Installing ESX

Installing ESX

1. VMWare download pages typically contain MD5 checksums. Use Linux (or Cygwin) command md5sum to verify your ISO image file. For example:

   md5sum esx-3.5.0_Update04-153875.iso

   It should print the response - 8ef3674c5f9e72334a094179063cf221
2. Install DeepBurner (Windows XP), or use Brasero burning software (Linux). Prepare the ISO image.
3. Attach video screen, mouse and keyboard. Power up the unit, insert the CD-ROM.
4. Wait for ESX installation screen to appear (if necessary change the boot order). Pick graphical installation mode.
5. If you are using the ISO image for the first time, check the CD-ROM media (it will take about 5 minutes). You will see "Welcome to VMware ESX Server 3" and nothing will change for several minutes. Be patient, while the message "It is OK to install from this media" comes up.
6. When you get the graphical screen "Welcome to VMware ESX Server 3 Installation", click Next
7. Select an appropriate keyboard and mouse settings and click Next
8. Accept the licence agreement.
9. Under Partitioning Options select Advanced.
10. In the Partition Disks dialog delete all existing or default partitions, if any, until you get the state, where /dev/sda (or /dev/hde) contains only free space.
    1. Create a new partition: MountPoint=/boot, FileSystemType=ext3, Size=384MB, fixed size. Click OK.
    2. Create a new partition: MountPoint=/, FileSystemType=ext3, Size=5000MB, fill all space up to 5000MB. Click OK.
    3. Create a new partition: FileSystemType=swap, size=1600MB, fill all space up to 1600MB. Click OK.
    4. Create a new partition: MountPoint=/var/log, FileSystemType=ext3, size=5000MB, fill all space up to 5000MB. Click OK.
    5. Create a new partition (select the "Free space" that is under "Extended" section and click New): FileSystemType=vmkcore, size=100MB, fixed size. Click OK.
    6. After these partitions are created, you could see a few small segments of "Free Space" taking one disk cylinder or less. Just ignore them. You will also get a large chunk of free space, which will be used to store the VMWare images.
       Warning: It is recommended to not create a VMFS partition during the ESX installation and to instead create it afterward using the VI Client to ensure that it is properly aligned. You can do this by deleting the default vmfs3 partition during the ESX installation at the Partition Disks screen.
    7. You will get Partition Disks screen that looks like this:

       Device                  Mount Point    Type        Size(MB)
       Hard Drives 
           /dev/sda                           
               /dev/sda1        /boot         ext3        384 (1-49)
               /dev/sda2        /             ext3        4997 (50-686)
               /dev/sda3        /var/log      ext3        4997 (687-1323)
               /dev/sda4                      Extended    
                   /dev/sda5                  swap        1592 (1324-1526)
                   /dev/sda6                  vmkcore     102 (1527-1539)
                   Free                       Free space  226345 (1540-30394)

11. Do not change the default bootloader configuration, click Next
12. Under Network Interface Card, pick the select box and check that the number of NIC cards is correct. Under Network Address and Host Name pick IPAddress=10.120.29.61, SubnetMask=255.255.255.0, Gateway=10.120.29.1, PrimaryDNS=10.120.4.50, SecondaryDNS - blank, HostName=dell06-rix.training.bluecoat.com. VlanID - blank, check the "Create a default network for virtual machines".
13. Select your time zone, leave the check mark next to "System clock uses UTC".
14. Pick the root password. Click Add, create one more user "administrator" and type his password from a data sheet. Click Next.
15. Wait until installation finishes. Remove the CD-ROM (also - monitor, keyboard, mouse), restart the system.

Install VMWare Infrastructure Client (VI Client)

1. Visit the IP address you configured in the previous step (http://server-ip), select the link "Download VMware Infrastructure Client".
2. Run the downloaded file, install the upgrade manager, if desired.
3. Run the VI Client.

Licensing and Creating administrator user

1. Click button Inventory, select Configuration > Software > Licensed Features. Import the license file or just observe that the 60 day trial period has started.
2. Pick Inventory > Users and Groups, right click user "administrator" that was created in the previous step and select Edit (or just open the Inventory > Users and Groups, click button Users and right-click somewhere inside the white frame to create a new user.). Enter the login name and user name "administrator". Add these groups one by one: bin, daemon, sys, adm, disk, wheel, admin (i.e. all the same groups that "root" user has, except the group "root"). To add a group, write its name under Group and press Add.
   
3. Check the radio button Grant shell access to the user
4. Pick Inventory > Permissions, right click in the main area of the screen and pick Add Permission. Add user "administrator" to the left side of the dialog, and pick role "Administrator" for him.
5. Connect with the SSH client to the ESX server. Edit file /etc/sudoers and place user "administrator" in this file:

   # User privilege specification
   root    ALL=(ALL) ALL
   administrator ALL=(ALL) ALL

Problems with IDE Disks

1. If your computer has no SCSI disk, but only IDE one, then the following message appears:
   You have selected an IDE drive that will require special configuration to fully support the ESX server. It is recommended that you select a non-IDE drive from the list for this installation. Are you sure you want to do this? No/Yes
2. When you install a system on such a machine, you get a message like this:
   0:00:01:21.589 cpu1:1033)Mod: 1413: Initialization for vmfs2 failed with -1
3. The default partitioning looks like this:

   Hard Drives
     /dev/hde
       /dev/hde1  /boot    ext3           102MB
       /dev/hde2  /        ext3          4997MB
       /dev/hde3           swap           541MB
       /dev/hde4           Extended
         /dev/hde /var/log ext3          1992MB
         Free              Free space  469305MB

Tags: esx