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VMware ESXi » History » Version 10

Corey Osman, 12/27/2011 10:32 PM

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h1. How to Provision a VMware ESXi server using foreman
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Although puppet will not run under ESX server we can still use foreman to kickstart the server using PXE.
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h2. Summary of what you need to do:
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# Copy iso contents of ESXi to your media directory
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# Copy the esx boot files to your tftp directory
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# Create a ESX Installation Medium in Foreman
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# Create a ESX operating system in foreman
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# Create a ESX partition table (optional) template
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# Create a ESX kickstart template in foreman
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# Create a ESX pxe or gpxe template for ESX in foreman
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h3. Copy iso contents of ESXi to your media directory (example only)
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<pre>
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mkdir /mnt/iso1
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mkdir -p /var/www/html/repos/vmware/esxi4.1/  
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mount -o loop esxi-iso-file.iso /mnt/iso1  (example for RHEL based distros)
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rsync -avz /mnt/iso1/ /var/www/html/repos/vmware/esxi4.1/
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</pre>
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h3. Copy the esx boot files to your tftp directory  (must have all of these)
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<pre>
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cp /var/www/html/repos/vmware/esxi4.1/mboot.c32 /var/lib/tftpboot/boot/vmware/
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cp /var/www/html/repos/vmware/esxi4.1/vmkboot.gz /var/lib/tftpboot/boot/vmware/
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cp /var/www/html/repos/vmware/esxi4.1/vmkernel.gz /var/lib/tftpboot/boot/vmware/
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cp /var/www/html/repos/vmware/esxi4.1/sys.vgz /var/lib/tftpboot/boot/vmware/
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cp /var/www/html/repos/vmware/esxi4.1/cim.vgz /var/lib/tftpboot/boot/vmware/
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cp /var/www/html/repos/vmware/esxi4.1/ienviron.vgz /var/lib/tftpboot/boot/vmware/
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cp /var/www/html/repos/vmware/esxi4.1/install.vgz /var/lib/tftpboot/boot/vmware/
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</pre>
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h3. Create the installation medium based on where you put your esx4.1 iso contents
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# Create new medium
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# vmware
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# path: http://192.168.1.88/repos/vmware/esxi$version/  (example only)
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# OS: ESXi4.1  (can define later after making operating system)
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h3. Create a ESX operating system in foreman (Example only)
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# More-->Operating Systems-->New
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# Name: ESXi
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# Major: 4
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# Minor 1
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# OS Family: Redhat (there is no vmware yet)
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# Arch: x86_64
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# Choose any partition tables if you defined any (can do later)
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# Choose the vmware installation media (can do later) 
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 h3. Create a Partition table in Foreman (optional)
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# Name: esxi4.1 (name whatever you need to)
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# Operating System: ESXi 4.1
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# Layout:  (Something like the following)
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<pre>
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part '/boot'  --fstype=ext3 --size=1100  --ondisk=mpx.vmhba0:C0:T0:L0
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part 'none'  --fstype=vmkcore --size=110  --ondisk=mpx.vmhba0:C0:T0:L0
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part 'datastore1'  --fstype=vmfs3 --size=9004 --grow  --ondisk=mpx.vmhba0:C0:T0:L0
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virtualdisk 'esxconsole' --size=8004 --onvmfs='datastore1'
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part 'swap'  --fstype=swap --size=1000 --onvirtualdisk='esxconsole'
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part '/var/log'  --fstype=ext3 --size=2000 --onvirtualdisk='esxconsole'
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part '/'  --fstype=ext3 --size=5000 --grow --onvirtualdisk='esxconsole'
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</pre>
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h3. Create a ESX kickstart template in foreman
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h3. Create a ESX pxe or gpxe template for ESX in foreman