Installing VMware ESX Server 2.1 - Servers

Steps

Revision level: 1.0a
Updated: 21 July 2004

8685 - IBM eServer xSeries 255
8676 - IBM eServer xSeries 335
8670 - IBM eServer xSeries 345
8686 - IBM eServer xSeries 360
8687 - IBM eServer xSeries 440
8870 - IBM eServer xSeries 445
8678 - IBM eServer BladeCenter HS20
8839 - IBM eServer BladeCenter HS40

Follow the xSeries network operating system (NOS) installation instructions provided in this document in sequential order unless these instructions advise you differently. The windows and messages might differ from those in this document. Throughout this document, the term select is used to denote the use of arrow keys or the mouse to make a selection from a menu.

1.0 Preinstallation tasks
1.1 What you will need
1.2 Where to download device drivers and files
1.3 System hardware compatibility
1.3.1 System hardware support
1.3.2 SAN support
1.3.3 ServeRAID support
2.0 Installing VMware ESX Server 2.1
2.1 Graphical mode installation
2.2 Text mode installation
2.3 Post installation updates
3.0 Creating a new virtual machine in VMware ESX Server 2.1
4.0 Installing a guest operating system on a virtual machine
5.0 Issues and errata on specific IBM xSeries servers with VMware ESX Server 2.1
6.0 Installing service processor device drivers in the console operating system
7.0 Notices

Before you install VMware ESX Server 2.1, read the information in the following sections.

You will need to obtain the following items:

• A registered copy of VMware ESX Server 2.1 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 2.1.
• The latest firmware updates for your server. For the latest firmware update for your server, go to http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/.

If you are using an IBM ServeRAID adapter, you need the IBM ServeRAID Support CD Version 6.1 or later, if your server has a ServeRAID controller.

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.

Attention: 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.

You can download VMware ESX device driver updates from http://www.vmware.com/download/.

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

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 5.0 Issues and errata on specific IBM xSeries servers with VMware ESX Server 2.1. To make sure that your server is supported by both IBM and VMware, go to the following Web sites:

• IBM ServerProven, which lists all servers that IBM supports with VMware ESX Server: hhttp://www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/nos/vmware.html and http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/. Any server that is listed as ServerProven for VMware ESX Server version 2.0 is also supported under VMware ESX Server version 2.1.

To be sure 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 VMware ESX Server 2.1. For more information, contact your IBM marketing representative or authorized reseller.

IBM ServeRAID support for VMware ESX Server 2.1 is provided with ServeRAID version 6.10.24 or later on ServeRAID model 4Lx, 4Mx, 5i, 6i, and 6M controllers. For more information, see 2.3 Post-installation updates.

Use the latest ServeRAID firmware that is available from the IBM Web Site, even when it results in a mismatch between the device driver and the firmware versions.

Note: If you are installing VMware ESX Server 2.1 on an IBM eServer BladeCenter unit, wait at least 10 seconds until all necessary USB device drivers and hardware are installed; then, select Install.

VMware ESX Server 2.1 has a new installer feature. The two most common methods of installing VMware ESX Server 2.1 are the new graphical mode and the text-based installation.

• Use the new graphical mode installer if you are installing VMware ESX Server v2.1 on a server other than an IBM eServer BladeCenter blade server.
• Use a text-based installation if you are installing VMware ESX Server v2.1 on an IBM eServer BladeCenter x120, HS20, or HS40.

The default installation mode for VMware ESX Server 2.1 is through the graphical installer. Use this method if you are installing VMware ESX Server 2.1 on a server that is not an IBM eServer BladeCenter blade server.

Complete the following steps to perform a graphical mode installation:

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 2.1 CD into the CD-ROM drive.
3. In the VMware ESX Welcome screen, press Enter to begin the graphical mode installer.
4. In the VMware ESX Server Welcome screen, click Next.
5. In the Installation Type screen, select Custom Installation and click Next.
6. In the Keyboard Configuration window, select your keyboard model and layout and click Next.
7. In the Mouse Selection window, select the correct mouse type for your system and click Next.
8. The End User License Agreement is displayed. Read through this agreement, select the Accept End User License check box, and click Next.
9. Type your VMware ESX Server 2.1 product key. Type your Virtual SMP product key, if applicable and click Next.
10. In the Device Allocation window, 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	192MB
       16	272MB
       32	384MB
       More than 32	800MB

       
       
    2. SCSI Storage Controller - Allocate the SCSI controllers to be used by the service console or the virtual machines. You should give both the service console and the virtual machines access to this device. To configure the storage controllers, select the virtual machine in the Virtual Machines list; then, select the Shared with Service Console 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.

