Hey This is a great tutorial, this answers some questions I had about working on configuring some VM's. I am going to try this with some Linux boxes and other OVA network appliances to see if it will work. One comment. I don't know why you don;t just put the links in the description box, that would be really convenient vs. having to stop your video to type a url.
Hi Black Heart Gaming, yes only nested because the script works via vCenter to the VM. If you want to install a physical ESXi server you would use an unattended script file. This requires a manual step at the ESXi installer, where you have to press shift+o and enter in the path to the script configuration file though
@Black_Heart_Gaming, If you want to automate a physical ESXi host build there are many ways to do it. This video is a very basic approach to building one nested ESXi host in a home lab. For a physical host you can use a kickstart file and create a bootable ESXi USB drive or CD. I like using the CD version because you can create an ISO that you mount through your OOB interface on your server. If you don't have an actual server with an OOB interface the bootable USB drive is probably your easier option. Another way is PXE booting the physical host but you still need a kickstart file, TFTP and PXE server and possibly DHCP if you plan on deploying more than one host at a time. Once your physical host has an IP it's easy to have the boot process launch a powershell script from a network location that will completely install/configure your ESXi host and add it to vCenter without any manual intervention. I could go on and on about this topic but not knowing your level of experience with VMware and what infrastructure you are working with I think the easiest for you would be to start with something simple like a kickstart file. You can check out William Lam's blog post regarding automated ESXi installations using a USB drive and kickstart file at www.virtuallyghetto.com/2019/07/automated-esxi-installation-to-usb-using-kickstart.html. This should help get you pointed in the right direction. I am a VCP/VCAP senior virtualization engineer supporting a global enterprise environment.
Great work. It would be great if VMware had something like Microsoft do with Windows, i.e. if you make an unattended/ks.cfg file available via USB the installer will pick it up automatically. Building custom media for every host is pretty tedious and not always practical without calling out to cli tools. I like this approach, however once the base OS is installed the rest of the configuration can be done via the Guest Management API (e.g. github.com/TheDotSource/tds-nestedESXi/blob/main/Public/Set-nestedESXi.ps1). I'm going to experiment with this combination with a view to switching away from a custom ESXi appliance to building direct from media.
Hi Frank yes I agree, I tend to build our hosts with automated scripts as opposed to building custom media. I find it way easier to change some scripts as opposed to re-composing customer images again. If you like the channel don't forget to subscribe :)
Hey Sysadmintutorials... Great video! Two things: 1. where can I get this script?(i guess you showed it at the end) 2. Do you have a script to pull and export VMWare license keys with name, number of license, how many are used, expiration date, etc.? Very much appreciate!!!
Hi Alim, thank you, you can download the script from my github or from my website www.sysadmintutorials.com/automating-vmware-esxi-install-powercli/ I don't have a script handy for the licenses but it shouldn't be too hard to build.
its very easily available... just google it. it will give you the license key, license number, expiration date, utilization on basis of cpu's etc...I have used it in my powercli script
@Alim H. Ali, don't reinvent the wheel. Just use rvtools my friend. It's free and It will give you all the information you want and more. I have a scheduled task that runs it every week and exports everything to a csv. It's a very common tool that most VMware admins/engineers use. You can find it at www.robware.net/rvtools/
As always, you'r the man. Thanks for sharing.
very nice script! Just what I need. Thanks mate!
Awesome, you're welcome c0ri
Hey This is a great tutorial, this answers some questions I had about working on configuring some VM's. I am going to try this with some Linux boxes and other OVA network appliances to see if it will work. One comment. I don't know why you don;t just put the links in the description box, that would be really convenient vs. having to stop your video to type a url.
Hi Javier, thanks for the feedback. Will post the links in the video description from now on.
Great tutorial
Does this only work on nested esxi hosts? Or can this work with physical ones?
Hi Black Heart Gaming, yes only nested because the script works via vCenter to the VM. If you want to install a physical ESXi server you would use an unattended script file. This requires a manual step at the ESXi installer, where you have to press shift+o and enter in the path to the script configuration file though
@Black_Heart_Gaming, If you want to automate a physical ESXi host build there are many ways to do it. This video is a very basic approach to building one nested ESXi host in a home lab. For a physical host you can use a kickstart file and create a bootable ESXi USB drive or CD. I like using the CD version because you can create an ISO that you mount through your OOB interface on your server. If you don't have an actual server with an OOB interface the bootable USB drive is probably your easier option. Another way is PXE booting the physical host but you still need a kickstart file, TFTP and PXE server and possibly DHCP if you plan on deploying more than one host at a time. Once your physical host has an IP it's easy to have the boot process launch a powershell script from a network location that will completely install/configure your ESXi host and add it to vCenter without any manual intervention. I could go on and on about this topic but not knowing your level of experience with VMware and what infrastructure you are working with I think the easiest for you would be to start with something simple like a kickstart file. You can check out William Lam's blog post regarding automated ESXi installations using a USB drive and kickstart file at www.virtuallyghetto.com/2019/07/automated-esxi-installation-to-usb-using-kickstart.html. This should help get you pointed in the right direction. I am a VCP/VCAP senior virtualization engineer supporting a global enterprise environment.
Just amazing!!!!!
Thank you :)
Great work. It would be great if VMware had something like Microsoft do with Windows, i.e. if you make an unattended/ks.cfg file available via USB the installer will pick it up automatically. Building custom media for every host is pretty tedious and not always practical without calling out to cli tools. I like this approach, however once the base OS is installed the rest of the configuration can be done via the Guest Management API (e.g. github.com/TheDotSource/tds-nestedESXi/blob/main/Public/Set-nestedESXi.ps1). I'm going to experiment with this combination with a view to switching away from a custom ESXi appliance to building direct from media.
Hi Frank yes I agree, I tend to build our hosts with automated scripts as opposed to building custom media. I find it way easier to change some scripts as opposed to re-composing customer images again. If you like the channel don't forget to subscribe :)
excellent where I can find scrypt? is possible to automate stand alone host as well?
Thank you, link to the script is mentioned at the end of the video :) Yes also possible to do a stand alone host after setting IP.
Hey Sysadmintutorials... Great video! Two things: 1. where can I get this script?(i guess you showed it at the end) 2. Do you have a script to pull and export VMWare license keys with name, number of license, how many are used, expiration date, etc.? Very much appreciate!!!
Hi Alim, thank you, you can download the script from my github or from my website www.sysadmintutorials.com/automating-vmware-esxi-install-powercli/
I don't have a script handy for the licenses but it shouldn't be too hard to build.
its very easily available... just google it. it will give you the license key, license number, expiration date, utilization on basis of cpu's etc...I have used it in my powercli script
@Alim H. Ali, don't reinvent the wheel. Just use rvtools my friend. It's free and It will give you all the information you want and more. I have a scheduled task that runs it every week and exports everything to a csv. It's a very common tool that most VMware admins/engineers use. You can find it at www.robware.net/rvtools/
How can I get the script downloaded for use?
Hi Chandru, the instructions to download the script are in the video