Installing VMWare ESX Server 2.0 - IBM eServer Servers

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Contents

IBM eServer installation instructions for VMware ESX Server 2.0

• 1.0 Preinstallation tasks
  • 1.1 What you will need
  • 1.2 Where to download device drivers and files
  • 1.3 System hardware compatibility
• 2.0 Installing VMware ESX Server 2.0
  • 2.1 ESX text-mode setup
  • 2.2 Setting up the VMware Management Interface
  • 2.3 Post-installation updates
• 3.0 Creating a new virtual machine in VMware ESX Server 2.0
• 4.0 Installing a guest operating system on a virtual machine
• Appendix A. Issues and errata on specific IBM xSeries servers with VMware ESX Server 2.0
• Appendix B. Installing service processor device drivers in the console operating system

IBM eServer installation instructions for VMware ESX Server 2.0

Revision level: 1.0a

Updated: 16 December 2003

Supported systems:

• IBM eServer xSeries 255, type 8685
• IBM eServer xSeries 335, type 8676
• IBM eServer xSeries 345, type 8670
• IBM eServer xSeries 360, type 8686
• IBM eServer xSeries 440, type 8687
• IBM eServer xSeries 445, type 8870
• IBM eServer BladeCenter HS20, type 8678

(C) Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2003. All rights reserved.
US Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication, or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.

NOTE: Before using this information and the product it supports, read the general information in Appendix C. Notices.

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1.0 Preinstallation tasks

Before you install VMware ESX Server 2.0, read the information in the following sections.

1.1 What you will need

Before installing VMware ESX Server 2.0, make sure that you have the following items:

• A registered copy of VMware ESX Server 2.0 and a valid product key.
  
  

  NOTE: To use the Virtual SMP add-on, a separate product key is also required.
  
  

• Network information for VMware ESX Server 2.0.
• The latest firmware updates for your server. For the latest firmware update for your server, visit http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/.

If you are using an IBM ServeRAID adapter, you need the following software:

• IBM ServeRAID Support CD Version 6.1 or later, if your server has a ServeRAID-6M controller.
• IBM ServeRAID Support CD Version 6.0 or later, if your server has a ServeRAID adapter other than a ServeRAID-6M.

1.2 Where to download device drivers and files

Updated device drivers for small computer system interface (SCSI) or redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controllers are sometimes needed during operating system installation on newer servers. If you have an updated device-driver diskette, have the diskette available during the installation.

NOTE: A VMware ESX Server is not a Linux operating system. Installing SCSI, network interface card (NIC), RAID, or storage area network (SAN) device drivers for a Linux operating system on a VMware ESX Server will damage it.

VMware ESX device driver updates may be downloaded from http://www.vmware.com/download/.

1.3 System hardware compatibility

The information in the following sections describes the hardware that VMware ESX Server supports.

1.3.1 System hardware support

Always download and install the latest BIOS code, firmware code, and service processor firmware available for your server and adapters. For hardware limitations and errata related to specific IBM xSeries servers, see Appendix A. Issues and errata on specific IBM xSeries servers with VMware ESX Server 2.0. To make sure that your server is supported by both IBM and VMware, visit the following Web sites:

• Visit http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/nos/vmware.html for the IBM ServerProven page, which lists all servers that IBM supports with VMware ESX Server.
• Visit http://www.vmware.com/support/esx2/ for VMware ESX Server 2.0 system requirements.

1.3.2 SAN support

To verify that your storage area network (SAN) topology is compatible and supported by VMware, see the following information about IBM SAN products:

• Fibre Array Storage Technology (FAStT) systems are fully supported by Storage Manager version 8.4 or later. For more information, see your Storage Manager version 8.4 documentation. For FAStT support on Storage Manager v 8.33 or earlier, contact your IBM marketing representative or authorized reseller.
• IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Server (ESS) is supported in only VMware ESX Server 2.0.1 or later. For more information, contact your IBM marketing representative or authorized reseller.

1.3.3 ServeRAID support

IBM ServeRAID support for VMware ESX Server 2.0 is provided with ServeRAID version 6.00.31 or later on ServeRAID model 4Lx, 4Mx, 5i, and 6i controllers. VMware ESX Server 2.0 requires a device driver update to meet this requirement. For more information, see 2.3 Post-installation updates.