11. In the Disk Partitioning Setup window, select Autopartition, and Remove all partitions. Click Next.
12. If your hard disk drive is unformatted, a Warning window opens. Select Yes to initialize the hard disk drive.
13. 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 50MB 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	384MB
      16	544MB
      32	768MB
      More than 32	1600MB

      
      
    • A root partition with mount point /, file system type ext3, and 2500MB 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 6000MB 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 1800MB in size. Use this partition for the home directories for all users on the system.
14. In the Network Configuration window, configure your first network adapter and click Next. 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.

15. In the Hostname Configuration window, type the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) for the server.

    Note: If you are using DHCP, the Hostname Configuration window is not displayed.

16. In the Time Zone Selection window, select the time zone and click Next.
17. In the Account Configuration window, type and confirm your root password. The root password must be at least six characters.
18. Below the root password prompts, add one or more non-root users that can log in to the VMware Management Interface, and then click Next.
19. Before the text mode installer starts copying files, an information screen appears, giving the location of the installation log file. Click Next.
20. The installation program starts the file copy process. When it is finished, it will configure the console operating system to prepare for the final configuration via the VMware Management Interface. In the ESX Server Installation Complete screen, select Reboot, and press Enter. Remove the CD after it is ejected from the CD-ROM drive.
21. When the server restarts, a boot menu is displayed. Make sure that you select esx as the option to boot.
22. After the server is restarted, the final installation and configuration is done using a Web browser and connecting to the VMware Management Interface.
23. 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
24. Enter the IP address that you assigned to the console operating system to load the VMware Management Interface.
25. 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.
26. Log in to the VMware Management Interface using the root account that you created during the text mode portion of setup.
27. At the top of the Status Monitor page for the VMware Management Interface, there will be two warnings, one about swap space, and the other about virtual Ethernet switches. Click Reconfigure on the swap space warning line.
28. 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 verify that the VMFS Volume where the swap file will be placed is an internal drive, then click OK.
    2. In the Swap Configuration window, click Activate in the Configured Swap Files menu. After a few seconds, the swap file will be activated and the swap file warning on the Status Monitor page will disappear.
29. At the top of the Status Monitor Page, click Reconfigure on the Warning line pertaining to virtual Ethernet switches.
30. In the Network Connections screen, read the explanation of virtual Ethernet switches and click Click here at the bottom of the window.
31. Type a useful label for the network switch and assign at least one adapter to it. Click Create Switch when finished.
32. Click Close in the top right corner of the Network Connections window.

Use the text mode installation method if you are installing VMware ESX Server 2.1 on an IBM BladeCenter blade server or if other issues prohibit you from using the graphical installer. There are known problems if you use the graphical mode installation. These problems will be corrected in a future release of VMware ESX Server.

Complete the following steps to perform a text mode installation of VMware ESX Server:

1. Make sure that the network cable is connected to all network adapters before starting the installation.
2. Turn on the server or blade server and insert the VMware ESX Server 2.1 CD into the CD-ROM drive.
3. In the VMware ESX Welcome screen, type text and press Enter to begin the text mode installation.

   
   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, press Enter.
   

4. In the VMware ESX Server Welcome screen, press Enter.
5. In the Installation Type screen, select Custom Installation.
6. In the Keyboard Selection screen, select us or the appropriate layout for your keyboard and click OK.
7. In the Mouse Selection screen, select the correct mouse type for your server and click OK.
8. The End User License Agreement is displayed. Read through this agreement, select the Accept End User License check box, and click OK.
9. Enter your VMware ESX Server 2.1 product key. Enter your Virtual SMP product key, if applicable and click OK.
10. If your hard disk drive is unformatted, a Warning window opens. Select Yes to initialize the hard disk drive.
11. In the Disk Partitioning Setup window, select Autopartition, and Remove all partitions. Click OK to go to the next screen.
12. 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 50MB 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	384MB
      16	544MB
      32	768MB
      More than 32	1600MB

      
      
    • A root partition with mount point /, file system type ext3, and 2500MB 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 6000MB 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 1800MB in size. Use this partition for the home directories for all users on the system.
13. In the Network Configuration window, configure your first network adapter and click 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.

