Updating an ESXi Host with unsupported hardware

Posted on August 24, 2020August 24, 2020 by mdicecca112

Follow the post below, but when creating the update query obtained from VMware ESXi Patch Tracker append –no-hardware-warning.

https://knowledgegainedandshared.com/2017/05/13/easy-esxi-patch-updates/

In my case my query goes from

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient
esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-7.0b-16324942-standard \
-d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient
esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-7.0b-16324942-standard \
-d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml --no-hardware-warning
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient

You may hit the Out Space bug seen below, if you do simple disable or set the Swap Datastore and then set it back.

https://knowledgegainedandshared.com/2018/04/04/no-space-left-on-device-esxi-patching/

Fun

Upgrade ESXi 6.7 to ESXi 7.0

Posted on August 24, 2020 by mdicecca112

Upgrade your current version of ESXi 6.7.

See https://knowledgegainedandshared.com/2017/05/13/easy-esxi-patch-updates/. You could also see the No Space left on the device error, I did.

https://knowledgegainedandshared.com/2018/04/04/no-space-left-on-device-esxi-patching/

Reboot the server and follow the steps posted below, except using the ESXi 7 ISO.

https://knowledgegainedandshared.com/2019/01/07/upgrade-esxi-6-5-to-6-7/

Verify any Unsupported Device Warnings are an issue.

To determine what the hardware component do the following after SSHing into the host.

[root@esxi1:~] lspci -p | grep 1000
0000:02:00.0 1000:0064 15d9:083c 11/ / A V

Then take the Vendor Device Id (the second section of numbers) and grep for it.

[root@esxi1:~] lspci | grep 0000:02:00.0
0000:02:00.0 Serial Attached SCSI controller: Broadcom / LSI SAS2116 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2 [Meteor]

In my case its on old onboard SAS controller that I do not utilize. If I had disabled the controller in the BIOS, I would not have had the warning. Installing ESXi 7.0 went without a hitch after ignoring the error.

ESXi6, Home Lab, VMware

Upgrade ESXi 6.5 to 6.7

Posted on January 7, 2019 by mdicecca112

Download and Mount 6.7 ISO. In my case its via SuperMicro iKVM

2. Boot from the Media

3. Follow the Installer

4. Select the Media that contains the ESXi 6.5 Install and hit Enter

5. Select Upgrade and press F11

6. Press F11 to reboot to the new install

XenServer

How to Create a VM Network in XenServer

Posted on September 23, 2017September 19, 2017 by mdicecca112

Select your XenServer and select Networking

Click Add Network

For me I want to create a Network that can access the internet, so I select External Network

Name the Network

Select the NIC you wish to use.

You will see the new network show up in the Server Networks view

Fun, XenServer

How to Add Local Storage to a XenServer

Posted on September 21, 2017September 19, 2017 by mdicecca112

Log into XenServer via XenCenter

Click on your Server and Select Storage

Select New SR…

For me I have a 12G RAID Controller backing my storage, so I select Hardware HBA

Name Storage

XenServer will probe for Storage

XenServer found both my Storage Arrays, and I chose the Array(s) I wish to use.

We format the Storage Repository.

Then we will see the new drive show up.

XenServer

How to Install XenServer 7.0

Posted on September 19, 2017September 19, 2017 by mdicecca112

Download Xen Server 7.2

Write the ISO to a USB Drive or Install with a DVD Drive. I chose to use Rufus

Boot the ISO

Select a Keymap

Accept the warning about your drive being overwritten.

Accept the EULA

Choose a drive to write the OS onto.

Choose a drive for VM Storage. I chose to do this in the Windows Client, and deselect all choices.

Select where your installation source is. For us, it is a local drive.

Choose whether to verify the installation media. I choose to skip it.

Enter a password for the XenServer Host

Select an ethernet adapter that you will use for Management of the Server.

Select and enter the appropriate network information

Name your host and enter an appropriate DNS Server

Select the appropriate geographically area

Select the appropriate time zone

Select the appropriate NTP Settings

Set the appropriate NTP Servers

Install Xen-Server

Choose whether to install an Supplemental Packs. I have none, so I chose No

The installation will finish up

Reboot the server

Upon first boot I received this bug. The host ultimately boots after a minute or two.

Once the host boots navigate to its Management IP Address and Download the Windows Client.

VMware, vSphere

How to add a Content Library to vSphere

Posted on August 22, 2017 by mdicecca112

Log into your vSphere Web Client and click Menu – Content Library.

Click the plus sign to add a new Content Library

Add a Name and Location

Select a Local Content Library if you wish to upload ISOs, OVAs, and other templates.

