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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. From the System Customization menu, select Configure Management Network and press Enter.

4. From the Configure Management Network menu, select Network Adapters and press Enter.

5. Use the spacebar to toggle which network adapter or adapters will be used for the system’s management network, as shown in Figure 2.14. Press Enter when finished.

6. Press Esc to exit the Configure Management Network menu. When prompted to apply changes and restart the management network, press Y.

After the correct NIC has been assigned to the ESXi management network, the System Customization menu provides a Test Management Network option to verify network connectivity.

7. Press Esc to log out of the System Customization menu and return to the ESXi home screen.

Figure 2.13 The ESXi home screen provides options for customizing the system and restarting or shutting down the server.

Figure 2.14 In the event the incorrect NIC is assigned to ESXi’s management network, you can select a different NIC.

The other options within the DCUI for troubleshooting management network issues are covered in detail in Chapter 5.

At this point, you should have management network connectivity to the ESXi host, and from now on you can use the vSphere Client to perform other configuration tasks, such as configuring time synchronization and name resolution.

Configuring Time Synchronization

Time synchronization in ESXi is an important configuration because the ramifications of incorrect time run deep. Although ensuring that ESXi has the correct time seems trivial, time-synchronization issues can affect features such as performance charting, SSH key expirations, NFS access, backup jobs, authentication, and more.

After the installation of ESXi or during an unattended installation of ESXi using an installation script, the host should be configured to perform time synchronization with a reliable time source. This source could be another server on your network or a time source located on the Internet. For the sake of managing time synchronization, it is easiest (and most secure) to synchronize all your servers against one reliable internal time server and then synchronize the internal time server with a reliable external Internet time server. ESXi provides a Network Time Protocol (NTP) implementation to provide this functionality.

Automating basic Configuration

Although configuring Time Synchronization or Name Resolution is quite simple, if your environment has a large number of hosts, configuration can become tedious. These kinds of changes can be scripted. You can find a number of examples on VMware community member blogs.

The simplest way to configure time synchronization for ESXi involves the vSphere Client. Perform the following steps to enable NTP using the vSphere Desktop Client:

1. Use the vSphere Desktop Client to connect directly to the ESXi host (or use the vSphere Web Client, if you have vCenter Server running at this point).

2. Select the hostname from the inventory tree on the left, and then click the Configuration tab in the details pane on the right.

3. Select Time Configuration from the Software menu.

4. Click the Properties link.

5. In the Time Configuration dialog box, select NTP Client Enabled.

6. Still in the Time Configuration dialog box, click the Options button.

7. Select the NTP Settings option in the left side of the NTP Daemon (ntpd) Options dialog box, and add one or more NTP servers to the list, as shown in Figure 2.15.

8. Check the box marked Restart NTP Service To Apply Changes; then click OK.

9. Click OK to return to the vSphere Client. The Time Configuration area will update to show the new NTP servers.

Figure 2.15 Specifying NTP servers allows ESXi to automatically keep time synchronized.

You’ll note that using the vSphere Client to enable NTP this way also automatically enables NTP traffic through the firewall. You can verify this by noting an Open Firewall Ports entry in the Tasks pane or by clicking Security Profile under the Software menu and seeing an entry for NTP Client listed under Outgoing Connections.

Windows as a Reliable Time Server

You can configure an existing Windows server as a reliable time server by performing these steps:

1. Use the Group Policy Object Editor to navigate to Administrative Templates System Windows Time Service Time Providers.

2. Select the Enable Windows NTP Server Group Policy option.

3. Navigate to Administrative Templates System Windows Time Service.

4. Double-click the Global Configuration Settings option, and select the Enabled radio button.

5. Set the AnnounceFlags option to 4.

6. Click the OK button.

Configuring Name Resolution

Just as time synchronization is important for your vSphere environment, so is name resolution. Although the vSphere dependency on name resolution is less than it was, there is still some functionality that may not work as expected without proper name resolution.

Configuring name resolution is a simple process in the vSphere Client:

1. Use the vSphere Desktop Client to connect directly to the ESXi host (or the vSphere Web Client, if you have vCenter Server running at this point).

2. Select the hostname from the inventory tree on the left, and then click the Configuration tab in the details pane on the right.

3. Select DNS And Routing from the Software menu.

4. Click the Properties link.

5. In the DNS And Routing dialog box, add the IP address(s) of your DNS server(s).

In this chapter I’ve discussed some of the decisions that you’ll have to make as you deploy ESXi in your datacenter, and I’ve shown you how to deploy these products using both interactive and unattended methods. In the next chapter, I’ll show you how to deploy VMware vCenter Server, a key component in your virtualization environment.