I have pulled down the latest ISO for ESXi 6.5 – I want to have 2 x ESXi Servers, so I will document the process once and then repeat.

Select File, New Virtual Machine and select Custom

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Hit Next and then Next again at the Choose the Virtual Machine Hardware Compatibility screen

Browse to your VMvisor ISO and select Next

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Give your Virtual Machine a Name and pick where you want it to be provisioned – hit Next

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Im giving my Host 2 x Processors with 2 Cores – hit Next

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And 4GB or Memory – click Next

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Im going to put my ESXi Host on Internal Networking – for any updates I will look to deploy VUM Later.  I will also be adding various Interfaces later – click Next

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I will Accept the defaults for I/O Controller, Disk Type and Select a Disk Type by click Next through these options

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Select Create a new virtual disk and click Next

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I will give my ESXi Host a 40GB Drive and as I don’t have too much capacity in my Lab – I will not Allocate the space now – select Next

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I will leave the defaults for Specify Disk File and click Next

I had a quick look in Customize Hardware – to see if things like Floppy Drive were added – but it looked pretty minimal so will leave at Defaults and select Finish

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So my Host will be provisioned and boot into the installer

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Now we are ready for configuration – hit Enter

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and press F11 Accept and Continue (EULA)
* TIP for MAC Users with External Keyboards – Go to System Preferences – Keyboard – Tick Use all F1, F2 etc. keys as standard function keys

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I only have the 1 Disk to install ESXi on so press Enter

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Select Keyboard Layout – for me United Kingdom – Press Enter

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Enter a Root password and hit Enter

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And confirm Installation by pressing F11

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Installation complete ready for a reboot by pressing Enter

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Now for some configuration:

I need to change my Network Adapter from Host-Only to sit on my VM Network – in my case vmnet1

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Press F2 to Customise and then login with your credentials

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Select Customise Management Network

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I only have the 1 Interface at the moment so I just need to do the IPv4 Config and Disable IPv6

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First select IPv4 Configuration and press Enter

Use the Arrow keys to move down to Set static IPv4 address and network configuration

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Press the Space Bar to confirm the selection

Then Enter IP, Subnet Mask and Gateway – Press Enter to confirm

Now scroll down to IPv6 Configuration

Select Disable IPv6 and hit Enter

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Now select DNS Configuration and Enter the IP of your DNS Server and give your ESXi server a Hostname – Press Enter

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Press Esc and confirm change by pressing Y – The Host will restart

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