18 Apr Ultimate Guide to Installing ESXi and vCenter Server

Master VMware setup fast—install ESXi, configure your host, and deploy vCenter Server with this step-by-step walkthrough.

ESXi Prerequisites

• Check Compatibility using the Broadcom Compatibility Guide.
• Download all appropriate installers from Broadcom
  

Installing ESXi on Host

First, we need to get into the host with iLO, UCSM, IDRAC, or whatever your hardware uses for out-of-band (OOB) management.

Using your preferred OOB management, mount the ESXi .iso to the host then reboot it.

When the host boots to the .iso press Enter to continue

Press F11 to Accept the EULA and continue.

Select the disk you want to install on.

Change to your preferred keyboard layout or select Enter to continue with US Default.

Set a root password.

Press F11 to confirm installation.

Once the installer finishes, remove or unmount the instillation media and press Enter to reboot the host.

Configuring the Host

Once the host reboots, we can configure it for your environment. From the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) hit F2 and login.  Use the down arrow to select Configure Management Network and press Enter.

Arrow down to IPv4 Configuration and configure it with a static IP. Make sure you arrow down to Set static… and press the Spacebar to lock in your selection.  Then fill out the IP, subnet mask and gateway information.  Once it is all filled out press Enter.

Arrow down to IPv6 and set static addresses here or disable it if it is NOT used in your environment.

Arrow down to DNS Configuration and select Use the following DNS server… Set your primary and secondary DNS server Ips then change the Hostname to the name of the host and press Enter.

Arrow down to Custom DNS Suffixes and set it to reflect your environment then press Enter.

Press Esc then press Y to apply changes and reboot the host.

To verify your network settings open a command prompt and ping the new management IP you just setup to ensure everything is talking.  I have already created DNS entries in my environment so I also tested by pinging the FQDN as well.

Setting Up Datastores on the Host

Now that we have ESXi installed on the host and its management network has been configured we need to setup a datastore on it. Log into the host web interface using its FQDN or IP.
IE. https://esxi101.nested.local/ui/#/login

In the lefthand navigation click on Storage, make sure Datastores is selected at the top of the screen then click on New Datastore.

On the next screen you have some options, but we are going to focus on a Local datastore first as this is where I’m going to install vCenter for my lab.  Select Create New VMFS datastore and click Next.

Give your datastore a name. I’m using 101 to coincide with my host so I know which datastore goes with which host once multiple hosts are added to vCenter.  Select the device/s you want to include in the datastore and click Next.

On the next screen you can select your partition options. In our case we are going to “Use full disk” and “VMFS 6”.  Click the “Free space” to highlight it red then click Next.

Review everything on the final screen and click Finish. On the Warning that pops up click Yes to confirm.

Now we have a new local datastore we can install vCenter on.

vCenter Prerequisites

• Check Compatibility using the Broadcom Compatibility Guide.
• Download all appropriate installers from Broadcom
• Create a VMFS datastore on the host or mount an NFS datastore to it
  

Installing vCenter

Mount the .iso on your workstation then navigate to \vcsa-ui-installer\win32 and select installer.exe.

Click on Install to start the installation process. You may notice this is vCenter 7.  I’m working on two walkthroughs at once so I’m installing 7 here so I can upgrade it to 8 in another walkthrough.  The process between 7 and 8 is nearly identical.

Click Next on the Introduction page then check the box to accept the EULA and click Next.

Select the target for the new vCenter by entering the info for the ESXi host or vCenter. (This is typically going to be an ESXi host).

If you get a certificate warning, click Yes to continue.

Enter a name for the new vCenter Server and enter the desired root password.

Choose the appropriate deployment size for your environment. For my lab environment I’m going to select Tiny.

In the next step you will be asked to select a storage location for vCenter. In a new environment this will need to be set up beforehand or there will not be any datastores to select.  If you’ve been following this walkthrough from the beginning, we have already added a new data store from the host local storage.  Click here to jump to that part of the walkthrough.  Select the appropriate Datastore and check the box for ‘Enable Thin Disk Mode’ if needed and click Next.

Select the appropriate Network from the dropdown.  Fill in IP and other network settings and click Next.

Review all your settings and click Finish to start Stage 1 of the installation.

After a while Stage 1 will complete, click Continue.

On the Setup Wizard, click Next to start Stage 2.

vCenter Server Configuration is where you set time synchronization and SSH access. Set this based on your environment and security requirements but for my lab I’m syncing time with my host and enabling SSH.

Configure SSO settings to meet your environment’s needs. I’m using nested.local to match my lab environment, but you can change this or join an existing SSO domain in the step.

On the Configure CEIP page, uncheck the box to join CEIP and click Next. (I should note that this is not a requirement unless you are in a secure environment.  Specifically an environment that has to be STIGed.  Disabling CEIP is a STIG check, but if you are not in a secure environment you can leave it checked as there are some benefits to it.)

Check all your settings on the review page and click Finish.

Click OK to accept the warning and wait for Stage 2 to complete.

When Stage 2 is complete, click Close.

Now you can login to VAMI at FQDN:5480 and verify all services are up.

Finally, login to vCenter.

Now that you’ve installed ESXi and vCenter Server Appliance, let’s get them secure with SSL certificates. For ESXi host How to Replace ESXi SSL Certificates with Internal CA Certs For vCenter using CLI How To Replace VCenter SSL Certificates With A Microsoft Internal CA (Complete CLI Guide) or use the GUI How to Replace vCenter SSL Certificates Using the GUI