14. 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.

15. In the Time Zone Selection window, select the time zone and click OK.
16. In the Root Password window, type and confirm your root password, and then click OK. The root password must be at least six characters.
17. In the Add User window, add one or more non root users that can log in to the VMware Management Interface, and then click OK.
18. In the User Account Setup window, add any additional users, and then click OK to start the installation.
19. Before the text mode installer starts copying files, an information screen appears, giving the location of the installation log file. Click OK.
20. The installation program starts the file copy process. When it is finished, it will configure the console operating system to prepare for the final configuration via the VMware Management Interface. In the ESX Server Installation Complete screen, select Reboot, and press Enter. Remove the CD after it is ejected from the CD-ROM drive.
21. When the server restarts, a boot menu is displayed. Make sure that you select linux as the option to boot.
22. After the server is restarted, the final installation and configuration is done using a Web browser and connecting to the VMware Management Interface.
23. 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
24. Enter the IP address that you assigned to the console operating system to load the VMware Management Interface.
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. In the Welcome screen, click Next to start the ESX Server Configuration Wizard.
28. In the End User License Agreement screen, accept the license agreement and type your VMware ESX Server 2.1 product key. Type your Virtual SMP product key, if applicable. Click Next.
29. In the Startup Profile window, 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	192MB
       16	272MB
       32	384MB
       More than 32	512MB

       
       
    2. SCSI Storage Controller - Allocate the SCSI controllers to be used by the service console or the virtual machines. You should give both the service console and the virtual machines access to this device. To configure the storage controllers, select the virtual machine in the Virtual Machines list; then, select the Shared with Service Console check box.
    3. Ethernet controllers - Enable 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.

       WARNING: 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.
30. If you are prompted to log in again, log in as root.
31. In the server startup menu, select the vmnix kernel and press Enter to start the server.
32. 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.
33. 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 verify that the VMFS Volume where the swap file will be placed is an internal drive, then click OK.
    2. In the Swap Configuration window, click Activate in the Configured Swap Files menu. After a few seconds, the swap file will be activated and the swap file warning on the Status Monitor page will disappear.
34. 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.
35. 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 2.1 CD.
36. Click OK and the VMware Management Interface Login page opens.

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. Check this Web site often for code patches and security updates.

Complete the following steps to create a new virtual machine in VMware ESX Server 2.1:

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.

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

• 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 2.1 CD. The file name is GuestOS_guide.pdf.

This section describes issues that might arise when you are installing VMware ESX Server 2.1 on specific IBM xSeries servers.

• IBM eServer BladeCenter HS20 and BladeCenter HS40
  • 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.
  • If you are installing VMware ESX Server 2.1 on a blade server, use the text mode installer. There are known problems when you use the graphical mode installer. These problems will be fixed in a later version of VMware ESX Server.
• 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.

  Note: Hyper Threading Technology is not supported under VMware ESX Server 2.1 on 16-way servers. If you have a 16-way server, disable Hyper Threading in the BIOS code. For more information, see the documentation that comes with your server.
  

• IBM ServeRAID support
  • At this time, only the ServeRAID device driver is supported. ServeRAID utilities and management software are not supported.
  • VMware ESX Server 2.1 support includes ServeRAID-4Lx, 4Mx, 5i, 6i, and 6M controllers.
• IBM Director support

  IBM Director Agent 4.10 or later is supported on the console operating system only. Support for IBM Director Agent in a guest operating system will be supported in a future release of IBM Director.

• IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter II (Linux daemon)

  Some servers come with an IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter II or IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter II-EXA installed (for example, the IBM eServer xSeries 365 and the xSeries 445 servers). Before installing the Remote Supervisor Adapter II device drivers, see your IBM marketing representative or authorized reseller.

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, download the Red Hat^(R) Linux device driver for your server from the IBM device driver matrix Web page at MIGR-4JTS2T.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:
      
      mount /mnt/floppy
      cp /mnt/floppy/ibmasm-src-redhat-WRPxxxA.rpm ~
      rpm -ivh ~/ibmasm-src-redhat-WRPxxxA.rpm
      

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