I know I’m probably a bit behind the times here, given that v5 is already out, but I haven’t done my VCP4 exam yet so I’m still going through the motions for configuring my home lab. Given I didn’t purchase CD/DVD drives for my lab machines and I haven’t set up a PXE environment yet, though I have plans to do this in the near future, I needed another way to set up the two boxes. There are lot of examples of how this is done around the interwebs, I tried two methods, both work, though I needed a few modifications to the Windows option. The original information is linked below.
The Linux Option –
For those of you running a derivation of linux the follow instructions worked for me. NOTE – these instructions are taken from Vallard’s Tech Notes, so credit is due there.
Things you’ll need –
- ESXi iso, available from VMware
- A USB key (at least 512mb, though I don’t even think you can buy these anymore)
- Linux Box (I used a Ubuntu 10.04 Server)
Steps –
- Make a mount point and mount the ESXi iso.
mkdir /media/ISO
mount -o loop VMware-VMvisor-Installer-4.1.0.update1-348481.x86_64.iso /media/ISO
- Make the USB bootable with a Win95 image. You will need to check where the USB stick has been attached (mine was /dev/sdb)
fdisk /dev/sdb
d (delete all partitions)
n # new partition
p # primary partition
1 # 1 is the partition number.
1 # the first cylinder
<enter> # the size of the partition, I just used the full disk
a # toggle bootable flag
1 # make partition 1 bootable
t # change the type
1 # of partition 1
b # partition type W95 FAT32
w # write it out
- Next we need to format the disk
mkfs.vfat -n BOOT -F 32 /dev/sdb1
- Using syslinux we make the disk bootable
syslinux -s /dev/sdb1
dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdb # this on in the disk itself (sdb) not the partition (sdb1)
- Mount the USB and copy the ISO contents to the disk
mkdir /media/USB
mount /dev/sdb1 /media/USB
cp /media/ISO/* -R /media/USB
- We don’t need the isolinux stuff…
rm -rf isolinux.bin
mv isolinux.cfg syslinux.cfg
The Windows Option –
For those running Windows the following worked for me. This is largely taken from VMPros, though there was also some input from others with regards to the errors I received.
Things you’ll need –
- ESXi iso from VMware
- USB memory key
- Windows Box
- UNetBootin
- Syslinux (I got it from Softpedia, but there are lots of other places)
Steps –
- Connect the USB and start the UNetBootin software
- Select Disk Image (towards the bottom), choose ISO, and browse to the location of the ESXi ISO
- Confirm the USB Drive is selected as the destination, and that the correct USB drive is selected.
- Click OK, and if you should receive an error click Yes to overwrite.
- This got me as far as a USB disk that was bootable, however when I tried to install I received an error about menu.c32 is not a COM32R image. To get around this I had to copy the menu.c32 and mboot.c32 files from syslinux and replace the existing ones on the disk. These files are located in the syslinux\com32\menu and \mboot folders.
The rest…
Which ever method you used we now have the problem of the ESXi installer looking for the CD, why… I don’t know.. but it will. To get around this we need to use a scripted install. Scripted installs are done using kickstart (originally from linux I’m told). Though the ks.cfg files between Linux/ESXi aren’t compatible with each other.
First we need to tell the Installer to check the USB disk for the ks.cfg file. A network location can also be used, but for what we are trying to achieve, we’ll use the USB. Edit the syslinux.cfg file and add in the ks=usb section of the append vmkboot.gz line shown below.
append vmkboot.gz ks=usb --- vmkernel.gz --- sys.vgz --- cim.vgz --- ienviron.vgz --- install.vgz
And create the kickstart file ks.cfg
vmaccepteula
rootpw YourRootPasswordHere
autopart --firstdisk --overwritevmfs
install usb
network --bootproto=static --ip=<ip here> --gateway=<gateway here> --hostname=ssv-normandy --device=vmnic0 --nameserver=<nameserver here> --netmask=<netmask here>
And yes the host name is after the SSV-Normandy from Mass Effect… Love that game, but change it to whatever floats your boat.
NOTE – THIS WILL OVERWRITE ANYTHING ALREADY ON THE FIRST DISK OF THE MACHINE.
Initially I was hoping to be able to target another USB stick for the installation, however this is not possible in ESXi 4, it is possible in ESXi 5 though.
Resources
Vallard’s Tech Notes
VM Pros
VMware KBs