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april14507
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

steps to set up new vmware enviroment

Here is the situation: We just have one box to run the host and virtual machines.

My plan is: 1. install the host by loading the VMvisor file into the host machine and configure on the workstation or the host machine itself. 2. use vsphere client to access the host and to create virtual machine.

Am I right?

My question is how to load vcenter without operating system as was told that we do not need o/s to install vcenter. I am lost. Do I miss anything?

8 Replies
BerndtSchumann
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

You do not need any vCenter installation to run a single ESXi host.

april14507
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Ohhh...that is what I thought originally. But what does it mean to install vcenter with no o/s in esxi? How can that happen? I am lost.

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

You first install an ESXi host. Then, from a workstation (Windows/Mac/Linux) that has access to that ESXi host, you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) which is a self-contained virtual machine containing a Linux-based OS and the vCenter application. This runs as a VM on top of that ESXi host. You can then use vCenter to manage that ESXi host and others if you desire.

a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Since you are asking for setting up an environment, I assume that this is for production. In this case there are a few more things to consider.

  • Check whether your hardware is supported (and for which version)
  • Determine whether the free ESXi Hypervisor is sufficient for you, or if you need a paid edition to allow for e.g. commercial VM based backups/restores
  • In case you want/need a VM based backup solution, check what's available that meets your requirements
  • Once these questions are answered, you may start with installing the Hypervisor on your host (depending on the system, you may need to enable BIOS settings like VT-x, NX/XD, ...)
  • After the installation is done, login to the host via a web browser https://<hostname-or IP>/ui/ (the latest versions do not support the standalone vSphere Client anymore).
  • Once the main settings, like Time (NTP), Networking, ... are configured, you may start with installing virtual machines.

Regarding your vCenter Server question. VMware offers vCenter Server as an appliance (vCSA - vCenter Server Appliance), which can be deployed to an ESXi host as is, i.e. no previous OS installation required. If you want to use the appliance, make sure you read the installation guide, and configure the prerequisites, like DNS/Reverse DNS settings.

André

april14507
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thank you very much for your response. But I can live without vcenter as you mentioned earlier. Am I right?

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april14507
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Again, thank you very much for your reply.

Two more questions:

1. when installing the Hypervisor on your host (depending on the system, you may need to enable BIOS settings like VT-x, NX/XD, ...), do you have the support link for this? I am going to install VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.7.0-8169922.x86_64.iso on the host machine by loading the file in usb drive through rufus program. Am I right?

2. you mentioned "the latest versions do not support the standalone vSphere Client anymore". does it mean version 6.7 no longer uses vpshere client? It is all web-access based?

By the way, we do have licenses for all these.

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BerndtSchumann
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

1. That should work.

2. Exactly so. Only web based GUI is available.

golddiggie
Champion
Champion

Check the release notes for 6.7 to make sure the processor(s) in the host is still supported. They deprecated some of the older processors that were supported with 6.5 with 6.7. I know that the processors in my home lab host are now unsupported and can cause a PSOD if I was to try to install the latest version.

That being said, I am running vCSA 6.7 in my home lab (VMUG Advantage program). Be sure that you have enough compute (and storage) resources to run the VMs you intend to put there. Personally, I'm running really tight on RAM (more because of the age of the hardware and tech level it has). I'm hoping to be able to obtain at least one (if not two) newer host boxes this year with at least E5-2620 or E5-2620 v2 processor(s) inside. That should give me at least a few more years of run time in the home lab.