Install esxi on usb and modify the oem.tgz file

[dmlavigne1]

I am a linux newbie so please be kind.

I have built a esxi server with a MSI X58 board which has the ICH10 SATA controller and 2 Realtek 8111C network adapters. I checked for compatibilty at and the board is compatible with the "oem.tgz ICH10" according to the post with the realtek 8111c nics also compatible. I went ahead and used the update 3 ISO to create USB bootable stick following the instructions here I bootes the server and the IP is 0.0.0.0 and can't be changed. I take it because my nics are not supported in update 3.

Following the link in the compatibility post for my 8111c cards there is an oem.tgz file. I have also found another community oem.tgz file that is supposed to support ICH10 here although update 4 is supposed to have support for ICH10 but I can't download it for some reason (it says I have no access even though I have registered).

My confusion is 2 part:

1. How do I merge the 2 oem.tgz files so esxi will support my realtek 8111c nics and my ich10 sata controller?

2. How do I move that file to my USB bootable drive? Once formatted the usb drive only appears as 4mb in my windows machine, I can move the file to that partition but some how have to get it to the bootdisk partition that I can get to in the console by pressing alt+f2 on boot.

Any help you can give me is greatly appreciated. I only have windows machines at my disposal and my linux knowledge is very basic so please go slow.

[tmillerj]

Hi. I am about to tackle the custom oem.tgz-type install myself. Although ESX 3.5u4 supports ICH10 controllers, I found it didn't recognize the ICH10R on my Asus P5Q-EM. I've not tried this yet, but I was just reading about it, and this might help you.

Go to this page >> and look for a posting on 3/6/09 by Varazir. He's has written a script that should allow you to make a custom iso file, containing the new oem.tgz file, which you can burn on to a cd, and try the install. At the top of the page is the latest "Unified" oem.tgz file, which might have all you need.

In fact, give ESX 3.5u4 a try first. It may work for you without editing. Best of luck to you.

tom

[tmillerj]

Hi

I can confirm that Varazir's bash script worked for me. I made a custom ISO using ESXi 3.5u4 and the Community Unified oem.tgz v1.1.0, shown here >> . Then I installed on a an Asus P5Q-EM motherboard, with an Intel dual-gig card.

Be careful because Varazir's script looks for oem.tgz, and the "v1.1.0" is linked to oem.gz. If you copy the link in your browser, you can quickly edit, and grab the tgz version of the file. Then the script works a-ok.

You may also be interested in Dave's page here >> .

Best of luck to you,

tom

[dmlavigne1]

Well, I figured it out. The easiest way is to open the .dd file in winimage mounting the first partition and inject the oem.tgz file (winimage will ask you if you want to overwrite it), then write to the usb stick. I ended up getting it to work with the oem.tgz file for my realtek 8111c only to have vnic -> nic issues. I ended up buying intel cards that are compatible and went back to the U4 image that has my ICH10 drivers.

[tmillerj]

Glad it worked out for you. Even better news that the stock version of 3.5u4 worked right away.

Since my earlier post, Dave Mishchenko has re-aimed the pointer to the tgz version of the oem file. Varazir has edited his bash script to use either the gz or tgz version.

Thanks for the reply. Best of luck to you.

tom