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brugh
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ESX deployment appliance v1.05

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.

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racerzer0
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Any updates to the issue of only being able to do a config restore once? To re-cap... if I make 2 config backups, each with a different post script... and I try to do a restore, I can only restore once. Additional attempts to restore the alternate config changes nothing.

Thanks!

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hwg
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Hello brugh,

We are using your lastest EDA (0.87) to update our esx servers.

I found a behaviour in the software that is -at least for us- unwanted. Perhaps you can fix it in a later release or tell us how to create a workaround.

The names of our servers are vm01,vm02 etc.

if we create those servernames as new esx hosts it will remove the zero and truncate the names to vm1, wm2 etc..

I altered the var/www/eda/var.inc and replace the vm1 with vm01 (also raised the count number of caracters) so that I would not have to alter the name after the esx has been deployed. But it would be nice if the name with a zero can be entered in the webpage.

An other thing I noticed during the sollution of this problem is that when i entered the name as 'VM07' (mind the quotes) the name came back as: \'VM\'7 in the esx host list. Reliazing this was a mistake, I wanted to delete the host. Unfortunatly when you klik on the perticular host on the html page you get an empty page, and you are unable to delete the host.

thnx for the appliance,

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tsmit
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Hello HWG,

If you use "#" in stead of "0" it will work. At least with me.

If you use '-s in a name you get a \ before because it is handled as a special character.

I do not have enough linux knowledge to give you a solution for removing the host.

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brugh
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the input routine was broken on the initial 0.87 version. if you input vm## it will use 2 digits to number the hosts and fill in the zeros for you. that would leave you with vm01, vm02 etc.

but please install the update 0.87-1. it's input routine handles zeros much better and if you set repeat to '1' (default) it will just accept the host as it is and leave any zeros alone! check out http://virtualappliances.eu

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hwg
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thank you for the swift respons, we will make an upgrade to the new version.

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admin
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Hi,

I've done quite an extensive search on the error message below but I'm still not getting much luck. I was hoping you could point me in the right direction. I'm using vmware workstation 6.5 to test the deployment. I've selected the EDA 0.87 using host-only network and trying to deploy ESX on the same server. I got stuck at.

transferring http://address/esx//disc1/VMware/base/netstg2.img to a fd

transferring ftp://192.168.66.57/kkk/VMware/base/updates.img to a fd

I've installed vsftpd on eda, tried setting up apache to host "netstg2.img" but to no avail. I'm not sure if it's missing something here. I've enclosed here the ks file.

rootpw --iscrypted $1$NOJEyG5i$Cnbe6d8NTFkffyR/wT/Wa1
bootloader --location=mbr --driveorder=sda
timezone Europe/London
skipx
install
text
lang en_US
langsupport --default en_US
keyboard us
mouse none
reboot
firewall --disabled
url --url http://address/esx/

network --bootproto static --device eth0 --ip 192.168.66.60 --netmask 255.255.255.0 --gateway 192.168.66.57 --nameserver 192.168.66.57 --hostname esx0.thaitown.co.uk --addvmportgroup=0

clearpart --all --drives=sda --initlabel
part /boot --fstype ext3 --size 200 --ondisk=sda
part swap --size 544 --ondisk=sda
part / --fstype ext3 --size 5120 --ondisk=sda
part /var --fstype ext3 --size 4096 --ondisk=sda
part /tmp --fstype ext3 --size 2048 --ondisk=sda
part None --fstype vmkcore --size 100 --ondisk=sda
part None --fstype vmfs3 --size 1 --grow --ondisk=sda
vmaccepteula
vmlicense --mode=server --server=27000@192.168.66.149 --edition=esxFull
%packages
@base

%post
cat > /tmp/esxcfg.sh <<EOF1
#!/bin/bash
esxcfg-firewall --allowOutGoing

perl -pi -e "s/PermitRootLogin no/PermitRootLogin yes/" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
service sshd restart

esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic1 vSwitch0
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic2 vSwitch0
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic3 vSwitch0

esxcfg-vswitch -a vSwitch1

esxcfg-vswitch -A Internal

esxcfg-vswitch -v 10 -p Internal vSwitch1
esxcfg-firewall --blockOutgoing
EOF1

# Make esxcfg.sh eXcutable
chmod +x /tmp/esxcfg.sh

# Backup original rc.local file
cp /etc/rc.d/rc.local /etc/rc.d/rc.local.bak

# Make esxcfg.sh run from rc.local and make rc.local reset itself
cat >> /etc/rc.d/rc.local <<EOF2
cd /tmp
/tmp/esxcfg.sh
mv -f /etc/rc.d/rc.local.bak /etc/rc.d/rc.local
EOF2

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brugh
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i'm not exactly sure what the error is you're reporting.. looks like the netstg2.img doesn't want to download?

i've never tried host only network with PXE. could you try a NAT network instead, i know for a fact that that's working well..

and did you import the PXE bootfiles? the netstg2.img is redirected in apache by default, allowing the change to the storage drivers. so there's no need to install vsftpd or change any apache settings for it to work..

