Wednesday 31 August 2011

Installation of ESXi 5.0


PART 1: Installation of ESXi 5.0
In this first Lab we will do a fresh interactive install of ESXi 5.0. This will involve mounting the ESXi 5.0 installation media into the Virtual Machine and then reset/reboot the virtual machine so that the VM will boot from the installation media.
The Virtual Machine that we will install ESXi 5.0 in is called ESXi 50 in the Lab Manager configuration that you deployed out to complete this Lab.
Below is the VM configuration for ESXi 5 installtion
Here is what the VM should look at the moment.
So we can see that the VM has tried to boot, but no Operating System or installation media has been found.
The next step is to mount the ESXi 5.0 installation media and start the boot process. Mouse over the ESX50a tab at the top of the VM and a Menu will appear, select Insert CD… from this menu.
Go to VM setting and select esxi 5 iso imager from CD/DVD drive.
The media is called VMware-VMvisor-Installer-5.0.0-441354.x86_64.iso
The media should now be mounted, so Mouse over the ESXi 50 tab at the top of the VM and right click, select Reset from this menu.
Alternatively, you can press the CTRL - ALT - INS key sequence
The virtual machine will reset and it should boot from the installation media.
This is the first screen that you will be presented with. The Automatic timer will count down or you can press the Enter key to start the installation process.
You also have the option to press the Tab key to see the boot options.

Press enter and boot process will start….

Once the Kernel and some additional modules have started, you will be presented with the following screen:

Press Enter key to continue.
You will then be asked to Accept and Continue for the End User License Agreement (EULA).
Press the F11 function key to accept the EULA.
The installer will then scan the host for available Disks and you will be presented with a list of valid disks.
Note that the disks are separated out into Local: and Remote: storage devices.

Note that disks that have a VMFS Partition already on them will be displayed with an asterisk ( * ) next to them.
You also have the option to press the F1 function key to get additional details about the disks displayed.
This is what the detailed screen of the selected disk looks like.
Note the ESX(i) Found : No and Datastores: (none)
If you have pressed the F1 function key to get the detailed view of the selected disk, press the Enter Key now to return to the Select a Disk screen.
Press the Enter key to continue with the installation.
You will be asked to select a keyboard layout


Select your keyboard layout and press the Enter key ( we will use the Default )
Enter the password and press the Enter key to continue
You may see a screen come up with Error(s)/Warnings(s).
We can ignore these errors since we are running in a virtualized environment.
Press Enter to Continue
Press F11 to Install ESXi 5
The installation of ESXi 5.0 will being

If you press the ALT - F1 key sequence at this stage, you will see that you have a root login prompt. You can login to the ESXi 5.0 host at this stage and have a look around at the logs if you want.
 At this stage the ESXi 5.0 root password is blank.
Description: C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\SNAGHTML6d03d6.PNG
If you press the ALT – F12 key sequence at this stage you will get to see the VMKernel logs.
Description: C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\SNAGHTML6e78e2.PNG
The final entries ( ALT - F12) in the vmkernel logs will be as follows:

Pressing ALT – F2 key sequence will return you to the ESXi 5.0 Installer screen.
Once the installer has completed, you will see the following screen:

Do not Reboot the ESXi 5.0 host yet.
The next step is to un-mount the ESXi 5.0 Installation Media from the CDROM drive.
Mouse over the ESXi 50 tab at the top of the VM and right click Removable deviceàCD/DVDàDisconnect.
You can now press the Enter key to Reboot the ESXi 5.0 Host.
The following message will appear :
The ESXi 5.0 host will now continue with the boot process and once completed, you will be presented with the following screen.
If DHCP is configured ESXi 5 will pick the IP address from DHCP server
The ALT - F11 screen should look like the following
Note from this screen, we can see some warnings: Warning: /vmfs/devices/char/vmkdriver/usbpassthrough not found
No need to be concerned about these for the moment, these are symptoms of running in a virtualized environment.
Part 2 : ESXi 5.0 Configuration
Now that we have the ESXi 5.0 host installed, we will continue and configure the Network Settings
Move to the ALT - F2 screen
Press the F2 key to Customize System/View Logs
On the root login screen, enter root as the user and pass@123 as the password


This will bring you to the System Customization screen.
Note that the Configure Password is Set


The next step is to configure the ESXi 5.0 Networking and the DNS Settings.
Here are the settings that we will use to configure this host.

