ESX deployment appliance v1.05

[brugh]

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.

[MarkStrong]

Uploaded patch without selecting "Apply patch automatically" and ran 'tar zxvf /tmp/patch-0.91.tgz -C /'

That seems to do the trick.

Thank you.

[rholgate]

hi, how did you run

ran 'tar zxvf /tmp/patch-0.91.tgz -C /'

thnaks

rob

[MarkStrong]

On the EDA home page click on Patch, type command in "Execute command" field and click on Run.

VCP4 | MCITP | Master ASE | CCNA

hi, how did you run

ran 'tar zxvf /tmp/patch-0.91.tgz -C /'

thnaks

rob

[rholgate]

i used putty to connect and executed the command from the shell.

whats next? just mount eSXi 4.1 sIO?

[tsmit]

Same "problem" overhere.

Did tar zxvf /tmp/patch-0.91.tgz -C / in stead of "apply patch autom."

This works.

Thanks.

[Aristizabal]

Hi tsmitm, your solution worked for me.

[rholgate]

are there any FAQ or a quick setup guide or basic instrictions on what install and run mode are?

[rock0n]

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[brugh]

not really, it actually does exactly what it says. in installmode, it offers the installfiles to an ESXi server to allow a manual installation. in runmode the ESXi server boots the files from EDA directly making it in essence a stateless ESXi server that doesn't need a local disk. in ESXi 4.0 this was ok because no scripting was supported anyway. i think i'll remove the feature in the 0.95 release because i don't think anybody's using it.

[rholgate]

Ah! Think i under stand now

The ESXi 4.1 install almost works for me, fails with this error

The physical server boots to the EDA and is offered the sample ESX01 & ESX02

If i choose "manual" error failed too load vmkernel pops up, entered the recovery shell

If i choose esx01

Should the disk in the server be blank? No partitions?

Rob

[brugh]

no it's more likely that your script tries to find a cciss where sda exists or the other way around. did you hit the 'import PXE files' from the menu? although it gives an error (i should fix that), it does some relinking that might be needed for manual installations.

you could also try to use clearpart and autopart with '--firstdisk=local' and leave it to the installer to find a local disk.

[rholgate]

Im using the defaults,

Will try import esxi4.1 PXS files

[rholgate]

The options too tweak the ks.cfg file are all greyed out...how can I edit it?

[mforbes]

I realize these posting are aged, but wasn't sure where else to post.

I have been trying to get the appliance working with ESXi4.1. It seems as though there are a lot of changes between 4.0.x and 4.1 scripting.

I am attaching images to show that I have done the initial setup of the appliance and you can see from the screen shot the VM(simulated ESX host) can and is seeing the DHCP and appliance with the 2 boot options being seen.

Once I select the appropriate option, it runs for a minute and fails.

I always get the "cannot open the ienviron.tgz" error.

Is this fixable or addressed somewhere else?

TIA

Mike Forbes

[brugh]

this forum is pretty active! dont be mistaken by the registration date below the usernames. the post dates are directly below the post header.

but to answer your question, it seems you're running 0.90. that version didn't support esx 4.1. you need to run the patch available from http://virtuall.eu/downloads/. unzip it, go to the 'patch' menu, upload the .tgz file and type 'tar zxvf /tmp/patch-0.91.tgz -C /' without quotes into the execute box. i have a fix for the 'autopatch' checkbox that will be available in 0.95 soon. for now the autopatch is broken. after that, you don't need to reboot, just go back to the main screen, hit 'save' and retry the installation. should work now.

[brugh]

in 0.91 it uses the default unattended installation file that comes with the CD so changing things won't work. so i disabled them. from 0.92 and up, full custom scripting is supported and all those options will be available again. if you need to make changes now, you can vi /var/www/ks/ks4i.php from the console.

[davismisbehavis]

I am currently using the EDA to deploy some new ESX 4.1 hosts and have come across a little issue when trying to script the deployment of HP Insight Management Agents.

Basically the HP management Install attempts to put the host into Maintenance mode but does not have sufficient priviliges (see below)

Obviously if I run this manually it works no problem as I am doing so under an account with root level priviliges.

Question is what is the executing user context for the post script and can it be changed to a more elevated account?

• **********

HP Insight Manager Agent 8.5.1-1 Installer for VMware ESX

Target System is VMware ESX 4.1.0 build-260247

Server: ProLiant DL380 G7

ESX host is NOT in Maintenance Mode.

Putting system into maintenance mode

Failed to login: Connection refused

ESX host Maintenance Mode SET failed.

ESX host is NOT in Maintenance Mode.

ESX host Maintenance mode is not set to continue.

Installer exit is called with status -

[brugh]

the installer is executed from the rc scripts that are fired from init. it should have all the root privileges you need. i dont know if the installer does a 'su' to another user that might not have enough privs but that wouldn't make much sense. you could try to enter maintenance mode yourself before you fire the installer (vimsh -n -e /hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter).

i've not seen this problem before and i install agents often enough. what version are you trying to install?

[aty]

>>Quote from Alasdair:

I got 0.9 up and running on a vSphere server (interestingly the interface says v0.88),

>> end Quote

I've downloaded the 0.90 version of EDA (at least I think so) and updated it with the patch to 0.91. But neither in the console view nor on the webpage EDA is showing the right version number. Did I do something wrong? Can I see the actual version mumber somewhere else?

[marklemon]

I have two errors. the first one is

<span style="line-height: 18px" class="Apple-style-span">No COS NICs have been added by the user" </span>



of which much is written online, like here:

<span style="line-height: 18px" class="Apple-style-span">I thought I'd found that the nic naming convention had changed between ESX3.5 and vSphere/ESX4 so I changed ksdevice to </span></span> <span style="border-collapse: separate; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; fon<br /></p> <p><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px" class="Apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 18px" class="Apple-style-span">but never got any further. When I view my "ks" file from within the EDA web gui, I see:</span></span>

network --bootproto=static --device=vmnic0 --ip=x.x.x.x --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=x.x.x.x --nameserver=x.x.x.x --hostname=esxhostx

Why is device=vmnic0 regardless of whether I change it to vmnic0 or vmnic5 or anything else? I am clicking on save under the disk section and the final save under the custom script bits.

Then, poking round my EDA web interface I clicked on "Import PXE bootfiles" but somehow something has gone amiss as now I am repeatedly getting,

Do I need to reinstall the appliance or

" could not find kernel image: vmlinuz"

Waaa! I've tried unconnecting the ISO image, reconnecting then rerunning "Import PXE bootfiles" but that hasn't made any difference.

Help! Points given generouslyl!