NSA VMWare Deployment Quickstart

VMWare Deployment Guide

Intro

Welcome to the North Shore Automation VMWare, vSphere quick start guide. Note that this process normally takes a trained user about 30 minutes to complete, once all prep materials & info are gathered. We recommend you allow an hour for your first time. If you have questions and are a North Shore reseller or support client, please feel free to contact support@northshoreautomation.com or the project manager for your project.

You may not be familiar with all the terms in this guide. The links at the bottom of this article will give you more info, but here are the most commonly confusing terms laid out in a simple form. VMware vSphere is a hypervisor and management suite. The solution includes ESXi, a Type 1 hypervisor, and vCenter for infrastructure management.

We recommend you watch the video links below in order before beginning. They are repeated below with additional links offering more detail if you want to read/watch further. But if you’re in a hurry, (who isn’t?) dive in with the next section.

Core Instructional Materials

Watch these videos in order:

- Creating the Bootable USB Drive
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gYnyIaQH9A
- Installation overview
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQaxMPwT4s0
    - Note: There are official VMWare links below but we find this one more complete and user friendly

Once you’ve viewed these videos, please check the “Reference Links” section below for the “USB boot creation - how to” link for the OS of the machine that you are using to create your USB boot installer.

VMWare Deployment Process outline

Prep List

Make sure you have all of the following items ready before starting this process

1. VMWare ESXI ISO
  1. Download from vmware.com
  2. Or HP or other hardware vendor, depending on your hardware config
2. USB Creation software

- 1. See included links
  2. Choose one:
  3. UNetBoot - Mac OS X, Win, Linux
  4. Rufus - Windows only

1. USB drive 8GB (or larger, but 8GB is required)
2. Internal SD card installed - check server config on purchase order
3. IP Addresses

- 1. ESXI Management IP address (hardware)
  2. VM IP addresses

1. Computer connected to same network as Vsphere host machine & internet

- 1. This is for North Shore remote access

1. North Shore VM Image

- 1. Contact North Shore Project Manager for download link
  2. Download to

Installation Steps

Note: Step by step guide with images for reference - http://www.itingredients.com/how-to-install-and-configure-vmware-esxi-6-0-step-by-step/

1. Create bootable USB stick
2. Set BIOS (Optional, if needed)
3. Boot to USB device
  1. Select Boot Device if needed
4. Select disk drive to install onto
5. Select Keyboard layout
6. Set password for ESXI “root” account

- 1. Make secure password
  2. Write down password

1. Confirm installation
2. Once completed, unmount USB device
3. Reboot server
4. When system reboots, configure management network for VSphere host

- 1. Press f2 to log in
  2. Enter “root” and password you set

1. On the system customization window, select an option of “Configure Management Network” and hit enter.
2. On the “Configure Management Network”, select an IPv4 Configuration option and hit enter to change an IP.
3. On the IPv4 configuration option, by default “Use dynamic IPv4 Address and network configuration” option is selected.

- 1. To define static IP address, select an option “Set static IPv4 address and network configuration” by pressing space bar from the keyboard
  2. Set the IP address
  3. Hit enter to continue.

1. By default IPv6 is enabled on the Server.

- 1. Select an option “IPv6 Configuration”
  2. hit Enter to change.

1. On the IPv6 configuration window “use dynamic IPv6 address and network configuration” option is selected.

- 1. Select the option “Disable IPv6” to disable IPv6.
  2. Hit enter to continue.

1. On the “Configuration Management Network” window, select “DNS Configuration” and hit Enter to change the settings.
2. In the “DNS Configuration” window,

- 1. Define the primary DNS Server
  2. Define alternate DNS server
  3. Define Hostname
  4. hit enter to continue.

1. Once IPv4, IPv6 and DNS configuration is completed.

- 1. Press ESC to exit the console. It will restart the management network and reboot host to apply the changes.

1. Once installed connect to VSphere at ESXi Management IP address from a web browser

- 1. Use “root” user credentials entered above

1. Contact North Shore technician for assistance deploying your North Shore VM image

Reference Links

- Video Links:
  - Creating the Bootable USB Drive
    - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gYnyIaQH9A
    - See article links below as well
  - Installation overview
    - Note: Need bootable USB first
    - 3rd party tutorial
      - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQaxMPwT4s0
      - Note: There are official VMWare links below but we find this one more complete and user friendly
    - Official VMWare Setup Link
      - Direct Video Link
        https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi6
      - Overview page:
        https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi6
- Article links:
  - USB boot creation - how to
    - Software: UNetBoot
      - https://unetbootin.github.io/
    - OS X Instructions
      - https://www.admfactory.com/prepare-esxi-vsphere-usb-drive-boot-image-using-macos/
    - Windows Instructions
      - https://nolabnoparty.com/en/vmware-esxi-6-5-install-host-usb-stick/
    - ALT - WIN USB boot creation - Rufus - https://rufus.akeo.ie/
      - https://www.techrepublic.com/article/creating-a-bootable-vmware-esxi-usb-drive-in-windows/
      - https://miketabor.com/create-bootable-esxi-installer-usb-flash-drive/
  - Step by Step ESXi installation steps with images for reference - http://www.itingredients.com/how-to-install-and-configure-vmware-esxi-6-0-step-by-step/
  - General info article on Vsphere to provide for reading / prep
    - http://www.dummies.com/programming/networking/what-is-vsphere/
    - https://www.techrepublic.com/article/vmware-vsphere-the-smart-persons-guide/
    - Note: Don’t bother reading extra networking info at bottom. Awkward transition from short VMWare article to try and sell a book.

This information is provided as a courtesy by North Shore Automation. All materials linked are copyright of the creators and no warranty is made of the completeness or accuracy of these materials. Use this guide at your own risk.