Mastering VMware vSphere 6. Marshall Nick

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      9. Provide IP addresses for the host and then reboot the host.

      Upon this reboot, the host is now running off the local disk like a “normally provisioned” ESXi host.

      vSphere Auto Deploy offers some great advantages, especially for environments with lots of ESXi hosts to manage, but it can also add complexity. As mentioned earlier, it all comes down to the design and requirements of your vSphere deployment.

      Performing Postinstallation Configuration

      Whether you are installing from a CD/DVD or performing an unattended installation of ESXi, once the installation is complete, several postinstallation steps are necessary, depending on your specific configuration. We’ll discuss these tasks in the following sections.

      Installing the vSphere Desktop Client

      This might come as a bit of shock for IT professionals who have grown accustomed to managing Microsoft Windows–based servers from the server’s console (even via Remote Desktop), but ESXi wasn’t designed for you to manage it from the server’s console. Instead, you should use the vSphere Desktop Client.

      In earlier versions, both stand-alone ESXi hosts and vCenter servers were administered with the C# Client or “legacy desktop client.” vSphere 5.0 introduced the Web Client. Although the first iteration of the Web Client was not as feature rich as the Desktop Client, after vSphere 5.1 the tables turned. To ensure that you can follow which client the instructions are for, I will use the terms vSphere Desktop Client and vSphere Web Client.

      The vSphere Desktop Client is an installable Windows-only application that allows you to connect directly to an ESXi host or to a vCenter Server installation. Using the vSphere Desktop Client to connect directly to an ESXi host requires authentication with a user account that exists on that specific host, whereas connecting to a vCenter Server installation relies on Single Sign-On (explained in Chapter 3) users for authentication. Additionally, a number of significant features – such as initiating vMotion, for example – are available only when you’re connecting to a vCenter Server installation.

      Learning a new user interface

      For those already accustomed to the vSphere Desktop Client, things are not too different. The Web Client has undergone a facelift with vSphere 6 to bring it visually closer to the original vSphere Client. Although you will be able to perform more traditional tasks in the vSphere Desktop Client, the Web Client helps you unlock the full potential when using vSphere 6. The examples in this book primarily use the vSphere Web Client unless you are directly administering the hosts (as in this chapter) or when you are using vSphere Client plug-ins that are not currently available in the vSphere Web Client.

You can install either of the vSphere Clients with the vCenter Server installation media. Figure 2.11 shows the VMware vCenter Installer with the vSphere Desktop Client option selected.

Figure 2.11 You can install the vSphere Client directly from the vCenter Server installation media.

      In previous versions of VMware vSphere, one of the easiest installation methods was to simply connect to an ESX/ESXi host or a vCenter Server instance using your web browser. From there, you clicked a link to download the vSphere Client right from the web page. Beginning with vSphere 5.0, the vSphere Desktop Client download link for ESXi hosts doesn’t point to a local copy of the installation files; it redirects you to an Internet-based, VMware-hosted website to download the files.

      Because you might not have installed vCenter Server yet – that is the focus of the next chapter – I’ll walk you through installing the vSphere Web Client from the vCenter Server installation media. Regardless of how you obtain the installer, once the installation wizard starts the process is the same. It is also worth noting that ESXi cannot be directly managed with the Web Client, so you will probably want to install both clients at some point. The Desktop Client can be a useful tool to have around, especially in the event of a vCenter outage. Refer to Chapter 3 for details on the Web Client installation.

      Perform the following steps to install the vSphere Desktop Client from the vCenter Server installation media:

      1. Make the vCenter Server installation media available via CD/DVD to the system where you want to install the vSphere Client.

      If you are installing the vSphere Desktop Client on a Windows VM, you can mount the vCenter Server installation ISO image as a virtual CD/DVD image. Refer to Chapter 7, “Ensuring High Availability and Business Continuity,” for more details if you aren’t sure how to attach a virtual CD/DVD image.

      2. If Autorun doesn’t automatically launch the VMware vCenter Installer (shown previously in Figure 2.11), navigate to the CD/DVD and double-click Autorun.exe.

      3. On the VMware vCenter Installer main screen, click vSphere Desktop Client, and then click Install.

      4. Select the language for the installer (if prompted) and click OK.

      5. Click the Next button on the welcome page of the vSphere Desktop Client Installer.

      6. Click the I Accept The Terms In The License Agreement check box, and then click the Next button.

      7. Configure the destination folder, and then click the Next button.

      8. Click the Install button to begin the installation.

      9. If prompted, select I Have Read And Accept The Terms Of The License Agreement, and then click Install to install the Microsoft .NET Framework, which is a prerequisite for the vSphere Client.

      10. When the .NET Framework installation completes (if applicable), click Exit to continue with the rest of the vSphere Client installation.

      11. Once complete, click the Finish button to exit the installation. Restart the computer if prompted.

      64-bit vs. 32-bit

      Although the vSphere Client can be installed and is supported on 64-bit Windows operating systems, the vSphere Client itself remains a 32-bit application and runs in 32-bit compatibility mode.

      Reconfiguring the Management Network

During the installation of ESXi, the installer creates a virtual switch – also known as a vSwitch– bound to a physical NIC. The tricky part, depending on your server hardware, is that the installer might select a different physical NIC than the one you need for correct network connectivity. Consider the scenario shown in Figure 2.12. If, for whatever reason, the ESXi installer doesn’t link the correct physical NIC to the vSwitch it creates, then you won’t have network connectivity to that host. We’ll talk more about why ESXi’s network connectivity must be configured with the correct NIC in Chapter 5, but for now just understand that this is a requirement for connectivity. Since you need network connectivity to manage the host from the vSphere Client, how do you fix this?

Figure 2.12 Network connectivity won’t be established if the ESXi installer links the wrong NIC to the management network.

      The simplest fix for this problem is to unplug the network cable from the current Ethernet port in the back of the server and continue trying the remaining ports until the host is accessible, but that’s not always possible or desirable. The better way is to use the DCUI to reconfigure the management network so that it is converted the way you need it to be configured.

      Perform the following steps to fix the management NIC in ESXi using the DCUI:

      1. Access the console of the ESXi host, either physically or via a remote console solution such as an IP-based KVM.

      2. On the ESXi home screen, shown in Figure 2.13, press F2 for Customize System/View Logs. If a root password has been set, enter that root password.

      3.