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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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brugh
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You can change that through the interface although it might be easier to do it from the console.

the file you need to change is /var/www/ks/ks4.php. just change 'keyboard us' to 'keyboard uk' and you're set.

if you don't want to go log in to the console you can go to the 'patch' menu and type

perl -p -i -e 's/keyboard us/keyboard uk/' /var/www/ks/ks4.php

to see if that worked, either type 'cat /var/www.ks/ks4.php' in the exec box or click a 'ks' link behind the esx hostname in the main interface.

if you want to add a 2nd dns to your esx servers, simply add 'echo nameserver 1.2.3.4>>/etc/resolv.conf' somewhere in the script entry box. if you want to add it to the eda appliance you can type that in the 'exec' box in the patch menu. you just need to remember to do that every time you change settings in the eda since it rewrites the resolv.conf at a configchange.

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MarkStrong
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Excellent support!

Thank you!

VCP5, VCP4 | VCAP4-DCD | MCITP | HP Master ASE | CCNA, Cisco UCS Support Specialist
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MarkStrong
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I am currently experimenting with vSphere 4.1.

ESX deployment appliance v0.90 supports ESX 4.1 without any problem. All good.

I can't get it working with ESXi 4.1 thought (VMware-VMvisor-Installer-4.1.0-260247.x86_64.iso)

At the very top of the EDA webpage I can see "ESX4i CD mounted Install mode "

When I click on "Import PXE bootfiles" I get this message "Checking CD ... FAILED". I am not sure if it is expected behaviour.

When I try to install ESXi host I get this message:

Module: ienviron.tgz

Loading ienviron.tgz.

Fatal: cannot open ienviron.tgz

boot:

Anyone can help?

Thank you.

VCP5, VCP4 | VCAP4-DCD | MCITP | HP Master ASE | CCNA, Cisco UCS Support Specialist
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brugh
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both things are expected. the pxe import won't work for ESXi because the boot files are completely different than in ESX (and in 4.0 not customizable.. well, not supported anyway).

EDA supports ESXi only as far as to boot the installation from. the installation itself is been done manually from the host console. EDA does support stateless ESXi also. nifty feature if you want to test an ESXi server without having to install it on a server Smiley Wink

ESXi 4.1 has a different installer though. current EDA release doesn't support it. i hope to get it in there soon but i also want to add the unattended installation part too that's available at last. also, vacation 's coming up so it may be a couple of weeks.

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MarkStrong
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Great! It would be really nice to be able to install ESXi through EDA.

May I suggest to add theese options to scripted install as well:

network --vlanid=XXXX

network --addvmportgroup=0/1

I know it can be done by editing /var/www/ks/ks4.php but if you going to release a new version it might be nice to have these options available through EDA GUI.

Thank you.

VCP5, VCP4 | VCAP4-DCD | MCITP | HP Master ASE | CCNA, Cisco UCS Support Specialist
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MarkStrong
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brugh,

The NIC I use to PXE boot and install ESX is oatched to a trunk port of the switch.

I have configured PXE option to boot from a specific VLAN and I can boot just fine.

I also added --vlan=XXXX to the ks file (had to edit /var/www/ks/ks4.php).

Now I have a new problem - when I try to install ESX it fails with an error "The remote server could not be reached while requesting http://EAD_IP_ADDRESS/ks/ks4.php?MYSERVERNAME. Error: ".

I guess it is because ESX installer is not configured to support VLANs and is trying to get to EDA on a standard VLAN.

What file do I need to edit on EDA to pass "vlanid=XXXX" to the ESX installer?

Reference:

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf

Page 50

Thank you.

VCP5, VCP4 | VCAP4-DCD | MCITP | HP Master ASE | CCNA, Cisco UCS Support Specialist
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rock0n
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Vielen Dank für Ihre E-Mail

Ich bin bis zum 30. Juli 2010 nicht im Hause.

E-Mails werden gelesen.

Bei Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an :

mailto:professionalservices@techdata.de

Mit freundlichen Grüssen

Raiko Mesterheide

DISCLAIMER:

Tech Data GmbH & Co. OHG, Sitz der Gesellschaft ist München, Amtsgericht München HRA 81177, WEEE-Reg.-Nr.: DE57403598; Gesellschafter: Sitz der Gesellschafter ist München; Tech Data Deutschland GmbH, Amtsgericht München HRB 81681, Geschäftsführer: Simone Frömming, Johannes Nussbickel, Günter Schiessl; Tech Data Midrange GmbH, Amtsgericht München HRB 90433, Geschäftsführer: Marc Müller, Johannes Nussbickel; Tech Data Information Technology GmbH, Amtsgericht München HRB 87050, Geschäftsführer: Samy Amsellem

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MarkStrong
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Done some research and I think I need to edit /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default:

default local
display grph
prompt 1
timeout 300

label ESX002
   kernel vmlinuz
   append initrd=initrd.img mem=512M url=http://EDA.cad.local/esx/ ks=http://EDA.cad.local/ks/ks4.php?hostname=ESX002 vlanid=XXXX
   ipappend 1

Is this correct file to edit if I need to specify VLAN I am PXE booting on?

