You wish to upgrade or install ESXi.

We’ll discuss the available methods that set the foundation for the remaining recipes in this chapter.

Traditionally, system administrators installed ESXI servers from an ISO image using DVD/CD-ROM or USB key. Other ways are currently available as well. We discuss all the options here.

Building a Kickstart Configuration File for Automated Deployments, Recipe 7.2, Recipe 7.3, Recipe 7.4

You wish to automate the installation of new ESXi installations or perform automated upgrades to existing ESX/ESXI servers over the network using PXE.

Use the VMware scripting option to easily deploy new ESXI servers.

You can deploy new servers or upgrade existing ones using Kickstart scripts along with DHCP servers to create a PXE boot environment. This recipe will assume you already have the DHCP configurations done, and we will focus on the ESXi specific kickstart options.

The following is a basic Kickstart script that can be used to install ESXi and configure networking to have a base system.

# Accept the VMware End User License Agreement
vmaccepteula

# Set the root password for the DCUI and ESXi Shell
rootpw yourpasswordhere

# Install on the first local disk available on machine and overwrite the VMFS
datastore.
install --firstdisk --overwritevmfs

# Set the network to DHCP on the first network adapater, use the specified hostname
and do not create a portgroup for the VMs esxcli network --bootproto=dhcp
--device=vmnic0 --addvmportgroup=0


%firstboot --interpreter=busybox

# Add an extra nic to vSwitch0 (vmnic1)
esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add --uplink-name=vmnic1 
--vswitch-name=vSwitch0

#Assign an IP-Address to the first VMkernel, this will be used for management
esxcli network ip interface ipv4 set --interface-name=vmk0 --ipv4=10.0.0.100
--netmask=255.255.255.0 --type=static

# Add vMotion Portgroup to vSwitch0, assign it VLAN ID 201 and create a VMkernel 
interface
esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add --portgroup-name=vMotion 
--vswitch-name=vSwitch0
esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup set --portgroup-name=vMotion --vlan-id=201
esxcli network ip interface add --interface-name=vmk1 --portgroup-name=vMotion
esxcli network ip interface ipv4 set --interface-name=vmk1 --ipv4=10.0.0.101
--netmask=255.255.255.0 --type=static

# Enable vMotion on the newly created VMkernel vmk1
vim-cmd hostsvc/vmotion/vnic_set vmk1

# Add new vSwitch for VM traffic, assign uplinks, create a portgroup and assign a 
VLAN ID
esxcli network vswitch standard add --vswitch-name=vSwitch1
esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add --uplink-name=vmnic1 
--vswitch-name=vSwitch1
esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add --uplink-name=vmnic3 
--vswitch-name=vSwitch1
esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add --portgroup-name=Production 
--vswitch-name=vSwitch1
esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup set --portgroup-name=Production 
--vlan-id=101

# Set DNS and hostname
esxcli system hostname set --fqdn=esxi5.localdomain
esxcli network ip dns search add --domain=localdomain
esxcli network ip dns server add --server=10.1.1.10
esxcli network ip dns server add --server=10.2.2.10

# Enable SSH and the ESXi Shell
vim-cmd hostsvc/enable_ssh
vim-cmd hostsvc/start_ssh
vim-cmd hostsvc/enable_esx_shell
vim-cmd hostsvc/start_esx_shel


# reboots the host after the scripted installation is completed
sleep 30
reboot

The following list describes the variables and options most relevant to VMware that can be used in a Kickstart configuration script.

Older kickstart scripts from ESX 4 or ESX 3.5 don’t work with ESXi 5.0.

In this recipe, we discuss the changes in the Kickstart command feature set.

If you are currently deploying a new installation using a Kickstart script from ESXi 4.x, the following are the changes that will be required in order to successfully install ESXi 5.0 using Kickstart. We have noted for each command if it has been removed from Kickstart, if it is not supported by ESXi 5.0, or if specific options are not supported.

You wish to further enhance your ESXI server’s configuration after the ESXi installation at the first reboot of the new ESXi installation.

Put Kickstart-specific commands and Bash shell commands in the %firstboot section of the Kickstart configuration.

By including commands in the %firstboot section of the Kickstart configuration file, you can customize your ESXi configuration by creating virtual switches and network interfaces, making configuration file changes, and more. Building a Kickstart Configuration File for Automated Deployments discusses the advanced command-line options that are available. These can be combined in a flexible manner in the %firstboot section of your Kickstart configuration file. Let’s look at a few common uses for that section:

Building a Kickstart Configuration File for Automated Deployments

You want to run additional scripts before the Kickstart configuration runs, or set up the environment in which it will run.

Put Kickstart-specific commands and Bash shell commands in the %pre section of the Kickstart configuration file.

