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snowmizer
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Install questions for ESXi 4

I am setting up our first ESXi 4 server. I would like to use a kickstart script to automate the process. I have a script created and the install recognizes it but complains about my partition creation commands. After some research I've come to realize that ESXi 4 doesn't partition disk the same way as ESX 4.

What are general best practices for disk setup to install ESXi 4? If I use the "autopart" command will this set up my disk the way I need for ESXi 4 to run efficiently? Also, will I need additional areas like "/home"...or since ESXi doesn't have a service console are these areas unnecessary?

Thanks.

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pauljawood
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi,

I would suggested reading the following website as it is full of useful information http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2010/09/automating-esxi-41-kickstart-tips.html

If you found this helpful then please leave some points.
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Troy_Clavell
Immortal
Immortal

we use autopart with no issue.  Also, see below for a good example of a ESXi kickstart

http://www.kendrickcoleman.com/index.php?/Tech-Blog/esxi-41-kickstart-install-wip.html

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snowmizer
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Enthusiast

Thanks for the links. Wow...it looks like there are really some differences in how ESXi 4 handles things vs. traditional ESX 4. We're running ESX 3.5 currently in production however we've got some new servers that we're implementing that allow me to build a separate ESX 4 environment. I had heard that people will want to migrate to ESXi because that's the way VMWare is going.

Is this still true? Am I better off starting with ESXi 4 since I'm building from scratch?

Thanks.

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pauljawood
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi,

I would suggest that ESXi 4.1.1 be the Hyper-visor installed. ESX will not as far as I know have any new release and ESXi will from now on be the one to use.

ESXi gives a smaller foot print along with the added security of less code that could be attacked.

I hope this helps and as I said... ESXi all the way but please make sure that if at present any Service Console based agents are running that the vendor is contacted for the latest version that has had the need for the Service Console removed.

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piaroa
Expert
Expert

Best thing to do. Use ESXi when possible since ESX will be phased out on VMware's next release.

If this post has been helpful/solved your issue, please mark the thread and award points as you see fit. Thanks!
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snowmizer
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Cool. At least I know I made the right decision awhile back when I decided to go to ESXi 4. Now I guess it's just going to be reading a lot of documentation on ESXi 4 to figure out how to configure things.

I noticed the vim-cmd and vimsh references. Is there a good reference for these commands. So far I haven't seen this in the documentation I've read from VMWare.

Thanks. 

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bleoppky
Contributor
Contributor

So what does this mean for veeam and other such partners that require VCB?  Is ESXi going to continue to be free but with purchaseable options for enterprise customers?

Perhaps there's a roadmap that outlines this somewhere, but I haven't come across it in my less than exhaustive search.

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snowmizer
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Ok I got a basic script to run. Has anyone been able to at least add users as part of the ESXi 4 kickstart script? I know you can't set passwords but I'd at least like to add a group and users to that group since I haven't decided if I'm going to use the Windows AD integration.

Thanks.

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Troy_Clavell
Immortal
Immortal

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snowmizer
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I had looked at this a bit earlier today. My concern with tying access to AD is this: if my domain controller is a VM (mainly only in a DR scenario) and the ESX host that the DC is on is down (or the DC itself is down) then I would think that I wouldn't have any way to log into the ESX host.

Maybe that's not how this would work though. Do most people use AD integration?

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Troy_Clavell
Immortal
Immortal

Maybe that's not how this would work though. Do most people use AD integration?

I don't know about most, but we don't.  Our ESXi Hosts are not joined to an AD domain.  We simply use root ( I know, not best practice)

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snowmizer
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hummm....ideally I'd like to disable root access. I may need to just create the users/groups manually on the first machine then use host profiles for additional builds. That way all users and stuff are already configured and if my vCenter is down I still have a way to get into the ESX host.

Thanks.

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Troy_Clavell
Immortal
Immortal

I may need to just create the users/groups manually on the first machine then use host profiles for additional builds.

great solution!  We don't have Enterprise Plus, so we can't utilize host profiles.

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bulletprooffool
Champion
Champion

ESX4i installs totally fdifferently to ESX - though VMware have now made the installation scriptable (and created a whitepaper for it)

As an added bonus, the EDA is busy being updated to make the creation of the Kickstart scripts really easy - so provisioning should be very simple very soon.

I have been researching the automation of deployment and at present I see 6 viable deployment methods:

  • UDA (Ultimate Deployment Appliance) -
  • EDA (ESX Deployment appliance) - (0.90 in VMware appliance Marketplace, but 0.95 available)
  • VMware’s own ‘Auto Deploy’
  • SD / USB duplication
  • V-PXEServer
  • Manual installation

If you are scripting your installation, it may be worth also looking into how you present the image?

good luck

One day I will virtualise myself . . .
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