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VCPaul
Contributor
Contributor

ESX Server 3i - USB flash drive boot possible!

I successfully booted ESX Server 3i from a USB flash drive on a machine with no local disks attached. It´s unsupported, but it works!

Requirements:

  • 1 GB USB flash drive

  • WinImage

  • IZArc

Of course you can use your favourite tools and larger USB flash drives, but 1 GB is enough space for the boot image.

Perform the following steps to create a bootable ESX Server 3i USB flash drive:

  1. Download ESX Server 3i Installable ISO

  2. Extract INSTALL.TGZ from the root directory of the ISO image using an IZArc

  3. Extract /usr/lib/vmware/installer/VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-67921.i386.dd.bz2 from INSTALL.TGZ using IZArc

  4. Extract VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-67921.i386.dd from VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-67921.i386.dd.bz2 using IZArc

  5. Attach the USB flash drive and make sure you no longer need the data on it

  6. Use WinImage to transfer VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-67921.i386.dd to the USB flash drive

    1. Disk->Restore Virtual Hard Disk image on physical drive...

    2. Select the USB flash drive (Warning: If you select the wrong disk you will lose data!)

    3. Select the image file VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-67921.i386.dd

    4. Confirm the warning message

    5. Wait for the transfer to complete

  7. Unplug the USB flash drive (Warning: If you forget to unplug the flash drive from the PC you might lose the data on your hard drives the next time you boot!)

  8. Attach the USB flash drive to the machine you want to boot (Warning: If ESX Server 3i recognizes local drives, you might lose the data on it, so make sure you don´t need it anymore or unplug all hard drives!)

  9. Turn the machine on and make sure the USB flash drive is selected as boot device

  10. Watch ESX Server 3i boot

  11. Configure

  12. Enjoy!

I cannot be held responsible for any damage or loss of data this procedure might cause.

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46 Replies
vmroyale
Immortal
Immortal

Very cool! I wondered how long it would be before someone posted up this, and I'll have to admit that I didn't think it would be this quick...

Brian Atkinson | vExpert | VMTN Moderator | Author of "VCP5-DCV VMware Certified Professional-Data Center Virtualization on vSphere 5.5 Study Guide: VCP-550" | @vmroyale | http://vmroyale.com
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The-Kevster
Contributor
Contributor

VERY COOL! Just for sh**s and giggles...

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

All,

This functionality was part of the beta program. As mentioned it is not supported, and should be used with caution. If you think about the security implications of USB sticks hanging out of the back (or front) of servers, and someone coming along and ripping one out as an example, the server will go down (PSOD). That is why the new servers with 3i have the USB device internal on the motherboard.

It is cool for demo's and getting something up and running very quickly on x86 hardware. You'd be surprised on the number of servers (and laptops) that 3i will boot up from!

Cheers,

Andre Kemp

Sr. Product Marketing Manager - APAC

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VCPaul
Contributor
Contributor

This functionality was part of the beta program.

It seems this is the most wanted feature of ESX Server 3i and many people are disappointed that the embedded version has not been released yet. It´s even unclear if such a version for installation on USB flash drives will ever be released or if flash drive boot will be limited to pre-installed ESX Server 3i that comes with new hardware.

As mentioned it is not supported, and should be used with caution. If you think about the security implications of USB sticks hanging out of the back (or front) of servers, and someone coming along and ripping one out as an example, the server will go down (PSOD).

If you think about the security implications of hot-pluggable hard drives accessible on the front of servers, and someone coming along and ripping two out as another example, the server will go down, too.

It is cool for demo's and getting something up and running very quickly on x86 hardware. You'd be surprised on the number of servers (and laptops) that 3i will boot up from!

It´s a shame that VMware didn´t include support for more SATA devices.

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vmroyale
Immortal
Immortal

HP (what I use) is on top of the USB security portion. Their USB ports for the bootable device are inside the case of the server (for many models). Check this out:

AFAIK, you can't use this internal USB (yet??) for 3i. If I ever find spare time, I will test it out with one of my HPs using the instructions above and post the results.

Brian Atkinson | vExpert | VMTN Moderator | Author of "VCP5-DCV VMware Certified Professional-Data Center Virtualization on vSphere 5.5 Study Guide: VCP-550" | @vmroyale | http://vmroyale.com
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nsabinske
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Is there really any security implication with losing the USB stick that isn't on par with someone yanking the cables/power on the server? It's an availability problem more than anything else. It's not like it's acting as a security device. And as stated, in those cases someone could yank the HDs too. So if you're worried about people with physical access, maybe you have a non-technical problem with your datacenter's security...

I hope VMware decides to start supporting USB in this capacity because it's rediculous not to (since it so obviously and simply works, all you're doing is dumping the disk image to the USB rather than the HD). The person implementing the system is the one who can decide if it's appropriate in their case or not.

