hosts with Simple Reboot Operations
A simple reboot of a host that is provisioned with Auto Deploy requires only that all prerequisites are still
met. The process uses the previously assigned image prole, host prole, and vCenter Server location.
Setup includes DHCP server setup, writing rules, and making an image prole available to the Auto Deploy
infrastructure.
Prerequisites
Make sure the setup you performed during the rst boot operation is in place.
Procedure
1Check that the image prole and host prole for the host are still available, and that the host has the
identifying information (asset tag, IP address) it had during previous boot operations.
2Place the host in maintenance mode.
Host TypeAction
Host is part of a DRS cluster
Host is not part of a DRS cluster
VMware DRS migrates virtual machines to appropriate hosts when you
place the host in maintenance mode.
You must migrate all virtual machines to dierent hosts and place each
host in maintenance mode.
3Reboot the host.
The host shuts down. When the host reboots, it uses the image prole that the Auto Deploy server provides.
The Auto Deploy server also applies the host prole stored on the vCenter Server system.
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Reprovision a Host with a New Image Profile
You can reprovision the host with a new image prole, host prole, or vCenter Server location by changing
the rule for the host and performing a test and repair compliance operation.
Several options for reprovisioning hosts exist.
If the VIBs that you want to use support live update, you can use an esxcli software vib command. In
n
that case, you must also update the rule set to use an image prole that includes the new VIBs.
During testing, you can apply an image prole to an individual host with the Apply-EsxImageProfile
n
cmdlet and reboot the host so the change takes eect. The Apply-EsxImageProfile cmdlet updates the
association between the host and the image prole but does not install VIBs on the host.
In all other cases, use this procedure.
n
Prerequisites
Create the image prole you want to boot the host with. Use the Image Builder PowerCLI, discussed in
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“Using vSphere ESXi Image Builder,” on page 139.
Make sure that the setup that you performed during the rst boot operation is in place.
n
Procedure
1At the PowerShell prompt, run the Connect-VIServer PowerCLI cmdlet to connect to the vCenter Server
system that Auto Deploy is registered with.
Connect-VIServer myVCServer
The cmdlet might return a server certicate warning. In a production environment, make sure no server
certicate warnings result. In a development environment, you can ignore the warning.
2Determine the location of a public software depot that contains the image prole that you want to use,
or dene a custom image prole with the Image Builder PowerCLI.
3Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot to add the software depot that contains the image prole to the PowerCLI
session.
Depot TypeCmdlet
Remote depot
ZIP file
Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot depot_url.
a Download the ZIP le to a local le path or create a mount point local
4Run Get-EsxImageProfile to see a list of image proles, and decide which prole you want to use.
5Run Copy-DeployRule and specify the ReplaceItem parameter to change the rule that assigns an image
prole to hosts.
The following cmdlet replaces the current image prole that the rule assigns to the host with the
my_new_imageproleprole. After the cmdlet completes, myrule assigns the new image prole to hosts.
The old version of myrule is renamed and hidden.
6Test and repair rule compliance for each host that you want to deploy the image to.
See “Test and Repair Rule Compliance,” on page 92.
When you reboot hosts after compliance repair, Auto Deploy provisions the hosts with the new image
prole.
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Update the Host Customization in the vSphere Web Client
If a host required user input during a previous boot, the answers are saved with the vCenter Server. If you
want to prompt the user for new information, you remediate the host.
Prerequisites
Aach a host prole that prompts for user input to the host.
Procedure
1Migrate all virtual machines to dierent hosts, and place the host into maintenance mode.
Host TypeAction
Host is part of a DRS cluster
Host is not part of a DRS cluster
2In the vSphere Web Client, right click the host and click All vCenter Actions > Host >
Remediate to remediate the host.
3When prompted, provide the user input.
You can now direct the host to exit maintenance mode.
VMware DRS migrates virtual machines to appropriate hosts when you
place the host in maintenance mode.
