Creating a new VM on ESXi is pretty easy! I love the web-based client that’s available on 6.7.0, so that’s where we’ll go.
I do realize the product is also called vSphere Hypervisor, but it used to be, and in a few places, is still called ESXi, so I’m going to stick with that name for this post.
The first step is to upload all your ISO’s into the Datastore, since this is the preferred way to attach them to the guest; you can use the host drive, but that’s not nearly as convenient, specially you’re going to setup several VMs. To attach an image, login to the VMWare hypervisor and then:
Navigate to the Storage menu, in the Navigator (the menu on the left side), and then click on “Datastore browser”
In the datastore root, click on “Create directory” to create a folder for your images.
Next, click on the “Upload” button to navigate to your local disk, and select the ISOs to upload. You can only select one at a time, but you can queue them up.
Now that we have our images ready, it’s time to create the VM! To do that:
Head into the Navigator, and select “Host”, then click on “Create/Register VM”
For this tutorial, we’re creating a new VM from scratch, so we’ll select “Create a new virtual machine”. If you already have a set of files for an existing VM, you can select “Deploy a virtual machine from an OVF or OVA file”, or “Register an existing virtual machine”.
Next we get to give it a name. I like things to be descriptive, so “SQL” it is. Note that this is not the Host name within the guest, this is just the alias within VMWare, and they can be totally from each other. We can also select Compatibility, Guest OS family and Guest OS version. Like VirtualBox, these options will drive the default settings for RAM, CPU, etc, and will not impact functionality. If you’re just running a home lab, you can leave “Enable Windows Virtualization Based Security” unchecked.
In this dialog, we choose where to save the VM files. I only have the main datastore, so that’s the only option I have. If you have multiple local volumes, and you have a dedicated volume for guests, one for the OS, etc, then you can select your preferred volume here.
In the next dialog we get to select the actual guest settings. Choose whatever is appropriate for your guest. You’ll also notice that under “CD/DVD Drive 1”, I’m being prompted to select an ISO image. The default option here is “Host device”, but you’ll want to switch that to “Datastore ISO file”, then click on the “Browse” button to navigate to the folder you created previously. From there, select the image for your OS of choice, then click on “Select”.
You’re almost done! Review the settings one last time, then click “Finish”.
Now that we’re back in the Navigator, select “Virtual Machines” and you should see your guests. To start them up, simply click on the “Play” button. From here on out, it’s just a matter of installing the OS, and that’s the topic of a whole other tutorial.
That’s the end of my ESXi series for now! From here on out, I’ll be using VirtualBox for all my posts. ESXi is definitely the more powerful option, but since I’m just running a simple home-based lab, VirtualBox is more than adequate.
Helpful links!
Previous posts in this series!