I am looking on the best way to setup a provisioning network and install hundreds of ESXi installs.
I have iDRAC which I complete all my installs.
I am building 50 ESXi Servers or more a week, and its getting old.
Is there a way to plug and play and let it provision on its own.
Either script or cfg file or etc. and best way to make a provisioning network.
Perhaps with PXE/DHCP
Also I have a custom iDRACK.ISO that we configure the servers with - Can this be automated..
However the ESXi Install is my main concern on automation..
So during install I need these configured as well.
Management interface --
IP
Netmask
Gateway
VLAN
IPV6 disabled
DNS settings
NTP settings
Change root password
Change vSwitch settings
a. General > Ports: Default of 120
b. General > MTU: 1500
c. Security > Promiscuous Mode: Reject
d. Security > MAC Address Changes: Accept
e. Security > Forged Transmits: Accept
f. Traffic Shaping: Status to Disabled
g. NIC Teaming: Leave Policy Exceptions to default, ensure that both of the vmnic's are set to active
dvSWITCH configuration other VLANS
Create Folder - Label xxx-xxx(x) xxx- Site -xxx - Group
Create dvSWITCH using above for each - Label above = xxx-xxx(x)-DVS1
Greate port group for each
iSCSI x2
a. ISCSI1: Uplink1 Active, Uplink2 Unused
b. ISCSI2: Uplink2 Active, Uplink1 Unused
vMOTION x2 (is it best to have 2 vmotion ports) one active one standby and visa versa
c. vMotion1: Uplink1 Active, Uplink2 Unused
d. vMotion2: Uplink2 Active, Uplink1 Unused
Port group naming sheme i.e
Storageheart-beat-VLANxxx-10.xx.x.0/24
vMOTION-VLANxxx-10.xx.x.0/24
SETUP/ADD to DVSWITCH /VMKERNEL
a. Storage Heartbeat - vmk1
b. ISCSI1 - vmk2
c. ISCSI2 - vmk3
d. vMotion1 - vmk4 , check Use this virtual adapter for vMotion
e. vMotion2 – vmk5 , check Use this virtual adapter for vMotion
Set properties
i. MTU: 9000
ii. Discovery Protocol Status: Enabled
iii. Discovery Protocol Type: Link Layer Discovery Protocol
iv. Discovery Protocol Operation: Both
v. Admin Contact Information: Virtualization Support
Enable Network I/O control
Set as follows:
a. Fault Tolerance: Shares - Custom, value of 1 -- QOS priority 7
b. ISCSI Traffic: Custom, value of 60 -- QOS priority 1
c. Management Traffic: Custom, value of 10 -- QOS priority 2
d. NFS Traffic: Custom, value of 1 -- QOS priority 7
e. Virtual Machine Traffic: Shares - Custom, value of 100 -- QOS priority 1
f. vMotion Traffic: Shares: Custom, value of 20 -- QOS priority 3
g. vSphere Replication Traffic: Shares - Custom, value of 10 -- QOS priority 4
h. Virtual SAN traffic: Shares - Custom, value of 1 -- QOS priority 7
Disable AD Validation
Set EVC mode to Intel Bridge
Setup CHAP advance
LoginTimeout and change the value to 60
uncheck the box for “Delayed ack”
ENABLE SSH/
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