VMWARE VSPHERE 5.1HOME LAB BUILD

OUT Part I – ESXi installation

OVERVIEW

Differences between ESXi 4.x and 5.x installs ESXi Installation Options Best Practices for ESXi 5.1 Installation My Lab Hardware The Install Next Steps In my blog post @ http://wp.me/p2ngZY-4k is the video of the install.

INSTALLATION DIFFERENCES W/5.X Service Console is gone – instead we’ll be using vCLI and PowerCLI commands

No boot disk required – local or shared

No graphical installer

New installs use GUID partition table which supports disks larger than 2TB

INSTALL OPTIONS

ESXi can be installed using several methods:

1. Interactive – you sit at the server, boot the CD/DVD/USB/PXE installer, and press Enter a few times

2. Scripted – can use PXE to kick off a scripted, unattended installation

3. Auto Deploy – several options Stateless Provisioning – vCenter loads the ESXi image into host memory. Can use with host profiles but no ESXi state is stored on host disk.

Stateful Provisioning – after initial provisioning by Auto Deploy, ESXi image and configuration is stored on host accessible disk. Subsequent boots load the local image and configuration.

Stateless Caching – like Stateful except subsequent boots continue to use Auto Deploy except when Auto Deploy not available – then the host boots off local “cached” image and configuration.

BEST PRACTICES FOR ESXI 5.1 INSTALLATIONThere is a “Performance Best Practices for VMware vSphere 5.1” that I recommend reading. Pg. 17-37 are ESXi 5.1 specific. Also….

ESXi installation doc - “vSphere Installation and Setup – vSphere 5.1”“Recommendations for Enhanced ESXi Performance” pg. 31- 32

Ensure hardware is supported with the VMware Compatibility Guide

Minimum of 2GB RAM – the installer will not proceed if less

Place the management network and vm network on different physical NICsEven in a home lab if possible have at least 2 ports, preferably 4 (I’ll cover later)

MY LAB HARDWARE

IomegaiSCSI

Switch 2

Switch 1

2Gb LAG

My PC w/ VMware

WorkstationAMD 4core/8GB

Dedicated PC w/ VMware Workstation

AMD 4core/8GB

HP MicroServerAMD 2core/8GB

HP MicroServerAMD 2core/8GB

INSTALL

1. Boot physical server to CD and run install Autoconfiguration Mode

2. Basic configuration to get “on net” Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) aka Direct Console ESXi Interface

3. Install client from new host

4. Mention next video – ESXi configuration