Administrators can upload zip depots of images and drivers as well as create online depots that connect to vmware or oem partner image repositories. You can force the acceptance level on esxi via the esxcli software command. Building a customised esxi image for pxe installation blah, cloud. Run fewer servers and reduce capital and operating costs using vmware vsphere to build a cloud computing infrastructure.
Creating a bootable esxi usb stick on mac os x scotts. You can download individual vibs, and you can use the vsphere update manager or esxcli command to install them on your esxi hosts. Step 5 add esxi offline bundle that we download by running the following command. So to get into it, you need powercli installed latest at time of writing is 6. I hope this post will help people better understand the power of the image builder cli and how easy it is create and maintain custom esxi installation images. Is it possible to run the latest version on osx snow leopard on vmware esxi. Configure the vsphere esxi image builder service startup type youll. Use the image profiles and the vib packages with vmware image builder and vmware auto deploy to create custom image iso generation for esxi deployments. Image builder is part of the powercli toolkit which can be downloaded here. Deployment rules can identify target hosts by boot mac address. On a real mac there is a system management controller smc that is responsible for identifying the model defined in the smbios file and for decrypting apple signed binaries. Vmware esxi image builder powercli notes vtechdummies.
In february ive build myself a new home lab with some shuttle ds81s, as i described in detail. Before you can run vsphere esxi image builder cmdlets, you must install powercli and all. Use vsphere esxi image builder cmdlets and other powercli cmdlets and powershell cmdlets to manage image profiles and vibs. If you are using vsphere auto deploy in your vmware environment you need to have this image builder and host profile for the auto deploy configuration. Now, lets look into the process of creating a custom esxi image using vmware powercli. Enter the following command to identify the mounting point assigned to your usb drive. Using vmware vsphere image builder to create a custom esxi. Customize the vmware esxi 5 installation media by adding.
The vsphere esxi image builder snapin is included with the powercli installation. To upload the esxi image patch in this case to the custom depot, click on the import software depot icon 1 and navigate to the folder containing the image 2. We can create a custom iso using vmware image builder. Host fails to boot after you install esxi in uefi mode 146. You may take base vmware image from vmware software depot, add all hp drivers and software and then export it as an iso image. Custom esxi iso with image builder powercli cmdlets in many environments after installing the stock esxi image you end up wanting perform an update with the latest patches, update drivers and maybe even remove drivers. Os x allows you to change the default boot partition. But to master this technology, its not a easy task. Customizing installations with vsphere esxi image builder. You can also use image builder cmdlets to export an image profile to an iso or offline depot zip file that you can use to install esxi with a customized set of. I wanted to try upgrading my hosts without having to go through the same process that i followed setting up esxi on the nuc in the first place, injecting custom nic drivers, etc enter the command line.
So, today in the lab how to create a custom esxi 6. According to apple licensing policies, vmware only supports the virtualization of apple mac os x 10. The mac address of the network adapter on the target esxi host is 00215ace40f6. Note that os x has some secret sauce which prevents it from booting unmodified on vms which are not hosted on macs.
Learn how to use vmware image builder to facilitate this task. After successful patching, restart the esxi server with the reboot command creating and configuring a new vm on the esxi host. Exports an image profile as either an esxi iso image for esxi installation, or as a zip file. Thanks to donk over at insanelymac, a patch has been created to install macos on esxi 5. The gpu is an nvidia quadro fx580, so it should have no issues with passthrough on esxi. Vmware vsphere esxi image builder hasnt been covered yet on my blog. Vmware image builder is only available for esxi iso image is the end result image builder cli. Download and install an easytouse powershell interface to manage and monitor vsphere. How to customize a vmware esxi image and install it in a. When the host profile is applied to esxi, the image running in memory is. Image profiles and vibs specify the software you want to use during installation or upgrade of an esxi host. You can use esxi image builder cli to create esxi installation images with a. The vsphere esxi image builder server starts when your run the first vsphere esxi image builder cmdlet. For example, an os x vm will shut down if you try to start it on a windows host.
We need to create a partition to install macos onto. Image builder cli is a set of powercli cmdlets that you can use to manage vsphere image profiles and vib vmware installation bundle packages, such as driver vibs and update vibs. So, heres my guide for creating a bootable esxi usb flash drive from mac os x. The image builder server starts when your run the first image builder cmdlet. Sometimes we need to upgrade our esxi hosts with installed 3rd vsphere installation bundle vibs. Using hpe custom esxi images to install esxi on hpe.