In the %pre section of Kickstart’s configuration file, you can specify commands that you want to run just after the Kickstart configuration has been parsed. Using the %pre section, you can grab specific variables relating to your system, such as disk types, and create a partitioning schema based on the disks. For example, if you want to use the same Kickstart file on Dell servers and HP servers, you can check which type of disk is being used in the %pre section and partition the disk accordingly.

Let’s take a look at a simple possibility. The following commands use some standard Unix text parsing to determine the ESXi server’s network information from bootp for use when setting the network configuration:

%pre –interpreter=busybox
VMK_INT="vmk0"
VMK_LINE=$(localcli network ip interface ipv4 get | grep "${VMK_INT}")
IPADDR=$(echo "${VMK_LINE}" | awk '{print $2}')
NETMASK=$(echo "${VMK_LINE}" | awk '{print $3}')
GATEWAY=$(esxcfg-route | awk '{print $5}')
DNS="172.30.0.100,172.30.0.200"
HOSTNAME=$(nslookup "${IPADDR}" | grep Address | awk '{print $4}')

echo "network --bootproto=static --addvmportgroup=false --device=vmnic0 --ip=${IPADDR} 
--netmask=${NETMASK} --gateway=${GATEWAY} --nameserver=${DNS} --hostname=${HOSTNAME}"
> /tmp/networkconfig

For more detailed information about using scripts in the %pre and %firstboot section, see http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-3-Manual/sysadmin-guide/s1-kickstart2-preinstallconfig.html.

Recipe Recipe 7.2 and Recipe 7.4

You wish to further enhance your ESXI servers’ configuration after the ESXi installation has completed, or do other initial tasks before applications start.

Put Kickstart-specific commands and Bash shell commands in the %post section of the Kickstart configuration.

By including commands in the %post section of the Kickstart configuration file, you can customize your ESXi configuration by creating virtual switches and network interfaces, making configuration file changes, and more. Building a Kickstart Configuration File for Automated Deployments discussed the advanced command-line options that are available to you. These can be combined in a rich manner in the %post section of your Kickstart configuration file. Let’s look at a few common uses for that section:

Building a Kickstart Configuration File for Automated Deployments

You wish to know the upgrade paths from ESX/ESXi 4.x to ESXi 5.0.

This recipe looks at the VMware-provided upgrade paths available for ESX upgrades.

VMware has continued to develop the ESXi platform and we now have multiple ways to achieve an upgrade. In this recipe we will take a look at the upgrade paths available and the methods you can use to upgrade legacy ESX/ESXi 3.x/4.x servers to the latest version of ESXi 5.0 (Table 7-1).

The following are the latest upgrade path notes from VMware Knowledge-base Article 2004501. There are a total of eight scenarios that are available, allowing the administrator to select the best method for a specific environment (Table 7-2).

You want to upgrade your ESX 4.x or ESXi 4.x to the latest version of ESXi 5.0 using the CD or DVD method.

By downloading the ISO image from vmware.com, you can create a bootable CD or DVD image to upgrade ESX to the latest version.

Upgrading ESXi 4.x or ESX 4.0 to the latest version of ESXi 5.0 can be done manually via the CD/DVD method. This method will give you a few options for upgrades.

You need to build a PXE boot environment to automatically deploy your ESXi 5.0 servers.

Using the Auto Deploy appliance provided by VMware, you can easily build a PXE boot environment to install ESXi over the network.

vSphere Auto Deploy will allow the provisioning and reprovisioning of a small or larger number of ESXi hosts efficiently with the vCenter server. Using this new feature in vSphere 5.x, the vCenter server will load the ESXi image directly into the physical server’s memory. This means that you no longer have to waste precious hard drive space for the installation of ESXi. Patching and updates are handled through image profiles and optionally through host profiles.

When a virtual machine boots for the first time, stateful information is saved inside the vCenter database.

A couple prerequisites that will not be discussed during the section on installation, but need to be present in your environment include:

Now let’s install the vSphere Auto Deploy. This can be found on the vCenter server installation DVD or ISO image.

Figure 7-11. Auto Deploy: start of installation

This recipe has walked you through the installation process of the vSphere Auto Deploy components. As mentioned earlier, you will need an additional DHCP/DNS and TFTP server in the network segment to auto provision your new ESXi hosts with the vSphere Auto Deploy capabilities. Please refer to the VMware Installation and Setup guide for additional information.

You wish to install ESXi 5.x manually without DVD media, but with a USB Key.

Format a USB key and copy the contents of the ESXi 5.x ISO image.

We will take a look at the steps to create a bootable USB key for installing ESXi 5.x manually. Today, USB keys are becoming more popular then CD-ROMs/DVDs. We’ll take a look and explore the process of copying the media to a USB key in this recipe.

First you will need to make sure you are on a Linux system as because this example will be performed via the Linux command line. You will also need to make sure the ESXi 5.x ISO image is downloaded from the VMware website.