ESX deployment appliance v1.05

[brugh]

https://solutionexchange.vmware.com/store/products/esx-deployment-appliance-eda

ESX Deployment Appliance (EDA) is a small and easy to use appliance

that makes deploying ESX servers a breeze. It has a very intuitive

web-interface that can configure and deploy dozens of ESX servers in

minutes. It has a script-builder that will allow any admin to create

%post-scripts that will do most anything one needs to get the ESX hosts

up and running! Even if deploying with RDP/Altiris or the UDA, this

script-builder can help setting those up very quickly.

[wuytens20111014]

Hi,

i am trying to install an esxi 5 image. But this image is a customize version from fujitsu.

the machine has 4 nic cards. and the network is working because the machines boots the esxi.

i have fibre channel adapters in that machine but that doesn't matter because the will be masked out by eda.

i changed the boot order to disk first then with f12 i selected the boot menu the boot from pxe. booting works perfect but the errors in the screenshot appear.

[KyleWeir]

I have a quick Q, I want to have it automatically use a specific hostname by default ie "defaultconfig" in my setup I'd allow it to use DHCP in this case but I'd be able to specific other hostnames if I'd like to. Is there an easy way to do this?

[R1chardW]

I've just downloaded the latest ESXi5 update 1 iso build 623373 (I was previously using ESXi5.0 build 504890 without problems) and have found that I had to manually change boot.cfg the import PXE files option didn't update the boot.cfg file correctly 

How can I get it do this automatically as manually it's a pain

RichardW

[brugh]

it is possible but not through the interface. you need to change the ks5.php file that generates the ks file in /var/www/ks on the eda itself. if you change the network properties --host  --ip etc, to dhcp you should be good to go. 

[brugh]

good call, i haven't tried 5.0U1 yet. i'll look into that soon, probably release a small patch to fix that. 

[brugh]

ok, i created a small patch that will fix the issue with ESXi 5.0 Update 1. get the update at http://virtuall.eu/downloads

[liuret]

Dear all

I am actually using ESX Deployment appliance v1.01 and try to install ESXi 5.0.0 Update 1 (build 623860).

During the installation the installer was not able to find the file “/tardisks/scsi-rst.v00” (see the screenshot). When I try to install manually from the same ISO the installation works fine.

I showed in the directory /tardisks during the installation. The file called scsi-rst.v00 is not there. (see the listing screenshot)

The installation I try is on a Dell PowerEdge R610 – I have one HBA Emulex LPe 1150.

What is wrong? Thanks a lot

Oli

[_chris1]

Hi,

i´ve got the same issue as 'liuret' on a HP Blade BL460G7 (tried with HP and VMWare install CD). I tried to install ESXi5 on a VM, too and got the same result.

It seems not to be a hardware problem....

The last thing shown on the screen is "Caching the required files for ESXi (60/68) and then the error message "[Errno 2] No such file or directory: ´/tardisks/scsi-rst.v00´" appears. The file scsi-rst.v00 is on the install disk.

Has anyone an idea?

[brugh]

Did you hit the 'import pxe files' after applying the patch? with 5.0u1 it needs to generate a new boot.cfg..

[_chris1]

Yes, i did 'importpxe files' and i got an success message.

But i wonder, if the date (Aug 18 2011) and the boot.cfg is correct (see screnshot).

How can i manualy generate a new boot.cfg file?

[R1chardW]

I too have the same issue after downloading and installing the patch for EDAv1.01

the build fails when using the iso from HP available here: https://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=HPVM09

Richard W

[brugh]

the date suggests that the boot.cfg is not regenerated. can you try typing the following command in the 'execute command' under the 'patch' menu:

     chown www-data /var/lib/tftpboot/boot.cfg

[_chris1]

After typing "chown www-data /var/lib/tftpboot/boot.cfg" the owner of the was changed to www-data. Now the timestap change after pressing 'import pxe files'. But it´s not possible to install ESXi 5, because after entering the hostname an error message appears: /tboot.b00:file not found

[brugh]

i am unable to reproduce the problem you're having. what is the build number of your esx cd? can you post the content of your boot.cfg? could you redownload the patch and reapply it?

btw, last customer used hp's version. worked like a charm. haven't tried dell servers but the procedure is the same after initial boot. please provide screenshots of the F12 screen if you still run into problems.

[R1chardW]

