vSphere "Home" Notes

Russell Bateman
late January 2013
last update:

These are notes on my vSphere use at home, on my virtualized server. I'm running vSphere in Windows 7 on a Sun VirtualBox running on my Lucid desktop.

Table of Contents

Installing VMware ESXi 5.1
Recognizing a second disk for datastore
Step-by-step: Creating a virtual machine (VM)
Trouble installing a guest OS
Notes on the guest OS installation
Setting up ssh on ESXi
How to create VM templates
Additional software installed

Installing VMware ESXi 5.1

  1. Boot from VMware CD made from site.
    Loads ESXi installer
    Lists many files...
    See details in top half (grey) of monitor; bottom half (yellow)
    you see stuff like deltadisk loaded successfully
    Running sensord start
    Welcome: —and other stuff
  2. Press Continue (Enter).
  3. Accept EULA (F11)
  4. See disks, press Enter.
  5. Keyboard layout.
  6. Password, press Enter.
  7. No virtualization (reported). I had looked for it, but could not
    find how to enable it this in the BIOS before installing ESXi.
    Found it the second time I looked.*
    Enter (anyway).
  8. Confirm install (F11).
  9. ESXi successfully installed. Evaluation period 60 days. Afterward, must register for a license.
  10. Reboot and remove CD.

Tools to manage ESX at 192.168.0.28.

* Enable virtualization:

  1. Restart.
  2. Hold down Del key.
  3. Enter Advanced mode.
  4. Go to Advanced -> CPU Configuration -> Intel Virtualization.

Recognizing a second disk for datastore

More on the ESX datastore problem: it only retained my first disk after installation.

It's been curious why with two disks recognized by the BIOS, vSphere sees only one (see me installing the first VM below). I did the following in an attempt to diagnose:

  1. Reboot with second disk attached to a different SATA connector. This accomplished nothing.
  2. Reinstall ESXi. This gave me the following details:
    Here I'm presented with a screen similar to what I had originally.

    		 I'm resolved to choose the second disk this time, which doesn't already have ESXi on it, for this second installation.
    The details of the second disk installation if I proceed.
    		 Confirm I'll proceed to instal ESXi on the second disk.
    3.  
  3. Once I install ESXi on the second disk, it shows up in vSphere as an additional datastore.
    The original datastore (1) is still there and, as I've created a VM on it, is
    slightly smaller than the second, new one (1.76Tb vs. 1.81Tb).
    		 The second, new datastore (2) is nearly empty.
  4. The solution to having both disks recognized is slightly perplexing at this point since I was hoping for some kind of RAID solution across some of the VMs I create (the database ones).

Step-by-step: Creating a virtual machine (VM)

Here's my new server; I haven't cleaned up inside the case with wire-ties or installed the additional muffin fans I plan. However, it appears to run as cool as it is quiet. It's an Intel i5-2500K (3.3GHz) with 16Gb of memory, 2 × 2Tb of disk.

Finding how to enable virtualization in the BIOS was like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. I missed it the first time I looked and the ESXi installation let me know positively that I had.

I log into vSphere for the first time. I got the address of the server hardware from ESXi after it came up. What could be simpler?

Looks like I'm ready to begin...

Right-click the server and choose New Virtual Machine...

We're creating a custom configuration...

Name the new virtual machine, app; we're going to set it up completely including Tomcat and the Chef client, then turn it into a template from which we'll generate our actual, working VMs.

We just have one disk: everything's going to go here. We were supposed to have two, see image at end.

We're using ESXi 5.1 in fact...

We'll use Ubuntu Precise Pangolin (12.04 LTS) 64-bit server...

Uh, wasn't sure about this in terms of adding cores: would Tomcat make use of additional cores? How would this affect other VMs we run?

We're allocating 4Gb of memory to each application server...

Just the one NIC...

And we don't change anything here...

We'll create a new virtual disk, I think. I'm not sure here, so we'll see what happens when we turn this into a template later.

More than enough, perhaps, but we've decided to allocate 50Gb to each application node...

As the man says, don't change anything here...

Here we are at the summary. Note that this isn't a real VM yet because we have to install Ubuntu Precise and out base software. Just click Finish

Et voilà : we're done! You can see that app has been created.

