Hi guys,
I am having problems with a ESX 4 scripted installation ( manual text / gui install works just fine).
I use following pxeboot file
- SNIP -
default menu.c32
menu ESX Boot Menu
timeout 30
label scripted
menu label Scripted Installation
kernel vmlinuz-install-vmware4
append ksdevice=vmnic0 initrd=initrd-install-vmware4.img vmkopts=debugLogToSerial:1 mem=512M ks=http://XXX.XX.XX.X/ks/ks.cfg quiet
- SNIP -
After kernel and initrd image is loaded I get following error message:
" No COS NICs have been added by the user"
Any help?
Thanks,
Piotr
Try adding IPAPPEND 2 at the end of your statement if you have more than one NIC on your host, it might try to boot off the other which may or may not be configured.
Take a look here for more information:
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at:
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
Hi
Thanks for your feedback ... however result is exactly the same "No COS NICs...".
Please find updated pxeboot file:
default menu.c32
menu ESX Boot Menu
timeout 30
label scripted
menu label Scripted Installation
kernel vmlinuz-install-vmware4
append initrd=initrd-install-vmware4.img vmkopts=debugLogToSerial:1 mem=512M ks=http://XXX.XX.XX.X/ks/$.cfg quiet
ipappend 2
--
Any other things I might try? If you need a more details please let me know.
Thanks,
Piotr
Hi,
Ok, anserwing my own question. The problem is with VMware using its own MACs for the VMNICs.
So ESX host was PXE booting on a MAC that it supposed to but later on it tried to fetch the IP address configuration on a comlpetly different virtual MAC.
The question is ... is tehre a way that we can force ESX 4.0 to use real MAC addresses instead of its own? ... otherwise I find quite difficult to automate the whole process
Thanks,
Piotr
Hi netf,
Does the installation get stuck here. Or does it proceed.
Thanks
Hi ann_86
Installation get stuck there as it can't fetch VMware ESX files. They are located on remote http server so proper IP configuration is a must.
Interesting thing is that every single boot ESX advertises itself with different virtual MAC
Thanks,
Piotr
Hi, I encounter the same issue with script to install esx4.0, but I ignore the error and add follwing command to the ks.conf.
**************************************************************************************************************************************************************
vim ks.conf
accepteula
keyboard us
auth --enablemd5 --enableshadow
reboot
rootpw --iscrypted $1$x/DuHjcR$m0It0maJ6M9nW
timezone Asia/Shanghai
network --addvmportgroup=true --device=vmnic0 --bootproto=dhcp
#Partitioning Information
clearpart --all --initlabel --firstdisk --overwritevmfs
part '/boot' --fstype=ext3 --size=1100 --onfirstdisk
part 'none' --fstype=vmkcore --size=110 --onfirstdisk
part 'Storage1' --fstype=vmfs3 --size=8604 --grow --onfirstdisk
virtualdisk 'esxconsole' --size=7604 --onvmfs='Storage1'
part 'swap' --fstype=swap --size=600 --onvirtualdisk='esxconsole'
part '/var/log' --fstype=ext3 --size=2000 --onvirtualdisk='esxconsole'
part '/' --fstype=ext3 --size=5000 --grow --onvirtualdisk='esxconsole'
***
%post --interpreter=bash
echo "### Configuring ESX Firewall to allow all ports incoming and outgoing traffic" >> /root/ri.log
esxcfg-firewall --AllowIncoming >> /root/ri.log
esxcfg-firewall --AllowOutgoing >> /root/ri.log
echo "" >> /root/ri.log
echo "### Configuring sshd to allow root login - see /etc/ssh/sshd_config" >> /root/ri.log
sed -i 's/PermitRootLogin no/PermitRootLogin yes/g' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
cat /etc/ssh/sshd_config |grep PermitRootLogin >> /root/ri.log
echo "" >> /root/ri.log
echo "Changing MAC of vswif0 to match that of installation nic" >> /root/ri.log ########## change MAC########
%post --nochroot
cp /mnt/sysimage/bin/awk /sbin
sed -i '/^MACADDR/d' /mnt/sysimage/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-vswif0
echo "MACADDR=`ifconfig vmnic0 |grep HWaddr |awk '{print $5}'`" >> /mnt/sysimage/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-vswif0
cat /mnt/sysimage/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-vswif0 |grep MACADDR >> /mnt/sysimage/root/ri.log
#ntp settings
excfg-firewall --disable
chkconfig ntpd on
cat > /etc/ntp.conf <<EOF
restrict default kod nomodify notrap nopeer noquery
restrict -6 default kod nomodify notrap nopeer noquery
server ******
In /tftp/pxelinux/vm file
label 10
MENU LABEL ^10) VMWare 4.0 Remote Install
kernel /pxelinux/vm/vm40/vmlinuz
append initrd=/pxelinux/vm/vm40/initrd.img vmkopts=debugLogToSerial:1 mem=512M ksdevice=vmnic0 ks=nfs:192.168.1.1:/install/vmware/4.0/kickstart/ks.cfg quiet
Hi
Found out where the problem is. Basically during an install for some reason IP is being assigned to the vswif0 interface.
That's why I can see virtual MAC being advertised in a DHCP log files and etc.
When I set my PXE conf file like that :
-- SNIP --
default menu.c32
menu ESX Boot Menu
timeout 30
label scripted
menu label Scripted Installation
kernel vmlinuz-install-vmware4
append initrd=initrd-install-vmware4.img ksdevice=vmnic0 ip=172.16.12.132 netmask=255.255.255.0 gateway=172.16.12.1 nameserver=172.16.11.250 vmkopts=debugLogToSerial:1 mem=512M ks=http://172.16.10.2/ks/$.cfg
-- SNIP --
Installation proceeds and finishes fine.
Of course this is not a solution to this problem so the question is ... as I understand this correctly installation should happen on physical interface? Any ideas why it keeps trying to perform it on a vswif0 interface?
Thanks,
Piotr
OK guys,
The solution is to add IPAPPEND 1 to the pxe boot file.
Now it works fine for me ... I hope it might help someone as well.
Thanks,
Piot
Thank you so much for posting this!
I was having the same problem and couldn't figure out how to automate the whole installation.
your solution saved me from making an ugly patch.
I still see VMware using its own mac address requesting for dhcp address. why is that? Why can it use the physical vmnic0 address?? my dhcp can only take static mac address ip reservation. how do I have kickstart esx4 use the vmnic0 physical mac for ip request? I added the IPAPPEND=1 but no luck
No Cos nics problem is resolved by using Build 14 from http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/vmware-content/ultimate-da/
vinayak111 wrote:
No Cos nics problem is resolved by using Build 14 from http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/vmware-content/ultimate-da/
While it may have been resolved in Build 14, this error is re-apearing in Build 17.
Has anyone found a solution?