Setup lab for VMware vSphere 5 – Part 2 (Installing ESXi 5)
As we saw on the previous post, we need to install ESXi 5 on both types of lab (Virtual or Physical) so
we need to installation source. You must create an account on www.vmware.com and then you can download it.
After download iso file, burn it on a CD.
Before we start installation, we must check which do we have minimum hardware or our hardware are compatible with ESXi 5 or not?
Minimum system requirement:
- 64bit processor with minimum two cores ( Supports only LAHF and SAHF CPU instructions)
- 2GB RAM
- 900 MB free space on storage device (local storage or remote storage)
Enable Intel-VT or AMD-V in BIOS, if you want to install ESXi on a virtual machine, for VMware Workstation 7.x you must select Linux (2.6) 64-bit for OS type or ESXi 4, ESXi 5 is defined in VMware Workstation 8.x.
Oracle Virtual Box 4.x is same as Workstation 7.x .
Boot your machine by ESXi 5 disk, you will see boot menu, for start installation press Enter.
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ESXi installer beings to load modules on RAM.
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In next step welcome screen will shown.
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For accept license agreement press F11 and continue installation process.
Installer search your available storage devices (Hard disks or USB drives).
After searching complete, on this window you must select a storage device, your ESXi files will be stored on this device. Press Enter to continue installation, installer will make necessary drives on this device.
You can select your input language on this window, if you want to continue with default just press Enter and continue installation.
It’s very important, you can set a password for your root user, in Linux base operating systems root user is like administrator user in Windows, it’s mean this user can do anything, set a password (minimum 7 character) is recommended.
Now, installer is waiting for your confirm because your data on selected storage device will be erased.
Installer copies ESXi files into storage device and you, after 5-6 minutes all files copied on your device.
Now you must press Enter for reboot.
After reboot your ESXi ready for configuration, we will configure ESXi on next part.
I installed ESXi-5.0.0-469512 for this post but if you want to use it even for test environment, download latest version is recommended and also after installation, download latest patches and apply on it.
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