https://solutionexchange.vmware.com/store/products/esx-deployment-appliance-eda
ESX Deployment Appliance (EDA) is a small and easy to use appliance
that makes deploying ESX servers a breeze. It has a very intuitive
web-interface that can configure and deploy dozens of ESX servers in
minutes. It has a script-builder that will allow any admin to create
%post-scripts that will do most anything one needs to get the ESX hosts
up and running! Even if deploying with RDP/Altiris or the UDA, this
script-builder can help setting those up very quickly.
Hi all ,
I run v0.85 in a VMware Server and converted with VMWAre converter to my ESXi host.
So now I am running EDA VM in my ESXi host.
Everything looks correct but the only problem I have is when I try to load the files from my iso to the EDA server using the option ' Import PXE boot files' .
I am trying to import the files from the ' VMware-VMvisor-InstallerCD-3.5.0_Update_3-123629.i386.iso ' because , as far as I understand , V 0.85 supports ESXi .
This is the output of my /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-cd.rules
ENV=="?*", ENV=="pci-0000:00:07.1-scsi-1:0:0:0", SYMLINK+="cdrom", ENV="1"
What I am doing wrong ?
Just in case below are some images regarding the error and how I have attached the iso file to the EDA VM.
Many thanks
Tested and used this appliance twice in the last week. Very pleased wiht the results. The only hitch I found is related to the fact that it appears to find the appliance OK initially but fails to retrieve the kickstart script when using a tagged VLAN. Had to use an untagged port group.
you have an IDE cdrom connected. i know linux uses a dummy scsi device when it sees an IDE device but check if you have an /dev/scd0 devicefile. that's the one the automounter triggers on. if not, remove the rules file, stop the VM, make a real scsi cdrom and see what happens.
that actually has nothing to do with the appliance. it's a anaconda (=kickstart) related issue.
when the server boots, it gets a pxe kernel. that kernel is started and given the IP address you gave as ESX server address. if that is in a different segment that's been VLANed, it will simply fail because the traffic will get to that kernel with TAGs still on them and that networkstack doesn't understand them. this is true on all unattended setups and means that all installation processes until the first reboot, have to be done in non-tagged networks. either you allocate a NIC as a host-nic or you set the deployment VLAN as native on your switches.
hope that makes sense
Hi Brugh ,
this line /dev/scd0 exist in the /dev file of my EDA vm machine and the red message saying that CD is unmounted doesn´t appear in the web interface , so looks ok.
How can I make a real SCSI cdrom ? I cannot see this option under my esxi host (I think that's not possible)
That's what I get in /var/log/messages
ata1.00: ATAPI: VMware Virtual IDE CDROM Drive, 00000001, max UDMA/33
eda kernel: scsi 0:0:0:0: CD-ROM NECVMWar VMware IDE CDR00 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
eda kernel: Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
Thats under /dev
4 Jan 28 08:37 cdrom -> scd0
cdrom 11, 0 Jan 28 08:37 scd0
By the way ... really nice application
I really want to make it work !
Thanks
Thanks for the reply regarding VLANs. Would it be possible to add a second NIC and bind it to a management VLAN whilst leaving the PXE nic on an untagged segment?
Hello ,
I am still having same issue .Every time I try to 'lmport the PXE file from the CD ' I get same error .
The error is the same as the picture eda1 .
Before I mount the CD I get error saying that ' CD not mounted' . Same as eda5 picture
Then I mount the CD . (eda6 picture) . As welI , I have tried to mount the cd using the Client device option and conecting to the *.iso file
Looks like the *.iso has been mounted properly because after that I don't get de the red message saying that 'CD is not mounted'
I get this messages under /var/log/syslog
Jan 29 12:48:39 eda automount[3822]: attempting to mount entry /var/lib/tftpboot/cd/esx
Jan 29 12:49:49 eda automount[4506]: expired /var/lib/tftpboot/cd/esx
What I am doing wrong?