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brugh
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that actually is a bug.. i'll put that on the fixlist.

but the reason there's a dhcp in there is to get it to work in a new network. if it's a dhcp server itself, it should have a fixed address. i'm considering a new first-config script that would eliminate the need for dhcp alltogether..

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admin
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Hi,

Thanks for getting back so quickly! I got it working in the end. Here's what I think may have gone wrong. On the main EDA page, clicking onto "ks" to see the kickstart, I notice the URL as "--url http://ESXSERVER/esx" rather than the IP. The /var/www/ks/ks.php script picks up the hash and print the 3rd field which gives an empty value. I've added the extra egrep in the ks.php below:

exec ("cat /etc/network/interfaces| egrep -v '^#' | grep address|awk '{print $2;}'", $ipaddress);

The other thing is I noticed is e1000 NIC may pose a problem when installing over the 100MBPS/full duplex lan. Not so sure if this is related tho.

With more than 1 NICs I had to either disable one or plug both into the switch. And Thank you! It's a very good EDA script well made Smiley Wink

Regards,

HaloChief

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tsmit
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Hi, Host-only network is also working.

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David_Meekins
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Delivery of a message from you has exceeded the retry time:

From: communities-emailer@vmware.com

Subject: New message: "ESX deployment appliance v0.87"

The following recipients could not be delivered:

david.meekins@fco.gov.uk

Additional Information

======================

Sender: <communities-emailer@vmware.com>

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MessageName: <B4a09b5310000.000000000001.0001.mml

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David_Meekins
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Delivery of a message from you has exceeded the retry time:

From: communities-emailer@vmware.com

Subject: New message: "ESX deployment appliance v0.87"

The following recipients could not be delivered:

david.meekins@fco.gov.uk

Additional Information

======================

Sender: <communities-emailer@vmware.com>

Sender-MTA: <51.63.241.43>

MessageName: <B4a0a83c00001.000000000001.0001.mml

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smudger
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Hello all,

Looking at the forum and Brugh's website this seems a common(ish) question or issue. I have the appliance working great, however I have issues deploying to an HP blade with 6 NICs (2x onboard and 4x via a mezzanine card). The installer loads then fails trying to find a return network route to EDA. I've tried adjusting the "eth0" option - to the point of setting it to "eth7" which causes the installer to prompt which interface you would like to use for installation. Selecting slot 0, nic-0 will also fail.

Currently the network connections are using vlan tags to all of the interfaces, EDA is on the same vlan and subnet as the new blade server. I've also tried some different BIOS config's for the PXE settings although this doesn't seem to make any difference to the initial startup of the build which is working fine. BTW, EDA is running as a VM on an existing ESX cluster.

The installer currently stops just after the "Determining Hostname & Domain" and the goes into interactive mode and asks which location/keyboard you'd like. I'm going to get our network team to double check the port assignments and tags.

Any pointers here would be really appreciated!

Thanks,

Neil

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brugh
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did you check out http://virtualappliances.eu/eda.html#troubleshooting? it gives somewhat of a best practice dealing with exactly these kind of issues.

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Funtoosh
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Hi

I am back with same problem again Smiley Sad . With my current setup my EDA and ESX host to be build are in same VLAN. I did not understand what difference tagged or native VLAN would make? Because as per document I need to use Native VLAN? I am getting PXE screen and it is comming to the prompt where I can choose the script to be build. But still it keep asking about keyboard and other stuff.

I am using Windows DHCP . Do I need to setup IP helper on this VLAN . I guess NO because EDA and ESX host are in same build VLAN.

I am posting my KS/AltF3/AltF4 output. If someone have any clue please help

Thanks,

Funtoosh

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Funtoosh
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One more file for your refernce

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Funtoosh
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Hi Neil,

We both are getting same error. Please let me know if you found any fix

Thanks,

Funtoosh

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smudger
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Hi -yes we are. I still have the same issue. I'm now trying the appliance back in our labs with Nortel rather than Cisco kit. Funnily enough I only seem to be getting this issue on HP blade servers and not HP rack mounts. It's very frustrating.

Thanks.

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Funtoosh
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Do you have any other suggestion to make here? I am desperate to get this appliance working. I also made the VLAN untagged at host side. This is already native at "ESX to be build" side

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Funtoosh
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I finally made it working after testing with different eth. I got 10 NIC on this host. But finally I am stick with error message netstg2.img (Screenshot attached).

I have also attached KS scrip. If some one can help me to resolve please.

I went ahead and attached it using CD and still got same error

Thanks,

Funtoosh

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