the importPXE files patch is not working correctly for me for the boot.cfg file

It should create something like this:-

root@eda:/var/lib/tftpboot# cat boot.cfg

bootstate=0

title=Loading ESXi installer

kernel=tboot.b00

kernelopt=runweasel

prefix=/cd/esx/

modules=b.b00 --- useropts.gz --- k.b00 --- a.b00 --- misc-cni.v00 --- net-bnx2.v00 --- net-bnx2.v01 --- net-cnic.v00 --- net-tg3.v00 --- scsi-bnx.v00 --- scsi-bnx.v01 --- scsi-bfa.v00 --- ima-be2i.v00 --- net-be2n.v00 --- scsi-be2.v00 --- scsi-lpf.v00 --- char-hpc.v00 --- char-hpi.v00 --- hp-ams.v00 --- hp-build.v00 --- hp-smx-p.v00 --- hpacucli.v00 --- hpbootcf.v00 --- hponcfg.v00 --- scsi-hps.v00 --- scsi-mpt.v00 --- net-mlx4.v00 --- net-qlcn.v00 --- ata-pata.v00 --- ata-pata.v01 --- ata-pata.v02 --- ata-pata.v03 --- ata-pata.v04 --- ata-pata.v05 --- ata-pata.v06 --- ata-pata.v07 --- block-cc.v00 --- ehci-ehc.v00 --- s.v00 --- weaselin.i00 --- ima-qla4.v00 --- ipmi-ipm.v00 --- ipmi-ipm.v01 --- ipmi-ipm.v02 --- misc-dri.v00 --- net-e100.v00 --- net-e100.v01 --- net-enic.v00 --- net-forc.v00 --- net-igb.v00 --- net-ixgb.v00 --- net-nx-n.v00 --- net-r816.v00 --- net-r816.v01 --- net-s2io.v00 --- net-sky2.v00 --- ohci-usb.v00 --- sata-ahc.v00 --- sata-ata.v00 --- sata-sat.v00 --- sata-sat.v01 --- sata-sat.v02 --- sata-sat.v03 --- scsi-aac.v00 --- scsi-adp.v00 --- scsi-aic.v00 --- scsi-fni.v00 --- scsi-ips.v00 --- scsi-meg.v00 --- scsi-meg.v01 --- scsi-meg.v02 --- scsi-mpt.v01 --- scsi-mpt.v02 --- scsi-qla.v00 --- scsi-qla.v01 --- scsi-rst.v00 --- uhci-usb.v00 --- tools.t00 --- hpnmi.v00 --- hp-esx-l.v00 --- imgdb.tgz --- imgpayld.tgz

build=0

updated=0

but it just copies the boot.cfg file from the cd which looks like this

root@eda:/var/lib/tftpboot/cd/esx# cat boot.cfg
bootstate=0
title=Loading ESXi installer
kernel=/tboot.b00
kernelopt=runweasel
modules=/b.b00 --- /useropts.gz --- /k.b00 --- /a.b00 --- /misc-cni.v00 --- /net-bnx2.v00 --- /net-bnx2.v01 --- /net-cnic.v00 --- /net-tg3.v00 --- /scsi-bnx.v00 --- /scsi-bnx.v01 --- /scsi-bfa.v00 --- /ima-be2i.v00 --- /net-be2n.v00 --- /scsi-be2.v00 --- /scsi-lpf.v00 --- /char-hpc.v00 --- /char-hpi.v00 --- /hp-ams.v00 --- /hp-build.v00 --- /hp-smx-p.v00 --- /hpacucli.v00 --- /hpbootcf.v00 --- /hponcfg.v00 --- /scsi-hps.v00 --- /scsi-mpt.v00 --- /net-mlx4.v00 --- /net-qlcn.v00 --- /ata-pata.v00 --- /ata-pata.v01 --- /ata-pata.v02 --- /ata-pata.v03 --- /ata-pata.v04 --- /ata-pata.v05 --- /ata-pata.v06 --- /ata-pata.v07 --- /block-cc.v00 --- /ehci-ehc.v00 --- /s.v00 --- /weaselin.i00 --- /ima-qla4.v00 --- /ipmi-ipm.v00 --- /ipmi-ipm.v01 --- /ipmi-ipm.v02 --- /misc-dri.v00 --- /net-e100.v00 --- /net-e100.v01 --- /net-enic.v00 --- /net-forc.v00 --- /net-igb.v00 --- /net-ixgb.v00 --- /net-nx-n.v00 --- /net-r816.v00 --- /net-r816.v01 --- /net-s2io.v00 --- /net-sky2.v00 --- /ohci-usb.v00 --- /sata-ahc.v00 --- /sata-ata.v00 --- /sata-sat.v00 --- /sata-sat.v01 --- /sata-sat.v02 --- /sata-sat.v03 --- /scsi-aac.v00 --- /scsi-adp.v00 --- /scsi-aic.v00 --- /scsi-fni.v00 --- /scsi-ips.v00 --- /scsi-meg.v00 --- /scsi-meg.v01 --- /scsi-meg.v02 --- /scsi-mpt.v01 --- /scsi-mpt.v02 --- /scsi-qla.v00 --- /scsi-qla.v01 --- /scsi-rst.v00 --- /uhci-usb.v00 --- /tools.t00 --- /hpnmi.v00 --- /hp-esx-l.v00 --- /imgdb.tgz --- /imgpayld.tgz
build=
updated=0

I have manually adjusted the boot.cfg file but as I said previously it's a pain so hopefully another patch will fix it.

To create the problem first load up a ESXi5 iso and importPXE etc. then load up an ESXi5u1 iso and apply your patch and do an import then do the chown command and the boot.cfg file refers to a tboot.b00 file that it can't find...

[_chris1]

We have found the failure. The import script is ok.

Its a permission problem: the user www-data has no rights to change the boot.cfg. When everyone has rights (chmod 777 .) on /var/lib/tftpboot the import script (imp.php) and the installation works (HP and VMWare CD).

Thanx to R1chardW..

Brugh, please could you make a patch, to set the right permission?

[brugh]

if you redownload and reapply the patch it will set the right permissions.

[R1chardW]

that works ok now

However I have another interesting bug, if I use the command:

vim-cmd hostsvc/vmotion/vnic_set vmk1

then this enables vmotion ok when I am using the vmware 5.0u1 iso but this command doesn't enable vmotion when I use the HP 5.0u1 iso.

Has anyone any ideas why this should be the case?

I have repeatedly attached either iso & imported pxe files and can repeat the fault at will - but it seems to me a very strange fault as I have other vim-cmd's working successfully e.g.

vim-cmd hostsvc/datastore/remove datastore1 "$(hostname -s)-local-1"

any ideas?

R.

[brugh]

did you check if it's actually vmk1 that needs vmotion? perhaps the order of things in the hp iso change that.

what happens if you type the command once the server is installed? does it work then?

[R1chardW]

yes the command works from the command line and yes it's still vmk1

the script sets up 3 vswitches without an issues other than enabling vmotion

R.