Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Interactively Installing ESXi from USB or across the Network
As an alternative to launching the ESXi installer from the installation CD/DVD, you can install
ESXi from a USB fl ash drive or across the network via Preboot Execution Environment (PXE). More
details on how to use a USB fl ash drive or to PXE boot the ESXi installer are found in the
vSphere
Installation
and
Setup
Guide
, available from
www.vmware.com/go/support-pubs-vsphere.
Note
that PXE booting the installer is not the same as PXE booting ESXi itself, something that we'll
discuss later in the section “Deploying VMware ESXi with vSphere Auto Deploy.”
Performing an Unattended Installation of VMware ESXi
ESXi supports the use of an installation script (often referred to as a kickstart, or KS, script) that
automates the installation routine. By using an installation script, users can create unattended
installation routines that make it easy to quickly deploy multiple instances of ESXi.
ESXi comes with a default installation script on the installation media. Listing 2.1 shows the
default installation script.
Listing 2.1:
ESXi provides a default installation script
#
# Sample scripted installation file
#
# Accept the VMware End User License Agreement
vmaccepteula
# Set the root password for the DCUI and Tech Support Mode
rootpw mypassword
# Install on the first local disk available on machine
install --firstdisk --overwritevmfs
# Set the network to DHCP on the first network adapter
network --bootproto=dhcp --device=vmnic0
# A sample post-install script
%post --interpreter=python --ignorefailure=true
import time
stampFile = open('/finished.stamp', mode='w')
stampFile.write( time.asctime() )
If you want to use this default install script to install ESXi, you can specify it when booting
the VMware ESXi installer by adding the ks=
file://etc/vmware/weasel/ks.cfg bo
ot option.
We'll show you how to specify that boot option shortly.
