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 . . .
ESXi 4.x Keys
*** I used this one on 4.1 esxi
MU412-DH3E7-48908-R0AEK-13K40 (Unlimited VMs)vSphere Enterprise Plus
5V0NA-A2K05-H85Q1-FT1EM-CG8P8 (Unlimited CPUs)
MU412-DH3E7-48908-R0AEK-13K40 (Unlimited VMs)vCenter Server
1C0T2-AVK5H-089X1-ZA0X4-C6052vCenter Server Foundation
0G41R-AZ247-088Q1-0K3ZP-9U204vSphere Standard
4U6JK-DGJ17-M88V8-VHAEM-3P068 (Unlimited CPUs)
0G6T2-07L5P-H8071-DUCE6-0U82F (Unlimited VMs)vSphere Advanced
JZ0TK-D1304-48DK1-2V8EK-3QKN8 (Unlimited CPUs)
0G4WR-FCK13-48E28-3JAQ6-C3AQ8 (Unlimited VMs)vSphere Enterprise
NY018-AQK07-M89Z0-U32NP-C28H0 (Unlimited CPUs)
4U6RU-49KDN-48190-XC3Z6-CCH3D (Unlimited VMs)
ESXi 5.0 U1
JM294-02306-18448-01C0M-CXCNJ
vCenter 5 Standard Edition License Key
0G03V-2F1EL-ZZCY8-QT27P-93421 ***
MU6JT-6AJ87-KZRP9-A9CQ2-9CXJRVMware vSpher 5.0 Enterprise Plus (Unlimited CPU)
JA46K-4M1EQ-YZ581-PU2N4-2C81V
1Y0ZK-AA25J-PZFJ0-GUAZM-23WJ3
NY0KH-FJL93-TZFG1-LA1G4-02T0EVMware vSpher 5.0 Enterprise Plus (Unlimited VM)
0G03V-2F1EL-ZZCY8-QT27P-93421
1F0RM-2HL8N-4ZKP1-J185K-1AT2L
MV2JW-090E5-KZP19-D02Z4-A325UVMware vSpher 5.0 Desktop Host (12 Core)
1Y2NX-0V21N-MZEX0-7K9GP-A2UP6
1F25H-AA2E6-FZNW1-7L25H-833KX
MY2AC-2C2E2-ZZEK0-JH0GP-03MQ3VMware vSpher 5.0 Desktop Host (Unlimited VM)
JG2Y2-0A1EH-CZYE0-1J9XH-03L44
MG6T9-22JD3-RZ168-98AQM-8A6PX
HG2Y1-0Y1D0-ZZ5U8-DK2E6-8CH7AVMware vSpher 5.0 for VCloud Service Provider Standard
JV6P4-F8J5M-MZEY1-600G6-9CGM6
MG6CU-D6H0J-QZQQ0-7VAQ4-CC8PQ
NU0PC-FD10K-HZ5P8-ULCN6-CARHNVCenter Server 5.0 Foundation
NA0DP-60317-3ZYU0-LC8NP-9CGHU
NU69R-AM00P-6Z0L1-H0AQK-0C1KM
HU2KK-0DHDL-YZ7J9-X8072-8CE69VCenter Server 5.0 Essentials (Unlimited Server)
5Z2K4-0V34H-HZ178-MC9ZH-ACN71
MC27U-49K1L-5ZTM8-YK0Z6-8A34Z
JA45Y-8431N-EZYM9-X105P-83EN5VCenter Server 5.0 Essentials (Unlimited Vram)
0G0RV-61L5P-DZ5D0-L90ZH-1ADHY
4A02R-80J1M-CZFZ0-GH37M-33UN6
0Y0WG-D335K-CZ9M8-R9AG2-23Y1CVMware View Premier
ZA5N2-DUZ03-0845Z-EDP5Z-M60ZD
VV302-25W83-080XP-NEWZX-MZKD4
CU5EU-FAX55-M88RY-J5Y5C-MQUZ0VMware View Enterprise
CV3NU-AWX4Q-0845Q-CXNN9-M3KVD
FA35H-A4G42-M8E0Z-W7YZG-QLHED
UV3J0-AHY9N-484LY-QXXEE-WKA96
Difference between “I COPIED” & “I MOVED“
I copied it
If you select “I copied it” the following setting in the target Virtual Machine .vmx configuration file are changed.
uuid.location
uuid.bios
ethernet0.generatedAddress
Which makes the copied Virtual Machine appear uniquely different the the original. Useful if you are running multiple copies of same VM on the same network.
