How to Install and Configure ESXi Server 5.1

ESXi Overview :

ESXi Provides a virtualization layer that abstract the processor,memory,storage and networking resources of the physical host into multiple virtual machines. ESXi is a bare-metal hypervisior that creates the foundation for a dynamic and automated data center.

In ESXi architecture , applications running in virtual machine access CPU ,memory,disk & network interfaces without direct access to the underlying hardware. The ESXi Hypervisor is called the VMKernel.

We can get a free version version of ESXi , called Vsphere Hypervisor, or we can purchased a licensed  version with vsphere..

Installation Steps:

 Step:1 Download the trail or licensed version of esxi  from “http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor/overview.html”

Now  Either burn or mount the ESXi 5.1 iso image to the DVD drive of the server and let the server boot from dvd.

 Step:2  We will get below screen

Step:3

Step:4 Press enter to continue at the Welcome to VMware ESXi 5.1 Installation screen.

Step:5  Press F11 to accept the End User License Agreement.

 Step:6 Select the hard drive you wish to install VMware ESXi 5.1 onto and press Enter.

Select your keyboard layout and press Enter.

Step:7 Just enter the root password and then Press Enter.

Step:8 Press F11 to begin installing ESXi 5.1

Step:9 Once the installation is complete you are required to reboot the server. Press enter.

Step:10 VMware ESXi is now installed. Do Basic setting like static ip address, dns, etc by pressing F2

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Minimum system requirements for installing ESXi/ESX

Minimum system requirements for installing ESXi/ESX 

ESXi 5.1

Supported server platformFor a list of supported platforms, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.

64-bit Processor

• ESXi 5.1 will install and run only on servers with 64-bit x86 CPUs.
• ESXi 5.1 requires a host machine with at least two cores.
• ESXi 5.1 supports only LAHF and SAHF CPU instructions.
• ESXi 5.1 requires the NX/XD bit to be enabled for the CPU in the BIOS.
• ESXi 5.1 supports a broad range of x64 multicore processors. For a complete list of supported processors, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.

RAM

• 2GB RAM minimum
• Provide at least 8GB of RAM to take full advantage of ESXi 5.1 features and run virtual machines in typical production environments.

Hardware Virtualization Support

• To support 64-bit virtual machines, support for hardware virtualization (Intel VT-x or AMD RVI) must be enabled on x64 CPUs.
• To determine whether your server has 64-bit VMware support, download the CPU Identification Utility from vmware.com.

Network Adapters

• One or more Gigabit or 10Gb Ethernet controllers. For a list of supported network adapter models, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.

SCSI Adapter, Fibre Channel Adapter or Internal RAID Controller

Any combination of one or more of the following controllers:

• Basic SCSI controllers. Adaptec Ultra-160 or Ultra-320, LSI Logic Fusion-MPT, or most NCR/Symbios SCSI.
• RAID controllers. Dell PERC (Adaptec RAID or LSI MegaRAID), HP Smart Array RAID, or IBM (Adaptec) ServeRAID controllers.

Installation and Storage

• SCSI disk or a local, non-network, RAID LUN with unpartitioned space for the virtual machines.
• For Serial ATA (SATA), a disk connected through supported SAS controllers or supported on-board SATA controllers. SATA disks will be considered remote, not local. These disks will not be used as a scratch partition by default because they are seen as remote. Note: You cannot connect a SATA CD-ROM device to a virtual machine on an ESXi 5.1 host. To use the SATA CD-ROM device, you must use IDE emulation mode.
• Supported storage system:  ESXi 5.1 supports installing on and booting from these storage systems:
  • SATA disk drives. SATA disk drives connected behind supported SAS controllers or supported on-board SATA controllers.
    • LSI1068E (LSISAS3442E)
    • LSI1068 (SAS 5)
    • IBM ServeRAID 8K SAS controller 
    • Smart Array P400/256 controller 
    • Dell PERC 5.0.1 controller

• SATA disk drives. Supported on-board SATA include:
  • Intel ICH9
  • NVIDIA MCP55
  • ServerWorks HT1000

Note: ESXi does not support using local, internal SATA drives on the host server to create VMFS datastores that are shared across multiple ESXi hosts.

• Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disk drives supported for installing ESXi 5.1 and for storing virtual machines on VMFS partitions.
• Dedicated SAN disk on Fibre Channel or iSCSI
• For a list of USB devices supported for installing ESXi 5.1, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.
• You can install and boot ESXi from an FCoE LUN using VMware software FCoE adapters and network adapters with FCoE offload capabilities. See the vSphere Storage documentation for information about installing and booting ESXi with software FCoE.
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