VCP5, VCP4 | VCAP4-DCD | MCITP | HP Master ASE | CCNA, Cisco UCS Support Specialist
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77seb77
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Je suis absent jusqu'au 17 Aout 2010. Merci d'ecrire à ServiceDesk-FR@eads.com.

I am out of the office until August, 17th 2010. Please write to ServiceDesk-FR@eads.com.

Cordialement, Best Regards,

Sébastien BRIAND

Back Office Operations France / IMS431

EADS Defence and Security

MetaPole

1 Boulevard Jean Moulin

CS 40001

78996 ELANCOURT CEDEX

Tel : +33 (0)1 61 38 70 34

Fax: +33 (0)1 61 38 57 16

Email: sebastien.briand@eads.com

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brugh
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well, first of all, pxe and vlans dont really mix.. with tags from the host adapter or give to the pxe parameters it may work but you often need forwarders or other router-helpers to get things to work.

i usually set the native vlan of the switch to the vlan that the eda will run in and put the host addresses in that same vlan. this saves you a LOT of trouble. also, check out http://virtualappliances.eu/?Documentation for some hints and tips on this subject.

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brugh
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well no, that file is actually generated every time you hit 'save' in the main interface. you need to patch /var/www/eda/index.php to change the generated lines. that vlanid=xxx might work but you need routes and default gws too. in most cases like that, ipappend=2 might help because the host will reuse the IP it used from PXE booting instead of reiniting the network stack and trying to get a new address. it all depends on the complexity of your deployment and management lans. if you got the option, keep them the same and avoid all this trouble..

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MarkStrong
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Thank you very much!

I know it is a lot of pain to:

1) Configure NIC to PXE on a specific VLAN

2) Configure EDA to install ESX on a specific VLAN

3) Script ESX installation in a way to put Service Console on a specific VLAN

but the good this is that it can be done.

To achieve the above you need to:

1) Open NIC config and change PXE boot to a specific VLAN (manufacture specific)

2) On EDA edit /var/www/ks/ks4.php:

network --bootproto=static --device=vmnic0 --ip=<?=$v[$h]; ?> --netmask=<?=$cfg;?> --gateway=<?=$cfg;?> --nameserver=<?=$cfg;?> hostname=<? echo $h.".".dns_dom(); ?> *vlanid=YOURVLAN* --addvmportgroup=0

3) On EDA edit /var/www/eda/index.php:

-


$menu .="\nlabel $h

kernel vmlinuz

append initrd=initrd.img mem=512M vlanid=YOURVLAN url=http://" . $_SERVER. "/esx/ ks=http://";

$menu .= $_SERVER."/ks/ks4.php?hostname=$h

ipappend 2\n";

-


ipappend must be changed to 2.

Everything works just fine.

VCP5, VCP4 | VCAP4-DCD | MCITP | HP Master ASE | CCNA, Cisco UCS Support Specialist
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MarkStrong
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well the ks file looks fine. no idea why you get the strange gateway messages. is it a valid IP? is it reachable from the console? i heard more people complaining about gateway errors.. maybe it's in the installer. but something still has to trigger it and as far as this ks file goes, nothing should.. strange.

I am also having "There was a problem with the Gateway Address specified on the command line. Error: IP string contains an invalid first octet.."

EDA is 162.11.134.10 / 255.255.255.192

The server I am trying to install is on 162.11.53.104 255.255.255.224

KS script is OK: "--ip=162.11.53.104 --netmask=255.255.255.224 --gateway=162.11.53.97". Rebooted EDA, re-created KS script - no luck.

Any ideas?

Thank you.

VCP5, VCP4 | VCAP4-DCD | MCITP | HP Master ASE | CCNA, Cisco UCS Support Specialist
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TigerMan
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HI

before I start I would like to say that I love the appliance I have used it for over a year and its wonderfull!