I moved it
If you’re running a single copy of the target Virtual Machine at a time then you may want to chose “I moved it” to avoid possible activation issues with come OSes and or Software that registers the Ethernet MAC as part of its checksum.
Regard’s
SYED JAHANZAIB
thanks. jahazeb sb.
i am waheed (mikrotik guy)
thanks again.
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Comment by mwaheed89 — February 23, 2012 @ 7:38 AM
thanks so much for sharing your knowledge
but could you please tell me how can we import virtual machines that was created with vmware workstation 8 which is located inside usb hard disk to this Vmware ESX server
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Comment by qobtan — February 28, 2012 @ 1:07 PM
Dear I haven’t done this test , I guess it will not work
Try it
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Comment by Syed Jahanzaib / Pinochio~:) — February 29, 2012 @ 12:06 PM
Thanks alot… for sharing your good knowledge with us. But tell us about the esxi 5.0 , is it free did u test that…..
thanks again
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Comment by Shafaat — March 20, 2012 @ 10:32 AM
Keygen for vmware esxi are available on the internet 🙂
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Comment by Syed Jahanzaib / Pinochio~:) — March 20, 2012 @ 2:17 PM
Is there any chance you could make a guide on how to transfer VM’s between machines using Sphere the free version?
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Comment by Layth — April 23, 2012 @ 9:34 PM
I will try.
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Comment by Syed Jahanzaib / Pinochio~:) — April 25, 2012 @ 10:54 AM
Very good ! Now I can have a stable test farm. Do you have ESXi5.1 + VCENTER keys ?
Thanks a lot
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Comment by lbmanix — November 21, 2012 @ 5:57 AM
Hi, are there any limitations to ESXi considering it is free? I’m thinking of virtualizing our servers on the hardware level and not on the os level and want to start with a stable virtualization company and product. However I’m worried not knowing the limitations before setting up ESXi. I will be virualizing a server to run 4-5 applications (or even more in the future) for the purpose of consolidation/easy IT management, security and isolation, high-availability and future RnDs for future services without impacting existing applications.
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Comment by Mon — March 15, 2013 @ 2:20 PM
I have 3-4 ESXi servers at my work place hosting about 15 VM guests, and its very stable and works good. However dont host any FILE Server type guest in virtualization, or any server which have LOTS of read/WRITE function, like mail server, I hosted LOTUS DOMINO server with some huge data and it SUCKED.
For others ESXi works great.
Free version of ESXi have some limitations.
# Quantity of physical RAM – The Free VMware hypervizor can be used in servers with 32Gigs of physical RAM installed.
# Management Options – with the VMware Free Hypervizor you manage single server only. With the vSphere client you connect to your ESXi host to manage your VMs etc… If you have many ESX hosts…… you can only manage them one-by-one. For ex. you’re running 2 ESXi hosts, you connect to them with 2 different vSphere client sessions
# Other Limitations – There are other limitations, like CLI is available in read-only access or no SNMP support. Full read-write access is necessary for all commercial backup/recovery solutions like Veeam, Trilead. vCLI, PowerCLI, and vSphere SDk for Perl are limited to read-only access for the free vSphere Hypervisor edition. To enable full functionality of vCLI on a VMware ESXi host, the host must be licensed with vSphere Essentials, vSphere Essential Plus, vSphere Standard, vSphere Advanced, vSphere Enterprise, or vSphere Enterprise Plus.
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Comment by Syed Jahanzaib / Pinochio~:) — March 18, 2013 @ 9:24 AM
[…] Vmware ESXi 4.x Installation Guide [Short Reference […]
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Pingback by Vmware ESXi 4.x Installation Guide [Short Reference | support4tech — May 23, 2013 @ 3:07 PM