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mathiase
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

ESXi 5: Kickstart Problems

Hi,

in my lab environment I install with kickstart and PXE. I just set it up with ESXi 5 and have some problems the worst of which being the root password. I have tried "rootpw *******" and "rootpw "******"" but every time I can login via SSH or vCenter with an empty password. Despite of this, I have not found any info on how to properly enable NTP: With this configuration the NTP server is configured in /etc/ntpd.conf and is shown in vSphere Client but the NTP service itself is not started on system boot. Futher, clearpart does not seem to do its job: It seems like the VMFS label is not properly overwritten and the name I give is appended with "(1)". What you see below is my ugly workaround to this. At the very end I update the server using a zip bundle. Unfortunately, the server does not come back from maintenance mode and is still there after reboot. The SuppressShellWarning advanced parameter is not set, too.

Any help with any of the problems described above is very much appreciated.

cheers

mathiase

vmaccepteula

clearpart --alldrives --overwritevmfs

install --firstdisk --overwritevmfs

keyboard Default

network --bootproto=static --device=vmnic0 --ip=10.10.55.10 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --hostname=node00.vl.invalid --gateway=10.10.55.1 --nameserver=10.10.55.1 --vlanid=55

paranoid

rootpw "******"

reboot --noeject


%firstboot --interpreter=busybox


######################################################################################

# NETWORKING

######################################################################################


esxcli system hostname set --host "node00" --domain "vl.invalid"

esxcli network ip dns search add --domain=vl.invalid

esxcli network ip dns server add --server=10.10.55.1


# MANAGEMENT VMS

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add -p "Management VMs" -v "vSwitch0"

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup set -p "Management VMs" -v 55


# VIRTUAL MACHINES

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add -p "VM Network" -v "vSwitch0"

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup set -p "VM Network" -v 56


# IP STORAGE

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add -p "IP Storage" -v "vSwitch0"

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup set -p "IP Storage" -v 55

esxcli network ip interface add -i "vmk1" -p "IP Storage"

esxcli network ip interface ipv4 set -i "vmk1" -I "10.10.55.20" -N "255.255.255.0" -t "static"


# PXEBOOT NETWORK

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add -p "PXE Boot" -v "vSwitch0"


# VMOTION NETWORK

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add -p "vMotion" -v "vSwitch0"

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup set -p "vMotion" -v=55

esxcli network ip interface add -i "vmk2" -p "vMotion"

esxcli network ip interface ipv4 set -i "vmk2" -I "10.10.55.30" -N "255.255.255.0" -t "static"

vim-cmd hostsvc/vmotion/vnic_set vmk2



######################################################################################

# STORAGE

######################################################################################


# SET LOCAL DATASTORE NAME

vim-cmd hostsvc/datastore/rename "datastore1" "$(hostname -s):datastore1"


# ENABLE SW ISCSI

esxcli iscsi software set -e 1

iscsihba=`esxcli iscsi adapter list | grep -i vmhba | cut -d ' ' -f 1`

esxcli iscsi adapter set -A $iscsihba -n "iqn.2011-12.invalid.vl:node00-swiscsi" -a "node00"

esxcli iscsi networkportal add -A $iscsihba -n vmk1

esxcli iscsi adapter discovery statictarget add -A vmhba34 -a "10.10.55.3:3260" -n "iqn.2006-06.com.quadstor.vdisk.vlan55lun0"

esxcli iscsi adapter discovery statictarget add -A vmhba34 -a "10.10.55.3:3260" -n "iqn.2006-06.com.quadstor.vdisk.vlan55lun1"

esxcli iscsi adapter discovery statictarget add -A vmhba34 -a "10.10.55.3:3260" -n "iqn.2006-06.com.quadstor.vdisk.vlan55lun2"

esxcli storage core adapter rescan --adapter $iscsihba

esxcli storage filesystem automount


# NFS

esxcli storage nfs add -H "10.10.55.3" -r -s "/srv/nfs" -v "ISO"


######################################################################################

# MISC

######################################################################################


# Virtualized Hardware Virtualization

echo 'vhv.allow = "TRUE"' >> /etc/vmware/config


# Syslog

vim-cmd hostsvc/advopt/update Syslog.Remote.Hostname string syslog.vl.invalid

vim-cmd hostsvc/advopt/update Syslog.Remote.Port int 514

vim-cmd hostsvc/advopt/update Syslog.Local.DatastorePath string "[quadstor00] /logfiles/$(hostname -s).log"


# NTP

cat > /etc/ntp.conf <<EOF

restrict default kod nomodify notrap nopeer

restrict 127.0.0.1

server 10.10.55.1

driftfile /etc/ntp.drift

EOF


# Enable Shell and SSH

vim-cmd hostsvc/enable_ssh

vim-cmd hostsvc/start_ssh


vim-cmd hostsvc/enable_esx_shell

vim-cmd hostsvc/start_esx_shell


esxcli system settings advanced set --option="/UserVars/SuppressShellWarning" --int-value=1


######################################################################################

# UPDATE

######################################################################################

vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter

DS=`ls /vmfs/volumes/ | grep datastore`

wget -P "/vmfs/volumes/${DS}/" http://10.10.55.5/ESXi500-201111001.zip

esxcli software vib update --depot="/vmfs/volumes/${DS}/ESXi500-201111001.zip"

vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_exit


reboot

-- I would like to change the world, but they won't give me the source code ...
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mathiase
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

By chance, I just found out, that the Rootpw problems has to do with the updating at the very end of the script. Without the update, the rootpw is set correctly. Any ideas / workarounds?

-- I would like to change the world, but they won't give me the source code ...
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Kiil
Contributor
Contributor

Hello,

I know this is an old post, but I have a question regarding the last reboot command.  I'm PXE booting ESXi 6 and everything is installing and configuring properly. But, I need it to reboot one last time...anyone have a clue how to do that ?

/BKiil

Bjørn-Ove Kiil
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