Hi,
I have done alot of reading around the topic of automating vsphere builds but unfortunetly i am having abit of difficultly implementing an automated build within my company. As a result i would be very greatful if somebody could assist me and offer some advice on what i am doing wrong and why the problem is arising. Here is my setup:
1 physical server with 6 nics (2 general prod network, 2 service console, 2 vmotion) - i have performed a manual install on this box and it is working fine (ks.cfg also generated).
i would like to setup an automated build for a second server which is of an identical spec (expect obviously the nics mac addresses is going to be different).
what i have done is installed the ftp service on a seperate windows server 2003 sp2 box and created a local windows account. I then copied the original ks.cfg from the original server which was manually built to this win2k3 box into the ftp folder. I have updated the network details in the ks.cfg to reflect the second server which i want to build.
i know ftp access is working ok as i can login to the win2k3 box from the vsphere server which i built manually and get the ks.cfg file
The problem comes when i try to do the build for the second server....i press f2 at the esx prompt on the second server and enter ks=ftp:///ks.cfg i dont actually specifiy which account to connect with i.e the local account which was created earlier on the box which runs ftp.
Try copying your ks.cfg to a USB stick.
for us, we prefer to inject the ks.cfg files into the ESX4 ISO, then burn that to a DVD. You can also edit the isolinux.cfg file, and set a delay, and therefore all you need to do is just arrow down to the file in question. Our kickstart(s) start with the name of the ESX server.
Below is a snip from the isolinux file we use
LABEL Install_hostname menu default kernel vmlinuz append initrd=initrd.img vmkopts=debugLogToSerial:1 mem=512M quiet ks=cdrom:/hostname.cfg
also, a good resource for building the kickstart itself can be found at
http://blog.laspina.ca/ubiquitous/automating-vsphere-esx4-host-installations
or
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40_u1/vsp_40_u1_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf
Finally, be careful with how you call the kickstart, the process has changed quite a bit from VI3
Hope this helps
Hi,
I will try incorporatng the ks.cfg file into the iso but i dont think it is even get as far as trying to read the ks.cfg file from the ftp address.
As i stated the second server also has 6 nics and i am getting a "No cos nics have been added by the uesr" error message.
I have even tryed specifiying ksdevice= of the the nic allocated as the service consloe nic
Is there anything special you have to do when automating a build for a server with more then 1 nic????
would you attach your kickstart?
also, when hitting F2, your command looks like the below
append initrd=initrd.img vmkopts=debugLogToSerial:1 mem=512M quiet ks=ftp://<servername>/ks.cfg
Please find attached my ks.cfg file - i have removed some specific details such as ip address, hostname etc
FYI i have also tried the steps detailed on the following website http://blog.laspina.ca/ubiquitous/automating-vsphere-esx4-host-installations - which describes how to setup a http based repo....but that doesn't work either.
The command which i am running at the esx splash (boot options) screen is as follows (note we dont have a dhcp server accessible to the vpshere server which i am trying to build)
initrd=initrd.img mem=512M ksdevice=vmnic2 ip=:8088/esx/4.0/ks.cfg
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ERROR File connection failed. Made 3 attempts
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ERROR installatin aborted
I trying to look through the IIS logs but can't see why the file can't be obtained.
Sorry, i was being a wolly....the "install cdrom" line didnt help in my ks.cfg file - i changed this to "install url http://
error: A swap partition is required to use ESX
error: no "/boot" partition found.
error: A '/' (root) partition was not specified for the server console virtual disk. The service console can not boot without a '/' partition
ERROR installation aborted
As i mentioned before the ks.cfg which i am using is taken from the 1st server which was built manually....as a result i thought the paritioning info would have been ok to use? Any idea on what needs to be changed inorder to resolve this problem?
Your help is much appreciated
i've made some changes to hopefully work for you. I left your partitioning sizes the same. I've also copied a snip from ours. I think the problem is the ' ' around your partitions.
Snip from my ks.cfg
# Clear partitions clearpart --firstdisk --overwritevmfs ############################################################## #Partitioning part /boot --fstype=ext3 --size=1100 --onfirstdisk part storage1 --fstype=vmfs3 --size=17146 --grow --onfirstdisk part None --fstype=vmkcore --size=180 --onfirstdisk ############################################################## # Create the vmdk on the cos vmfs partition. virtualdisk cos --size=15946 --onvmfs=storage1 ########################################################### # Partition the virtual disk part / --fstype=ext3 --size=5120 --grow --onvirtualdisk=cos part swap --fstype=swap --size=1600 --onvirtualdisk=cos part /var --fstype=ext3 --size=4096 --onvirtualdisk=cos part /home --fstype=ext3 --size=2048 --onvirtualdisk=cos part /tmp --fstype=ext3 --size=1024 --onvirtualdisk=cos part /opt --fstype=ext3 --size=2048 --onvirtualdisk=cos #########################################################
Hopefully this works.
Still no joy im affraid....one thing i did notice in the esx_install.log file was the following:
warning: http://M<A"
i have no idea what the above is reffering to.
I would like to recommend a local install. Inject the ks.cfg into an ISO and mount it, or burn to a DVD and see what happens.
You got further before, there errors previously, I believe were just syntax errors in the ks.cfg file.
Hi,
just to keep you updated, i had to update the partitioning as follows:
Clear partitions
clearpart --firstdisk
#Partitioning
part /boot --fstype=ext3 --size=1100 --onfirstdisk
part storage1 --fstype=vmfs3 --size=9208 --grow --onfirstdisk
part None --fstype=vmkcore --size=110 --onfirstdisk
Create the vmdk on the cos vmfs partition
virtualdisk cos --size=8208 --onvmfs=storage1
Partition the virtual disk
part / --fstype=ext3 --size=5000 --grow --onvirtualdisk=cos
part swap --fstype=swap --size=1204 --onvirtualdisk=cos
part /var --fstype=ext3 --size=2000 --onvirtualdisk=cos
however the build now stops at the main esx install screen and i have to specifiy my options (eg network settings, time zone, keyboard , storage device settings etc. Its as though the settings in the ks.cfg file has been ignored completely????
Hi all...i am still experiencing issues with trying to do an automated build for ESX4 Update 1 using the http based repo method. As a test i built a server manually and then copyied the ks.cfg file to my iis web server. however when i try to rebuild that server i get the "user has added no COS nics" error message. Aswell as the "The remote server responded with an HTTP Error 401: Unothorized while requesting...ks.cfg" File connection failed. Made 3 attempts...cannot open file. And the "no route to host" - i have tried pinging my iis server and it works fine.
at the esx splash screen i have tried entering the usual ksdevice=vmnic2 and even ksdevice=, ip= netmask= etc etc but no luck
Any ideas or suggestion for what else to try??? are there any other logs i can try to look at which may help?