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thissenw
Contributor
Contributor

How to configure HTTP or NFS or FTP installation

The ESX 3.5 installer cannot access the CD drive on my white box, so I'm looking for alternative installation options. Does anyone have a procedure that will allow me to install ESX from a Windows 2003 server using HPPT, NFS, or FTP? Thanks.

Or, the model number of an IDE adapter that ESX can use to access the install CD??

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mcowger
Immortal
Immortal

Kickstart installations work fine from any of your mentioned methods (though we do them from NFS).

--Matt

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us
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thissenw
Contributor
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I'm not familiar with Kickstart, so I'm looking for a procedure to create a working environment on a Windows 2003 server. The ESX docs assume you have a working ESX server, which I don't.

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mcowger
Immortal
Immortal

here is a sample ks.cfg you can use:

  1. Installation Method

nfs --server=%HOSTNAME% --dir=/export/install/media/esx350

rootpw vmware.vmware

authconfig --enableshadow --enablemd5

timezone GMT

skipx

install

text

network --device eth0 --bootproto static --addvmportgroup=0 --vlanid=0

lang en_US

langsupport --default en_US

keyboard us

mouse generic3ps/2 --device psaux

reboot

bootloader --location=mbr

clearpart --exceptvmfs

part /boot --size 100 --fstype ext3 --ondisk sda --asprimary

part / --size 8192 --fstype ext3 --ondisk sda --asprimary

part swap --size 4096 --ondisk sda --asprimary

#VMware Specific Commands

vmaccepteula

vmlicense --mode=server --server=10.224.47.30

%packages

grub

--Matt

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us
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thissenw
Contributor
Contributor

Very helpful. Thanks. I copied the ESX3.5 install CD to my NFS share. Does the ks.cfg file go into the root of that directory tree? At runtime, do I point the installer to the NFS directory that contains the ks.cgf file?

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mcowger
Immortal
Immortal

It gets picked up via TFTP as part of the PXE boot process.

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us
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thissenw
Contributor
Contributor

I'm not using PXE. I boot to the ESX install CD, which starts the machine. The ESX installer can't access the files on the CD (controller driver issue, I suppose), so it prompts for HTTP, FTP, or NFS. I select NFS. The machine gets an IP, and accesses the NFS share, but I'm not clear how to structure the files, so the ESX installer can get what it needs??

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mcowger
Immortal
Immortal

In that case you dont need the ks.cfg at all.

On the installer, give it the nfs server and the location:

server: your.windows.nfs.server

path: /path/to/RedHatDir/

--Matt

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us
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thissenw
Contributor
Contributor

Done that. I passed the ESX installer every possible directory on the install CD (which is loaded to the NFS share), but the ESX installer replies no install directory tree found (paraphrase). What script does the ESX installer actually run to perform an installation?

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mcowger
Immortal
Immortal

It doesn't run a script, it uses anaconda (a linux binary).

Sounds like your NFS mount is working, you just havn't found the right mountpoint yet....

--Matt

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us
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