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Restart NTP Service
After editing the three files, we need to restart the NTP service. To do that type service ntpd restart at command
prompt.

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To enable NTP daemon to autostart when the server is rebooted, type chkconfig –level 345 ntpd on at command
prompt
Now we have to set the local hardware clock to NTP synchronized local system time. To do that, type hwclock -
-systohc at command prompt.
This command will successfully poll NTP server and the kernel sets the hardware clock to system clock time
automatically.
References:
• http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Main/DocumentationIndex
• http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=133
9&sliceId=1&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&dialogID=42914722&stateId=0%200%2041456647
• http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome
• http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/WebHome
• http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/NTPPoolServers

NTP
The Network Time Protocol is usable in a virtual machine with proper configuration of the NTP daemon. The
following points are important:
• Do not configure the virtual machine to synchronize to its own (virtual) hardware clock, not even as a
fallback with a high stratum number. Some sample ntpd.conf files contain a section specifying the local
clock as a potential time server, often marked with the comment “undisciplined local clock.” Delete any
such server specification from your ntpd.conf file.
• Include the option tinker panic 0 at the top of your ntp.conf file. By default, the NTP daemon sometimes
panics and exits if the underlying clock appears to be behaving erratically. This option causes the
daemon to keep running instead of panicking.
• Follow standard best practices for NTP: Choose a set of servers to synchronize to that have accurate
time and adequate redundancy. If you have many virtual or physical client machines to synchronize, set
up some internal servers for them to use, so that all your clients are not directly accessing an external
low†stratum NTP server and overloading it with requests.
VMware ESX and ESXi also include an NTP daemon. You can enable and configure NTP from the Virtual
Infrastructure Client. The ESX NTP daemon runs in the service console. Because the service console is partially
virtualized, with the VMkernel in direct control of the hardware, NTP running on the service console provides

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less precise time than in configurations where it runs directly on a host operating system. Therefore, if you are
using native synchronization software in your virtual machines, it is somewhat preferable to synchronize them
over the network from an NTP server that is running directly on its host kernel, not to the NTP server in the
service console. In VMware ESXi, there is no service console and the NTP daemon runs directly on the
VMkernel.
Lab Scenario
As part of implementing VMware Vsphere 4, you have decided to configure NTP on ESX hosts that you have
created. However, you haven’t installed VMware Vsphere client to configure NTP on ESX hosts using graphical
mode. You need to configure NTP using CLI based console in ESX 4.0.
Lab Objectives
Using your personal lab, configure NTP on an ESX Host
Lab Solution
To configure NTP on an ESX host, follow the steps given below:
Enter the console by pressing ALT+F2.
Login using the root administrator password.
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First we need to edit /etc/ntp.conf file and then the /etc/ntp/step-tickers. But before doing that we need to make
a backup copy of /etc/ntp.conf file using the following command:
cp /etc/ntp.conf /etc/ntp.conf.bk
Now you need to edit /etc/ntp.conf file to include the following lines:

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restrict 127.0.0.1
restrict default kod nomodify notrap
server 0.vmware.pool.ntp.org
server 1.vmware.pool.ntp.org
server 2.vmware.pool.ntp.org
driftfile /etc/ntp/drift
To edit the file, type nano /etc/ntp.conf
You will enter the write modification mode. Type the lines mentioned above.

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Now save the file by pressing CTRL+X and save the file by pressing ‘Y’

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Do not write the filename. Just press ‘Enter’

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Now we have to edit /etc/ntp/step-tickers file. To do that first we need to back up the existing file. At the
command prompt type:
cp /etc/ntp/step-tickers /etc/ntp/step-tickers.bk
Now edit /etc/ntp/step-tickers file by typing:
nano /etc/ntp/step-tickers

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And include the following in the file:
0.vmware.pool.ntp.org
1.vmware.pool.ntp.org
2.vmware.pool.ntp.org

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Now exit the file by pressing CTRL+X. Then press ‘Y’ and on the file write prompting, press ‘Enter’
Edit the third file /etc/hosts. By adding the NTP server list in this file, you actually minimize the impact of DNS
lookup failures during NTP synchronization
Edit /etc/hosts by typing nano /etc/hosts and press ‘Enter’
Now add these lines to the file:
0.vmware.pool.ntp.org
1.vmware.pool.ntp.org

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2.vmware.pool.ntp.org
Save the file by pressing CTRL+X and then ‘Y’ and then ‘Enter’

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After these tasks, we need to enable NTP client for firewall. This opens appropriate ports and enables NTP
daemon to talk to external server.
Enable NTP client for firewall by typing esxcfg-firewall –enableService ntpClient at the command prompt.

