Has anyone successfully installed ESXi using the Ultimate Deployment PXE server?

[Clearview]

I am looking to install ESXi server because I support a number of products which are now available in virutalised forms and it would therefore be a good idea if I could get to grips with the underlying archtecture. I have worked previously with VMWare Workstation (many moons ago) and in more recent times VMWare Server. I like the idea of ESXi becuase it is :smileyinfo: free and (ii) lightweight.

Having successfully registered for and downloaded ESXi 3.5 Update 4, the first obstacle I came across was the fact that the old Dell PE1750 server I was trying to test it on flatly refuses to boot from the CD (despite being more than happy to boot from other bootable CDs). So, reading that it could be installed using a PXE server, I thought I'd roll up my sleeves and give it a shot. After some on-line research (searching through these forums and looking on the Internet in general) I came across the Ultimate Deployment Appliance.

I have found some instructions here - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/ESXi_PXE_install.html - but alas find myself none-the-wiser when it comes to getting it to work.

My first attempts where made using the Quick Start Guide from RTFM Education. These seemed sensible enough, and it didn't take long for me to be able to 'mount' the ISO using a Windows share, creating a Kickstart template and being able to get the PE1750 to PXE boot and recognise the UDA system running on a laptop (using VMWare Player) connected to the server with a cross-over cable. However, as soon as I tried to execute the template I'd created the process immediately failed with the message "Could not find kernel image: <template-name>".

I then found the site www.vm-help.com and this seemed to contain an alternative method of getting the PXE process to work. The problem I have (which I apologize for) is that I don't fully understand the steps which are being described.

1) Copy the install files to your PXE server from the ESXi install CD.

This will include the files BINMOD.TGZ, CIM.TGZ, IENVIRON.TGZ,

LICENSE.TGZ, MBOOT.C32, MENU.C32, OEM.TGZ and VMKERNEL.GZ

Using 7-zip I can open the ISO and can see the files listed contained within it. However, I there doesn't appear to be any indication where within the UDA these files should be copied to?

In reality, because of this, my efforts to follow this method pretty much stop at this point. Though I think that if I can get past this point, I've got a fighting chance.

If anyone could offer any assistance or insight, that would be great. 🐵

Thanks in anticpation.

Phil.

[bpainter]

It appears that you need to copy the files to the /var/public/tftproot/ directory on the UDA.

bpainter

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Were you able to make some progress on this?

[Clearview]

Many Thanks for that.

It turns out that it might be a red herring after all. Just as a test, I downloaded update 3, burned it to a CD and found that the server booted from it quite happily. This meant that I had a contingency for my test environment in case I couldn't get my head around the PXE booting exercise.

Then, returning to the PXE exercise, my suspicions were aroused when, upon trying to copy files from the ISO image or the burned 'Update 4' CD, I was told that one or more of the files I was trying to copy were corrupt. So I re-visited the download page and downloaded a fresh copy of the update 4 ISO. Burned it to CD and found that this also booted happily from the disk.

So, with that in mind, I'll now revert my attention back to using the CD installation option.

Thanks again for the assistance.

Phil.

[2L]

I just had the same issue.

Downloaded it this morning - 356,347,904 bytes - same error on boot

Redownloaded it again - 357,036,032 bytes -burning the ISO now to confirm it works.

[2L]

System now appears to be booting from CD correctly.