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How to Cheat at Configuring VmWare ESX Server
By David Rule Jr. Syngress
Copyright © 2007 Elsevier, Inc.
All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-08-055535-5
Chapter One
Installing VMware ESX Server 3
Solutions in this chapter:
* VMware ESX Server 3 Installation Overview
* VMware ESX Server 3 Prerequisites
* VMware ESX Server 3 Installation
Summary
Solutions Fast Track
Frequently Asked Questions
Introduction
VMware ESX Server 3 installs on "Bare Metal". Unlike some virtualization applications VMware ESX Server 3 is also the Operating System. When installing VMware ESX Server 3 you do not need to first install another operating system such as Windows 2003 server or Linux first. You instead simply need to install VMware ESX Server 3 on the Server.
The installation of VMware ESX Server 3 can be quite simple. A typical installation takes under thirty minutes. If you have ever in installed Red Hat Linux or other popular Linux distributions you will find the installation very similar. The installation of VMware ESX server 3 simply get the server up and running on VMware. Most of the settings that are critical for a successful VM ware deployment are configured after the initial installation; they are configured using the VMware Infrastructure Client. We will cover this in the next chapter which will focus on post installation tasks.
There are three main methods for the installation of VMware ESX server 3:
* Graphical
* Text
* Scripted
This chapter will focus on the graphical method of installation.
Prerequisites
ESX Server 3 Requirements
ESX Server requires a computer with the following specifications:
* Two or more physical processors
* 1500MHz Intel or AMD 32 Bit Processor
* 1500MHz Intel or AMD 64 Bit Processor
* 1GB RAM One or more Ethernet cards
Unpartitioned space on a SCSI disk, or SAN LUN.
Note
VMware ESX Server 3 has a very specific hardware compatibility list (HCL). Before installing VMware ESX Server 3 you should always ensure that you are using compatible hardware. The VMware ESX Server 3 compatibility guide can be found at the following location. http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_ systems_guide.pdf
Downloading the latest Installation Media
1. Open your browser and go to www.vmware.com/download
2. Click on the Download link shown in Figure 1.1.
3. Under VMware ESX Server 3 click Download Now as shown in Figure 1.2.
4. Enter your VMware username (e-mail address) and password to continue. If you do not currently have a username registered click the New Users link shown in Figure 1.3.
5. Click YES to accept the license agreement shown in Figure 1.4.
6. Click ISO image to download the latest image on the installation media shown in Figure 1.5.
7. Use your favorite CD burning software to create a CD from the ISO image.
ESX Installation
1. Power on the machine with the VMware ESX Server CD in the CD-ROM drive shown in Figure 1.6. (Note be sure that all SAN Fiber connections are disconnected at this point.)
2. You can choose to test the media or skip the test if you are using media that you know if reliable. Note when using media for the first time it is advisable to choose to test the media first. (See Figure 1.7.)
3. At the Welcome screen choose Next. (See Figure 1.8.)
4. At the Keyboard Configuration screen accept the defaults and click Next. (See Figure 1.9.)
5. At the Mouse Configuration screen select Wheel Mouse (PS2), and click Next. (See Figure 1.10.)
6. At the End User License Agreement screen click Next. (See Figure 1.11.)
7. A Warning may appear stating that the partition table was unreadable. This is normal especially on new systems. You need to click Yes to continue. (See Figure 1.12.)
8. At the Partitioning Options screen you can choose either recommended or Advanced. For most installations you should choose Reccommended. Advaned is used when you would like to create the partitioning manually. (See Figure 1.13.)
9. After choosing a partitioning method you will receive a pop up warning notifiying you that by continuing all partitions will be removed. Choose Yes to continue. (See Figure 1.14.)
10. The Partition Disks screen shows the current disk layout and allows you to Edit, Add, or Remove partitions. (See Figure 1.15.)
* ESX Server supports up to 256 LUNs for operation (Only 128 are supported during installation)
* The minimum LUN capacity forVMFS3 is 1.2 GB
* VMFS 3 is supported on Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and NAS external devices.
11. The Advanced options screen allows you to choose from which device the ESX server will boot. For most impletations that are using internal drives for the ESX operating system the default should be fine. (See Figure 1.16.)
12. At the network configuration screen you need to put in the specific network settings for the ESX server. There are a few things to pay specific attention to at this point. (See Figure 1.17.)
* First it if much easier to put in the specific IP information at this point. If you choose DHCP here and intend to give it a static IP address later you will find that dong it later requires much more work.
* Second in the Host name field it is important to use the fully qualified domain name. This is required for the HA feature of ESX to work properly. Also the DNS entry for the ESX server needs to be entered manually on the DNS servers.
* Third if you are using VLAN Taging on the network interface used for the service console you need to put in the VLAN ID that corresponds with the ip address used for the Service Console.
Note
Before installing VMware ESX Server 3 make sure that you have already determined the IP address information and hostname. IP address and DNS settings are critical for advanced features like High Availability (HA) to function properly.
