vSphere ESXi 6.5

ESXi 6.5 is the latest update by VMware to its bare metal hypervisor. I know from experience that despite there being many updates in the versions, the installation has remained largely the same, so I was keen to see if 6.5 kept up the tradition. 

Here is a quick rundown of my first 6.5 installation:

1. The first step is to insert the media. This can be DVD or USB. Once the media is inserted, power on the server. If the bios settings are correct, the server should boot to the media image. If your server starts booting to an existing image or doesnt boot to anything, you’ll need to access the bios and change the boot order, moving your preferred option to the top should resolve this.
2. Once you’ve got the server to boot to the media you should see the following. By default after a few seconds it should start to boot to the installer.
3. The installer will start to load. This should only take a few seconds
4. At the welcome screen, click ‘Enter’ to proceed.
5. You will be presented with the End User License Agreement. Click ‘F11’ to continue.
6. After a few seconds you will be prompted to select the disk you want to perform the installation on (you may see multiple on your server). Select the required disk using the up/down arrows on your keyboard and click ‘Enter’ to continue.
7. You will then be prompted to select the language. Again use the cursor keys and click ‘Enter’ to continue.
8. Enter a password for the root account twice using the cursor keys and press ‘Enter’ to continue.
9. At this point the install is ready to begin. Click ‘F11’ to start.
10. The install will show you the progress graphically using the progress bar.
11. Once the install is complete you will be prompted to remove the media and click ‘Enter’ to reboot. It’s important you do remove the media as if you don’t a reboot may just kick off the installation process again.
12. A reboot will be initiated.
13. The boot will take a few mins but progress is indicated by the bar along the bottom of the screen.
14. Once the boot is complete you should see a screen like the one below. By default your server will pick up a DHCP address if one is available. If not it will assign itself a private ip. Either way you’ll probably want to make some changes.
15. Press ‘F2’ to enter the setup mode. You’ll be prompted to enter your root password.
16. On the main menu the first thing you need to select is ‘configure management network’ using the cursor keys and click ‘Enter’
17. Then select IPv4 Configuration and click ‘Enter’
18. Use the cursor keys to select to set a static address and click the spacebar this time to select it. Pressing enter will confirm the settings and return you to the previous screen so dont’ press it yet. Instead, type in all the ip address details. Once you’ve completed this now click ‘Enter’
19. Next select ‘DNS Configuration’
20. Again use the cursors to use static DNS servers and click the spacebar to select. Type in the name of your DNS servers and hostname, then click ‘Enter’
21. Lastly select ‘Custom DNS Suffixes’ and click ‘Enter’
22. Enter the suffix for any domains you have. Then click ‘Enter’
23. You can then press escape and you’ll be prompted to save your changed. Press ‘Y’ and that’s pretty much it. You should now be able to connect to your host over the network by its static IP address using either a web browser or the vSphere client. I have to say the if you’ve installed any previous versions of ESX before it’s pretty much the same. I’ll be publishing further posts soon on configuring some of the other new components.