You might want to know the other methods for installing ESXi 6.5. Where can you install ESXi 6.5 – to the local disk or elsewhere? In fact, there are five different ways to install and deploy VMware ESXi 6.5:
The installer starts automatically within a few seconds.
So far, so good. The next screen says you can install ESXi 6.5 on pretty much everything, but only systems that are on the HCL are supported.
Hit Enter and continue with the installation. Accept the end-user license agreement (EULA) and hit the F11 key to continue. The next screen presents you with a choice of destination. Where do you want to install ESXi 6.5?
Make your choice, hit Enter and continue. The next screen will invite you to select a keyboard language and set up a root password. Root is a local account with all privileges; this is a required step. Make sure you pick the right language for your keyboard, as you’ll need to enter a complex password for the account.
Hit the F11 key once again to start the installer. It’ll take just a few minutes to install ESXi 6.5. It is a very lightweight product that needs only a few gb of space.
After a brief moment, you’ll see a screen asking you to eject the installation media and hit Enter to reboot the host. Now you can change the BIOS boot sequence back, though if the boot sequence is CD-ROM > Hard Disk, you’ll be fine.
We’re done with the installation. The next step will be configuration.
Next, navigate with the down arrow key to select the “Configure Management Network” menu. Hit Enter to access the menu.
Check the network cards that the installer recognizes. Sometimes when you’re installing on non-certified hardware, the installer may have problems recognizing some network cards, so be aware of that.
Hit Enter to go one level deeper and see the network adapters, VLAN settings and the other network configuration options.
The next submenu allows you to connect or disconnect the network adapters you wish to use.
Let’s hit the Esc key to go back and configure our network settings.
Hit the Enter key to validate the selection. This will return us to the previous menu, one level higher. Use the arrow key to go down one step and disable the IPv6 configuration completely. Use the up arrow and Space keys to uncheck the selection.
Again, validate by hitting the Enter key to go one level higher. Then use the down arrow key again to move to the next menu: domain name server (DNS) configuration.
Quick note: You should create your forward and reverse DNS records on your DNS server before configuring the DNS here.
Hit Enter once more. We’re almost done.
Enter any suffixes required for your DNS. You’ll get a prompt to reboot, which will validate the configuration. Note that there is only single reboot necessary! And this is only because we disabled the IPv6 configuration. This means that if you left the IPv6 in place, you wouldn’t need to reboot ESXi 6.5, not even once.
The URL to remember is:
https://fqdn_of_your_ESXi/ui
or
https://IP_of_your_ESXi/ui
Well, this is it. We have successfully configured our ESXi 6.5 hypervisor. You can start creating VMs on local storage or wait for one of our future posts where we’ll be configuring shared storage (iSCSI or NFS).
In my next post I will explain how to deploy VMware vCenter (VCSA) 6.5
- Installation to a USB stick – the server boots from the USB stick.
- Installation to the local SATA/SAS or FC drive (RAID1)
- Installation to an SD flash card (certain hardware manufacturers provide a mirrored “double” slot)
- Boot from LUN via a hardware iSCSI card, FC or FCoE (fiber channel over Ethernet)
- Stateless booting via VMware auto-deployment
- A hardware device that is on the VMware hardware compatibility list (HCL)
- An ESXi installation ISO, which you can download from the VMware website, and which you’ll burn to a CD-ROM
Step 1: Installation ^
After you have satisfied both requirements and you’re ready to go, set up your BIOS to boot from CD-ROM. The installer will present you with the following screen to get started:The installer starts automatically within a few seconds.
So far, so good. The next screen says you can install ESXi 6.5 on pretty much everything, but only systems that are on the HCL are supported.
Hit Enter and continue with the installation. Accept the end-user license agreement (EULA) and hit the F11 key to continue. The next screen presents you with a choice of destination. Where do you want to install ESXi 6.5?
Make your choice, hit Enter and continue. The next screen will invite you to select a keyboard language and set up a root password. Root is a local account with all privileges; this is a required step. Make sure you pick the right language for your keyboard, as you’ll need to enter a complex password for the account.
Hit the F11 key once again to start the installer. It’ll take just a few minutes to install ESXi 6.5. It is a very lightweight product that needs only a few gb of space.
After a brief moment, you’ll see a screen asking you to eject the installation media and hit Enter to reboot the host. Now you can change the BIOS boot sequence back, though if the boot sequence is CD-ROM > Hard Disk, you’ll be fine.
We’re done with the installation. The next step will be configuration.
Step 2: Configuration. ^
Log in to the system first. You’ll need to be at the console.Next, navigate with the down arrow key to select the “Configure Management Network” menu. Hit Enter to access the menu.
Check the network cards that the installer recognizes. Sometimes when you’re installing on non-certified hardware, the installer may have problems recognizing some network cards, so be aware of that.
Hit Enter to go one level deeper and see the network adapters, VLAN settings and the other network configuration options.
The next submenu allows you to connect or disconnect the network adapters you wish to use.
Let’s hit the Esc key to go back and configure our network settings.
Hit the Enter key to validate the selection. This will return us to the previous menu, one level higher. Use the arrow key to go down one step and disable the IPv6 configuration completely. Use the up arrow and Space keys to uncheck the selection.
Again, validate by hitting the Enter key to go one level higher. Then use the down arrow key again to move to the next menu: domain name server (DNS) configuration.
Quick note: You should create your forward and reverse DNS records on your DNS server before configuring the DNS here.
Hit Enter once more. We’re almost done.
Enter any suffixes required for your DNS. You’ll get a prompt to reboot, which will validate the configuration. Note that there is only single reboot necessary! And this is only because we disabled the IPv6 configuration. This means that if you left the IPv6 in place, you wouldn’t need to reboot ESXi 6.5, not even once.
Step 3: Connect to the host ^
We can connect to a single host two ways:- Via a traditional Windows C++ client (you’ll need to install it on your Windows workstation)
- Via an HTML 5 web-based browser (no software to install)
The URL to remember is:
https://fqdn_of_your_ESXi/ui
or
https://IP_of_your_ESXi/ui
Well, this is it. We have successfully configured our ESXi 6.5 hypervisor. You can start creating VMs on local storage or wait for one of our future posts where we’ll be configuring shared storage (iSCSI or NFS).
In my next post I will explain how to deploy VMware vCenter (VCSA) 6.5
No comments:
Post a Comment