I set this up, and since I didn't find very much documentation on this, I figured I would throw some out there.
some of this is taken from the guides, some info from the internet, some from trial and error:
This document will walk you through the setup of Remote unattended install of ESX Server, It assumes you want to use DHCP on a WIN2000 machine without RIS installed. It also assumes that you know how to configure your web server.
DHCP Configuration
1. Open the DHCP control panel from administrative tools.
2. Expand the server you are wanting to configure. Expand the "Scope" folder. Right click on "Scope Options" and select "Configure Options".
3. Put a check mark in "013 Boot File Size" and enter the file size 0x1e
4. Put a check mark in "043 Vendor Specific Info" and enter the following binary value: 01 04 00 00 00 00 ff.
5. Open a command window and type the following:
6. c:\>netsh
7. netsh>dhcp
8. netsh dhcp>server
server_name
9. netsh dhcp server>add optiondef 60 ClassID String 0
10. netsh dhcp server>set optionvalue 60 STRING PXEClient
11. Put a check mark in "066 Boot Server Host Name" and enter the IP address of the server.
12. Put a check mark in "067 Bootfile Name" and enter the name of the boot image file. pxelinux.0
13. Right click on the server name in the DHCP control panel, go to all tasks, and select "restart".
14. Go back to scope options and verify that all the information is there. You should see the five entries on the right. They should look like this:
013 Boot File Size Standard 0x18
043 Vendor Specific Info Standard 01 04 00 00 00 00 ff
. 060 ClassID Standard PXEClient
066 Boot Server Host Name Standard Server IP address
067 Bootfile Name Standard bzImage (boot file name)
If any of the options do not match these, double-click on the option and change the value. More than likely option 060 will be wrong. Change it so it looks like above.
You are now ready to set up tftp.
I prefer using solarwinds TFTP… it is very easy to setup, on windows...
Put the pxelinux.0 file (you can get this from the syslinux archive available on the internet) in the tftpd root folder. also place in this folder the vmlinuz file from the pxeboot foler in on the esx installation cd. and the initrd.img from the same folder
Something I have noticed is that you are “supposed” to put the config file (a file named “default” with no extension in the pxelinux.cfg folder, (this is a folder with a .cfg extension) under the root of the tftpd. However for some reason I noticed it is always asking for the file not in this folder, but in the root of the tftpd, so I put it in both places just in case.
Here is the contents I use for the “default” file: (of course you will have to modify the ip addresses.
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;begin default file;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
default vmlinuz ks=http://10.1.1.2/esxinst/ks.cfg ip=dhcp initrd=initrd.img method=http://10.1.1.2/esxinst/ ksdevice=eth0 ramdisk_size=9216
prompt 0
timeout 30
display custom.msg
label linux
label ks
kernel vmlinuz
append esx ks=http://10.1.1.2/esxinst/ks.cfg method=http://10.1.1.2/esxinst/ ksdevice=eth0
lang= devfs=nomount ramdisk_size=9216
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;end default file;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Then you will want to create and enable the esxinst folder under the web server (in the example the web server address is 10.1.1.2 In the esxinst folder you will place your ks.cfg file, and your entire esx setup files.
To get your ks.cfg file, you will need an ESX server running the same version (in the case of this document 3.5) the following steps are done on the esx server:
. Log in to the console using your root account
2. Using VI or NANO open the following file /usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-5.5.17/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/struts-config.xml
3. We need to comment out and un-comment some lines. Luckily they are in the same section. You need to find the scripted install handler section.
The file says exactly what to do, just comment out one line, and uncommend another section. Then save the file and exit and Enter service vmware-webAccess restart to restart the webAccess service
7. If we now navigate to the https:// address and click the Log In To Script Installer link.
This link will provide you with your ks.cfg file, (NOTE: I have noticed that if you are using port 80 for your web server, that you want to remove :80 from your web address in your ks.cfg, or you get errors during your remote install.)
Then just place the ks.cfg and the contents of your esx cd (not an iso file) in the http esxinst folder refrenced in your “default” file.
Now just boot your machine to pxe.
NOTE: this is a fully automated install, TURN OFF THE TFTP SERVER WHEN YOU ARE DONE, otherwise if someone has pxe high in their boot order they will get esx installed over their machine!! BE CAREFUL!!
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