vSphere Installation and Setup
2 VMware, Inc.
You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:
http://www.vmware.com/support/
The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.
If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:
docfeedback@vmware.com
Copyright
©
2009–2012 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and
intellectual property laws. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at
http://www.vmware.com/go/patents.
VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks
and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.
VMware, Inc.
3401 Hillview Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94304
www.vmware.com
Contents
About vSphere Installation and Setup 7
1
Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup 9
How vSphere 5.x Differs from vSphere 4.x 9
Overview of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process 11
Options for Installing ESXi 12
Media Options for Booting the ESXi Installer 14
Using Remote Management Applications 25
Required Information for ESXi Installation 25
2
System Requirements 27
ESXi Hardware Requirements 27
ESXi Support for 64-Bit Guest Operating Systems 30
Hardware Requirements for vCenter Server, vCenter Single Sign On, vSphere Client, and vSphere
Web Client 31
vCenter Server Software Requirements 35
vSphere Client and vSphere Web Client Software Requirements 36
Providing Sufficient Space for System Logging 36
Required Ports for vCenter Server 37
Required Ports for the vCenter Server Appliance 38
Conflict Between vCenter Server and IIS for Port 80 39
DNS Requirements for vSphere 40
Supported Remote Management Server Models and Minimum Firmware Versions 41
3
Installing ESXi Interactively 43
Install ESXi Interactively 43
Install ESXi on a Software iSCSI Disk 45
4
Installing, Upgrading, or Migrating Hosts Using a Script 47
Approaches for Scripted Installation 47
Enter Boot Options to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script 48
About Installation and Upgrade Scripts 50
Install, Upgrade, or Migrate ESXi from a CD or DVD Using a Script 60
Install, Upgrade, or Migrate ESXi from a USB Flash Drive Using a Script 61
Performing a Scripted Installation or Upgrade of ESXi by PXE Booting the Installer 62
5
Installing ESXi Using vSphere Auto Deploy 63
Understanding vSphere Auto Deploy 64
Auto Deploy Roadmap and Cmdlet Overview 70
Preparing for vSphere Auto Deploy 73
Managing Auto Deploy with PowerCLI Cmdlets 80
VMware, Inc.
3
Provisioning ESXi Systems with vSphere Auto Deploy 84
Using Auto Deploy for Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs 88
Setting Up an Auto Deploy Reference Host 95
Advanced Management Tasks 104
Auto Deploy Best Practices and Security Consideration 115
Troubleshooting Auto Deploy 120
Auto Deploy Proof of Concept Setup 126
6
Using vSphere ESXi Image Builder CLI 143
Understanding Image Builder 143
Image Builder Installation and Usage 151
Image Builder Common Tasks 153
Image Builder Workflows 159
7
Setting Up ESXi 165
ESXi Autoconfiguration 166
About the Direct Console ESXi Interface 166
Set the Password for the Administrator Account 169
Configuring the BIOS Boot Settings 170
Host Fails to Boot After You Install ESXi in UEFI Mode 171
Network Access to Your ESXi Host 171
Configure the Network Settings on a Host That Is Not Attached to the Network 172
Managing ESXi Remotely 172
Configuring Network Settings 173
Storage Behavior 177
View System Logs 180
Configure Syslog on ESXi Hosts 181
Enable Lockdown Mode Using the Direct Console 181
Enable Lockdown Mode Using the vSphere Client 182
Enable Lockdown Mode Using the vSphere Web Client 182
Enable ESXi Shell and SSH Access with the Direct Console User Interface 183
Set the Host Image Profile Acceptance Level 183
Reset the System Configuration 184
Remove All Custom Packages on ESXi 185
Disable Support for Non-ASCII Characters in Virtual Machine File and Directory Names 185
Disable ESXi 185
8
After You Install and Set Up ESXi 187
Managing the ESXi Host with the vSphere Client and the vSphere Web Client 187
Licensing ESXi Hosts 187
9
Preparing vCenter Server Databases 191
vCenter Server Database Configuration Notes 192
Create a 64-Bit DSN 193
Configure vCenter Server to Communicate with the Local Database 193
About the Bundled Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Database Package 194
Maintaining a vCenter Server Database 194
Configure DB2 Databases 194
vSphere Installation and Setup
4 VMware, Inc.
Configure Microsoft SQL Server Databases 202
Configure Oracle Databases 212
10
Before You Install vCenter Server 221
Prerequisites for Installing vCenter Single Sign On, Inventory Service, and vCenter Server 221
How vCenter Single Sign On Affects vCenter Server Installation and Upgrades 224
Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network 230
Using a User Account for Running vCenter Server 232
Installing vCenter Server on IPv6 Machines 232
JDBC URL Formats for the vCenter Server Database 233
Configure the URLs on a Standalone vCenter Server System 234
Running the vCenter Server and vSphere Client Installers from a Network Drive 235
Required Information for Installing or Upgrading vCenter Single Sign On, Inventory Service, and
vCenter Server 235
Required vCenter Single Sign On Database Users 241
Microsoft SQL Database Set to Unsupported Compatibility Mode Causes vCenter Server Installation
or Upgrade to Fail 242
11
Installing vCenter Server 243
vCenter Server Components and Support Tools 243
Download the vCenter Server Installer 244
Install vCenter Single Sign On, vCenter Inventory Service, and vCenter Server by Using Simple
Install 245
Install vCenter Single Sign On, vCenter Inventory Service, and vCenter Server Separately 249
Install vCenter Server in a Virtual Machine 256
Download and Deploy the VMware vCenter Server Appliance 257
12
After You Install vCenter Server 263
Install vCenter Server Components 264
Back Up the vCenter Single Sign On Configuration 275
Restore a vCenter Single Sign On Single or Primary Node Instance to a New Host Machine 275
Creating vCenter Server Linked Mode Groups 277
Configuring VMware Tomcat Server Settings in vCenter Server 5.1 283
VMware vCenter Management Webservices Service Fails to Start 285
Backing Up, Restoring, and Resetting the Inventory Service Database 285
Index 289
Contents
VMware, Inc. 5
