Sometimes vSphere AutoDeploy is not possible, like for an initial deployment or other reasons. In this article I described how to setup a bootserver for generic ESXi install, but also how to autoinstall an individual host.
ESXi+-+AutoInstall+-+With+Kickstart+and+PXEA few packages were installed:
- tftp & tftp-server: provide for the server daemon and client for the tftp protocol
- xinted: inetd based daemon integration which will allow the tftp-server to be loaded when accessed
- dhcp: DHCP Server to hand out IP addresses and direct PXE boot to the proper tftp source
yum install -y tftp tftp-server xinetd dhcp rsync syslinux vsftpd
Edit the /etx/xinetd.d/tftp file and change disable to no:
service tftp
{
socket_type = dgram
protocol = udp
wait = yes
user = root
server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
server_args = -c -s /var/lib/tftpboot
disable = no
per_source = 11
cps = 100 2
flags = IPv4
}
Configure DHCP daemon: /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf
option domain-name "demovcd.com";
option domain-name-servers 10.185.1.6;
default-lease-time 3600;
max-lease-time 7200;
authoritative;
subnet 10.185.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 10.185.1.51 10.185.1.100;
option routers 10.185.1.1;
}
class "pxeclients" {
match if substring(option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "PXEClient";
next-server 10.185.1.6;
filename "pxelinux.0";
}
Enable as a service
systemctl start dhcpd
systemctl start xinetd
systemctl start tftp
systemctl enable dhcpd
systemctl enable xinetd
systemctl enable tftp
Configure firewalld
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=69/udp
firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=tftp --permanent
firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=dhcp --permanent
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=21/tcp
firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=ftp --permanent
systemctl enable firewalld
systemctl restart firewalld
Create boot image, attach the ESXi image to the CentOS VM:
mkdir /mnt/cdrom
mount -t iso9660 /dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom
mkdir -p /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg
mkdir -p /var/lib/tftpboot/images/esxi650U1
rsync -a /mnt/cdrom /var/lib/tftpboot/images/esxi650U1
sed -i 's/\///g' /var/lib/tftpboot/images/esxi650U1/boot.cfg
cp /usr/share/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /var/lib/tftpboot
cp /usr/share/syslinux/menu.c32 /var/lib/tftpboot
Create a simple boot menu in /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default
DEFAULT menu.c32
MENU TITLE ESXi-6.5.0 Boot Menu
NOHALT 1
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 300
LABEL install
KERNEL images/esxi650U1/mboot.c32
APPEND -c images/esxi650U1/boot.cfg
MENU LABEL ESXi-6.5.0U1 ^Installer
LABEL hddboot
LOCALBOOT 0x80
MENU LABEL ^Boot from local disk
Optional to create a machine specific config and kickstart file:
Create a file named 01-MAC of your machine i.e. 01-00-50-56-06-52-6c for MAC 00-50-56-06-52-6c
DEFAULT menu.c32
MENU TITLE ESXi-6.5.0 Boot Menu
NOHALT 1
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 300
LABEL install
KERNEL images/esxi650U1/mboot.c32
APPEND -c images/esxi650U1/boot.cfg ks=ftp://10.185.1.6/pub/00-50-56-06-52-6c.cfg
MENU LABEL ESXi-6.5.0U1 ^Installer
LABEL hddboot
LOCALBOOT 0x80
MENU LABEL ^Boot from local disk
And then we create a kickstart file in /var/ftp/pub/00-50-56-06-52-6c.cfg
# Accept the VMware EULA
vmaccepteula
# Initial Root password is VMware123!
rootpw VMware123!
# Install on first disk
install --firstdisk --overwritevmfs --novmfsondisk
# Network configuration
network --bootproto=static --device=vmnic0 --ip=10.185.1.101 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=10.185.1.1 --nameserver=10.185.1.6 --hostname=esxi01.demovcd.com --addvmportgroup=0
# Reboot host
reboot --noeject
# Stage 2
# Start in command mode
%firstboot --interpreter=busybox
# Set search domain
esxcli network ip dns search add --domain=demovcd.com
# Diasble IPv6
esxcli network ip set --ipv6-enabled=false
# Enable Maintenance Mode
esxcli system maintenanceMode set -e true
# Final reboot
esxcli system shutdown reboot -d 15 -r "rebooting after base configuration"
