Methods for installing ESXi 8.0

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides high-level information that may be useful while installing VMware ESXi 8.0.

Note: This article assumes that the documentation for the update being applied has been read. For more information, see the VMware vSphere 8.0 Release Notes and the vSphere Upgrade Guide. The documentation contains definitive information. If there is a discrepancy between the guide and this article, assume that the guide is correct.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Resolution

Methods of installing

VMware provides several ways to install ESXi hosts:

Interactive ESXi installation

Interactive installations are recommended for small deployments of four or less hosts.

Installation using this method involves booting from the ESXi 8.0 installation media by inserting the media into the host and following the prompts from the installation wizard to choose a destination disk in the host and begin the installation.

The ESXi installation media can be connected to the host in a few different ways:

Inserting the CD/DVD into the DVD-ROM drive in the server
Plugging in a bootable USB device
Mounting an ISO remotely

When instructed to begin, the installer reformats and partitions the target disk and installs the ESXi boot image. If ESXi on the target disk was not previously installed, all data located on the drive is overwritten, including hardware vendor partitions, operating system partitions, and associated data. For more information, see the Installing ESXi Interactively document.

Caution: The formatting and partitioning done by the ESXi installer is permanent and overwrites existing data. To ensure that there is no loss of any data, migrate any important data from the host to another machine before the ESXi installation.

Installing ESXi on a disk that contains an installation of ESXi/ESX or a VMFS datastore, the installer will be presented with upgrade options. For more information, see the Upgrade Hosts Interactively document.

Scripted ESXi installation

Running a script is an efficient way to deploy multiple ESXi hosts with an unattended installation.

The installation script contains the configuration data for the ESXi hosts to be installed. The script can be applied to all hosts that require a similar configuration.

Notes:

The script must be created using supported commands.
All disks connected to the host at the time of installation should be considered to avoid inadvertently overwriting data. Disk names may vary between machines, so configuring and double-checking the disk selection for the ESXi installation in the script is important.
The host installation script must be stored in a location that the host can access by FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, NFS, USB flash drive, or CD-ROM drive. The installation media can be mounted on the host locally, remotely, or through PXE boot.

For more information, see the Installation and Upgrade Scripts Used for ESXi Installation document.

Auto Deploy ESXi installation

vSphere Auto Deploy allows for the provisioning of hundreds of physical hosts with ESXi software. Hosts boot from the network, reading from a central Auto Deploy server. Optionally, hosts are configured with a host profile created from a reference host. The host profile can be configured to prompt the user for input. Once booted up and configuration is complete, the hosts are managed by vCenter Server.

There are two different methods to install ESXi hosts using Auto Deploy.

Stateless caching

Stateless caching is the default option when using Auto Deploy. ESXi configuration and state data are not stored on the host disk, instead, a base image profile defines the image that the host is provisioned with, and other host attributes and configuration data are applied to the host through host profiles. A host that is set up for stateless caching must connect to the Auto Deploy server (boot media) and the vCenter Server (host profile) every time it boots. Once the ESXi host is running, the installation runs from memory.
Stateful installations

In a stateful install, the host installation image is copied from the Auto Deploy server and stored to disk (local or remote) that is only accessible to that ESXi host. Subsequent boots are from disk.

For more information about installing ESXi using Auto Deploy, see the Provisioning ESXi Systems with vSphere Auto Deploy document.

Customizing installations with ESXi Image Builder CLI

ESXi Image Builder CLI can be used to create ESXi installation images with a customized set of updates, patches, and drivers. It also allows for the inclusion of third-party network or storage drivers released between vSphere releases.

The vSphere ESXi Image Builder snap-in is included with vSphere PowerCLI installations. A Microsoft Windows system is required to install the Image Builder and its prerequisite software.

An ESXi image created with Image Builder can be deployed in one of these ways:

Burning it to an installation DVD
Through vCenter Server, using the Auto Deploy feature

For more information about creating custom ESXi images, see the Configure vSphere ESXi Image Builder document.