VMware ESXi Installation and Setup - VMware vSphere 7

1 VMware ESXi Installation and Setup02 APR 2020 Modified on 11 AUG 2020 VMware vSphere ESXi can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware website at: , Hillview Alto, CA 2018-2020 VMware , Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright and trademark ESXi Installation and SetupVMware, VMware ESXi Installation and Setup5 Updated Information62 Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup 73 Overview of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process84 About ESXi Evaluation and Licensed Modes115 Installing and Setting Up ESXi12 ESXi Requirements12 ESXi Hardware Requirements12 Supported Remote Management Server Models and Firmware Versions15 Recommendations for Enhanced ESXi Performance15 Incoming and Outgoing Firewall Ports for ESXi Hosts17 Required Free Space for System Logging19 VMware Host Client System Requirements20 ESXi Passwords and Account Lockout20 Preparing for Installing ESXi22 Download the ESXi Installer22 Options for Installing ESXi 23 Media Options for Booting the ESXi

2 Installer24 Using Remote Management Applications35 Customizing Installations with vSphere ESXi Image Builder35 Required Information for ESXi Installation74 Installing ESXi75 Installing ESXi Interactively75 Installing or Upgrading Hosts by Using a Script79 PXE Booting the ESXi Installer95 Installing ESXi Using vSphere Auto Deploy 102 Troubleshooting vSphere Auto Deploy191 Setting Up ESXi198 ESXi Autoconfiguration198 About the Direct Console ESXi Interface198 Enable ESXi Shell and SSH Access with the Direct Console User Interface202 Managing ESXi Remotely203 Set the Password for the Administrator Account203 VMware , the BIOS Boot Settings203 Configuring Network Settings205 Storage Behavior211 Configuring System Logging213 Set the Host Image Profile Acceptance Level215 Remove All Custom Packages on ESXi216 Disable Support for Non-ASCII Characters in Virtual Machine File and Directory Names216 Reset the System Configuration217 After You Install and Set Up ESXi217 Managing ESXi Remotely218 Licensing ESXi Hosts 218 View System Logs2206 Troubleshooting ESXi Booting221 Host Stops Unexpectedly at Bootup When Sharing a Boot Disk with Another Host221 Host Fails to Boot After You Install ESXi in UEFI Mode 2227 Decommission an ESXi Host223 VMware ESXi Installation and SetupVMware.

3 VMware ESXi Installation and Setup1 VMware ESXi Installation and Setup describes how to install and configure VMware ESXi .Intended AudienceVMware ESXi Installation and Setup is intended for experienced administrators who want to install and configure information is written for experienced Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and data center operations. The information about using the Image Builder and VMware vSphere Auto Deploy is written for administrators who have experience with Microsoft PowerShell and VMware vSphere PowerCLI . VMware , InformationThis VMware ESXi Installation & Setup guide is updated with each release of the product or when table provides the update history of the VMware ESXi Installation & Setup AUG 2020At VMware , we value inclusion.

4 To foster this principle within our customer, partner, and internal community, we are replacing some of the terminology in our content. We have updated this guide to remove instances of non-inclusive APR 2020nUpdated local disk size values for a boot partition with a VMFS datastore in ESXi Hardware ESXi rollback information in ESXi Hardware information about upgrading systems for device alias profiles in Using the Device Alias Configuration Host APR 2020 Initial , to vSphere Installation and Setup2vSphere provides various options for Installation and Setup . To ensure a successful vSphere deployment, you should understand the Installation and Setup options, and the sequence of two core components of vSphere are ESXi and vCenter Server.

5 ESXi is the virtualization platform on which you can create and run virtual machines and virtual appliances. vCenter Server is a service that acts as a central administrator for ESXi hosts connected in a network. vCenter Server lets you pool and manage the resources of multiple deploy the vCenter Server appliance, a preconfigured virtual machine optimized for running vCenter Server and the vCenter Server components. You can deploy the vCenter Server appliance on ESXi hosts or on vCenter Server detailed information about the vCenter Server Installation process, see vCenter Server Installation and , of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process3vSphere is a sophisticated product with multiple components to install and set up.

6 To ensure a successful vSphere deployment, understand the sequence of tasks vSphere includes the following tasks: VMware , 3-1. vSphere Installation and Setup WorkflowStart the vSphereinstallation and setupEnd of the vSphereinstallation and setupInstall ESXion at least one hostSet up ESXiDeploy vCenter Server ApplianceLog in to the vSphereClient to create and organizeyour vCenter Server inventory1 Read the vSphere release that your system meets the minimum hardware requirements. See ESXi the ESXi Installation option to use. See Options for Installing ESXi .cDetermine where you want to locate and boot the ESXi installer. See Media Options for Booting the ESXi Installer. If you are using PXE to boot the installer, verify that your network PXE infrastructure is properly set up.

7 See PXE Booting the ESXi a worksheet with the information you will need when you install ESXi. See Required Information for ESXi ESXi Installation and SetupVMware, ESXi InteractivelynInstalling or Upgrading Hosts by Using a ScriptNote You can also provision ESXi hosts by using vSphere Auto Deploy, but vSphere Auto Deploy is installed together with vCenter Server. To provision ESXi hosts by using Auto Deploy, you must install vCenter the ESXi boot and network settings, the direct console, and other settings. See Setting Up ESXi and After You Install and Set Up setting up a syslog server for remote logging, to ensure sufficient disk storage for log files. Setting up logging on a remote host is especially important for hosts with limited local storage.

8 See Required Free Space for System Logging and Configure Syslog on ESXi vCenter detailed information, see the vCenter Server Installation and Setup ESXi Installation and SetupVMware, ESXi Evaluation and Licensed Modes4 You can use evaluation mode to explore the entire set of features for ESXi hosts. The evaluation mode provides the set of features equal to a vSphere Enterprise Plus license. Before the evaluation mode expires, you must assign to your hosts a license that supports all the features in example, in evaluation mode, you can use vSphere vMotion technology, the vSphere HA feature, the vSphere DRS feature, and other features. If you want to continue using these features, you must assign a license that supports installable version of ESXi hosts is always installed in evaluation mode.

9 ESXi Embedded is preinstalled on an internal storage device by your hardware vendor. It might be in evaluation mode or evaluation period is 60 days and begins when you turn on the ESXi host. At any time during the 60-day evaluation period, you can convert from licensed mode to evaluation mode. The time available in the evaluation period is decreased by the time already example, suppose that you use an ESXi host in evaluation mode for 20 days and then assign a vSphere Standard Edition license key to the host. If you set the host back in evaluation mode, you can explore the entire set of features for the host for the remaining evaluation period of 40 information about managing licensing for ESXi hosts, see the vCenter Server and Host Management , and Setting Up ESXi5 You can install and set up ESXi on your physical hardware so that it acts as a platform for virtual chapter includes the following topics.

10 NESXi RequirementsnPreparing for Installing ESXinInstalling ESXinSetting Up ESXinAfter You Install and Set Up ESXiESXi RequirementsTo install or upgrade ESXi, your system must meet specific hardware and software Hardware RequirementsMake sure that the host meets the minimum hardware configurations supported by ESXi and System ResourcesTo install or upgrade ESXi, your hardware and system resources must meet the following requirements:nSupported server platform. For a list of supported platforms, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at requires a host with at least two CPU supports a broad range of multi-core of 64-bit x86 processors. For a complete list of supported processors, see the VMware compatibility guide at requires the NX/XD bit to be enabled for the CPU in the requires a minimum of 4 GB of physical RAM.