You must migrate all virtual machines to dierent hosts and place each
host in maintenance mode.
The host customization is saved. The next time you boot, the host customization is applied to the host.
Using Auto Deploy for Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs
The Auto Deploy stateless caching feature lets you cache the host's image. The Auto Deploy stateful installs
feature lets you install hosts over the network. After the initial network boot, these hosts boot like other ESXi
hosts.
The stateless caching solution is primarily intended for situations when several hosts boot simultaneously.
The locally cached image helps prevent a boleneck that results if several hundreds of hosts connect to the
Auto Deploy server simultaneously. After the boot operation is complete, hosts connect to Auto Deploy to
complete the setup.
The stateful installs feature lets you provision hosts with the image prole over the network without having
to set up the PXE boot infrastructure.
Introduction to Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs on page 97
n
You can use the System Cache Conguration host prole to provision hosts with Auto Deploy
stateless caching and stateful installs.
Understanding Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs on page 98
n
When you want to use Auto Deploy with stateless caching or stateful installs, you must set up a host
prole, apply the host prole, and set the boot order.
Set Up Stateless Hosts to Use Auto Deploy with Caching on page 99
n
You can set up your system to provision hosts with Auto Deploy, and congure the hosts to use
stateless caching. If the Auto Deploy server is not available when a host reboots, the host uses the
cached image.
Enable Stateful Installs for Hosts Provisioned with Auto Deploy on page 101
n
You can set up hosts provisioned with Auto Deploy to cache the image to disk and to use the cached
image on subsequent boots. After the image is cached, the hosts act like hosts on which an image is
installed.
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Introduction to Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs
You can use the System Cache Conguration host prole to provision hosts with Auto Deploy stateless
caching and stateful installs.
Examples of Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs
Hosts provisioned with
Auto Deploy cache the
image (stateless
caching)
Set up and apply a host prole for stateless caching. You can cache the image
on a local disk, a remote disk, or a USB drive. Continue provisioning this
host with Auto Deploy. If the Auto Deploy server becomes unavailable, for
example because hundreds of hosts aempt to access it simultaneously, the
host boots from the cache. The host aempts to reach the Auto Deploy server
after the boot operation to complete conguration.
Hosts provisioned with
Auto Deploy become
stateful hosts
Set up and apply a host prole for stateful installs. When you provision a
host with Auto Deploy, the image is installed on the local disk, a remote disk,
or a USB drive. For subsequent boots, you boot from the disk. The host no
longer uses Auto Deploy.
Preparation
To successfully use stateless caching or stateful installs, decide how to congure the system and set the boot
order.
Table 4‑7. Preparation for Stateless Caching or Stateful Installs
Requirement or DecisionDescription
Decide on VMFS partition overwriteWhen you install ESXi by using the interactive installer,
you are prompted whether you want to overwrite an
existing VMFS datastore. The System Cache Conguration
host prole provides an option to overwrite existing VMFS
partitions.
The option is not available if you set up the host prole to
use a USB drive.
Decide whether you need a highly available environmentIf you use Auto Deploy with stateless caching, you can set
up a highly available Auto Deploy environment to
guarantee that virtual machines are migrated on newly
provisioned hosts and that the environment supports
vNetwork Distributed Switch even if the vCenter Server
system becomes temporarily unavailable.
Set the boot orderThe boot order you specify for your hosts depends on the
feature you want to use.
To set up Auto Deploy with stateless caching,
n
congure your host to rstaempt to boot from the
network, and to then aempt to boot from disk. If the
Auto Deploy server is not available, the host boots
using the cache.
To set up Auto Deploy for stateful installs on hosts that
n
do not currently have a bootable disk, congure your
hosts to rstaempt to boot from disk, and to then
aempt to boot from the network.
N If you currently have a bootable image on the
disk, congure the hosts for one-time PXE boot, and
provision the host with Auto Deploy to use a host
prole that species stateful installs.
