How to install and configure VMWare ESXi 6.0 step by step

How to install and configure VMWare ESXi 6 step by step

In this post, we’ll learn the steps to install and configure VMWare ESXi 6. VMWare ESXi 6 is an enterprise wise, type 1 Virtualization developed by VMWare, primarily used for Virtualization. This post would be divided into two parts. In part one, we’ll learn the steps to install VMWare ESXi 6.0 and in part two, we’ll learn the steps to configure VMWare ESXi 6.

Download VMWare ESXi 6

Once downloading is successfully completed, you can burn the ISO image to a DVD if you are using physical Server , if you are using the same in test environment or on Virtual Server then you can use the ISO image directly. Let’s start with the steps to install and configure VMWare ESXi 6.

How to install VMWare ESXi 6 step by step

1. Insert the DVD to the physical server, in case of Virtual Server map the ISO image with the Server and boot the Server from DVD.

2. Once the server is booted from the ISO, we can select an option to boot the Server from the installer or boot from local disk. We’ll select first option i.e. boot from the installer as we don’t have any OS installed on the local disk. However, if we don’t select any option, it would select first option i.e. Standard Installer and boot the server from ISO image.

3. Selecting standard installer would boot the server and would load the ESXi installer file.

4. Wait for the loading the installer files.

5. Welcome screen would suggest to consult the VMWare compatibility guide before install and configure of VMWare ESXi 6. You can go to Compatibility guide for more information about compatible hardware. Press enter to continue.

6. Thoroughly read the “End User License Agreement” (EULA), if agree, press F11 to accept and continue.

7. Server would scan the available devices, which would take few minutes.

8. In “select a disk to install or upgrade” window, you can see all the local Disks attached with the Server. In this server we have a single disk with 200 GB of capacity. Hit enter to continue the installation.

9. To install VMWare ESXi 6, select the keyboard language and hit enter to continue.

10. Root is the pre-defined super user of VMWare ESXi 6, assign the Root password and hit enter to continue.

11. System would be scanned to gather additional system information, this might take few minutes.

 

12. To install VMWare ESXi 6, press F11 from keyboard. Please take a note that installation would re-partition the disk.

13. VMWare ESXi 6 installation would take couple of minutes. Once installation is successfully completed, press Enter to reboot the server.

14. After reboot, on the front screen, we can see CPU and Memory details of server. Moreover, we can see an IP address assigned to the server. In this example, we can see IP address 0.0.0.0 is assigned to the server.

How to configure VMWare ESXi 6 step by step

1. Press F2 from keyboard for customization.

2. Enter the authorized password to login and start the customization.

3. On the system customization window, select an option of “Configure Management Network” and hit enter.

4. On the “Configure Management Network”, select an IPv4 Configuration option and hit enter to change an IP.

5. On the IPv4 configuration option, by default “Use dynamic IPv4 Address and network configuration” option is selected. To define static IP address, select an option “Set static IPv4 address and network configuration” by pressing space bar from the keyboard and define the IP address you want to configure. Hit enter to continue.

6. By default IPv6 is enabled on the Server. Select an option “IPv6 Configuration” and hit Enter to change.

7. On the IPv6 configuration window “use dynamic IPv6 address and network configuration” option is selected. For this practical we’ll select an option”Disable IPv6″ to disable IPv6. Hit enter to continue.

8. On the “Configuration Management Network” window, select “DNS Configuration” and hit Enter to change the settings.

9. In the “DNS Configuration” window, define the primary DNS Server, alternate DNS server and Hostname and hit enter to continue.

10. Once IPv4, IPv6 and DNS configuration is completed. Press ESC to exit the console. It would restart the management network and reboot host to apply the changes.

Hope you understood the steps to install and configure VMWare ESXi 6. Please feel free to leave your comments and suggestions in the suggestions box below.