VMWare Newbie

[tarikmoore1911]

I purchased a corporate level HP Proliant server and I'd like to build out a Vsphere ESXi 5 environment.  I've tried fumbling through it but can't achieve the install I need.  Is there a step by step document I can follow that will show me guide me through the installatoin of the ESXi, VCenter, and all the other compononets needed for me to create a lab enviornment on my personal server?  I"m studying for my VSphere 5 certification and have been to the pre-requistie class but I can't get the environemnt set correctly so I can go through all the exercises.

I have all the software downloaded for ESXi, Vcenter, Vsphere Client, etc, etc.

STarting all over from scratch now and your help would be greatly appreciated.

1.  How do I install the ESXi?  The .iso file wont install from any of the the bootable CDs I burned.

2.  Once I successfully install and config the ESXi, how do I install the VCenter on top of it?

Tarik Moore

[e-mail]

[adamcollins]

Hi,

You could either burn the iso to a dvd and run the esxi install from that or mount the iso using HP iLo from a network drive.

Once ESXi is installed then you need to connect to it using Vsphere client and either create a x64 bit Microsoft guest and install vcenter onto that or run vcenter as an appliance.

The doco is pretty good and can be found at http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-pubs.html

[Kasraeian]

Welcome to the community

Just as adamcollins said you can check vSphere 5 documentation, "vSphere Installation and Setup Guide"; also, few days back one of my friend sent me this link which might be useful as well.

For being sure about your ISO file, you can check it's MD5 with MD5 noted on the VMware site.

[SpecB56]

Our Gen8 HP servers will not install sucessfully without using the ESXi 5 Update 1 image. HP suggest you use their ESXi 5 specific image.

You can find this image at the following link. https://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=HPVM09

[tarikmoore1911]

I followed the link and  selected my server model and the link seems not to be avaialble anymore.  I havce a HP ProLiant ML330 G6 Server series server.  Does anyone have the .iso or direct URL where I can download the HP specific ESXi image that will boot from a DVD once I burn it to it?

Tarik

[Kasraeian]

I followed the link and  selected my server model and the link seems not to be avaialble anymore.  I havce a HP ProLiant ML330 G6 Server series server.

Based on HCL, it seems "HP Proliant ML330 G6" with "Intel Xeon 55xx/56xx series" CPU would support "VMware ESXi 5.0"; may I ask what CPU you have on your server?

Does anyone have the .iso or direct URL where I can download the HP specific ESXi image that will boot from a DVD once I burn it to it?

For "HP ISOs" for "VMware ESXi 5.0" you can check this link.

You can burn these ISO files or use iLO to mount and install them.

[tarikmoore1911]

@Kasraeian

1. My processor is a 1 x Xeon E5606 2.13GHz...and it support two cpus but I only have one installed now.

2. And I followed that link previously and after I select my server type it tells me the page that hosts the link to download the file doesn't exeist anymore.

[Kasraeian]

tarikmoore1911 wrote:

@Kasraeian

1. My processor is a 1 x Xeon E5606 2.13GHz...and it support two cpus but I only have one installed now.

2. And I followed that link previously and after I select my server type it tells me the page that hosts the link to download the file doesn't exeist anymore.

I don't know about the "server type", I just followed bellow steps and downloaded "5.0 U1 Jun 2012 ESXi HD-USB-SDImgeInstlr (Z7550-00779.iso)" today.

1. At the bottom of the page (link I sent earlier) clicked on the "Received for Free"

2. Logged in to HP site by my account (can create free account)

3. Selected the product I want to download and filled the form

4. "Order Confirmation" shown up, clicked on the "Get Software"

5. Finally clicked "Download Directly" and now got my ISO file.

[tarikmoore1911]

Thanks dude...got the .iso downloaded and the  USB software you suggested to make the bootable USB file.  Now what about my 2nd question?  Do I need to use the USB bootable .iso file on a system that already has Windows Server 2008 installed on it or should the server be blank/zeroed out/as if straight out the box?

Tarik

[tarikmoore1911]

I created the USB boot file and its seems to start to work fine but the install doesn't complete.  See attached video to see what happens.

Tarik

[SpecB56]

That hardware is 2 generations back from current. Any ESXi 5 image should work. I typically boot from USB installable media. I use 'unetbootin' to create bootable USB drives from iso images. http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

You may need to make sure that your server has boot from USB high in the boot priority list. After you build your ESXi server, importing the vcenter server appliance is very easy. Alternately, creating a Windows Server VM and installing the vcenter server software on that is also fairly straight forward.

[tarikmoore1911]

My server supports booting from a USB drive but just for clarification...do I have to build my Windows 2008 server first and then use your USB method to install the ESXi .iso

OR

I am I booting  from the USB drive with the .iso file from a blank/zeroed out server?

[chriswahl]

I"m studying for my VSphere 5 certification and have been to the pre-requistie class but I can't get the environemnt set correctly so I can go through all the exercises.

I'm curious how you were able to go through the pre-requisite class (I'm assuming vSphere 5: Install, Configure, Manage) and not know how to install vCenter on a VM? The class should have walked you through the entire process from start to finish and explained all these things. If they did not, I'd contact the MyLearn team to discuss.

[tarikmoore1911]

VCenter is not the issue...installing ESXi is the issue.  If I build a server and install VCenter and have no ESXi to connect to what good is that going to do me?