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Stateless Caching and Loss of Connectivity
If the ESXi hosts that run your virtual machines lose connectivity to the Auto Deploy server, the
vCenter Server system, or both, some limitations apply the next time you reboot the host.
If vCenter Server is available but the Auto Deploy server is unavailable, hosts do not connect to the
n
vCenter Server system automatically. You can manually connect the hosts to the vCenter Server, or wait
until the Auto Deploy server is available again.
If both vCenter Server and Auto Deploy are unavailable, you can connect to each ESXi host by using the
n
vSphere Client, and add virtual machines to each host.
If vCenter Server is not available, vSphere DRS does not work. The Auto Deploy server cannot add
n
hosts to the vCenter Server. You can connect to each ESXi host by using the vSphere Client, and add
virtual machines to each host.
If you make changes to your setup while connectivity is lost, the changes are lost when the connection
n
to the Auto Deploy server is restored.
Understanding Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs
When you want to use Auto Deploy with stateless caching or stateful installs, you must set up a host prole,
apply the host prole, and set the boot order.
When you apply a host prole that enables caching to a host, Auto Deploy partitions the specied disk.
What happens next depends on how you set up the host prole and how you set the boot order on the host.
Auto Deploy caches the image when you apply the host prole if Enable stateless caching on the host
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is selected in the System Cache Conguration host prole. No reboot is required. When you later
reboot, the host continues to use the Auto Deploy infrastructure to retrieve its image. If the Auto
Deploy server is not available, the host uses the cached image.
Auto Deploy installs the image if Enable stateful installs on the host is selected in the System Cache
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Conguration host prole. When you reboot, the host boots from disk, just like a host that was
provisioned with the installer. Auto Deploy no longer provisions the host.
You can apply the host prole from a vSphere Web Client, or write an Auto Deploy PowerCLI rule that
applies the host prole.
Using the vSphere Web Client to Set Up Auto Deploy for Stateless Caching or Stateful Installs
You can create a host prole on a reference host and apply that host prole to additional hosts or to a
vCenter Server folder or cluster. The following workow results.
1You provision a host with Auto Deploy and edit that host's System Image Cache Conguration host
prole.
2You place one or more target hosts in maintenance mode, apply the host prole to each host, and
instruct the host to exit maintenance mode.
3What happens next depends on the host prole you selected.
If the host prole enabled stateless caching, the image is cached to disk. No reboot is required.
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If the host prole enabled stateful installs, the image is installed. When you reboot, the host uses
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the installed image.
4A reboot is required so the changes can take eect.
Using PowerCLI to Set Up Auto Deploy for Stateless Caching or Stateful Installs
You can create a host prole for a reference host and write an Auto Deploy PowerCLI rule that applies that
host prole to other target hosts. The following workow results.
1You provision a reference with Auto Deploy and create a host prole to enable a form of caching.
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2You write a rule that provisions additional hosts with Auto Deploy and that applies the host prole of
the reference host to those hosts.
3Auto Deploy provisions each host with the new image prole. The exact eect of applying the host
prole depends on the host prole you selected.
For stateful installs, Auto Deploy proceeds as follows:
n
During rst boot, Auto Deploy installs the image on the host.
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During subsequent boots, the host boots from disk. Auto Deploy is no longer involved.
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For stateless caching, Auto Deploy proceeds as follows:
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During rst boot, Auto Deploy provisions the host and caches the image.
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During subsequent boots, Auto Deploy provisions the host. If Auto Deploy is unavailable, the
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host boots from the cached image, however, setup can only be completed when the host can
reach the Auto Deploy server.
Set Up Stateless Hosts to Use Auto Deploy with Caching
You can set up your system to provision hosts with Auto Deploy, and congure the hosts to use stateless
caching. If the Auto Deploy server is not available when a host reboots, the host uses the cached image.
