More ways to make the transition to ESXi are making it to market. Take a read at my previous articles:
- The Migration From ESX to ESXi is Happening. Moving Configurations
- The Migration From ESX to ESXi is Happening. Moving Configurations. Part II
This week, VMware Labs has created another free tool called VMware Auto Deploy. Here is a short description:
VMware Auto Deploy supports automatic PXE boot and customization of large numbers of ESXi systems. Auto Deploy allows rapid deployment and configuration of a large number of ESXi hosts. After a DHCP server has been set up, Auto Deploy PXE boots machines that are turned on with an ESXi image. Auto Deploy then customizes the ESXi systems using host profiles and other information stored on the managing vCenter Server system. You can set up the environment to use different images and different host profiles for different hosts.
As an update to The Migration From ESX to ESXi is Happening. Moving Configurations. Part II, I opened a VMware SR and it seems that the problem was on my end with host profiles not working with AD. I tested it out on a different machine and it worked, go figure.
So let's set this up and test out deploying a new ESXi server.
1. Host profiles are needed for customizing an ESXi install. Therefore you need to have vCenter Server and Enterprise licensing. Host Profiles relies on vCenter, therefore you need vCenter to use AutoDeploy
2. Deploy OVF Template of the AutoDeploy.zip to create the VMware Auto Deploy VM.
3. Power On the VM and go to the Console.
- If you use DHCP an address will be assigned to the VM
- If you use static addressing, you will be prompted to enter IP configurations.
4. Set the hostname
5. apply settings and type a new password for vi-admin
6. Set up your DHCP server to look at Auto Deploy for PXE boot.
- The appliance has a built in DHCP server that you can setup using sudo deploy-cmd dhcpconfig
- My environment already has a Windows 2003 DHCP server so lets make the changes there.
- Under the DHCP scope options for your ESXi VLAN set:
- 066 Boot Server Host Name - IP Address or DNS name of your AutoDeployVM
- 067 Bootfile Name - undionly.kpxe.vmw-hardwired
7. Make vCenter a target server to configure the new ESXi host
- In your AutoDeploy console type: sudo vifp addserver vCenterDNSorIP
8. Customize the Host Profile
- IMPORTANT - Host profiles must be fully specified; they cannot include settings that prompt the user for information.
- Create a Host Profile through the wizard and go to Security Configuration -> Administrator Password -> Choose "Configure a fixed administrator password" from the drop down -> Enter the password and click OK
9. Set AutoDeploy to use the host profile
- Go to the console and type: deploy-cmd updateprofile -n default -v vCenterDNSorIP -p NameOfHostProfile
10. Boot your ESXi server and watch it roll.
PXE boot....
Adding the host to vCenter...
Attaching Host Profile...
Final Thoughts:
You may have to play around with it for a bit to work correctly. The ESXi host would be automatically added to vCenter with the DHCP address it was given, instead of for the configured Management Network IP. Therefore, the host got disconnected and the Host Profile never got attached correctly. This may be a problem with my setup, but I'm not positive.
What if you have a ton of ESX hosts? Create a Host Profile for Each host where you can go in and set the IP address for every vmknic. Create a new deploy-cmd createprofile for every host. Read the manual at VMware Labs for more information.
Goodluck