Exam Objective: Configure ESX/ESXi NTP

Contents
• Introduction
• Technology Background
• Lab Scenario
• Lab Objectives
• Lab Solution

Introduction
The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is widely used to synchronize a computer to Internet time servers or other
sources, such as a radio or satellite receiver or telephone modem service. It provides accuracies typically less
than a millisecond on LANs and up to a few milliseconds on WANs. Typical NTP configurations use multiple
redundant servers and diverse network paths in order to achieve high accuracy and reliability.
NTP time synchronization services are widely available in the public Internet. The public NTP subnet in early
2008 includes several thousand servers in most countries and on every continent of the globe, including
Antarctica. These servers support a total population estimated at over 25 million computers in the global
Internet.
The NTP subnet operates with a hierarchy of levels, where each level is assigned a number called the stratum.
Stratum 1 (primary) servers at the lowest level are directly synchronized to national time services. Stratum 2
(secondary) servers at the next higher level are synchronized to stratum 1 servers and so on. Normally, NTP
clients and servers with a relatively small number of clients do not synchronize to public primary servers. There
are several hundred public secondary servers operating at higher strata and is the preferred choice.
Technology Background
Because virtual machines work by time†sharing host physical hardware, a virtual machine cannot exactly
duplicate the timing behavior of a physical machine. VMware virtual machines use several techniques to

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minimize and conceal differences in timing behavior, but the differences can still sometimes cause timekeeping
inaccuracies and other problems in software running in a virtual machine.
VMware Timer Virtualization
VMware products use a patent†pending technique to allow the many timer devices in a virtual machine to
fall behind real time and catch up as needed, yet remain sufficiently consistent with one another that software
running in the virtual machine is not disrupted by anomalous time readings. In VMware terminology, the time
that is visible to virtual machines on their timer devices is called apparent time. Generally, the timer devices in a
virtual machine operate identically to the corresponding timer devices in a physical machine, but they show
apparent time instead of real time.
Virtual PIT
VMware products fully emulate the timing functions of all three timers in the PIT device. In addition, when the
guest operating system programs the speaker timer to generate a sound, the virtual machine requests a beep
sound from the host machine. However, the sound generated on the host may not be the requested frequency or
duration.
Virtual CMOS RTC
Current VMware products emulate all the timing functions of the CMOS RTC, including the time of day clock
and the periodic, update, and alarm interrupts that the CMOS RTC provides.
Many guest operating systems use the CMOS periodic interrupt as the main system timer, so VMware products
run it in apparent time to be consistent with the other timer devices. Some guest operating systems use the
CMOS update interrupt to count off precisely one second to measure the CPU speed or the speed of other timer
devices, so VMware products run the CMOS update interrupt in apparent time as well.
In contrast, VMware products base the virtual CMOS TOD clock directly on the real time as known to the host
system, not on apparent time. This choice makes sense because guest operating systems generally read the
CMOS TOD clock only to initialize the system time at power on and occasionally to check the system time for
correctness. Operating systems use the CMOS TOD clock this way because it provides time only to the nearest
second but is battery backed and thus continues to keep time even when the system loses power or is restarted.
VMI Para virtual Timer
The Virtual Machine Interface (VMI) is an open Para virtualization interface developed by VMware with input
from the Linux community. VMI is an open standard, the specification for which is available at
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmi_specs.pdf. VMI is currently defined only for 32†bit guests. VMware
products beginning with Workstation 6 and ESX 3.5 support VMI.
VMI includes a Para virtual timer device that the guest operating system kernel can use for tickles timekeeping.
In addition, VMI allows the guest kernel to explicitly account for “stolen time”; that is, time when the guest
operating system was ready to run but the virtual machine was descheduled by the host scheduler.
ESX Host (Linux Kernel)

