How to Install VMware ESXi 6.0:Installation & Configuration Guide

VMware ESXi (formerly ESX) is an enterprise-class, type-1 hypervisor developed by VMware for deploying and serving virtual computers.

The name ESX originated as an abbreviation of Elastic Sky X – which ESX is run on bare metal (without OS installation) we can directly install ESX on Hardware

The installation procedures of VMware ESXi  is same irrespective of its version with minor changes in the features, here we are going to see about How to install VMware ESXi 6.0.

VMware ESXi is free. However, the software comes with a 60 days evaluation mode. 

You should register on VMware website to get your free license key to come out of the evaluation  mode.

Once the ESXi is installed, you can either use vSphere Client on the Direct Console User Interface  to administer the host.

VMware vSphere 6.0 contains below new features:

1.     VMs will support up to 128 vCPUs and 4TB RAM.

2.     ESXi Hosts will support up to 480 pCPU, 12 TB RAM, 64 TB data stores, 1000 VMs, and 32 serial ports.

3.      vMotion Enhancements. vMotion across virtual switches and vMotion across vCenter Servers

4.     Network IO Control – New support for per-VM and Distributed vSwitch bandwidth reservations to guarantee minimum server level.

Download ESXi server:

·  Get the software from https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi6

·    You need to login or create an account to access VMware vSphere Hypervisor license and  downloads

·         Once done you will be receiving the Activation link to download the same. 

      Installing VMware ESXi 6 is just as straight forward as ever, of course you’ll want to make sure your hardware is on the VMware HCL and you meet the necessary system requirements:

·         64Bit (x86) processor with VT-x or AMD-V (Enabled in the BIOS level)

·         Dual core processor

·         RAM minimum 4GB (Only for Basic installation)

·       10GB space of local storage (Only for Installation) For Creating Virtual machine you have to add more space as required

·         NX/XD bit must be enabled for the CPU in the BIOS

Of course those are minimums and you won’t get much virtualized with those specs, but it is likely fine for lab and testing purposes.  For the installation, I typically suggest USB or SD card.  This saves your physical disks, either locally or in a boot from SAN configuration free for VM related IO.  If you have local disks and flash based drives in your system, you can enable VSAN for example to provide shared storage in from the local storage in your hosts. There are other requirements for VSAN that I’ll touch on in another post.

Installation Steps:

Once you insert the ESXi CD and reboot the server, it will display a boot menu with an option to launch “ESXi Installer” as shown below.

The default option is to boot ESXi 6.0 Standard Installer then click Enter

ESXi starts to boot continue the installation

Welcome to the VMware ESXi 6.0 installation screen Hit Enter to Continue

Accept VMware End User License Agreement to proceed.

Select a Disk to Install VMware ESXi 6.0 & Enter.

Choose your language and hit Enter

Enter a root password for ESXi 6.0. and proceed further

Press F11 to Install ESXI 6.0

Once Installation completed press Enter button to reboot ESXi 6.0.

Installation of ESxi 6.0 is Completed successfully.

Now we will see about configuring the Network settings

We need to press F2 key for configuring the network settings and it will be prompt for the credentials

The below screen shows the various options to do the following changes to the ESxi 6.0 server.

·         Change User password.

·         Assign IP Address and DNS IP Address

·         Hostname Change

·         Configure Keyboard Option such as Language settings

·         Viewing the logs for any error

·         Any Issues you can troubleshoot from here

·         You can also reset entire host configuration one go

Navigate to Configure Management Network and hit Enter

Provide IP address for VMware vSphere Management, Gateway and Subnet Mask Hit Enter

if you would like to disable IPv6 then select disable IPv6 by pressing space bar

Similar way you can add the DNS Settings as per your Network setup.

This is about the installation and configurations of VMware ESXi 6.0 you need to download  and install the VMware Sphere client to access the same where we can create and manage  the Virtual Machines based on our needs.

Read:

• Installing vSphere in VMware Workstation

Hope this tutorial will be helpful to everyone, don’t forget to leave your comments.