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VMware ESXi and vCenter 5.1 setup steps

Hardware and System Resources
To install and use ESXi 5.1, your hardware and system resources must meet the following requirements:
Supported server platform. For a list of supported platforms, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
ESXi 5.1 will install and run only on servers with 64-bit x86 CPUs.
ESXi 5.1 requires a host machine with at least two cores.
ESXi 5.1 supports only LAHF and SAHF CPU instructions.
ESXi 5.1 requires the NX/XD bit to be enabled for the CPU in the BIOS.
ESXi supports a broad range of x64 multicore processors. For a complete list of supported processors, see the VMware compatibility guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
ESXi requires a minimum of 2GB of physical RAM. Provide at least 8GB of RAM to take full advantage of ESXi features and run virtual machines in typical production environments.
To support 64-bit virtual machines, support for hardware virtualization (Intel VT-x or AMD RVI) must be enabled on x64 CPUs.
One or more Gigabit or 10Gb Ethernet controllers. For a list of supported network adapter models, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
Any combination of one or more of the following controllers:
Basic SCSI controllers. Adaptec Ultra-160 or Ultra-320, LSI Logic Fusion-MPT, or most NCR/Symbios SCSI.
RAID controllers. Dell PERC (Adaptec RAID or LSI MegaRAID), HP Smart Array RAID, or IBM (Adaptec) ServeRAID controllers.
SCSI disk or a local, non-network, RAID LUN with unpartitioned space for the virtual machines.
For Serial ATA (SATA), a disk connected through supported SAS controllers or supported on-board SATA controllers. SATA disks will be considered remote, not local. These disks will not be used as a scratch partition by default because they are seen as remote.

Storage Systems
ESXi 5.1 supports installing on and booting from the following storage systems:
SATA disk drives. SATA disk drives connected behind supported SAS controllers or supported on-board SATA controllers.
Supported SAS controllers include:
LSI1068E (LSISAS3442E)
LSI1068 (SAS 5)
IBM ServeRAID 8K SAS controller
Smart Array P400/256 controller
Dell PERC 5.0.1 controller
Supported on-board SATA include:
Intel ICH9
NVIDIA MCP55
ServerWorks HT1000

ESXi Booting Requirements
vSphere 5.1 supports booting ESXi hosts from the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). With UEFI you can boot systems from hard drives, CD-ROM drives, or USB media. Network booting or provisioning with VMware Auto Deploy requires the legacy BIOS firmware and is not available with UEFI.
ESXi can boot from a disk larger than 2TB provided that the system firmware and the firmware on any add-in card that you are using support it. See the vendor documentation.



ESXi Support for 64-Bit Guest Operating Systems
ESXi offers support for several 64-bit guest operating systems.
For a complete list of operating systems supported for ESXi, see the VMware Compatibiity Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.
Hosts running virtual machines with 64-bit guest operating systems have the following hardware requirements:
For AMD Opteron-based systems, the processors must be Opteron Rev E or later.
For Intel Xeon-based systems, the processors must include support for Intel Virtualization Technology (VT). Many servers that include CPUs with VT support might have VT disabled by default, so you must enable VT manually. If your CPUs support VT ,but you do not see this option in the BIOS, contact your vendor to request a BIOS version that lets you enable VT support.
To determine whether your server has 64-bit VMware support, you can download the CPU Identification Utility from the VMware Web site.

Download VMware ESXi form VMware Portal 
Prerequisites
You must have the ESXi installer ISO in one of the following locations:
On CD or DVD. If you do not have the installation CD/DVD, you can create one. See Download and Burn the ESXi Installer ISO Image to a CD or DVD
On a USB flash drive. See Format a USB Flash Drive to Boot the ESXi Installation or Upgrade.
Verify that the server hardware clock is set to UTC. This setting is in the system BIOS.
Verify that a keyboard and monitor are attached to the machine on which the ESXi software will be installed. Alternatively, use a remote management application. See Using Remote Management Applications.
Consider disconnecting your network storage. This action decreases the time it takes the installer to search for available disk drives. Note that when you disconnect network storage, any files on the disconnected disks are unavailable at installation.
Do not disconnect a LUN that contains an existing ESX or ESXi installation. Do not disconnect a VMFS datastore that contains the Service Console of an existing ESX installation. These actions can affect the outcome of the installation.
Gather the information required by the ESXi installation wizard. See Required Information for ESXi Installation.
Verify that ESXi Embedded is not present on the host machine. ESXi Installable and ESXi Embedded cannot exist on the same host.