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Since ESX and ESXi are based on Linux kernels, the Linux timekeeping mechanisms are necessary to
understand to effectively configure ESX host NTP.
Clocksource Kernels
With the new clocksource abstraction, the kernel’s high†level timekeeping code basically deals only with
wall†clock time and NTP rate correction. It calls into a lower†level clocksource driver to read a counter
that reflects the raw amount of time (without rate correction) that has passed since boot. The available
clocksource drivers generally do not use any of the problematic techniques from earlier Linux timekeeping
implementations, such as using one timer device to interpolate between the ticks of another or doing lost tick
compensation. In fact, most of the clocksource drivers are tickless. The TSC clocksource (usually the default)
basically just reads the TSC value and returns it. The ACPI PM Timer clocksource is similar, as the kernel
handles timers that wrap (which occurs about every four seconds with a 24†bit ACPI PM timer) and extends
their range automatically.
The clocksource abstraction is a good match for virtual machines, though not perfect. The TSC does not run at a
precisely specified rate, so the guest operating system has to measure its rate at boot time, and this measurement
is always somewhat inaccurate. Running NTP or other clock synchronization software in the guest can
compensate for this issue, however. The ACPI PM timer does run at a precisely specified rate but is slower to
read than the TSC. Also, when clocksource is used without NO_HZ, the guest operating system still programs a
timer to interrupt periodically, so by default; the virtual machine still keeps track of a backlog of timer
interrupts and tries to catch up gradually. The NO_HZ option provides a further significant improvement.
Because the guest operating system does not schedule any periodic timers, the virtual machine can never have a
backlog greater than one timer interrupt, so apparent time does not fall far behind real time and catches up very
quickly. Also important, NO_HZ tends to reduce the overall average rate of virtual timer interrupts, improving
system throughput and scalability to larger numbers of virtual machines per host.

Configure Password screen appears. Type the new password and then type again to confirm the password.
Press ‘Enter’ to set the password.
The second option is ‘Lockdown mode’. Basically, this setting is related to remote management. If you
enable the lockdown mode, the remote users won’t be able to log in (including yourself) using the root password
that you have just set. This prevents users from logging into this console which is basically related to
administrative tasks only.
The third option ‘Configure Management Network‘ is the important one. Since we are using DHCP server,
the IP address, hostname and DNS servers are assigned automatically. However, in order to show you the
settings, we will enter the settings manually. Select Configure Management Network and press ‘Enter’.

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Configure Management Network screen appears. Select ‘IP Configuration’ and press Enter.
IP Configuration options screen appears. Select ‘static IP address and network configuration by selecting
the option and pressing ‘SpaceBar’

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Now select each option: IP address, Subnet Mask and Default Gateway. Enter the IP addresses for each option.
The cursor appears on the right side of the option and you can enter the IP address in IPv4 format. After setting
the options, press ‘Enter’ to confirm the options.
Upon returning to the Configure Management Network screen, select DNS Configuration and hit Enter.

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The DNS Configuration screen appears. Configure the options automatically by selecting ‘Obtain DNS
server addresses and hostname automatically’. When you select this, the DHCP server will assign the DNS
server addresses and hostname. To manually enter the information, select ‘Use the following DNS server
addresses and hostname’. When you select this using the Spacebar, you need to select Primary DNS server and
enter the IP address, then select Secondary DNS server and enter the IP address and then select Hostname and
enter the hostname for this machine so that you and other users can access ESXi server from a browser and/or
manage it from vcenter server. Press ‘Enter’ to confirm the options and return to Configure Management
Network screen.

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You can also specify DNS suffixes for this server by selecting ‘Custom DNS Suffixes’ and entering the suffix
name. Press Enter to confirm and return to Configure Management Network screen.
Press ‘Esc’ to return to the main console screen. ESXi will ask you to confirm the changes to management
network. Press’Y’ for Yes.

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You will return to the main direct console screen. Check other options as well. You can Restart, Test and
Disable Management Network. It is good to test the network configurations you have done recently. Select Test
Management Network to test network configurations.

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References:
• http://vmwaretraining.blogspot.com/2009/09/studying-for-vcp-on-vsphere-4.html
• http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vs_pages/vsp_pubs_esx40_vc40.html

Lab Scenario
Following the original layout plan, you are ready to install ESXi on a compatible server. Since you plan to host
4 virtual machines on this server, you want to configure the network access and administrator password using
direct console. So you start with installing ESXi on a server and then once it is installed, you access the console
directly and configure network options.
Lab Objectives
Using your personal lab equipment, perform the following tasks:
• Install ESXi
• Configure ESXi from direct console
Lab Solution
To start the installation of ESXi, insert the media in DVD drive and boot the system from this DVD drive. The
installer options screen appears. Choose the option install from ESXi installer and hit ‘Tab’ and then ‘Enter’
After the loading process, ESXi main welcome screen appears. Press ‘Enter’ to Install

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On the ‘End User License Agreement’ screen, press ‘F11′ to accept the license and continue to the next
screen.
On ‘Select a Disk’ screen, select the disk you want to install ESXi and press ‘Enter’ to select the disk and
continue with the installation process.

