Add custom file to ESXi ISO

[fatbobsufc]

Eternal kudos to anyone who can help me with this as I am completely and utterly stumped and despite much googling/tinkering I'm getting nowhere.

Here's the problem... I have several ESXi hosts with etherchannelled network interfaces. I can't access the hosts via the network until I have configured the VM networking (as they are etherchannelled and trunked on the switch). I want to be able to do all this remotely from a Drac.

I can mount the ESXi ISO on the Drac to remotely install ESXi which works fine, then I want to be able copy a config script onto the ESXi host and run it to configure the network, I can't do this over the network as the network needs to be configured first (chicken and egg). I can't mount the Drac ISO on the host once ESXi is installed as (I think) it is treated as a USB device with a CDFS filesystem and won't mount.

I can't use a kickstart %post or %firstboot as this is not supported/doesn't work when installing ESXi to an SD card.

The only solution I can think of is to somehow slipstream the config script into the ESXi installation ISO but don't really know how to get the install routine to copy this file.

Help... going mad.

[fatbobsufc]

PS yes I can configure the network manually using local tech support mode via the Drac but I have lots of these to do!!

[Troy_Clavell]

you have tried using the

 %firstboot --unsupported --interpreter=busybox

here is a good example

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

[fatbobsufc]

yes but unfortunately a kickstart install isn't possible when the install is to SD card. If you can tell me I'm wrong I'll be very happy.

[Troy_Clavell]

why not have your ks.cfg on different media? You can specify it in your isolinux.cfg file or by manually typing a command like

append vmkboot.gz ks=cdrom:/KS.CFG --- vmkernel.gz --- sys.vgz --- cim.vgz --- ienviron.vgz --- install.vgz

or

append vmkboot.gz ks=usb:/KS.CFG --- vmkernel.gz --- sys.vgz --- cim.vgz --- ienviron.vgz --- install.vgz

see the thread below as well

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/293110

[lamw]

I think there's already some good feedback regarding your question.

But... if you do need to go down the route of slip streaming a custom kickstart configuration file with ESXi .iso, this blog post may be of use - http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2010/11/how-to-inject-custom-drivers-into-esxi.html

=========================================================================

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Twitter: @lamw

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If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

[fatbobsufc]

why not have your ks.cfg on different media? You can specify it in your isolinux.cfg file or by manually typing a command like

append vmkboot.gz ks=cdrom:/KS.CFG --- vmkernel.gz --- sys.vgz --- cim.vgz --- ienviron.vgz --- install.vgz

or

append vmkboot.gz ks=usb:/KS.CFG --- vmkernel.gz --- sys.vgz --- cim.vgz --- ienviron.vgz --- install.vgz

see the thread below as well

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/293110

Sorry Troy I think I haven't explained properly, it's the install destination that's an SD card, and as VMware state here

"You cannot use scripted installation to install ESXi to a USB device"

Therefore the whole kickstart solution doesn't help me.... I have even tried explicitly naming vmhba33:C0:T0.... etc etc (the path to the SD card) in the kickstart script and this also fails.

[fatbobsufc]

I think there's already some good feedback regarding your question.

But... if you do need to go down the route of slip streaming a custom kickstart configuration file with ESXi .iso, this blog post may be of use -

=========================================================================

William Lam

VMware vExpert 2009,2010

VMware VCP3,4

VMware VCAP4-DCA

VMware scripts and resources at:

Twitter: @lamw

Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)

Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl

VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators

VMware Developer Community

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Thanks William, I have looked at those links which explain how to add custom drivers but that's not what i want to do... I want the install routine to copy a script of my choosing somewhere into the filesystem and as yet I haven't found anything that can tell me how to do that.

[fatbobsufc]

Take it this has others as stumped as it has me then!?

Wondered if I could add the file to install.tgz or add a custom .tgz to theboot sequence but not sure how I would amend the install routine to copy the script...