VMware VS4-ENT-PL-A Setup Guide - Page 125
Media Options for Booting the ESXi Installer
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Chapter 6 Before You Install ESXi The evaluation period is 60 days and begins when you turn on the ESXi host, even if you start in licensed mode rather than evaluation mode. Any time during the 60-day evaluation period, you can convert from licensed mode to evaluation mode. To take full advantage of the 60-day evaluation period, you should convert to evaluation mode as soon as possible after you first power on the host. For information about managing licensing and setting an ESXi host to evaluation mode, see the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation. Media Options for Booting the ESXi Installer The ESXi installer must be accessible to the system on which you are installing ESXi. The following boot media are supported for the ESXi installer: n Boot from a CD/DVD. See "Download and Burn the ESXi Installer ISO Image to a CD or DVD," on page 125. n Boot from a USB flash drive. See "Format a USB Flash Drive to Boot the ESXi Installation or Upgrade," on page 125. n PXE boot from the network. "PXE Booting the ESXi Installer," on page 129 n Boot from a remote location using a remote management application. See "Using Remote Management Applications," on page 136 Download and Burn the ESXi Installer ISO Image to a CD or DVD If you do not have an ESXi installation CD/DVD, you can create one. You can also create an installer ISO image that includes a custom installation script. See "Create an Installer ISO Image with a Custom Installation or Upgrade Script," on page 128. Procedure 1 Download the ISO image for ESXi from the VMware download page at http://www.vmware.com/download/. 2 Burn the ISO image to a CD or DVD. Format a USB Flash Drive to Boot the ESXi Installation or Upgrade You can format a USB flash drive to boot the ESXi installation or upgrade. These instructions assume that you are performing the procedure on a Linux machine and that the USB flash drive is detected by the operating system as /dev/sdb. NOTE The ks file containing the installation script cannot be located on the same USB flash drive that you are using to boot the installation or upgrade. Prerequisites n From the VMware Web site, download the ESXi ISO image VMware-VMvisor-Installer-5.x.x- XXXXXX.x86_64.iso, including the file isolinux.cfg, where 5.x.x is the version of ESXi you are installing, and XXXXXX is the build number of the installer ISO image. n Verify that the machine on which you are performing this procedure has access to syslinux version 3.86. This procedure requires syslinux version 3.86. VMware, Inc. 125
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