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On ‘Confirm Install’ screen, press ‘F11′ to install ESX 4.0.0 on the selected disk.
The installation starts. After the installation, ESXi will confirm that the installation has succeeded. Review the
information on the screen and press ‘Enter’ to reboot the server.

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After the reboot, the main ESXi screen (black and yellow) will welcome you. To customize various options,
press ‘F2′ to enter the direct console and to shutdown and restart the server press ‘F12′. Press ‘F2′ to
enter direct console.
The direct console screen appears. You can see the option on the left side. You can set administrator password,
configure network options and host of other options.

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First task is to set the administrator password. Select ‘Configure Password‘ and press ‘Enter’.

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Configure Password screen appears. Type the new password and then type again to confirm the password.
Press ‘Enter’ to set the password.
The second option is ‘Lockdown mode‘. Basically, this setting is related to remote management. If you
enable the lockdown mode, the remote users won’t be able to log in (including yourself) using the root password
that you have just set. This prevents users from logging into this console which is basically related to
administrative tasks only.
The third option ‘Configure Management Network‘ is the important one. Since we are using DHCP server,
the IP address, hostname and DNS servers are assigned automatically. However, in order to show you the
settings, we will enter the settings manually. Select Configure Management Network and press ‘Enter’.

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Technology Background
Difference between ESX and ESXi
ESXi is a thin version of ESX. Basically the Linux SLI is removed from ESXi whereas ESX has full blown
Linux command line environment to configure various tasks.
There are many benefits of the thin ESXi – less overhead, fewer patches, and greater security. With ESXi, the
“console” is a simple yellow and black menu driven text interface with only the most basic options. However,
ESXi actually has an extremely thin Linux-based console that can be accessed.

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Officially, VMware says that you should administer your ESXi server using either the GUI VI Client or the CLI
VMware RCLI. Thus, if you want to perform commands and scripting on your ESXi server, you need to install
the remote command line interface on your Windows PC.
Configuring ESXi from direct console
Configuring ESXi from direct console is relatively easy if you know networking and the server that has ESXi
installed is connected to the network. But first, you need to install ESXi on the server.
However, before installing ESXi server, check the Hardware Compatibility Guide to make sure the server you
are installing ESXi on has the required hardware needed to install ESXi.
For example, the ESXi compatible server should have 64 bit processor (AMD or Intel). At least 3 GB RAM and
SCSI hard drives is a minimum requirement. Now assuming your system has a RAID controller with multiple
hard disks the next step will be to configure those into a logical disk, usually a bootable utility is provided with
the controller to help you do this. Your first important decision comes now, which is how you will configure
your RAID array, depending on the number of disks you have installed. With three or more hard disks it is
tempting to go for RAID5 in order to maximize your capacity whilst still retaining redundancy. For a normal
server install this would be fine, but if you intend to run several virtual machines on this disk array then
RAID1+0 is recommended instead. This is because VMs use a lot of random read/write disk access, and the
way RAID 5 works incurs a significant write speed penalty. Whilst this is not usually noticeable with a single
system accessing an array when there are several it can have serious effect on performance. For the same
reasons the more physical disks you can put in your array the better – given the choice between 2×500GB drives
or 4×250GB drives you should always opt for the latter.
After setting up your server hardware, download ESXi from VMware download site. The file is an .iso file.
Write the file on CD/DVD. Now you need to boot your system using this media. But before that, consider the
following tasks:

• Add ESXi Embedded to your network
• Install the vSphere Client so you can connect to the ESXi host after installation
So once you install ESXi and start managing it from your end using VMware Vsphere client, the process of
accessing the host and installing virtual machines would look like this:

