Vmware ESXi 4.x Installation Guide [Short Reference]

(To be continued  . . . )

I received many emails regarding howto install and configure Vmware ESXi Server .
Following is an short reference guide for beginners. This guide will illustrate you howto install ESXi from beginning till creating Virtual machines in ESXi using VSPHERE Client. Believe me its realy simple ~

First, Some Overview to VMWARE ESXi and it’s features.

ESX and ESXi do not run on a general purpose OS like Windows or Linux.  They install and run directly on your server hardware, which is why they are called “bare-metal hypervisors”
it does not run atop a third-party operating system,but instead includes its own kernel. Up through the current ESX version 5.0, a Linux kernel is started first, and is used to load a variety of specialized virtualization components, including VMware’s vmkernel component. This previously-booted Linux kernel then becomes the first running virtual machine and is called the service console.

Ok let’s START

First you have to register yourself at vmware site, the registration is free
Just goto

https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/index.php

and on the right side ” Register to download your Free Product ” window, click on CREATE an ACCOUNT,
After registration process, login with your id and you will see all vmware products for downloads.
Select VMware vSphere Hypervisor 4.1 License (ISO Format)

https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/p/activate.php?p=free-esxi&cmp=FP-ESXiFreeActivation&a=DOWNLOAD_FILE&baseurl=https://download2.vmware.com/software/vi/&filename=VMware-VMvisor-Installer-4.1.0.update1-348481.x86_64.iso

After downloading, burn it to CD (or if you trying it in vmware workstation , use it to boot)

Boot from ISO image OR CD, You will see VMware Boot screen.
As shown in image below

Select ENTER to select ESXi installer,

Now It will start detecting  your hardware After it, Welcome screen will appear.

Press ENTER to continue

END User license screen will appear,

Press F11 to continue

Now HDD / Storage Selection screen will appear,
select your hdd and press ENTER
As shown in the image below

.
Now Confirm Install screen will come.
Press F11 to confirm and the installation will begin.

It usually takes 3-5 minutes to install, After Installation complete screen appears, press ENTER to Reboot. By default you have 60 days time to enter License, after 60 days it will expire. (See the Tips ‘n Trick section of this article)

After reboot completes, VMWARE ESXi will start loading its kernel and other components
Now you will see following window.

To customize ESXi for id/password and network management,
Press F2 and you will be prompted to ENTER id password
default id is ‘ root ‘
and password is empty, just ENTER ,
Now you will see something like

First configure your root password. (its necessary so that it can secured)

Now set IP address for ESXi so that you can manage it remotely using vmware Vshpere Client
Select “Configure Management Network“
Select “IP configuration“

Here Select “Set Static IP Address“
and enter your IP Address information.
As shown in the image below . . .

After entering info,
Press ESC to continue
Again Press ESC to continue, and it will ask you to Apply changes
Press Y to continue

ESXi basic setup is complete,
its time to test it
open your browser and open http://esxi-ip-address
and you should see something like below image

OK, ESXi is installed and ready to be explored , its time to hit the road,
I mean configure ESXi and then create virtual machines using Vsphere client to manage ESXi server.

From your Management pc (Winxp, Win7 or any version)
Download VSphere Client from

http://vsphereclient.vmware.com/vsphereclient/3/4/5/0/4/3/VMware-viclient-all-4.1.0-345043.exe

Installation of vmware vsphere client is very simple,
After installation is done, Open it, You will see something like below image

Enter your IP address of ESXi server, id and password (that you have configured in management section.). If you see any certificate warning , you can safely ignore it.

Now you will see your VMware ESXi Server.
As shown in the image below . . .

From here you can create virtual machines.
But first you have to add some STORAGE to store vm related material.

On the main screen , click on “Click here to create a database“

and follow on the screen below.

Done, Now that you have created STORAGE, you can create new VM to get started.

 

TIP’s N TRICK SECTION

Howto create New Virtual machine in ESXi

Connect to ESXi using VSPHERE client, on the main screen, click on “NEW VIRTUAL MACHINE“
As shown in the image below . . .

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

 

Regard’s

SYED JAHANZAIB