NOTE: Contact your IBM marketing representative or authorized reseller for information about future support for IBM ServeRAID-6M.

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2.0 Installing VMware ESX Server 2.0

The installation of the VMware ESX Server is in two parts:

• Text-mode setup that installs and configures the console operating system
• VMware Management Interface setup (graphical-mode setup) that is done through a Web browser from a remote computer on the same network

2.1 ESX text-mode setup

Text-mode setup installs and configures the console operating system, which includes the Apache Web server that is used to power the management interface. Complete the following steps to perform a text-mode setup:

1. Make sure that the network cable is connected to all network adapters before starting the installation.
2. Turn on the server and insert the "VMware ESX Server 2.0 CD" into the CD-ROM drive.
3. In the "Install Supplemental Drivers" window, either select driver disk and install any supplemental device drivers provided by VMware, or select Continue to proceed with the installation. For information about obtaining these device drivers, see 1.2 Where to download device drivers and files.
4. In the "Welcome to VMware ESX Server" window, select Install.
   
   NOTE: If you are installing VMware ESX Server on an IBM eServer BladeCenter unit, wait at least 10 seconds until all necessary USB device drivers and hardware are installed; then, select Install.
   
   
5. In the "Disk Partitioning Setup" window, select Autopartition, and press Enter. If your hard disk drive is unformatted, a "Warning" window opens. Select Yes to initialize the hard disk drive.
6. In the "Partitioning" window, autopartition will have already created some default partitions used by the server, which include:
   • A boot partition with mount point /boot, file system type ext3, and 50 MB in size.
   • A swap partition: Partition type swap. Select a partition size that is at least twice the size of the random access memory (RAM) that will be assigned to the service console. In most cases, the default size is not sufficient. Use the following table to determine the correct size for your swap file.
     
     

     Number of virtual machines this server supports	Swap file size
     8	384 MB
     16	544 MB
     32	1024 MB

     
     
   • A root partition with mount point /, file system type ext3, and 1800 MB in size.
     
     

   For advanced users: In addition to the required partitions, create two additional partitions so that you can isolate potentially large non-system file areas from the root partition. Because the console operating system is Linux-operating-system-based, if the /root partition runs out of space, the console operating system might lock up. The additional partitions are:

   • Vmimages partition with a mount point /vmimages, file system type ext3, and 6000 MB in size. Use this partition to store ISO images used in virtual machine creation and management.
     
     

     NOTE: This partition is for storage of ISO images made from CDs and not DSK files. Only virtual machine file system (VMFS) partitions can store DSK files.
     
     

   • Home partition with a mount point of /home, file system type ext3, and 1800 MB in size. Use this partition for the home directories for all users on the system.
7. In the Boot Loader Configuration window, select Master Boot Record and press Enter. The other configuration options on this page are for support of older non-IBM servers or specific test environments where it is necessary to dual-boot VMware ESX Server with another operating system.
8. In the Network Configuration window, configure your first network adapter and select OK. Make sure that you assign a static IP address to the console operating system.
   
   NOTE: The console operating system does not support DDNS. Your network administrator will have to configure any domain name servers (DNSs) to recognize the IP address that is assigned to the console operating system.
   
   
9. In the "Hostname Configuration" window, type the host name of the server.
   
   NOTE: If you are using DHCP, the "Hostname Configuration" window is not displayed.
   
   
10. In the "Time Zone Selection" window, select the time zone and select OK.
11. In the "Root Password" window, type and confirm your root password, and then select OK. The root password must be at least six characters.
12. In the "Add User" window, add one or more non-root users that can log in to the "VMware Management Interface", and then select OK.
13. In the "User Account Setup" window, add any additional users, and then select OK to start the installation.
14. The installation program starts the file copy process. When it is finished, it will configure the console operating system to prepare for the VMware Management Interface part of setup. In the "ESX Server Installation Complete" screen, select Reboot, and press Enter. Remove the CD after it is ejected from the CD-ROM drive.

2.2 Setting up the VMware Management Interface

After the server has restarted, the final installation and configuration is done using a Web browser and connecting to the VMware Management Interface. Complete the following steps to set up the management interface:

1. From another computer on your network, start one of the following Web browsers:
   • Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 5.5 or later
   • Netscape Navigator version 7.x
   • Mozilla version 1.x
2. Enter the IP address that you assigned to the console operating system to load the VMware Management Interface.
3. Install and accept the security certificate. The following instructions are specific to Internet Explorer:
   
   

   NOTE: For information about installing security certificates with other Web browsers, see the documentation that comes with the Web browser.
   