Select your storage location, I use my local Freenas NFS Store.

Click Finish and your new Library will appear.

To add items, click on the Name of the Content Library, then select Actions and Import Item.

Select the item and click OK.

vSphere will then proceed to upload the item.

Once uploaded items like ISOs can be selected on the create VM Screens.

ESXi6, Monitoring

How to Install vRealize Operations

Posted on August 17, 2017 by mdicecca112

First step is to obtain the vRealize Operations Manager Appliance and install it via your VMware server. Once the Appliance is uploaded and the installation is complete you will see the below screen on your VM.

Once you go to the URL you will find the Initial Setup screen.

I chose new Installation and started by setting the Administrator’s Password.

I then accepted the default certificate.

I named my Cluster Node. We can add additional nodes later.

I then completed the install by clicking Finish.

Now we wait, the Appliance will configure itself.

Then we need to start vRealize Operations Manager

Eventually the Node will show a State of Running and Online.

Once the node is up and running you will have to login

Note that the login username is admin and not root.

Now we have to do more configuration.

Accept the EULA, enter our Product Key, and opt in or out of CEIP.

Finally we configure the installation.

First in order to gather information of our VMs and ESXI servers we need to configure the vSphere Adapter.

Once the adapter is configured you should see Collecting.

For a time you will see your items in a grey color while the information is aggregated.

After a while you see the aggregation working and less and less grey.

Fun

How to Apply Updates to VCenter 6.0

Posted on July 30, 2017July 30, 2017 by mdicecca112

Starting after Update 1 for VCenter 6.0 you are able to update your Vcenter from the Web Interface. Unfortunately for me, I have pre-version one installed so I need to update via SSH.

First step is login via SSH to your VCenter as the Root User using your SSO Administrator User and password

Next you download the Update for your VCenter from here.

Once the update is downloaded, you will need to mount the ISO to your VCenter VM.

Then we execute

software-packages install –iso –acceptEulas

The update will inform you when completed and instruct you to reboot

ESXi6

How to Install VSphere Appliance 6.0

Posted on July 28, 2017July 28, 2017 by mdicecca112

There is only so many installations of a Windows or Linux box you can do before you ask yourself if there is any easier way to do this. In order to use templates and automate your VM building tasks, one of the choices is to use Vsphere with a variety of tools that plug in like Vagrant, Chef, or Puppet.

First we must acquire the VCSA 6.0 ISO and have a VM or other Windows Host on which to run the VSphere installer from. For me this is just my Windows 10 Laptop.

First we browse the ISO to /vcsa/VMWare-ClientIntegrationPlugin-6.0.0.exe and install the Plugin. This is needed to run the installer which is Web Browser Based.

Once installed we open vcsa-setup.html

On Internet Explorer, you will be prompted twice to accept the Client Integration Plugin Access to your system. Accept the access and you will see the Install Window for vCenter Server Appliance 6.0

First we click Install and Accept the License Agreement

Then we enter the IP, User, and Password for our ESXi Host

You will be prompted to trust your SSL Certificate, and since its the default install certificate it will be for localhost.localdomain. If you have changed your hostname it won’t match and won’t be trusted. You can click Yes to accept and continue.

The installer will Validate your setup and if any connection issues are found, it will let you know. Then it asks you to set the appliance name, and OS Password. Set these as appropriate. When setting the OS Password be sure to have an uppercase, lowercase, and special character as it is required by the installer.

For our installation, since it is such a small VCenter Install, we are going to go with the Embedded Platform Service Controller.

Next we create our SSO or Single Sign On Domain. If you plan to have Active Directory Integration, you need to be sure that your Domain Name and Site Name are different than your Active Directory Forest Name.

Next you pick your Appliance Size. The Tiny Size fits our installation well, but just incase we decided to bigger, I have decided to go to the Small Size.

Next Select your Datastore. Be sure there is enough space to fit your VMs. The Installer states 150GB is needed, so I have chose a Datastore that has at least that. I have also enabled Thin Disk Mode as it only allocates storage as needed.

We chose the embedded database.

We chose the appropriate Network Settings. Since my entire homelab is 10Gbe, I want to be sure that I am using a 10gbe Virtual Switch/Network.

The installer will warn you not to use DHCP, but if you do reservations of DHCP address you will be fine. Finally accept the Customer Improvement Settings and Finish the installer so that it can build your VMs. If you want to see how the installer is doing, hop over to your Web Page for your ESXi host.

Once the VM is built you can also watch it do the installation.

Once it’s finished, verify you can login and off you go!

Nerd Blogging – Tech Blogging