Here's a blurry image showing that the second disk is indeed known.

Yes, despite the BIOS' opinion, VMware doesn't seem to notice the second drive.

Trouble installing guest OS

This was nastier than I dreamed it would be. There seem to be 36 different ways to achieve it, but none work. What I really want to do is install from an ISO I have on a CD. The instructions are at Install a Guest Operating System from Media.

The problem comes from the CD or ISO not being findable by browsing as per instruction (c):

No matter what, this all results in:


Notes on guest OS installation

To install a guest OS, you have a number of choices, but the simplest to understand are

Both require some configuration.

ISO disk in CD drive

The instructions for using the CD drive don't work because the VM you want to install on will likely launch far too quickly for you to grab the CD icon button and configure it before it's too late.

Instead, do the following:

  1. Right-click the VM, choose Edit Settings.
  2. Click the Hardware tab.
  3. Click on the CD/DVD drive of your choice.
  4. Check the Device Status -> Connect at power on box; this is crucial. (Note: you may not be able to do this until you've effectuated the next step.)
  5. Click the Host Device radio button.
  6. Use the drop-down to select the CD device (typically, there's only one choice).
  7. Click OK.
  8. Insert your operating system ISO CD in the drive of the host (not your client) machine. This is the machine you're configuring a VM on.
  9. Launch the VM by clicking on the green arrow button or however else you are pleased to start it.

ESXi datastore

  1. Right-click the VM, choose Edit Settings.
  2. Click the Hardware tab.
  3. Click on the CD/DVD drive of your choice.
  4. Check the Device Status -> Connect at power on box; this is crucial. (Note: you may not be able to do this until you've effectuated the next step.)
  5. Click the Datastore ISO File radio button.
  6. Use the drop-down to go find the ISO you dropped on the ESXi datastore, something like ubuntu-12.04.1-server-amd64.iso. In my case, precisely datastore1/iso/ubuntu-12.04.1-server-amd64.iso.
  7. (Remember to check Connect at power on.)
  8. Click OK.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Launch the VM by clicking on the green arrow button or however else you are pleased to start it.

Did I mention this was way-faster than using an actual CD?

Setting up ssh on ESXi

To do this (from anywhere that can reach the system, you'll need to enable ssl. This method of installation, once set up, installs a guest OS very much faster than from a CD.

  1. Right-click on the host.
  2. Click the Configuration tab.
  3. Click Security Profile.
  4. Look for Firewall (contains SSH Server).
  5. Click on Firewall -> Properties....
  6. Check the SSH Server box.
  7. Dismiss the Properties dialog.

You can now use scp to the host (using the username and password you sign into vSphere with) to copy an ISO somewhere on the datastore(s). You'll need to put it under the vmfs (virtual machine filesystem) subdirectory. The following session illustration, showing where I put a copy of the Ubuntu Precise 12.04 (LTS) Server, should be worth a thousand words: 

    ~ $ scp ubuntu-12.04.1-server-amd64.iso [email protected]:/vmfs/volumnes/datastore1/iso
    ~ $ ssh [email protected]
    Password:
    The time and date of this login have been sent to the system logs.

    VMware offers supported, powerful system administration tools.  Please
    see www.vmware.com/go/sysadmintools for details.

