Virtualization,  VMware

Install & Configure: VMware ESXi Hypervisor 6.5

August 20, 2018

Today we will walk through Installation and configuration steps for vSphere ESXi version 6.5 and we will need following items to continue,

  • VMware ESXi Hypervisor installation ISO – Can be obtained from my.vmware.com.
  • Compatible hardware device (or a virtual machine in a lab environment) – Check VMware HCL for compatible hardware devices.

ESXi Installation requires following hardware and system resources,

  • Host machine should have at least 2 CPU cores.
  • Minimum required physical memory is 4GB and Recommended to have at least 8 GB of RAM.
  • Boot device should have at least 1GB of space.
  • Intel XD or AMD NX bit to be enabled in BIOS.
  • Hardware virtualization (Intel VT-x or AMD RVI ) support must be enable on x64 CPUs to support 64-bit virtual machines
  • One or more Gigabit or Fast Ethernet interfaces.

Required Firewall Ports for ESXi hypervisor

Incoming firewall connections

Port Protocol Service
5988 TCP CIM Server
5989 TCP CIM Secure Server
427 TCP, UDP CIM SLP
546   DHCPv6
8301, 8302 UDP DVSSync
902 TCP NFC
12345, 23451 UDP vSANClustering Service
68 UDP DHCP Client
53 UDP DNS Client
8200, 8100, 8300 TCP, UDP Fault Tolerance
6999 UDP NSX Distributed Logical Router Service
2233 TCP vSAN Transport
161 UDP SNMP Server
22 TCP SSH Server
8000 TCP vMotion
902, 443 TCP vSphere Web Client
8080 TCP vsanvp
80 TCP vSphere Web Access
5900 -5964 TCP RFB protocol
80, 9000 TCP vSphere Update Manager

Outgoing Firewall Connections

Port Protocol Service
427 TCP, UDP CIM SLP
547 TCP, UDP DHCPv6
8301, 8302 UDP DVSSync
44046, 31031 TCP HBR
902 TCP NFC
9 UDP WOL
12345 23451 UDP vSAN Clustering Service
68 UDP DHCP Client
53 TCP, UDP DNS Client
80, 8200, 8100, 8300 TCP, UDP Fault Tolerance
3260 TCP Software iSCSI Client
6999 UDP NSX Distributed Logical Router Service
5671 TCP rabbitmqproxy
2233 TCP vSAN Transport
8000 TCP vMotion
902 UDP VMware vCenter Agent
8080 TCP vsanvp
9080 TCP I/O Filter Service

Installation

First we need to mount ESXi installation ISO to the hardware device. We can use server remote management for this task. (for supported remote management models refer VMware documentation.)

After mounting the image we can power on the server, based on the server model you may need to change the boot order to boot from ISO.

Then we will get the ESXi boot menu as shown in following image. Select boot from installer and press Enter.


ESXi standard installer will starting to load and after getting to the welcome screen press Enter to continue.


Read through the license agreement and press F11 to accept the EULA.


We need to select a disk to install ESXi in the next screen. ESXi 6.5 supports multiple types of storage including,

  • Local disks
  • USB devices and SD cards
  • FC or iSCSI LUN

Depending on the type of storage device available it will be list under either Local or Remote Storage devices. After selecting desired storage device press Enter to continue.


We need to enter a root password for the installation in this screen. This will be used later to connect ESXi DCUI (Direct Console User Interface) in order to configure the host. After entering a password press Enter to continue.


ESXi installer will ask to confirm the installation. Press F11 to confirm and installation will start.

ESXi installation will start and it will take around 10 minutes to complete.


After completion press Enter to reboot.


Once the reboot has completed we will be able to see the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) and from there we will start configuring newly installed ESXi host.


Configuration

We can use ESXi’s Direct Console User Interface to perform number of tasks important for initial configuration of an deployed host. Today we will use the DCUI to configure management IP connectivity for the host we just installed.

Log into the DCUI by pressing F2, then provide login credentials and press enter to login.


Select Configure Management Network from the System Customization window and from the options list given there select IPV4 Configuration.

Select Use dynamic IPv4 address and network configuration if you prefer to assign IP using DHCP and if you prefer to set static IPs select Set static IPv4 address  and network configuration.

After configuring IPv4 configuration press enter to apply changes.


Assign DNS Configuration if you wish to configure DNS setup manually.


Press Esc to exit and apply configured changes, When pop up appears press Y to confirm apply changes and restart management network.


Once configuration has completed we can test management network configuration from test management network option.


Apart from configuring management network we can use DCUI for number of other tasks including,

  • Configure password
  • Restart management network
  • Network restore options
  • Configure keyboard
  • Troubleshooting options
  • View system logs
  • View support information
  • Reset system configuration

Let’s discuss more about those options in a future post with in depth DCUI capabilities.

References: