Install ESX 4.0 from USB Stick to a Server without CD-ROM

[BCrime]

Hello

Is there a way to bring the ISO image esx 4.0 to a bootable USB-Stick for installing it onto a Server without CD-Rom ?

[krowczynski]

You must select in your BIOS, an USB device as bootable.

[BCrime]

Yes, i know,but how can i bring the ISO file on the USB-Stick ?

[krowczynski]

Yes, i know,but how can i bring the ISO file on the USB-Stick ?

Copy the ISO file on the stick!

Here is a guide to make it with ESX4i.

Probably this may help you.

[BCrime]

Thank you, but there is no image.tgz in the ISO File like descriped in your Doku. I've got the Trial Version of the ESX. 4.0.

[krowczynski]

The guide seems to be only for ESXi.

BUt what happen when you copy the ESX iso on the stick and boot your server?

[BCrime]

I tried to just copy the files over. It doesn't boot.

[krowczynski]

You have to make your USB bootable.

e.g. here

http://www.bootdisk.com/pendrive.htm

[StorageObserver]

I've just finished a few ESX 4 builds from thumbdrives using UNetbootin :

Once you have UNetbootin running on your desktop, do the following:

(make sure your USB drive is plugged in to the desktop running unetbootin)

1. Select Diskimage, locate the ESX4 iso.

2. Choose your USB drive

3. Press "Ok" and let it do its work

When it's done, boot using the USB stick

It'd show you a grub-type boot options menu.

Use arrow keys to high-light either the graphic and text installer, press "Tab", and append "askmedia" to the end of the kernel flags

for example :

vmkopts=debugLogToSerial:1 mem=512M quiet askmedia

Press Enter to let the installer boot with the flag, follow the onscreen instructions to do the install.

*The "askmedia" tells the ESX installer to ask the user where to find install packages. You can probably select NFS volume on the network if you want

Enjoy,

Tim.

Message was edited by: StorageObserver

[jeholo]

I have a USB drive I have created with unetbootin which works for interactive installation.

I have created a CF card the same way and put into my SUN blade. All works until it tries to copy files.

Changed syslinux.cfg and added askmedia - all works until I get the askmedia page. There it shows no USB/CDROM.

Opened a console and was able to mount /dev/sda1 as /mnt/source and found there the files on the CF-card.

Obviously the VMware device drivers found the CF-card as a SCSI disk/device, and not as a USB-drive/device.

How can I select / specify a disk as media ?

[sk8killer]

Yes it does work fine with http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net which does help to create a bootable pendrive from the ESX 4.0 DVD install Media.

Moreover you can copy your ISO file into the same pendrive, boot it and using 'askmedia' parameter you will see a new window while configuring ESX install where you can state where is located the install Media.

NFS and FTP or hard drive can also be selected.

Well done!

(I had a SunFire V20z system with cdrom drive)

[jeholo]

In the askmedia / Install Media Window I get the following sources available :

-CD-ROM or USB Storage

- Network File System (NFS)

- World Wide Web (HTTP)

- File server (FTP)

Se attachment.

Selecting CD-ROM or USB Storage gives a page with an empty device list.

The reason for this is probably because the CF card is mounted at some time as a SCSI device.

When the askmedia / Install Media window is displayed I can change to an alternative console (Alt-F1) and mount the /dev/sda1 device.

At the mount-point I can "browse" the files of the CF-card.

None of the askmedia/Install Media gives the option to browse /dev/sda1 nor to select an iso-file.

If I remember right was the possibility of selecting an iso-file an option in ESX 3 (and 3.5?).

For the exercise I also tried attaching a USB-stick to the blade :

Pressing refresh in the "CD-ROM or USB Storage" with the USB attached gives an device available.

I did not have to have the iso-file on the USB - the files from the CD copied to the USB was good enough.

The reader of this might wonder why I don't simply use the USB-drive.

On our SUN blades the USB-device is attached to an external (loose) cable.

Therefor the USB-device can get disconnected.

The CF card is firmly fixed in the blade.

And during VMware classes we install from iso-images through ILOM (remote consle).

This takes 20 minutes for only the final file-copy.

Using an USB/CF this file-copy time is reduced to less than 5 minutes.

[vmproteau]

I have used the unetbootin method described in this post to install vSphere ESX 4.0 and it worked well. I am now installing ESXi 4.1 and it is not working. Is there a best paractice or preferred method for installing ESXi 4.1 via USB?

[nkrishnan]

Hi,

Refer http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_esxi_i_vc_setup_guide.pdf from page no:26 has the detailed steps.

You need 2 USB, One create boot from USB and other will act as Install depot.

Refer the Doc.

Thanks

Nithin

[vmproteau]

Thanks. I glanced at that but, overlooked the "Do not use the same USB flash drive as the storage location for the installation media and as the

installation boot device."

I'll give this a shot.

[nkrishnan]

As i mentioned, we cannot have same usb drive with bootable as well as installation media. You have to configure one usb drive as bootable and other one as install media.

-Nithin