13. At the Time Zone Selection screen you can choose from selecting your timezone form the Map, Location, or UTC Offset. Note you using the location tab is a easy way to scroll down and select your timezone. (See Figure 1.18.)
At the Set Root Password screen you will choose the password for the Root user account. (See Figure 1.19.)
14. At the About to Install screen you can review the installation settings. If the settings look correct you will choose Next to start the installation. (See Figure 1.20.)
15. At the Installing Packages screen you can monitor the status of the installation. (See Figure 1.21.)
Summary
As you have most likely found the installation on VMware ESX Server 3 is very straight forward. The most important thing to keep in mind before installing VMware ESX Server 3 is to check the compatibility guides and ensure that you are installing VMware ESX Server 3 on compatible hardware.
Solutions Fast Track
Pre-Installation
Set the BIOS time before you begin the installation
Go to www.vmware.com/download to get the latest installation media
Make sure that you have the Hostname ad IP address before you begin the
Installation
Ensure that SAN volumes are assigned and zoned.
If using VLAN Trunking to the Service console, ensure that the ports are configured correctly on the switch and test network connectivity.
If using VLAN Trunking to the Service console, also make sure to set the appropriate VLAN ID is set on the Network Configuration screen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the minimum size for aVMFS 3 partition?
A: 1200MB
Q: How many LUN's are supported during installation?
A: 128
Q: What types of external storage is supported by VMFS 3
A: Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and NAS
Q: Before installing VMware ESX server 3 where should you go to get the latest media?
A: www.vmware.com/download
Q: What should you check before choosing a server to install VMware ESX server 3 on?
A: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_systems_guide.pdf
Chapter Two
Installing Virtual Center
Solutions in this chapter:
* Installing VirtualCenter
* Adding ESX Hosts to VirtualCenter
* Configuring ESX networking through VirtualCenter
* Configuring VMFS datastores
Frequently Asked Questions
Introduction
VMware VirtualCenter is the management application used to administer and configure both ESX servers, and the virtual machines.
VirtualCenter Overview
VMware VirtualCenter manages the entire ESX server farm. From within the VirtualCenter console you can do the following:
* Server templates are deployed from this console for rapid deployment of virtual machines. Templates are stored server configurations that are used to deploy consistent virtual server builds rapidly.
* The console allows administrators to view and adjust resources dynamically.
* It has several different performance views that look at the physical ESX servers as well as virtual server resources.
* It is the interface that is used to move virtual machines between different ESX hosts without powering off the virtual machines. This feature is called VMotion.
* The console allows the administrator to define permissions to the various parts of ESX and VirtualCenter using Active Directory users and groups.
Installing Virtual Center
Once the database is configured, run the VirtualCenter executable from the VirtualCenter installation media.
1. At the VMware VirtualCenter Installer click VirtualCenter Management Server. Figure 2.2
2. At theVMwareVirtualCenter Server 2.0 screen choose Next.
3. At the VMware VirtualCenter Server 2.0 License Agreement screen accept the license agreement and click Next.
4. At the Customer Information screen fill in the user information and click Next.
5. At the Destination Folder screen you can leave it as the default, or you can choose an alternate installation directory. When completed click Next.
6. At the Setup Type screen select Typical, and click Next.
7. At the VMware VirtualCenter Database screen you can choose to either use the built in MSDE database, or use an existing database such as Microsoft SQL, or Oracle. It is advised that you utilize a SQL or Oracle database for production use, but the MSDE database can suffice for testing and proof of concept. Once you have chosen the appropriate option click Next. (If you choose to use a MSDE database you can skip forward to step 9).
8. Prepare a SQL Server database to work with Virtual Center: Open Enterprise Manager on the Microsoft SQL server create a SQL Server database. Right click on Databases, and select New Database.
9. Enter the name for the database, and click OK.
10. Create a "virtualcenter" account for the database by opening Security>Logins> New Login ...
11. Enter the Name for the user, choose SQL Server Authentication, and click OK.
12. Choose the Database Access tab. Click the checkbox for the VirtualCenter database, click the checkbox for db_owner, and click OK.
13. On the VirtualCenter server go Start>Settings>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Data Sources (ODBC).
14. Select the System DSN tab and click Add ...
15. Select SQL Server, and click Finish.
16. For the Name enter VirtualCenter, enter a description, choose from the Server dropdown the SQL server that has the VirtualCenter database, and click Next.
17. Select SQL Server authentication, check the box for Connect to SQL Server, enter the Login ID and password that was created on the SQL server, and click Next.
18. Choose VirtualCenter from the default database dropdown, and click Next.
19. Leave the defaults, and click Finish.
20. Click on the Test Data Sources button.
21. The test results should complete successfully, and click OK.
22. The Database Information screen will appear. Enter the DSN name, Username and password for the ODBC settings.
23. At the License Server screen choose Install a local VMware License Server, and click Next.
24. At the Licensing Info screen browse to your license file (This can be downloaded online from your VMware account). Then click Next.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from How to Cheat at Configuring VmWare ESX Server by David Rule Jr. Copyright © 2007 by Elsevier, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Syngress. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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