I now have an issue

I have now upgraded the HW to latest HP BL G6 servers with flex 10 nics. This means thatI have to add custom drivers from the Broadcom iso

(http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/esx_esxi_40_broadcom_bnx2_dt/ZHcqYmRqZHRiZGVqdA==)

can this be easily done with the EDA?

Thanks for your help

Tim

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MarkStrong
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well the ks file looks fine. no idea why you get the strange gateway messages. is it a valid IP? is it reachable from the console? i heard more people complaining about gateway errors.. maybe it's in the installer. but something still has to trigger it and as far as this ks file goes, nothing should.. strange.

I am also having "There was a problem with the Gateway Address specified on the command line. Error: IP string contains an invalid first octet.."

EDA is 162.11.134.10 / 255.255.255.192

The server I am trying to install is on 162.11.53.104 255.255.255.224

KS script is OK: "--ip=162.11.53.104 --netmask=255.255.255.224 --gateway=162.11.53.97". Rebooted EDA, re-created KS script - no luck.

Any ideas?

Thank you.

Fixed!

You know what it was? Network guys have not configured DHCP scope Default Gateway in Infoblox!!!

VCP5, VCP4 | VCAP4-DCD | MCITP | HP Master ASE | CCNA, Cisco UCS Support Specialist
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MarkStrong
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I have one EDA which I use to build ESX servers in two datacenters.

ESX configuration e.g. Port Groups, IP addressses and the lot are obviously different.

I have two EDA backups (one for each datacenter) with the scripts written for each datacenter.

I cant restore one of the backups. I go to "Backup/Restore configuration", click on Browse, select the backup file I need to use for a specific datacenter and the click on Upload.

Nothing happens and EDA still sits at Backup/Restore configuration page. The configuration dows not change.

I tried to restart and shutdown/power up EDA with no luck.

Any ideas?

Thank you.

VCP4 | MCITP | Master ASE | CCNA

VCP5, VCP4 | VCAP4-DCD | MCITP | HP Master ASE | CCNA, Cisco UCS Support Specialist
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mvaughn25
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I did some custom driver isntalls with HP G6 blades, but I do not have access to the code snippets to share with you right now. Essentially, you borrow from some of the code already in the EDA script on the right of the mgmt interface.

Stage your new driver file on the EDA appliance. Look in the post-install portion of the script for the "nfsclient" commands used to copy files to the newly installed ESX host. There should also be a command above that to open the firewall rules for the new host, and this should be set back at the end.

Once the files are in place, you then place a command in the script to perform the driver install. This will likely be an rpm command, I think that is what I used in the past.

In short, you can steal from examples already in the post-install portion of the script to copy your file from the EDA server to the new host, then run the appropriate command to install it.

This worked great for a NIC driver update VMware was recommending for our server configs. Again, sorry I cannot give you the exact config. I will try to di gup a copy of it for you.

-


Mark Vaughn

VCP3, VCP4, vExpert 2009/2010

--------------------- Mark Vaughn VCP3, VCP4, vExpert 2009/2010 http://blog.mvaughn.us
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brugh
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Due to very popular demand i released a small update for the EDA that adds support for ESX 4.1 and ESXi 4.1. You can find it on http://virtuall.eu/downloads.

In 0.95 i plan to add scripted ESXi support and driver updates for the installer. But i'm swamped with VDI projects so that may take a while, hence this intermediate patch.

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MarkStrong
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Thank you for the update.

I extracted "patch-0.91.tgz" from eda-update-v090-to-v091.zip but when I try to update EDA it does not get updated.

File uploaded to /tmp/patch-0.91.tgz

Trying to extract...

/tmp/patch-0.91.tgz: gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Fri Aug 27 15:39:14 2010

var/www/eda/index.php

var/www/ks/ks4i.php

var/lib/tftpboot/ienviron.vgz

var/lib/tftpboot/install.vgz

etc/version

When I run "cat /etc/version" it is still shows

/tmp# cat /etc/version

0.90

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brugh
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that's strange. the autopatch does nothing more than a 'tar zxvf /tmp/patch-0.91.tgz -C /' which would extract the tgz to the root of the system, overwriting all existing files. could you 'ls -l /etc' to see if the file actually changed date or smt? what happens if you don't check the autopatch and enter the tar command in the exec box after upload?

Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2010 02:33:57 -0700

From: communities-emailer@vmware.com

To: hercovanbrug@hotmail.com

Subject: New message: "ESX deployment appliance v0.90"

Herco van Brug,

A new message was posted in the thread "ESX deployment appliance v0.90":

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1604652#1604652

Author : MarkStrong

Profile : http://communities.vmware.com/people/MarkStrong

Message:

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