Insert the ESXi installer CD/DVD into the CD/DVD-ROM drive, or attach the Installer USB flash drive and restart the machine.

Set the BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM device or the USB flash drive.
See your hardware vendor documentation for information on changing boot order.

On the Select a Disk page, select the drive on which to install ESXi and press Enter.
Press F1 for information about the selected disk.









Select the keyboard type for the host.
You can change the keyboard type after installation in the direct console.


Enter the root password for the host.
You can leave the password blank, but to secure the system from the first boot, enter a password. You can change the password after installation in the direct console.


Press F11 to start the installation.


When the installation is complete, remove the installation CD, DVD, or USB flash drive.

Press Enter to reboot the host.
If you are performing a new installation, or you chose to overwrite an existing VMFS datastore, during the reboot operation, VFAT scratch and VMFS partitions are created on the host disk.









Minimum Hardware Requirements for vCenter Single Sign On, Running on a Separate Host Machine from vCenter Server
vCenter Single                              Requirement
 Sign On Hardware 
Processor   Intel or AMD x64 processor with two or more logical cores, each with a speed of 2GHz.
     
Memory   3GB. Memory requirements might be higher if the vCenter Single Sign On database runs on the same host machine. If vCenter Single Sign On runs on the same host machine as vCenter Server, see Minimum Hardware Requirements for vCenter Server.
     
Disk storage   2GB. Disk requirements might be higher if the vCenter Single Sign On database runs on the same host machine.
     
Network speed   1Gbps


vCenter Server Software Requirements
Make sure that your operating system supports vCenter Server. vCenter Server requires a 64-bit operating system, and the 64-bit system DSN is required for vCenter Server to connect to its database.
For a list of supported operating systems, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility. In the drop-down What are you looking for menu on that page, select Host OS and use the selection boxes to find compatible operating systems for your version of vCenter Server.
vCenter Server requires the Microsoft .NET 3.5 SP1 Framework. If it is not installed on your system, the vCenter Server installer installs it. The .NET 3.5 SP1 installation might require Internet connectivity to download more files.

In the software installer directory, double-click the autorun.exe file to start the installer.
Select VMware® vCenter™  Simple Install, and click Install.

Click Next


Follow the prompts in the installation wizard to choose the installer language, and agree to the end user patent and license agreements.
Click Next

Select I accept of EULA
Click Next


Set the password for the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator account.
The password must have at least eight characters, at least one lowercase character, one uppercase character, one number, and one special character. The following characters are not supported in passwords: non-ASCII characters, semicolon (;), double quotation mark ("), single quotation mark ('), circumflex (^), and backslash (\). Passwords must comply with Windows Group Policy Object (GPO) password policy.


Select the database type for vCenter Single Sign-On.





Enter the FQDN or IP address for the vCenter Single Sign-On host machine.
Click Next


Click Next

Select the folder in which to install vCenter Single Sign-On.
The installation path cannot contain any of the following characters: non-ASCII characters, commas (,), periods (.), exclamation points (!), pound signs (#), at signs (@), or percentage signs (%).


SSO has https port 7444 which is config with firewall
Click Next


Accept or change the HTTPS port for vCenter Single Sign-On.

Click Install.



Enter your vCenter License Key, you can click next it will automatically proceed with Trial period if you Click Next without entering license Key.

Select "Install a Microsift SQL Server 2008 Express instance" to create new instance for VC

If you are using an existing database, to ensure that table space is created for the database, run the script rsaIMSLite<DBName>SetupTablespaces.sql. The script is located at vCenter Server Installation directory\Single Sign On\DBScripts\SSOServer\Schema\your_existing_database.
You can leave the installer to run the script, and resume the installer from this panel.

If you are using an existing database for Single Sign On, and you have not already done so, create a database user (RSA_USER) and database administrator (RSA_DBA), by running the script rsaIMSLiteDBNameSetupUsers.sql. The script is included in the vCenter Server installer download package, at vCenter Server Installation directory\Single Sign On\DBScripts\SSOServer\Schema\your_existing_database.
You can leave the installer to run the script, and resume the installer from this panel.

Provide vCenter computer Name in Account Name
Provide vCenter Password in Account password
Provide vCenter VM or Physical Machine FQDN 


By defaults vCenter required this ports, 


For Small Environment which will scalable upto 100 ESXi host and 1000VM select small
For Medium Environment which will scalable upto 400 ESXi host and 4000VM select Medium
For Large Environment which will scalable more than  400 ESXi host and 4000VM select Large

Click Finish 





Install Vsphere Client to access vCenter, once you install vsphere client you can connect vCenter by ip or FQDN



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