IP Configuration :
Set static IP address and network configuration
IP Addresss :
192.168.1.150
Subnet Mask :
255.255.255.0
Default Gateway :
192.168.1.253

From the System Customization menu, select Configure Management Network and press the Enter key

Description: C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\SNAGHTML83f1c5.PNG

From the Configure Management Network menu, select IP Configuration and press the Enter key

Select Set static IP address and network configuration ( use the arrow keys to move down and press the spacebar to select ) and change the IP Address, Subnet Mask and Default Gateway settings to the entries that we have outlined in the table above.


Once these values have been entered, press the Enter key.
We will next configure the DNS settings for this ESXi 5.0 host.
From the Configure Management Network menu, select DNS Configuration and press the Enter key


Here are the settings that we will use to configure this host.


Primary DNS Server :
192.168.1.99
Secondary DNS Server:
(blank)
Hostname :
ESXi50.srinfotec.com

Press the Enter key on the DNS Configuration menu. Enter the details as outlined in the above table.


Once these settings have been entered, press the Enter Key.
The DNS Configuration screen should change to the following:


Press the ESC key to return to the Customize System menu.

Since we changed the host management network, you will have to confirm that you want to Apply changes and restart management network.


Press Y key to accept the changes.
Press the ESC key once more to return to the Main ESXi 5.0 console screen.


Friday 8 July 2011

Migrating an existing vCenter Server database to 4.1 using the Data Migration Tool

This article assumes that you have read the vSphere 4.1 Upgrade Guide and have understood the risks associated with migrating your database. Ensure that you have made a full backup of the existing vCenter Server 4.0 database. For more information on backing up your database, see the Microsoft article How to: Back Up a Database (SQL Server Management Studio)
 
Note: The Data Migration Tool does not change the hostname or IP address of the target vCenter Server to match that of your existing vCenter Server. Services such as VMware HA and Update Manager expect the IP address and hostname to be the same. VMware recommends that you retain the existing hostname and IP address on the target vCenter Server when possible. If it is not possible to retain these settings, see vCenter Server IP address change causes ESX hosts to disconnect (1001493) and How to reconfigure Update Manager after a change of the vCenter Server IP Address (1014639)
 
To backup the database that you want to migrate: 
  1. Open the folder datamigration on the root of the vCenter Server 4.1 installation media that you have downloaded from VMware.
  2. Copy the datamigration.zip file from that folder and extract it to the root of your C: drive.
  3. Click Start > Run, type services.msc, and click OK.
  4. Stop these services:
  5. Click Start > Run, type cmd, and click OK.
  6. Type cd \datamigration to change to the datamigration folder.
  7. Run this command to copy the vSphere 4.0 configuration:
    backup.bat
To finish migrating the database to the target server:
 
Note: Services need not be stopped on the target 64bit server, unless vCenter Server 4.1 has already been installed. If vCenter Server 4.1 is already installed, uninstall the existing installation and let the Data Migration Tool install vCenter Server 4.1 for you. Also, when performing a migration to the target server, a DSN is not automatically created. This must be manually created on the target server after the database is migrated. For more information, see the vSphere 4.1 Upgrade Guide. 
  1. Copy the contents of the c:\datamigration folder from the existing vCenter Server to your target Windows 64bit server's C: drive in the same location.
  2. Mount the vSphere 4.1 installation media on your local CD-ROM drive.

    Note: Close the autorun menu, if it opens. It is not necessary to complete the migration.
  3. ClickStart > Run, type cmd, and click OK.
  4. Type cd \datamigration to change to the datamigration folder.
  5. Run the following command to start the installation migration:

    install.bat
    Note: This script asks you for the vCenter Server installation media path.
     
  6. Follow the installation wizard.

Create an NFS Share on Windows 2003 for ESX

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9JVwXw102E&feature=feedf