   

   1. In the "Security Alert" window, click View Certificate.
   2. In the "Certificate" window, click Install Certificate.
   3. In the "Certificate Import Wizard" window, select Place all certificates in the following store; then, click Browse.
   4. Select the Show physical stores check box; then, expand the Trusted Root Certification Authorities folder.
   5. Select the Local Computer folder and click OK.
   6. Click OK at the message that the import was successful.
   7. Click OK again to close the "Certificate" window; then, click Yes to accept the certificate.
4. Log in to the VMware Management Interface using the root account that you created during the text mode portion of setup. A new window opens and the "System Configuration Wizard" starts.
5. In the "Welcome" screen, click Next to start the "ESX Server Configuration Wizard".
6. In the "End User License Agreement" screen, accept the license agreement and enter your VMware ESX Server 2.0 product key. Type your Virtual SMP product key, if applicable. Click Next.
7. In the "Startup Profile" screen, complete the following steps to configure the hardware for the service console:
   1. Reserved Memory - Select the amount of memory that is to be reserved for the service console. Use the following table to find the correct value.
      
      

      Number of virtual machines this server supports	Console operating system RAM
      8	192 MB
      16	272 MB
      32	384 MB
      More than 32	512 MB

      
      
   2. SCSI Storage Controller - Allocate the SCSI controllers to be used by the service console or the virtual machines. Both the service console and the virtual machines need access to this device. When configuring the storage using the VMware Management Interface, if this server has only one hard disk drive, clear the Console check box, select Virtual Machines, and then select the Share the controller check box.
   3. Ethernet controllers - Allocate the Ethernet controllers to be used by the service console or the virtual machines. Make sure that one of the Ethernet controllers is dedicated to the console operating system.

      NOTE: If you click Next on this screen when no Ethernet controllers are dedicated to the console, connectivity to the VMware Management Interface will be lost.

   4. Click Next. The VMware ESX Server restarts.
8. If you are prompted to log in again, log in as root.
9. In the "Server Startup" menu, select the vmnix kernel and press Enter to start the server.
10. In the "Storage Configuration" screen, create at least one VMFS partition that will store the DSK files for your virtual machines:
    1. When creating the first VMFS partition, make sure that the ESX Server installation program creates a core dump partition in it.
    2. After creating all VMFS partitions, click Next.
11. In the "Swap Configuration" screen, click Create in the Configured Swap Files menu to set up the swap space that the ESX Server uses as part of its memory management:
    1. In the "Edit Swap File Configuration" screen, accept the default file size, and then click Next.
    2. In the "Swap Configuration" window, click Activate in the Configured Swap Files menu.
12. In the Network Connections screen, configure installed network adapters to be used by the virtual machines. In most cases, the defaults are sufficient. Click Next.
13. In the "Security Settings" screen, select the level of security that you want and click Next. The default is High. Consider carefully the choices on this screen, because a compromise of the console operating system endangers the security and stability of all virtual machines on the server. For more information, see page 48 of esx2_install.pdf, which is in the root directory of the VMware ESX Server 2.0 CD.
14. Click OK and the "VMware Management Interface Login" page opens.

2.3 Post-installation updates

It is important to install any necessary operating system updates. Patches are available for VMware ESX Server that you can download from http://www.vmware.com/download/esx. The following updates are specific to VMware ESX Server 2.0 and are available:

• VMware ESX Server 2.0.0 Driver Update for IBM Director. This update is required for all servers that will have IBM Director installed. Also, all servers running ESX Server 2.0 and IBM ServeRAID require this patch. This patch does not include support for the IBM ServeRAID-6M controller. For more information, see 1.3.3 ServeRAID support.
• VMware ESX Server 2.0 VMware Idler Service for SMP Microsoft Windows 2000 Virtual Machines. Install this update only on servers that have dual-processor virtual machines that lock up at shutdown.
• OpenSSH Packages for ESX Server 2.0. This is a security hot fix to patch a critical situation in the SSH support in ESX Server 2.0.