Many thanks
Hello brugh,
do you know if the following scenario is possible with EDA
I have a notebook with Vista os and installed VMware Workstation 6.5 on top of it.
I installed the EDA appliance on VMware workstation 6.5.
i created a kickstart file and tested the unattended install on another virtual machine also running under VMware Workstation 6.5 on the same notebook.
And as aspected it works very smoothly.
now the idea is to connect a crossover cable from the notebook directly to a physical server, and try to do an unattended install with EDA on this way.
I get the PXE boot menu and the unattend installation looks to start..
finally isee the screen that i have to select the language for the ESX installation and continues like a manual install.
This means that the kickstart file is not retrievable from the http share or something similar.
The strange thing is that the same kickstart file works from virtual machine to virtual machine without usign the crossover cable. so the contents of the kickstart file should be ok.
Do you have any clue / ideas how to get this working ?
Regards,
Dennis
What type of server are you trying to deploy the image to? Is it HP
I had a similar problem a few days back. Check your server bios and ensure that your NIC is not on a VLAN.
Hi ..
it's a IBM xSeries346 server..
i am using a crossovercable so i presume that it is not possible that i am using this connection as a single VLAN.
On an HP server, you can assign a VLAN directly on the physical NIC within the BIOS so that it only listens on that VLAN. I'd check if the same setup can be done on an IBM. The boot process will fail to retrieve the kickstart file if this is set and you will end up at the language screen.
Are you sure that you also used a crossover cable ?
I cannot imagine that it's something VLAN related in the bios of the server. Because i configured this server allready a couple of times on different VLANs.
But maybe i am wrong.
I am using the onboard network cards of this IBM xSeries 346 server
Admittedly, I did not use a crossover cable but I had exactly the same issues as you until I used an untagged VLAN port on my switch and set the nic VLAN ID to 0000
Hi johnwilk,
Just tested the same setup EDA over crossover cable on an HP server (HP DL380G4). instead of IBM xSeries 346
Now it works as aspected ? very strange..
offcourse i had to change the storage controller section from sda to cciss.. but i can not imagine that this is causing the trouble.
Any idea what setting to change on the IBM server ? the onboard nics have "Broadcom 5721" chipsets. I am not using a switch during the installation.
Regards,
Dennis
what john means i think, is that you can tell the server that it should listen to traffic from a specific VLAN tag only. we usually dont do that since all ports are trunkports where that option is quite useless. i think ibm has an option like that and you could check your bios and disable any options where VLANs tagging is implied.
also, i've seen this before with crosscables. is your laptop a 100mbit port and the server a gbit? gbit ports can't be set to fixed speed and duplex but they can be set to only negotiate on specific speeds.
the pxe part goes ok it seems but when the kernel's loaded it reinitiates the network stack that on some hardware takes too long and the kickstart process continues before the speed is properly negotiated. on physical switches you'd set 'portfast' on to prevent problems like that. on a crosscable you could try matching the speed of your laptop and server and set your server to only negotiate on that speed. also, set your laptop to negotiate too if that's not the case.
personally i have better experience placing a dumb hub between the two. i have a small 3x4 inch switch that's powered by my laptop's usbport that prevents a lot of crosscable troubleshooting
looks like you're not doing anything wrong! a quick check revealed that ESXi support in 0.85 is broken.
change line 13 and 14 in /var/www/eda/imp.php to this:
if ($ret > 0) {
exec ("file /var/www/esx/ienviron.tgz", $out, $ret);
if ($ret > 0) {
die ("FAILED");
} else echo "Detected ESXi";
} else echo "Detected ESX";
i'll update the 0.85 very soon where this will be fixed and where small updates are possible without having to download the whole thing anymore
Many thanks !
Now works perfect !
Looking for the next release ..
Thanks again
ok, what am I doing wrong? I've got the EDA up on ESX, it's configured, my new server boots from PXE, it gives me a menu asking which host I am installing, I type that in and it asks me my language instead of launching the ks.
that's a common problem, usually due to some network issues. did you read through the rest of this thread? a lot of those common issues are already described..