This blog will be about installing the ESX server from scratch. Once you have mounted the iso or created the nested VM, check out the previous blog post hear https://agileops.co.uk/how-to-install-nested-esxi-server/  if you are doing nexted setup to enabled nested ESX installation.

1. Installation

   Boot the server or VM with ESXi CD

   

   It may take some time to load the installation files and you will start to see the very famious Gray and Yellow screen

   

   Welcome Screen will pop up once the installation files are loaded. You will have two choices ESC to Cancel or Enter to Continue as shown below:

   
   

   You will need to press F11 to Accept and Continue
   

   
   

   You will then need to select the location to install your ESXi Server as my setup is nested ESX and I have allocated 40GB VMDK file you can see it here select and click Enter to continue.
   

   
   
   

Next you will be asked to select the Keyboard layout. I have selected UK and Click on Enter to continue

You will then be selecting a root password, need to be alpha numeric and make sure you remember it or you might need to re-install the ESXi again if you forgot it.

Click Enter to Continue

Nearly done, you will be given a Waring that the disk will be repartitioned so this is the final stage click F11 to install

Note if you are upgrading you will not be asked for entering root password however you will be asked few options

1. In place Upgrade
2. Upgrade as new OS

   You can now sit back and watch the installation should not take more than 4 to 5 minutes.

   

Once the installation is completed you will be asked to press Enter to reboot.

1. Configuration

   In the configuration section you will learn how to configure the ESXi host, assign IPaddress, DNS, Gateway Address using DCUI.

   The Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) allows you to interact with the host.

   Press F2 to login to the DCUI.

   

   Enter the root password which you have chosen during the installation

   

   The first thing you will be doing is configuring the Management Network

   

   Scroll down to the IPv4 Configuration

   

   Configure the following:

   1. Set static IPv4 address and network configuration
   2. IPv4 Address
   3. Subnet Mask
   4. Default Gateway
   5. Press Enter to save and exit.

      

      Then Set option to Use the folloing DNS server address and hostname

      then setup your DNS and the host name

      

      Finally set the Suffixes, and press Enter.

      

      Then press Esc to exit

      

      You will see a pop up appring for confirmation

      Press Y

      

      You can test the configuration by clicking Test Management Network

      

   How to add a host to a cluster in vCenter

   1. Right click on the cluster and click on Add host

      

      Give the host name and root password. Click on Next accept the thumbprint.

      

      You will see the security alert for sha1 thumbprint click on OK.

      

      Click on Next

      

      Click on Finish

      Finally you will be able to see your host added in the cluster

      

You will find a full video tutorial on how to install nested ESX on my YouTube channel, or you can follow the step by step instructions below.

We will first start by creating a new virtual machine

Select the Create a new virtual machine

Click Next

Give a name for the VM, in my case as this is going to an ESXi 7 I have given esx-03.agiileops.co.uk. Select the DataCenter and

Click Next

Select the computer cluster and host if required.

Click Next

Select the Datastore or storage,

Click Next

Select the compatible

Click Next

Select the Guest OS Family Other

Guest OS Version VMware ESXi7 or later. If you wish to install old version of ESXi server select the appropriate options as given below,

Now this is the most important step for Nested Installation of ESX

Note Expand CPU and on the Hardware virtualization tick the option Expose hardware assisted virtualization to the guest OS.

Then Expand New Hard disk,

Edit the New Hard disk select Disk Provisioning to Thin Provision

Click Next

Click Finish

Now you can open VMRC and start the ESXi Installation after mounting the ISO.

Hello All, as you might know, that I have successfully delivered vSphere 6.7 Training on YouTube, with the recent release of vSphere 7, I have decided to run a new YouTube Training for vSphere 7 for Beginners. This is for you if you are just getting started with IT and want to learn virtualization from scratch.

You will find links to the YouTube Sessions on this page so make sure you bookmark this page for future reference.

VMware Tutorial for Beginners vSphere 7.0 / Esxi 7 Introduction to VMware Certification Track

https://youtu.be/LVrfuKZQ3zo

Module 1- Introduction to virtualization and VMware

Module 2 – Installation and Configuration vSphere and vCenter.

Module 3 – Virtual Machines, Templates and Clones.

Module 4 – Storage.

Module 5 – VMware Virtual Networking

Module 6 – vMotion, HA, DRS.

Module 7 – Patching and security.

Module 8 – Advance Troubleshooting.

VMware Tutorial for Beginners vSphere 7.0 Detail Agenda

The details Agenda with the videos will be posted with session names with links to YouTube Sessions given below:

Module 1 Introduction to virtualization and VMware
Session 1 What is Virtualization and VMware ESXi Hypervisor – Introduction – https://youtu.be/6T8Z_N98e7A

Module 2 – Installation and Configuration

Session 2 -How to Download ESXi 7 from VMware for Trial | Session 1 – https://youtu.be/RPa-VzpArZ8

How to install VMware vSpehre 7 nested ESXi | Session 2 – https://youtu.be/CHpjw_QyzOw

Understand VMware vCenter 7, PSC embedded | Session 3 – https://youtu.be/LMzrijuxHA0

Learn the Installation process of vCenter 7 | Session 4 – https://youtu.be/-H8F5aF06q0

Overview of HTML 5 Client -Switch to New Look | Session 5 – https://youtu.be/gFwqDLGxE6A

Overview vCenter7 VCSA Management Interface VAMI Port 5480 | Session 6 – https://youtu.be/nkXEpae27RM

How to Add vCenter to AD for authentication | Session 7 – https://youtu.be/UThVcIzY89M
Licencing VMware products
What’s new in vSphere 7
What’s new in vCenter 7
Walk you through vSpehre Web Client and HTML5 client go through some important tables like configuration, Networks, Storage.

Module 3 – Virtual Machines, Templates and Clones
Teach you how to create your first Virtual Machine
Working with Templates and clone
Snapshots and VM settings
Installing the VMware Tools
Advance features of Hot Add CPU and Hot-plug Memory(live demo)
How to add a disk and extend a virtual disk (vmdk)

Module 4 – Storage
Overview of shared storage protocols FC, ISCSI, NFS.
Adding Storage Datastore, extending Datastore and RDM.
VMFS 5 and VMFS 6 ( No migration tool to upgrade)
Removing Storage Datastore and RDM

Module 5 – VMware Virtual Networking
Networking Standard vSwitch
Networking Distributed vSwitch
Traffic – Management Traffic, vMotion and Fault-Tolerant, VM-Traffic(production).

Module 6 – vMotion, HA, DRS.
Introduction to vMotion,
Migration using vMotion (Compute) and Storage vMotion (storage),
Introduction to HA,
Cluster Configuration, High Availability (HA),
Introduction to Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS),
EVC Mode

Module 7 – Patching and security
VMware Update Manager -Maintenance Patching the ESX host.
VMDS –(VMware Download server for downloading patches via proxy for restricted environments with firewall)
VMware Security and Compliance

Module 8 – Advance Troubleshooting
Advance Troubleshooting Performance monitoring CPU, RAM, Network and disk, also look at Task, Alerts, Events.
Introduction to Advance troubleshooting using vROPs
Getting started with PowerCLI

Extra resources.
Create My learn account
Resources VMware HOL

Extra resources. Create My learn account ØResources VMware HOL

At the end of each session, I will ask the Questions of the day?
Comment below introduce yourself, and tell what’s your favourite topic?
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