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Setting up ESXi
Setting up ESXi involves configuring the Administrative (root) password for the ESXi host and configuring the
default networking behavior.
Before you begin these tasks, you must have the following set up:
• An ESXi system that is connected to a monitor and a keyboard and that is powered on.
• At least one other computer to act as a management station. This computer must be running Windows
and have network access to the ESXi host.
In order to ease network configuration tasks, it is recommended that you use a DHCP server enable network and
connect ESXi to that network.
When you power on the ESXi host for the first time, it enters an auto-configuration phase during which system
network and storage devices are configured with defaults. After the host completes the auto-configuration
phase, the direct console appears on the attached monitor.
Using a keyboard attached to the host, press F2 to examine the default configuration. As the system
administrator, you can make changes to the default configuration, such as creating the administrator password
or setting the static IP address. VMware recommends that you configure your administrative access settings and
server network.
Set the Password for the Administrator Account
You can use the direct console to set the password for the administrator account (root). The administrative user
name for the ESXi 4.0 host is root. By default, the administrative password is not set.
Configuring IP Settings for ESXi
By default, DHCP sets the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway. For future reference, write down the
IP address if it is assigned by a DHCP server.
For DHCP to work, your network environment must have a DHCP server. If DHCP is not available, the host
assigns the link local IP address, which is in the subnet 169.254.x.x/16. No outbound traffic is allowed through
the assigned IP address. The assigned IP address appears on the direct console. If you do not have physical
access to the host, you can access the direct console using a remote management application.
When you have access to the direct console, you can optionally configure a static network address. The default
subnet mask is 255.255.0.0.
If your network does not have a DHCP server, configure the IP settings for ESXi manually from the direct
console.
Configure DNS Settings from the Direct Console
If you have physical access to the host or remote access to the direct console, you can use the direct console to
configure DNS information. It is good to manually enter the DNS settings in case DHCP server is not present.
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DNS settings are important if you want to create a cluster of ESXi servers on vCenter server or if you want to
install virtual machines on ESXi server using Vsphere client.

Exam Objective: Configure ESXi from the direct console

Contents
• Introduction
• Technology Background
• Lab Scenario
• Lab Objectives

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• Lab Solution
Introduction
VMware ESXi is the next-generation hypervisor, providing a new foundation for virtual infrastructure. This
innovative architecture operates independently from any general-purpose operating system, offering improved
security, increased reliability, and simplified management. The compact architecture is designed for integration
directly into virtualization-optimized server hardware, enabling rapid installation, configuration, and
deployment.
Functionally, ESXi 4.0 is equivalent to ESX 4.0, offering the same levels of performance and scalability.
However, the Linux-based service console has been removed, reducing the footprint to less than 32MB of
memory. The functionally of the service console is replaced by new remote command line interfaces in
conjunction with adherence to system management standards. Because ESXi is functionally equivalent to ESX,
it supports the entire VMware Vsphere 4 suite of products, including VMware Virtual Machine File System
(VMFS), Virtual SMP, VirtualCenter, VMotion, VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler, VMware High
Availability, VMware Update Manager, and VMware Consolidated Backup.
The VMware ESXi architecture comprises the underlying operating system, called VMkernel, and processes
that run on top of it. VMkernel provides means for running all processes on the system, including management
applications and agents as well as virtual machines. It has control of all hardware devices on the server, and
manages resources for the applications. The main processes that run on top of VMkernel are:

• Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) — the low-level configuration and management interface,
accessible through the console of the server, used primarily for initial basic configuration.
• The virtual machine monitor, which is the process that provides the execution environment for a virtual
machine, as well as a helper process known as VMX. Each running virtual machine has its own VMM
and VMX process.
• Various agents used to enable high-level VMware Infrastructure management from remote applications.
• The Common Information Model (CIM) system: CIM is the interface that enables hardware-level
management from remote applications via a set of standard APIs.

VMware ESXi 4.0 is not available free of cost. You have to purchase it along with the VMware Vsphere 4
license unlike ESXi 3.5 or 3.0 which is free to download and install.

After choosing Advanced Setup, you are presented with ‘ESX Storage Device’ screen. Select the storage
disk and click Next.

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Enter the name of the new datastore and click Next.

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Now you are presented with the partitions that ESX created automatically. These are the required partitions.
You can add new partitions which are optional partitions. The recommended partitions are:
Primary:
/ – 5120MB
Swap – 1600MB
Extended Partition:
/var – 4096MB
/home – 2048MB
/opt – 2048MB
/tmp – 2048MB

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To do that click ‘New’.

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The define partition box appears. Enter /opt in the mount type, select ‘ext3′ as file system type, define the size
of the partition and click OK. Do the same for all the partitions defined above.

