EXSI 4.1 Installation

[Eppetiano]

Hello all, please help me with this.

I have a hp proliant 165 G7 server running with windows server 2008 R2. I decided to install ESXI 4.1 on it and it seems ok, i installed the vsphere client on another machine and the connection between client and ESXI host as succeed. But the problem is that the server do not boot from windows server 2008 anymore!! It boots from vmware Hypervisor and stops with the following screen:

"VMware ESXI 4.1.0 (VMKernel Release Build 348481)

HP Proliant DL165 G7

AMD Opteron (tm) Processor 6128

12 GB Memory

Download tools to manage this host from:

http://xxxxx/

http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx./ (DHCP)

<F2> Customize System                                         <F12> Shut Down / Restart

Please help me!!!

[ChrisDearden]

you know that page on the install that says its going to overwrite the local disk....

thats what you've just done

ESXi isn't a bit of software that sits ontop of windows. its a bare metal hypervisor

[Eppetiano]

OH my good!!!

There is any way to remove the ESXI installation and recover the server 2008 r2 previous scenario?

So, what is the right procedure to install ESXI on a server 2008 r2?

Thanks for any help!!

[mackemftm]

yup chris is spot on im afraid. you have just overwritten your existing operating system. DOH!!

[ChrisDearden]

hmmm not quite sure how to say this but ..

Have you got a backup of the server ?

You can't install ESXI ontop of windows ,unless its within VMware workstation as part of a test lab.

[mackemftm]

as far as im aware you cannot install ESXi into a Hyper-V VM (i assume that is what you mean, correct me Chris if that is not the case).

As for recovery you will have to rely on your backup strategy.

[Eppetiano]

Damn!!!

I can't believe this happened!!

Chris, could you please tell me what is the correct procedure to install ESXI on my company. We only have this server running on server 2008 r2 64bit and 20 users.

I'm so lost!!

[larstr]

Your original Windows Server 2008 is lost and can't be recovered unless you have a backup. Why not just install Windows Server 2008 in a virtual machine running on ESXi? Would actually make your life easier than running it outside of VMware and your uptime will be higher as well since it boots much faster inside ESXi than on bare metal (Patch Tuesday is a repeating thing nowadays).

Lars

[ChrisDearden]

<flippant comment removed>

ok lets start at the beginning. Why do you want to install ESXi ?

As Lars says - the best way going forward may be to install Server 2008 as a VM on your ESXi Host.

[Eppetiano]

Lars, Chris, thanks for the support you are giving.

Well you both suggest to have ESXI infrastructure as the base and all other vm running on top of it, vm server 2008 r2 as well, right?

But in that case i dont have any windows OS controlling the server, as it was in the past. And i would only able to administrate my server remotely, by sphere client on any other physical machine, right?

Isn't dangerous? How do i control my server locally, as i did in the past, with server 2008 running and controlling the server??

Sorry for lack of virtualization knowledge.

Thank you so much!!!

[Scorpinus]

You can still administer the server locally, but that won't be needed at first.

You need to setup the esxi host with correct ip and dns information. Then connect to it via the vSphere client. Create a vm for windows 2008R2. Under de cd-rom settings you need to select your windows 2008 r2 iso file or pop the cd into the servers cd-rom drive and select that.

Now you can power on the vm and install 2008R2 just if it was on a physical server. After the installation is finished you will have a 2008r2 server again just like if it was physical. You can manage it 'locally' through the vsphere client. And remote via RDP just like you do right now I assume.

[ChrisDearden]

Indeed - Dangerous is not a lack of local console access , I'd say something like a lack of backups was most definatly in the "dangerous" camp..

[mackemftm]

If your planning on running productions server in a virtualised env I would suggest getting on a VMware course as all this is covered to a level you will deffo need to be able to design/support your env. I advise checking out http://vmwaretraining.blogspot.com for training info.

How were you accessing your windows server previously? thorugh RDP? If so then that wont change. But you need to get the ESXi sevrer on the network first and configure storage etc before trying to install the win operating system. Not so easy if this is your first time.

[Eppetiano]

Hello Scorpinus,

i say "You can manage it 'locally' through the vsphere client", but it is possible to install vsphere client on the ESXI host?

I thought that the only way was to install the vsphere client on a computer and use it to contact the ESXI host (remotely since there i'm not physically connected to the host, but only by the computer with the vsphere client)

Thanks

[mackemftm]

typicaly you install the vsphere client on your desktop.

No matter what, you need to have some kind of network connectivity to you ESXi server to be able to connect a vsphere client to it.

[ChrisDearden]

When you connect to a virtual machine console via the VI client , its is like using a remote KVM over IP directly to the server console ( not a terminal session )

Is this all about trying to get zimbra working?

[Eppetiano]

Mackemftm, that's it!

So ESXI host is a machine where the vm's are running, with no physical access (we don't have any control of it directly) only through a desktop with vsphere client, is that correct??

Can i create everything on a server 2008 r2 vm? Like configuring AD, DNS , DHCP, as i had previously before this accident?

Thanks!

[ChrisDearden]

You can deploy what you like to the VM - VMware supports a pretty large number of operating systems.

[Eppetiano]

No Chris, this is nothing to do with zimbra.

Is that, it seems a little strange to have my only server (and a good one) running VMKernel at the base and all other as vm's.

With server 2008 running on the server (like before) i logged in, saw everthing and control AD, DHCP, DNS, etc etc...! With ESXI on it i just control vm's!

That's feels strange. lol.

Is this a good practice? Having a server with ESXI and all the other (supposed physical servers) running as vm's??

Thanks!!!

[ChrisDearden]

If you only have 1 Server and 1 Host, you are probably not going to release the full potential of virtualisation other than possibly the ability to back the Guest Machine up as a complete VM.

You start to see the benefits of Virtualisation generaly with a few more hosts and guests in the mix

which neatly brings me back to an earlier point...

What are you trying to achieve by installing ESXi?