    The ESXi Shell can be disabled by an administrative user. See the
    vSphere Security documentation for more information.
    ~ # alias ll="ls -al"
    ~ # ll
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:19 .
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:19 ..
    -rw-------    1 root     root            27 Jan 28 20:19 .ash_history
    -r--r--r--    1 root     root            20 Aug  2 03:48 .mtoolsrc
    lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            49 Jan 28 20:07 altbootbank -> /vmfs/volumes/f6275d73-02075779-f999-a9dc0c1e40e4
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 bin
    lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            49 Jan 28 20:07 bootbank -> /vmfs/volumes/4589ab79-717a0040-94f3-a7598cbadc69
    -r--r--r--    1 root     root        300059 Aug  2 03:48 bootpart.gz
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:19 dev
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 etc
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 lib
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 lib64
    -r-x------    1 root     root         12165 Jan 27 00:20 local.tgz
    lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root             6 Jan 28 20:07 locker -> /store
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 mbr
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 opt
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root        131072 Jan 28 20:19 proc
    lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            22 Jan 28 20:07 productLocker -> /locker/packages/5.1.0
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 sbin
    lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            49 Jan 28 20:07 scratch -> /vmfs/volumes/495d2010-92c0959c-6de6-50465da5b57f
    lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            49 Jan 28 20:07 store -> /vmfs/volumes/495d2004-c589a5e3-9d5e-50465da5b57f
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 tardisks
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 tardisks.noauto
    drwxrwxrwt    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:11 tmp
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 usr
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 var
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 vmfs
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 vmimages
    lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            17 Aug  2 03:48 vmupgrade -> /locker/vmupgrade
    ~ # cd vmfs
    /vmfs # ll
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 .
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:19 ..
    lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root             4 Aug  2 03:48 devices -> /dev
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:20 volumes
    /vmfs # cd volumes
    /vmfs/volumes # ll
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:20 .
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:07 ..
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             8 Jan  1  1970 4589ab79-717a0040-94f3-a7598cbadc69
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             8 Jan  1  1970 495d2004-c589a5e3-9d5e-50465da5b57f
    drwxr-xr-t    1 root     root          1400 Jan 26 20:03 495d200e-9c33b4fe-d643-50465da5b57f
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             8 Jan  1  1970 495d2010-92c0959c-6de6-50465da5b57f
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             8 Jan  1  1970 5103ec79-12816e3a-ff55-50465da5b57f
    drwxr-xr-t    1 root     root          1120 Jan 26 14:47 5103ec84-c6334d33-5e15-50465da5b57f
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             8 Jan  1  1970 5103ec85-93648008-c749-50465da5b57f
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             8 Jan  1  1970 53ab4e73-cb47d519-54a7-7ecc0900577d
    lrwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            35 Jan 28 20:20 datastore1 -> 495d200e-9c33b4fe-d643-50465da5b57f
    lrwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            35 Jan 28 20:20 datastore2 -> 5103ec84-c6334d33-5e15-50465da5b57f
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             8 Jan  1  1970 eed2be7f-28720c76-177c-fd2c99843409
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             8 Jan  1  1970 f6275d73-02075779-f999-a9dc0c1e40e4
    /vmfs/volumes # cd datastore1
    /vmfs/volumes/495d200e-9c33b4fe-d643-50465da5b57f # ll
    drwxr-xr-t    1 root     root          1400 Jan 26 20:03 .
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Jan 28 20:20 ..
    -r--------    1 root     root       9830400 Jan  1  2009 .fbb.sf
    -r--------    1 root     root     267026432 Jan  1  2009 .fdc.sf
    -r--------    1 root     root       1179648 Jan  1  2009 .pb2.sf
    -r--------    1 root     root     268435456 Jan  1  2009 .pbc.sf
    -r--------    1 root     root     262733824 Jan  1  2009 .sbc.sf
    -r--------    1 root     root       4194304 Jan  1  2009 .vh.sf
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          1820 Jan 27 00:14 app
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           420 Jan 26 20:06 iso
    /vmfs/volumes/495d200e-9c33b4fe-d643-50465da5b57f # cd iso
    /vmfs/volumes/495d200e-9c33b4fe-d643-50465da5b57f/iso # ll
    drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           420 Jan 26 20:06 .
    drwxr-xr-t    1 root     root          1400 Jan 26 20:03 ..
    -rw-r--r--    1 root     root     689221632 Jan 26 20:07 ubuntu-12.04.1-server-amd64.iso

How to create VM templates

Uh, you can't. It's that simple. Templates are a function of VMware vCenter and that costs beaucoup bucks.


Additional software installed

In addition to Ubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04 (LTS), I want to install a line of base software for the sort of VM I'm creating. In fact, I'm going to turn the VM into a template afterward. That way, everything I install will be there and functional for all VMs I create from that template.

Here's my list.

Application VM

Software Explanation
Sun Java JDK Just better than OpenJDK.
Chef client Will be used by Chef for deployment.
Tomcat Server container.

Database VM

Software Explanation
MongoDB Database.
Chef client Will be used by Chef for deployment.