As an aside, would it really crash the system? I've seen the RAID fail on an ESX box and it fragged the service console, but the other VMs ran like tanks (they are on the SAN). Obviously you're going to have trouble managing a box in this situation but you can probably hold out for an emergency safe shutdown of affected VMs.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

All,

3i was released on Wednesday for only 2 servers at the moment: Dell 2950 and HP DL385, so those brand new servers do have the 3i USB imbedded. We read from the image to collect some logging information,etc so removing the USB device (or any HDD that is being actively access by a ring 0 driver from any OS) will cause immediate issues. I agree there are other items in the DC that currently hang out on the outside - and if you have a physical access issue, you have other problems with your security.

We may release something in the future - I'll ask around internally about this and post what I can.

Cheers,

Andre Kemp

Sr. Product Marketing Manager - APAC

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Schorschi
Expert
Expert

Did the same with Dell 2850 and Dell 2950, which we used beta and rc on flash drives. Unsupported? Have already requested that they officially support this, as they did for beta and rc candidates. Our VMware TAM got an ear full when he finally explained that what we have done for several months is now not allowed.

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Virtual_JTW
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Slight correction... there's experimental support for HP DL380 G5 which does have an internal USB port.

For those concerned about USB sticks being removed while the system is on, it should be easy enough to route a USB port internally on the system to prevent this from happening. Just don't do anything that would void your warranty.

Does anyone know when the DL380 will be certified?

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Schorschi
Expert
Expert

Ssshhh... ESX 3i installable works on a HP ML350 G3 too! Don't Tell!

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einstein-a-go-g
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

it boots but I get:-

Cannot get bank 1 paramaters.

Warning: Bank 1 partition type invalid. Ignoring.

Cannot get bank 2 paramaters.

Warning: Bank 2 partition type invalid. Ignoring.

Panic: No useable banks found.

any ideas, has the copy worked, keep on trying different hardware?

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GBromage
Expert
Expert

DL585 G2s have an internal USB port too.

I'll look forward to giving this a go but, likewise, I'd be happier if there was an offical VMWare supported solution.

-


I hope this information helps you. If it does, please consider awarding points with the 'Helpful' or 'Correct' buttons. If it doesn't help you, please ask for clarification!

I hope this information helps you. If it does, please consider awarding points with the 'Helpful' or 'Correct' buttons. If it doesn't help you, please ask for clarification!
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Santhosh_vmware

Hi,

Were you able to create VMFS on USB ?Please let me know.

regards

santhosh

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einstein-a-go-g
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

no, not that I've found. inserted another usb flash drive on the other port, it's detected as vmhba32 and vmhba33.

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RKuehn
Contributor
Contributor

I tried also to boot from usb-stick on a normal PC (Gigabyte P35-DS4 Rev2 Mainboard) and got the same error message:

Cannot get bank 1 paramaters.

Warning: Bank 1 partition type invalid. Ignoring.

Cannot get bank 2 paramaters.

Warning: Bank 2 partition type invalid. Ignoring.

Panic: No useable banks found.

but on an Dell D620 the USB Stick will boot fine.

I tried everything (latest Firmeware) but it doesn't work on an Gigabyte Mainboard.

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beyondxnet
Contributor
Contributor

Hi everyone,

i´m currently testing this USB-Version as well, but there seem to be some compatibility issues concerning network devices. Booting from USB works fine, but the first splash-screen shows a 0.0.0.0(STATIC) message. Thus I try to configure the device but as soon as I hit enter on "Network Management.." I can only choose "Reset" or "Cancel". In fact I cant configure any network device. I guess my card is not supported...or do you know a workaround? (Marvell Yukon Gigabit).

Greetings

Norman

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nsabinske
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I have been testing the belief that pulling the USB key will pink screen the system, but my test box has been running a week ever since I yanked the USB key. The only (obvious) problem is I can't change the configuration perminantly on it since it won't save anywhere. However, I can change the running configuration. It's actually acting like a tank. I wonder if this can be a different experience depending on how the BIOS handles booting USB from machine to machine, though.

Also, the original Dell 2950s don't seem to have the internal USB ports. The Dell 2950 "III" seems to have this, which is probably a response to HP having put it in their server.

Hope to see some official support later. On the fact that the monitoring on 3i is kind of weak (at this time) we'll be going to the boring ol hard drive install of 3.5, but this has certainly been fun to play with. Smiley Happy

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RKuehn
Contributor
Contributor

Server 3i uses Syslinux to boot from an usb-stick.

In my case I use a Mainboard from Gigabyte and I found the following statement about some HW-Vendors and their compability to usb:

http://syslinux.zytor.com/hardware.php (section usb)

I tried to build my own USB-Boot with VMWare Server 3i but until now I haven't got a solution.

BTW: Is it true, that the latest Version of 3i hasn't got the shell option anymore?

I used the shift-o option and entered "shell" but no shell apeared.

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beyondxnet
Contributor
Contributor

Hey nsabinske,

Reading your post, I guess you got your network up and running with the USB-ESX Edition. How did you activate your network card? Unfortunately I cant even setup/configure my network devices...

Just created the stick, booted the system and everything seems to work..except the network is not available. Do you know where I can setup my card?

Greetings

Norman

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