ESXi 5 Loading New VM from ISO

[ricko]

I have ESXi 5 loaded on my server and I have uploaded a known working ISO file ( I booted it to a stand alone server and it works) to my datastore, yet when I boot the new vm it goes straight to pxe boot, I have checked the box for connected at power on.

Any ideas on where to look?

Thanks

[admin]

Is there anything interesting in /var/log/vmkernel.log on the ESXi guest?

[ricko]

how do I get to that log if it is different than the one psoted already?

Thanks

[admin]

From the console of the ESXi VM, first enable shell access.  Press F2, enter your credentials, select Troubleshooting Options, and then select Enable ESXi Shell.

Then press Alt+F1 to switch to the console window.  Log in and look for /var/log/vmkernel.log.

[ricko]

here is the vmkernel.log

[admin]

That log file doesn't show you powering on any VMs.

[ricko]

Trying to upload but the page keeps timing out

[ricko]

let's see if this works

[admin]

Sorry; I see nothing interesting there.

Have you verified the checksum on this ISO image?  Have you tried to boot from any other ISO images?

[ricko]

I have tried 2 different images both of which will load properly when I create a vm in Workstation.. it only is a problem when creating a vm guest on the esxi server...

[admin]

Can you verify the BIOS boot order for the nested guest?  Edit virtual machine settings, go to Options->Boot Options and check the box under "Force BIOS Setup."  Boot the nested VM, and navigate to the Boot screen in the BIOS.  Make sure that CD-ROM is before Network Boot.

[admin]

Are the ISO images local to the ESXi VM, or are they NFS-mounted?  If they are NFS-mounted, does root on the ESXi system have write access?  If root does not have write access, is the NFS datastore mounted read-only on the ESXi system?

[ricko]

yes I verified that, here are my screen shots

192.168.1.84 is my esxi host

[ricko]

The ISO images have been uploaded to the local data store on the esxi machine

[admin]

Have you verified the checksums?  md5sum should be available in the ESXi shell.

[ricko]

I can execute md5sum in the shell but I get no output... does esxi place it somewhere else? the only reason I could see any problem in this is if uploading it to the local data store on esxi from the local hard drive would corrupt it, the iso files are on the same machine as the esxi so I am just uploading them from the local hard drive to the local datastore??

[admin]

It's just slow.

You should get something like:

# md5sum KNOPPIX_V3.9-2005-05-27-EN.iso
0e7ab91a16c1e7251757ab25d21034b7  KNOPPIX_V3.9-2005-05-27-EN.iso

[ricko]

yep you are right..patience

the checksums match

[admin]

I'm running out of ideas.  Let's try to gather some debugging information, though I don't know that it will reveal anything.

Edit your nested VM configuration.  Go to Options->Advanced/General, and check the radio button next to "Record Debugging Information."

Power on the nested VM, and upload the new vmware.log file.

Thanks!

[ricko]

here it is

[admin]

I still have no clue why this isn't working.

Can you upload /var/log/hostd.log from the ESXi VM?