Creating macos installer disk images for vmware fusion and. But due to the vsphere 6 release date and the upcoming baristaasaservicevmug demo i used vsphere 5. How to customize an esxi image using vmware image builder. Custom esxi iso with image builder powercli cmdlets. Create custom vsphere esxi iso with vmware vsphere. Have a look at it here or try out version 2 which supports workstation 11, player 7 fusion 7 and esxi 6. Go to the folder containing the downloaded zipvibs, in my instance this is. Uploading an esxi image patch to a custom software depot in image builder. Prerequisites if you want to manage vsphere esxi image builder with powercli cmdlets, verify that microsoft. For example, here is a direct download link for dells esxi 6. Using vsphere esxi image builder with the vsphere web client you can manage software packages vibs, image profiles, and software depots by using the vsphere esxi image builder service in the vsphere web client.
The image builder powercli includes the following cmdlets. Using the vsphere esxi image builder cli vmware blogs. So, put the offline depot you downloaded into the input folder and drivers or. Background im working with a customer who is a little late on the upgrades, and they need to put 30 hosts into production. The esxi image builder cli is a cmdlet toolset created by vmware to manage software depots, image profiles, and software packages, also known as vibs. Go to the folder containing the downloaded zipvibs, in my instance.
Image builder powercli cmdlets allow you to manage image profiles and vibs. Vmware vsphere hypervisor esxi offline bundle contains vib packages, and image profiles for esxi, including vmware tools. Regardless of whether auto deploy is in use in your environment, the image builder gui is a convenient alternative to the powercli cmdlets previously required for creating custom vmware esxi images. When you want to customize the vmware esxi 5 installation media you need to use image builder. Getting started with the new image builder gui in vsphere. Note, you need a real mac in order to download and convert the sierra installation disk. Step 4 once powercli has been installed go ahead and launch the it and we are ready to start authoring our iso image. It worked great in my server 2012 r2 vm in passthrough so i know the hardware works. Image builder installation and usage image builder consists of the image builder server and the image builder powershell cmdlets. The use of image profiles and vibs allow you to specify the software you want to use during an installation or upgrade of an esxi host. As of the vsphere 5 esxi 5 release, macintosh is now supported as a vm guest, as long as you put it on mac hardware. How to build a customized esxi installation image for your. Windows 10, so if you use another variant or mac os the steps maybe subtly different. Basically i have a mac pro tower that i would like to run esxi 5.
Configure 2node vsan on esxi free using cli without vcenter. According to vmware, its possible to install mavericks in esxi 5. Vmware vsphere esxi image builder allows also to build custom images, so you can add an additional drivers into it. Lauren malhoit puts an old mac pro 4 through the test. If you are new to powercli, read the powercli users guide. Build a custom image with vsphere esxi image builder cli.
Download the driver which allows running esxi as a vm under microsoft hyperv nettulip, its actually a network driver. Writehost adding imagebuilder modules foregroundcolor green. Start by powering on the virtual machine and opening the remote console view. We all know vmware start to supporting mac os x as vm on latest esxi hypervisor releases. On your windows machine download and install powercli. Before i go ahead and install osx in hackintosh mode clover or chameleon bootloader is there any way to get this working without a totally rebuild of the vm. First of all you need to download the vmware offline bundle for this configuration and im using vsphere 5. For this case i used vsphere powercli image builder cmdlets to build a customized images with vem, ibm cim providers and updated drivers from the vmware site which are also included in the ibm customized image. Install vsphere esxi image builder and prerequisite software.
After using the converter standalone client you have to delete the existing network card and add e card. Vmware esxi is available to download in the official vmware site. The esxi image builder cli is a set of powercli cmdlets that you can use to manage vsphere image profiles and vib packages, such as driver vibs and update vibs. When you run image builder cmdlets, provide all parameters on the command line when you invoke the cmdlet. Next we are going to load up our depot into imagebuilder. Ive seen lots of documents on how to install osx snow leopard on vmware fusion and workstation but not on esxi. Once you understand how to put all the bits and pieces image builder, host profiles and autodeploy together, than you can make your super homelab run even more sexy with autodeployed esxi hosts now even with vmware tools for nested esxi built in.
How to create a bootable vmware esxi usb drive on macs. Using the vmware online depot is a simple way to upgrade if you only have 1 or 2 esxi hosts to. However, according the os x licensing agreement, you must be running vsphere esxi on apple hardware also as an fyi, theres some secret sauce stuff in the os x installer that will detect nonapple hardware on install and terminate the install if you attempt that. If you dont want to download the esxi offline bundle prior to the command you can use. There is no autodeploy or other rollout features, so ill be doing the install using an iso image mounted through remote access. Now just because i find powercli easy to use and a great product it doesnt mean the next person will. As you know, previously, autodeploy and image builder played with powercli only. This download center features technical documentation and installation guides to make your use of vsphere hypervisor a success. Osx and esxi licensing so i did some searching but a lot of posts i found were from a few years ago so i wasnt sure if anything has changed. Doubleclick the iso to mount it an icon will appear on your desktop.
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