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Once you are done with the partitions, click Next.
You are presented with the ‘Time Zone Settings‘ where you need to set up the time zone for ESX. Select
your city and click Next.

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On the ‘Date and Time‘ screen, you can either select to configure time through NTP server or you can do it
manually. If you have an NTP configured, select the NTP option. Click Next.

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On Set Administrator Password screen, enter the password for ‘root’. You can also add additional accounts
and set their passwords. To add a new account, click ‘Add’.

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Enter username and password for the new account and click OK.
On the Set Administrator Password screen, click Next.

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On the ‘Summary of Installation Settings’ screen, review the settings you chose and click Next.

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The installation starts. Once the installation is finished, click Next.

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Note down the IP address mentioned on the Installation Complete Screen if the IP address is assigned through
DHCP and click Finish to reboot the ESX server.

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After the reboot, ESX 4.0 will start. The welcome or console screen will appear.

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You can open the ESX console by pressing Alt+F1. Bascially it is a command line environment that you can
use to configure various options including partitions and other important parameters.
References:
• http://vmwaretraining.blogspot.com/2009/09/studying-for-vcp-on-vsphere-4.html
• http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=
1009080

Lab Objectives
Using your personal lab equipment, install ESX Server on a recommended physical machine using graphical
mode.
Lab Solution
To install ESX server, insert the CD/DVD in CD/DVD drive. Boot the system from CD/DVD using the option
in the BIOS. The installation process starts and loads with the installation options screen
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Select ‘Install ESX in graphical mode’ The installation starts extracting the data.
Once the loading finishes, the installation wizard appears. Review the information and click Next.
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Accept the license by checking the box and hit Next.
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On Select Keyboard screen, select U.S English and click Next. You can also select the language you are
comfortable with.
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On the ‘Select Drivers’ screen, select No and click Next. If you have a hard disk or some other hardware that
is not supported by ESX server, you can install the driver by ejecting the ESX installation media and inserting
the driver media. Once the driver is loaded, it will show in the list. To install a driver, select ‘Yes’ and then
select ‘Add’.
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When you click Next, ESX installer will ask you whether you want to load the system drivers. Click ‘Yes’.
ESX will start loading the drivers. Once the loading finishes, click Next.

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Now you are presented with the License options. You can enter the license number and choose ‘Enter a serial
number now’ or you can choose to evaluate the software and select ‘Enter a serial number later’. you can enter
the serial number from Vcenter server once you evaluate ESX server. Click Next.
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On Network Configuration screen, select the network adapter from the drop down list. ESX has already
loaded the drivers for system components so you can select the required adapter from the list. The one the ESX
connects itself will show as connected. Click Next.
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On Network Configuration information screen, you can either use DHCP to automatically assign network
addresses and host name or you can select to specify IP addresses, subnet mask, Primary and alternate DNS
server and hostname. Once you specify the information, click ‘Test these settings’ to test them first. Click
Next.
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On the Setup Type screen, you are presented with two options. You can select installing ESX on a single disk
or LUN – Standard Setup. The installer configures the default partitions on a single hard drive or LUN where
you install ESX. The default partitions are sized based on the capacity of the hard drive or LUN. To configure
the partitions manually and create optional partitions as shown in the ‘Optional Partitions’ table in this lab,
select the second option – Advanced Setup. This setup allows you to specify esxconsole.vmdk partition
settings, kernel options, and a bootloader location and password. If you leave the Configure boot loader
automatically option selected, the installer places the boot loader in the master boot record (MBR).

Local Storage
Local storage can be internal hard disks located inside your ESX host, or external storage systems located
outside and connected to the host directly.
Local storage does not require a storage network to communicate with your host. All you need is a cable
connected to the storage unit and, when required, a compatible HBA in your host. Generally, you can connect
multiple hosts to a single local storage system. The actual number of hosts you connect varies depending on the
type of storage device and topology you use. Many local storage systems support redundant connection paths to
ensure fault tolerance. When multiple hosts connect to the local storage unit, they access storage devices in the
unshared mode. The unshared mode does not permit several hosts to access the same VMFS datastore
concurrently. However, a few SAS storage systems offer shared access to multiple hosts. This type of access
permits multiple hosts to access the same VMFS datastore on a LUN.

