Setting up an ESXi Server with Celerra Storage

With a USB thumbstick and the Celerra simulator, you can easily get an ESXi server up and running with just your laptop and the temporary use of your home PC. This document will show you how to: - Create a bootable ESXi USB Thumbdrive - Temporarily turn your home PC into an ESXi server - Create an iSCSI LUN and NFS Export in the Celerra Simluator running on your laptop. - Create VMware Datastores on the iSCSI LUN and NFS Export Note: This document assumes that you already have a Celerra Simluator configured and running on your laptop. If you need instructions for setting that up, please consult the Setting Up the Single Data Mover Celerra document before proceeding. I can give you my latest version of that as well.

Create a bootable ESXi USB Thumbdrive

First you need to download the latest version of ESXi. You can find it on the VMware website here: http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/. You will also need the freeware apps IZArc and WinImage. A simple Google search will help you locate both software packages. Install both of them before proceeding to the next step. *Note: This requires a minimum of a 512MB USB Thumbdrive Open IZArc and open the ESXi ISO that you have downloaded Using IZArc, extract the INSTALL.TGZ file from the root directory of the ISO Now open INSTALL.TGZ with IZArc and extract the following file: /usr/lib/vmware/installer/VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-xxxxx.i386.dd.bz2 Open that .bz2 file in IZArc and extract VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-xxxxx.i386.dd. This is the file that you will create bootable thumbdrive from Plug your USB Drive into your laptop. WARNING ALL DATA WILL BE DELETED FROM THE USB DRIVE Open the WinImage application Click the Disk menu and then Restore Virtual Hard Disk Image Select your USB flash drive from the menu Select the VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-xxxxx.i386.dd file Confirm the warning message and the process will begin. When it finishes, you have an ESXi bootable USB Thumbdrive

Temporarily turn your Home PC into an ESXi Server

With ESXi, you can boot ESX off of a USB Thumbdrive and dont need any local storage to run ESX. I have personally only tested this on a few types of PC, so your experience may vary. To start, plug the Thumbdrive into one of your computers USB slots and power on the PC. While it is booting, hit whatever key it says to bring up a one-time boot menu. On that menu, choose USB Drive and it will boot into ESXi. When ESXi comes up, you will see an intro screen like this:

Hit the F2 key to setup your ESXi server. Highlight Configure Management Network and hit Enter

Highlight IP Configuration and hit Enter Make sure that Use Dynamic IP Address is selected and hit Enter If you want to, you can rename your ESXi server through the DNS Configuration Press the Escape key to exit the Network Configuration Screen Since you made changes, it will ask if it should save and restart the management network. Choose Yes Press Escape to LogOut You are now back at the original screen and should see your ESXi servers IP address Now you can proceed to connect to your ESXi server over the network

Download VI Client and configure your ESXi Server

Open up a web browser and type in the IP address of your ESXi server Select the link that says Download VMware Infrastructure Client

Install the VI Client and accept all defaults Browse to your desktop and run the VI Client

Log in with the following parameters: - Server enter IP address of your ESXi server - Username root - Password no password

If you get any security warnings, you can click ignore

Configure NTP
Once the VI Client loads up, go to the Configuration tab Under the Software section, select Time Configuration Click Properties on the right-hand side Click the Options button Click NTP Settings Click Add In the Address field, enter pool.ntp.org and click OK Click General Click the Start button Click OK and your NTP is now configured

Configure the iSCSI Software Adapter

Go to the Storage Adapters tab Select the iSCSI Software Adapter

Click Properties On the General tab, click the Configure button Check the Enabled box to enable the iSCSI SW Adapter Click OK Click the Configure button again to see your iSCSI Name Copy this name and keep it handy for an upcoming step

Create a Celerra iSCSI LUN and mask to your ESXi server

Log into Celerra Manager Click Wizards on the left Choose Create an iSCSI LUN On the first screen, make sure server_2 is the Data Mover selected and click Next Now you need to select your target and click Next (If you havent set this up yet, you will need to click the Creat Target button)

On the Select File System screen, pick the Filesystem for your iSCSI LUNs and click Next

Create a new LUN and choose the size. Ill use 10GB in this example.

On the LUN masking screen, you will mask the LUN to your ESXi servers Software iSCSI Initiator. Click the Add New button and paste the IQN that you got from ESXi above. Click OK and then Next.

On the CHAP Access screen, just click Next. Click Finish on the Results screen. You now have an iSCSI LUN created and masked to your ESXi server.

Discover iSCSI LUN on your ESXi server

Now go back to your VI Client. Click on the Configuration tab and go to Storage Adapters Click your iSCSI Software Adapter and then Properties on the right-hand side Go to the Dynamic Discovery tab and click Add Enter in the IP address of the cge0 interface on your Celerra Leave the default iSCSI port of 3260

Now your iSCSI target is listed in the Target window. Click Close Now click Rescan to discover your new storage devices and click OK

This will rescan all adapters and discover your new iSCSI LUN.

Create a Datastore on your iSCSI LUN

Once the task completes, click on Storage and then Add Storage This will bring up the wizard to create a new Datastore on your iSCSI LUN For Storage Type, select Disk/LUN and click Next Your iSCSI LUN should be in the list. Select it and click Next

The next screen shows that the new disk is blank. Click Next Choose a name for your Datastore and click next Accept the defaults on the Formatting screen and click Next Click Finish on the Completion screen Now your Storage screen should look similar to this:

You now have an iSCSI Datastore that you can create VMs on.

Create a Celerra NFS Export

Log into Celerra Manager and go to NFS Exports on the left-hand side Click New to create a new NFS Export Choose the Filesystem for your NFS Export and give it a Path Click OK when complete

You now have an NFS Export created and ready for your ESXi server

Create a Datastore on your NFS Export

Open up your VI Client and go to the Configuration tab Click Storage and then Add Storage Choose Network File System for your storage type and click Next For Server Name, enter the IP Address of cge0 on your Celerra For Folder, enter the Path you used above Choose a name for your Datastore Click Next to move on

Click Finish on the summary screen Your Storage screen should now look similar to this:

You now have an NFS Datastore to create VMs, store ISOs, etc