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3.0 Creating a new virtual machine in VMware ESX Server 2.0

Complete the following steps to create a new virtual machine in VMware ESX Server 2.0:

1. Open a supported Web browser, enter the IP address for the VMware Management Interface, and log in.
2. In the "Status Monitor" page, click Add Virtual Machine to start the Add Virtual Machine wizard.
3. Select the guest operating system, display name, and location (path and file name). Click Next.
   
   

   NOTE: Each virtual machine configuration file (.vmx) must be in its own directory; otherwise, the VMware Management Interface returns an error.
   
   

4. Select the number of microprocessors to be used by the virtual machine. Unless the Virtual SMP module is installed, the virtual machine is limited to one microprocessor.
5. Select the amount of memory to be used by the virtual machine. Click Next.
6. In the virtual disk screen, select the type of virtual disk that you want to create:
   • Blank - Creates a new virtual disk
   • Existing - Points to an existing DSK file on your VMFS partitions
   • System LUN/Disk - Enables access to a physical disk stored on a LUN; also known as RAW mode
7. Click Next. The Hardware page for the virtual machine is displayed. Configure additional options, as necessary.

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4.0 Installing a guest operating system on a virtual machine

For information about guest operating-system installations, see the following references:

• The IBM server operating-system installation matrix: MIGR-4QLNTQ.html
• The VMware guest operating-system installation instruction index: http://vmware.com/support/guestnotes/doc/index.html
• The VMware Guest Operating System Installation Guide in the root directory on the VMware ESX Server 2.0 CD. The file name is GuestOS_guide.pdf.

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Appendix A. Issues and errata on specific IBM xSeries servers with VMware ESX Server 2.0

This appendix describes issues that might arise when you are installing VMware ESX Server 2.0 on specific IBM xSeries servers.

• IBM eServer BladeCenter HS20
  • VMware ESX Server fully supports installations on blade servers with the following conditions:
    • The console operating system can be on an IDE hard disk drive
    • All VMFS partitions must be either on SCSI drives (using the SCSI hot-swap expansion unit) or SAN-connected Fibre Channel devices.
• IBM eServer xSeries 440 and xSeries 445 (all models)
  • All symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) expansion modules must be populated with random access memory (RAM). VMware and IBM do not support the use of SMP expansion modules that have no memory installed.
• IBM eServer xSeries 440 and xSeries 445 (16-way)
  • The SCSI controllers in both chassis must be dedicated to the same devices. For example, both SCSI controllers must be either dedicated to virtual machines, dedicated to the console operating system, or shared. An example of an invalid configuration is one in which the SCSI controller on the primary chassis is dedicated to virtual machines and the SCSI controller on the secondary chassis is dedicated to the service console. This same limitation also applies to the integrated Broadcom Ethernet controller.
• IBM ServeRAID support
  • Contact your IBM marketing representative or authorized reseller for information about future support for IBM ServeRAID-6M.
  • VMware ESX Server 2.0 support includes ServeRAID-4Lx, 4Mx, 5i, and 6i controllers.
  • Install the patch VMware ESX Server 2.0.0 Driver Update for IBM Director specified in section 2.3 Post-installation updates to update the ServeRAID device driver to version 6.00.31. You must download the VMware device drivers directly from VMware, by visiting http://www.vmware.com/download/esx/esx2-ibmdriver.html. These device drivers are not available from IBM or the ServeRAID Support CD.
• IBM Director support
  • At this time, IBM Director Agent 4.10 is supported on the console operating system only. Contact your IBM marketing representative or authorized reseller for information about future support.

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Appendix B. Installing service processor device drivers in the console operating system

If the server has an Advanced System Management processor installed, complete the following steps to install the device driver:

1. Insert the Advanced System Management processor device driver diskette into the diskette drive on the ESX Server. For information about downloading the Advance System Management processor device driver, visit MIGR-44717.html.
2. To install the Linux device driver on the ESX Server, complete the following steps:
   1. On the console operating system, type the following symbolic link:

      cd /usr/src
      ln -s 2.4.9-vmnix2 linux
      

   2. Mount the diskette and install the following package, where xxx is the version being installed:

      cp /mnt/floppy/ibmasm/ibmasm-src-redhat-WRPxxxA.rpm ~
      rpm -ivh ~/ibmasm-src-redhat-WRPxxxA.rpm
      

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