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ESX supports a variety of internal or external local storage devices, including SCSI, IDE, SATA, USB, and
SAS storage systems. No matter which type of storage you use, your host hides a physical storage layer from
virtual machines.
• When you set up your local storage, keep in mind the following:
• You cannot use IDE/ATA drives to store virtual machines.
• Use local SATA storage, internal and external, in unshared mode only. SATA storage does not support
sharing the same LUNs and, therefore, the same VMFS datastore across multiple hosts.
• Some SAS storage systems can offer shared access to the same LUNs (and, therefore, the same VMFS
datastores) to multiple hosts.
ESX hosts have required and optional partitions.
/boot and vmkcore are physical partitions. /, swap, /var/log, and all the optional partitions are stored on a virtual
disk called esxconsole-/esxconsole.vmdk. The virtual disk is stored in a VMFS volume.
ESX requires several partitions. If you delete a required partition, be sure to create a new one of the same type.
You cannot define the sizes of the /boot, vmkcore, and /vmfs partitions when you use the graphical or text
installation modes. You can define these partition sizes when you do a scripted installation.
Required Partitions
Following are the partitions required by ESX server.
Mount
Point
Type Size Location Partition Description
/boot ext3
The ESX boot disk requires
1.25GB of free space and
includes the /boot and
vmkcorepartitions. The
/boot partition alone
requires 1100MB.
Physical partition The boot
drive usually defaults to the
specified /boot partition
location.
Stores information required to
boot the ESX host system.
For example, this is where the
grub boot loader resides.
Not
applicable
swap
600MB recommended
minimum 1600MB
maximum Use the default
value applied during
installation.
Virtual disk in a VMFS
volume
Allows ESX to use disk space
when more memory is needed
than the physical RAM
allows. NOTE Do not
confuse the ESX swap
partition with virtual machine
swap space. Checkout the
“Resource Management
Guide”.
/ ext3
Calculated dynamically
based on the size of the
/usrpartition. By default, the
minimum size is 5GB and
no /usrpartition is defined.
Virtual disk in a VMFS
volume
Contains the ESX operating
system and services,
accessible through the service
console. Also contains thirdparty
add-on services or
applications you
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Not
Applicable
VMFS3 esxconsole.vmdk: 1200MB
Physical partition
located on one of the
following:
• Local or boot
• drive
• Local SCSI
• volume
• Networked SCSI
• volume
• SAN
The service console
must be installed on a VMFS
datastore
that is resident on a host’s
local disk or on a SAN disk
that is masked and zoned to
that particular host only.
Used to store virtual
machines. You can create any
number of VMFS volumes on
each LUN if the space is
available. VMFS2 is
supported in read-only mode
to import legacy virtual
machines.
Not
applicable
vmkcore
The ESX boot disk requires
1.25GB of free space and
includes the /boot and
vmkcore partitions. The
/boot
partition alone requires
1100MB.
Physical partition
located on one of the
following:
• Local SCSI
• volume
• Networked SCSI
• volume
• SAN
Cannot be located on
a software iSCSI
volume.
Used to store core dumps for
debugging and technical
support. If multiple ESX
hosts share a SAN, configure
a vmkcore partition with
100MB for each host.
Optional partitions
Mount
Point
Type
Recommended
Size
Location Partition Description
/home ext3 512MB
Virtual disk in a
VMFS volume
Used for storage by individual users.
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/tmp ext3 1024MB
Virtual disk in a
VMFS volume
Used to store temporary files.
/usr ext3
Virtual disk in a
VMFS volume
Used for user programs and data.
/var/log ext3 2000MB
Virtual disk in a
VMFS volume
Used to store log files. The graphical and text
installers create this 2000MB partition by default.
Following are the partitions that are not generally required by ESX server; however, it is useful to do these
partitions to manage important data. You can create these optional partitions during or after the ESX installation
procedure.
You cannot define the sizes of the /boot, vmkcore, and /vmfs partitions when you use the graphical or text
installation modes. You can define these partition sizes when you do a scripted installation.
The ESX boot disk requires 1.25GB of free space and includes the /boot and vmkcore partitions. The /boot
partition alone requires 1100MB
Lab Scenario
The Network Analyst has decided to install VMware Vsphere4 to manage host of applications and resources,
company uses at its headquarters. He has directed you to setup two ESX servers. The ESX servers will host
multiple virtual machines – each performing a set of important task concerning media storage. You need to
install ESX server as part of the VMware implementation procedure. After checking the physical server for
minimum requirements for ESX, you initiate the installation procedure using graphical mode.