A host that is set up for stateless caching uses the cached image only if the Auto Deploy server is not
available when the host reboots. In all other situations, the host is provisioned with Auto Deploy. If you
change the rule that applies an image prole to the host, and you perform a test and repair compliance
operation, Auto Deploy provisions the host with the new image and the new image is cached.
Set up a highly available Auto Deploy infrastructure to guarantee that virtual machines are migrated to the
host if the host reboots. Because vCenter Server assigns virtual machines to the host, vCenter Server must be
available. See “Set Up Highly Available Auto Deploy Infrastructure,” on page 117.
You can set up your environment for stateless caching by applying host proles directly or by using
PowerCLI rules.
Table 4‑8. Setting up hosts for stateless caching or stateful installs
WorkflowStateless cachingStateful install
Apply host prole directlyApply the host prole either to
individual hosts or to all hosts in a folder
or cluster. See “Congure a Host Prole
to Use Stateless Caching,” on page 100.
Write and apply PowerCLI
rules
Set up a reference host with a host
prole that has the caching setup you
want. Write an Auto Deploy PowerCLI
rule that provisions the host and that
applies a host prole that is set up for
stateless caching. See “Write a Rule and
Assign a Host Prole to Hosts,” on
page 90.
Apply the host prole either to individual
hosts or to all hosts in a folder or cluster. See
“Congure a Host Prole to Enable Stateful
Installs,” on page 102.
Set up a reference host with a host prole that
has the caching setup you want. Write an
Auto Deploy PowerCLI rule that provisions
the host and that applies a host prole that is
set up for stateful installs. See “Write a Rule
and Assign a Host Prole to Hosts,” on
page 90.
Prepare for Auto Deploy with Stateless Caching
Before you can start provisioning a host that uses stateless caching with Auto Deploy, you must verify that
your environment is set up for Auto Deploy, prepare Auto Deploy PowerCLI rules, and set the host boot
order.
Prerequisites
Decide which disk to use for caching and determine whether the caching process will overwrite an
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existing VMFS partition.
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In production environments, protect the vCenter Server system and the Auto Deploy server by
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including them in a highly available environment. Having the vCenter Server in a management cluster
guarantees that VDS and virtual machine migration are available. If possible, protect other elements of
your infrastructure. See “Set Up Highly Available Auto Deploy Infrastructure,” on page 117.
Procedure
1Set up your environment for Auto Deploy and install PowerCLI.
See “Preparing for vSphere Auto Deploy,” on page 84.
2Verify that a disk with at least 1GB of free space is available.
If the disk is not yet partitioned, partitioning happens when you apply the host prole.
3Set up the host to rstaempt a network boot and to boot from disk if network boot fails.
See your hardware vendor's documentation.
What to do next
Set up a host prole for stateless caching. In most cases, you set up the host prole on a reference host and
apply that host prole to other hosts.
Configure a Host Profile to Use Stateless Caching
When a host is set up to use stateless caching, the host uses a cached image if the Auto Deploy Server is not
available. To use stateless caching, you must congure a host prole. You can apply that host prole to other
hosts that you want to set up for stateless caching.
You can congure the host prole on a single host that you want to set up to use caching. You can also create
a host prole that uses caching on a reference host and apply that host prole to other hosts.
Prerequisites
Prepare your host for stateless caching. See “Prepare for Auto Deploy with Stateless Caching,” on page 99.
Procedure
1In the vSphere Web Client, create a host prole.
See the Host Proles documentation.
2Select the host prole and click Edit Host .
3Leave the name and description and click Next.
4Click Advanced and click the System Image Cache folder.
5Click the System Image Cache icon.
6In the System Image Cache ProleSeings drop-down menu, make your selection.
OptionDescription
Enable stateless caching on the
host
Enable stateless caching to a USB
disk on the host
Caches the image to disk.
Caches the image to a USB disk aached to the host.
100 VMware, Inc.
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