ESXi deploy automation

[kumar789]

Hello Experts 

i am looking for mass esxi deployment automate. Like if i wanted to install a 100 ESXi with static IP's in a day, looking for options, please help. We are using HPE Synergy and vCenter 8 environment. I am not a scripting guy, so any easy GUi will be helpfull within vcenter or from Oneview or any third party tool. Other than Auto deploy, please give any possible options 

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[Alexandru Capras]

Hi,
Check this talk from William at Explore last year: https://www.vmware.com/explore/video-library/video/6360760040112

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Alexandru
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[Ashish Chorge]

My suggestion is, create a PXE server and create kickstart file with all the static details for each server. If your DHCP server is up to date for 100 servers details, then that will be useful for ESXi network configuration.  

Prerequisites

• PXE server (e.g., using TFTP, DHCP, and HTTP/NFS/FTP)
• ESXi installation ISO
• Kickstart configuration file (ks.cfg)
• Network boot setup (BIOS/UEFI configured for PXE)

A] Set Up PXE Server

1. Configure DHCP to point to your TFTP server.
2. Place the ESXi boot files (from ISO) in the TFTP root directory.

B] Extract ESXi Boot Files

• Mount the ESXi ISO and copy:
  • mboot.c32
  • boot.cfg
  • vmkernel.gz
  • sys.vgz
  • cim.vgz
  • ienviron.vgz
  • install.vgz

C] Create Kickstart File (ks.cfg)

install --firstdisk --overwritevmfs

rootpw mysecurepassword

network --bootproto=dhcp --device=vmnic0

reboot

D] Edit boot.cfg

kernelopt=ks=http://<your-server>/ks.cfg

Configure PXE Boot Menu

LABEL ESXi Auto Install
  KERNEL mboot.c32
  APPEND -c boot.cfg

E] Boot Target Machine via PXE

Ensure the target server is configured to boot from network

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[ObjectifDubai]

You also have the option, if you have an admin server where you can run PowerShell, to create this kind of script.  I've already developed a script that, based on the server's iLO name, retrieves the necessary information to connect to the iLO board. It then generates the ISO depending on the server type, whether it's a ProLiant or a Synergy, and adapts the type of CD accordingly.

The script generates a Kickstart file that handles the entire server configuration: management address, vMotion address, port-group configuration, time zones, etc. The only difficulty I encountered was recreating a bootable ISO in PowerShell, but otherwise, the script works perfectly, especially for HPE servers.

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[Leo0601]

@ObjectifDubai  Could you please provide your script. It will be useful for me, I guess.

We are trying to install single ESXi via powershell. Our physical server is Hpe ILO gen11. We tried a lot. But nothing works. We imported the HpeILOModule and we tried following steps this via powershell.

We  Power off the ILO server, Then unmount if any ILO was mounted, Then we Mount our customised ESXi ISO (which has the Boot.cfg which has local windows server IP and points to the ks.cfg URL), Then we changed the Boot order to CD/DVD, Then we are Power On the server. We are doing everthing via powershell. But the problem here is after the restart we should get the "Welcome to the Vmware ESXi Installation" screen. Thats the Expectation. But we are getting the blank PXE screen after we power on the server via powershell.

When we tried the same steps manually its working and able to install it.

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Pre-req:
created a 8080 firewall port
Installed python file
Established the Http port 8080 via python in Powershell console (Should not close the console)

Created a ks.cfg with all the required inputs required for ESXi Installation (accept, Select the disk. Provide password, New esxi ip, subnet mask, gateway etc)
keep the ks.cfg and customized ISO in the local server. 

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Could you please let me know what I have to do now, if you have right script. could you please provide it. Its will be so much helpful

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