This is the report on reinstalling ESX hosts, currently installed with ESX 3.5, to vSphere 4.1 Enterprise

ESX/ESXi 4.x requires the following minimum hardware specifications:

• 64bit Processor
• 2GB RAM minimum
• One or more network adapters
• SCSI Adapter, Fiber Channel Adapter, or Internal RAID Controller

Used media: esx-DVD-4.1.0-260247
License Keys: XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX (6CPUs)
Hardware: IBM Blade HS21 XM (Type 7995)
Hardware compatibility list: yes

• Set the server in Maintenance Mode
  • Remove the host from the vCenter Console
• Disconnect all VMware datastore LUNs as well as the current boot lun (we keep this lun as roll back option)
  • Leave LUN Mappings alone
  • Use LUN Masking to disconnect all connected LUNs
• Create Bootlun ESX0N-BOOT
  • 12 GB

See ESX Partitioning for more information about ESX partitioning.

Use the DVD to start a graphical installation of ESX, as the installation start follow these steps:

• Install ESX in graphical mode
• Accept the terms of the license agreement
• Fill in required keyboard settings according to the table above
• Do not install custom drivers
• Fill in required network settings according to the table above
• Select the standard setup
• Select the correct boot lun (it will show you the lun id and the size of the disk)
• Set the timezone (Europe/Berlin)
• Set the NTP server (10.10.10.123)
• Set the root password (B-password)
• Select Next to install ESX with the displayed settings
• Select finish to restart the server when the installation is done

Note: after the installation the server will reboot once automatically, but, as in our case, don't forget to select the correct boot lun in the Fiber host adapter.

See adding_hosts for this.

In the properties add nic 1 to the vSwitch (both Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5708).

Than add the VMkernel TCP/IP stack, with correct name and VLAN ID. Note the exact name, IP-address, subnet mask and gateway. The name must be equal on all hosts!

Remove the default VM Network which was created for VLANXXX.

Create a new switch consisting of NIC 2 & 3 (Broadcom BCM5715S)

Add these Virtual Machine Connection Types. When creating the first one, you'll get the option to create a new vSwitch with adapters 2 en 3:

• VLAN 101
• VLAN 102
• VLAN 103
• VLAN 114
• VLAN 115

• Use LUN Masking to connect all LUNs you disconnected earlier, except for the previous boot LUN.
• In vCenter, go to the configuration tab, select storage adapters, and then click 'Rescan All'

Add the host to the cluster by dragging and dropping it into the cluster.

It is not allowed by default to log in to the host using SSH as root. To enable this log into the console and perform these steps:

vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

and change

PermitRootLogin no
to 
PermitRootLogin yes

and save the changes.

Commit the changes with this command:

/etc/init.d/sshd restart

When the service has been restarted you can login with root with a ssh connection.

To make sure the logfiles get send to a central syslog server follow these steps:

vi /etc/syslog.conf

Add this line to the bottom of the config file:

*.info @syslog.company.local

Because ESX gets installed by default with all outgoing ports closed (except the ones needed for ESX itself) you need to open the port in the firewall:

esxcfg-firewall -o 514,udp,out,syslog

And reload the firewall configuration and apply changes:

esxcfg-firewall –l

Commit the changes by restarting syslog:

service syslog restart

Test syslog with this simple command:

logger "This is a syslog test"

Since ESX 4.1 copy and paste does not work anymore in the VM console. To enable add these two lines to /etc/vmware/config:

isolation.tools.copy.disable = FALSE
isolation.tools.paste.disable = FALSE

If you have hosts with a lot of LUNs you could speed up booting by setting the advanced parameter Scsi.CRTimeoutDuringBoot to 5000. To do so select the host in vCenter → Go to the configuration tab → Go to Advanced Settings → Go to Scsi and find and set the parameter (all the way down).

If you forgot to set the NTP server do so afterwards. Go to Configuration → Time Configuration and change the NTP server.

Although installed by default web access in not enabled by default. If you require web access enable the service like this:

service vmware-webAccess status
service vmware-webAccess start

In case you mistyped or forgot to enter the vlan for the service console of the esx host this is how you can change the vlan from the command line:

First list the current vSwitch configuration:

[root@esx01 ~]# esxcfg-vswitch -l
Switch Name      Num Ports   Used Ports  Configured Ports  MTU     Uplinks
vSwitch0         128         10          128               1500    vmnic0,vmnic3

  PortGroup Name        VLAN ID  Used Ports  Uplinks
  Internet              800      1           vmnic0,vmnic3
  VM Network            2        4           vmnic0,vmnic3
  Vmotion               240      1           vmnic0,vmnic3
  Service Console       0        1           vmnic0,vmnic3

Now change the vlan id from 0 to 2:

esxcfg-vswitch -p "Service Console" -v 2 vSwitch0

Download the MPIO software for your storage vendor and install it, for example the NetApp host utilities:

[root@esx03 netapp_esx_host_utilities_5_2.1]# ./install

Would you like to use SSL to securely connect to your NetApp storage system(s) (yes or no)?> no

Would you like to enter your NetApp storage system(s) credentials (yes or no)?> yes
Discovering connected controllers.................................DONE

List of controllers discovered:
        filer01
        filer02

Enter login [ filer01 ]: root
Enter password [ filer01 ]:
Enter login [ filer02 ]: root
Enter password [ filer02 ]:

These tools require several ports to be open in the ESX firewall.

The following ports will need to be opened:
     80/tcp (outgoing)

Do you want to open the ports now (yes or no)?> yes

Installing VMware(R) ESX Host Utilities 5.2.1........................
   Unpacking files to /opt/netapp/santools...........................DONE
   Enabling the ESX Host Utilities firewall ports....................DONE
   Creating symbolic link for sanlun.................................DONE
   Creating symbolic link for config_nfs.............................DONE
   Creating symbolic link for config_hba.............................DONE
   Creating symbolic link for config_mpath...........................DONE
   Creating symbolic links for MAN pages.............................DONE
   Checking for installed HBAs.......................................DONE
   Installing QLogic HBAAPI libraries................................DONE
   Optimizing NFS Heartbeat settings.................................DONE
   Optimizing HBA settings...........................................DONE
   Optimizing Preferred paths........................................DONE
DONE

These LUNs are not configured for ALUA in their igroups on the storage system.
It is recommended to enable ALUA on NetApp storage systems if ALUA is supported
by the version of Data ONTAP software installed.

To enable ALUA, update the igroup settings used for the ESX server, then reboot the host.

After installation a reboot is advised but not required. If you work with password less logon for esx hosts so you don't need the controller password for setting the MPIO paths don't forget to add the host to the /etc/hosts/equiv file (on both filers):

filer01> rdfile /etc/hosts.equiv
esx01
esx02
esx03