scripted usb install - file copy

[Rich123]

I'm trying to do a scripted install of ESXi 4.1 from a usb thumb drive.  The actual install and config goes great.  My issue is with some files I want to copy from the thumb drive to the ESXi server.

I have several files on the thumb drive that I want to copy from the thumb drive to the server so I can install some additional software after ESXi is installed.  I've been trying to use mcopy, but so far the closest I've come to success is having the files show on the ESXi server before the first reboot, but after reboot the files are gone.   This is the command I've been using:

mcopy -v -b -i /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:1 \::file1 /PCNS223/file1.copy

I'm not interested in pulling the files over the network; I need them to come from the usb.  I'm hoping I'm missing something simple and someone can point me in the right direction.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[DSTAVERT]

You will need to encapsulate your files in the OEM.TGZ file. They will get extracted on boot.

[nkrishnan · Accepted solution]

Rich,

Copy  your files under VMFS so that it retains after the reboot and you can  install the software from VMFS.also you can copy to scratch partition if  you configured scratch partition to point to VMFS

Oem.tgz can be used as start up folder in windows as mentioned by DSTRAVERT

Thanks
Nithin

[Rich123]

Do I need to create an oem.tgz file?  I don't see one anywhere?

[DSTAVERT]

Yes you would need to create one. It will be expanded during the boot process.

[Rich123]

I created oem.tgz and copied it to my thumb drive.  It's about 26 MB and contains three files.

The following command is run in my menu:

append vmkboot.gz ks=usb:/SCRIPTS/SERVER1.CFG --- vmkernel.gz --- sys.vgz --- cim.vgz --- ienviron.vgz ---oem.tgz --- install.vgz --- mod.tgz

I see the other files copy over to the ESXi host during install, but never see oem.tgz get copied.

On the ESXi host I do find oem.tgz in /bootbank, but it's not my oem.tgz file.

[DSTAVERT]

Have a look at http://www.vm-help.com/esx40i/customize_oem_tgz.php

[Rich123]

Thanks for the link; I had come across that one before.  It makes it look like I need to do some manual copying before reboot.  I really don't want to do that.

I noticed in my line above that I didn't have a space between --- and oem.tgz.  Once I added this, the copy displayed during install; by that I mean I saw Loading oem.tgz...

Before rebooting the host, I logged in to tech support mode.

I didn't see the oem.tgz file, but I saw that it had been unpacked and all the files were in the /PCNS directory.

After reboot, that directory is gone.

This is getting really frustrating. 

[Rich123]

Thank-you both for your assistance.

I ended up putting the files in oem.tgz, but I copied oem.tgz using mcopy and removed --- oem.tgz from my append line.

The key piece to all of this for me was the destination.  By putting them in /vmfs/volumes/Hypervisor1 they were on the system after reboot and automatically expanded.

In the end, the command I used was:

mcopy -v -b -i /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:1 \::oem.tgz /vmfs/volumes/Hypervisor1/oem.tgz