Jargon Technology

I was rereading the What’s New documents from VMware on their release of 4.1 ESX/ESXi  and noticed that they make a recommendation to migrate your servers to ESXi in the 4.1 upgrade process if you can and avoid trying the ESX 4.0 to 4.1 upgrade process.  Why would they recommend such a sweeping change?  Well it seems like the speculations that have surrounded the ESXi platform since its release are coming true.  ESX 4.1 will be the last ESX release.  This is not to say that patches and possibly even updates to 4.1 will be released, but the next 4.2 or greater release will be ESXi only.  This is a perfect time to take advantage of the small install footprint of ESXi and get those hard drives out of your ESXi servers altogether (unless you are using them for local VMFS storage space).

ESXi is a small platform that comes on an ISO that is just around 300 MB.  So the requirements to get your server to boot off of a USB flash drive are simply that you have a 1GB USB stick  and a server that has an available USB port and the ability to do USB boot.  Most servers that support the Core2 or greater CPU chipset probably have this capability built-in.  As always it is best to make sure that your server has the latest BIOS/firmware/etc up to date.  You may want to check your server documentation (or just pop open the case and look around) because the server might even have a USB slot on the actual motherboard.  This allows for sleek booting without the need for a USB flash drive sticking out the front or back which could inadvertently get knocked out.

I will demonstrate 2 methods for loading up the ESXi 4.1 install onto a USB stick .  1) I will plop the USB stick into the server and boot off of a physical CD on the server I want to load the ESXi to and 2) I will install ESXi via VMware player on the USB stick so I can deploy to a server that has yet to be recieved (pre-deployment method)

So before I get into the steps for the different methods I want to note a few things.  VMware provides a default ESXi installation ISO from their site.  This is the generic download that will work on all of the supported servers on the hardware compatibility list.  In addition to this the major server makers also provide a customized release that includes additional drivers/CIM providers for the specific hardware that is made by them.  For my demonstration I will be using the generic ISO but I will provide links for the individual downloads for each manufacturer that might work better for your deployment. 

• Dell – ESXi 4.1 Installable
• HP & IBM – As of this writing, do not have a customized ESXi 4.1 ISO.  They did have them for 4.0 though so it may just be too close to official release for them to have made one

1)  Standard Method

1. Download the ESXi 4.1 ISO and burn to CD.
2. Insert your 1GB USB stick into the server and pop-in the CD to the server.
3. Boot from the CD
4. Select (Enter) Install
5. Press F11 To accept the EULA and continue.
6. Select to USB Device (remember must be at least 1GB, but anything larger than 1GB will essentially be unused) and click Enter to continue.
7. You will get a notification (potentially) about overwriting the device, click Enter to continue.  All data on the USB will be lost so please use a blank USB or move data off of it before proceeding.
8. Press F11 to confirm the installation.
9. Press Enter to Reboot after install completes and eject the CD.
10. During the boot up process press the appropriate key to enter your server’s BIOS settings.
11. Ensure that Boot from USB is enabled and that the USB boot device is in the proper boot order  for your preferences (above Hard Drive but below CD/DVD in my case).
12. Save your setting and let the server complete the boot up process.
13. At this point your server is booted up to ESXi via USB and you can complete the customization of your specific ESXi deployment by setting the hostname, IP address and so forth.

2) Predeployment Method

1. What ever PC you try to do this on will need a 64bit capable processor with the Intel or AMD Virtualization capabilities enabled in the BIOS.  This is a new requirement as ESXi no longer supports 32bit hardware. 
2. Download the ESXi 4.1 ISO and VMware Player 3.1  .
3. Install VMware Player 3.1  and reboot.
4. Launch VMware Player.
5. Click on Create a New Virtual Machine.
6. Select Install disc image file (iso) and Browse to the ESXi 4.1 ISO file and click Next.
7. Select Linux and then Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 64-bit and click Next.
8. Name the Virtual Machine ESXi or whatever you would like (it really doesn’t matter) and select the storage location of the VM (again doesn’t really matter).
9. Set the storage size as 1GB and Store as a single file and click Next.
10. Click Customize Hardware button and increase the RAM on the Virtual Machine to 2048MB (2GB) and click OK.
11. Keep the Power on this virtual machine after creation Checked and then click Finish.
12. The VM will boot up and will start the ESXi installer process.
13. Insert the your USB flash drive.
14. Press Ctrl+Alt keys to change focus from within the VM back to Windows.  Select Virtual Machine from the menu bar and go to Removable Devices–> Flash Disk –> Connect.  Click back inside the VM window to change focus back to the VM.
15. Select (Enter) Install
16. Press F11 To accept the EULA and continue.
17. Select to USB Device and click Enter to continue.
18. You will get a notification (potentially) about overwriting the device, click Enter to continue. 
19. Press F11 to confirm the installation.
20. Press Enter to Reboot and then exit VMware Player.  You can now remove your USB flash drive and pop it into the server when you are ready to deploy. 
21. If you want to pre-load multiple USB flash drives just insert a new flash drive and repeat from steps 12-20.
22. When you finally deploy to a server make sure that the BIOS setting has USB booting enabled and that the USB boot device is in the proper boot order.

You should now be able to deploy or migrate all of your ESX or ESXi servers to 4.1 without any need for boot from SAN or boot from local hard drives.