Installing ESXI on Usb and then installing Vcenter

mishymishy Member Posts: 209 ■■■□□□□□□□
in Virtualization
Sorry I am still new to Virtualisation so this is a newbie question. I would like to install ESXi on a usb so that I will be able to move my installation to any other server that buy later on.

My question is if I install ESxi on USB can I then install the Vcenter on the HDD because I am trying to create a dedicated installation of VMware rather than a hosted one.

My computer has an internal USB port so thats where I would like to insert and install on my USB but I am not sure what I will have to do next to install the the Vcenter suite because that will install SQL and Apache I think?

So really my question is can I install ESXI on USB and then install the Vcenter suite on the HDD on the same PC?
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  • jibbajabbajibbajabba Member Posts: 4,317 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Hiya,

    we always install ESX on USB nowadays which is great. The issue is however that a USB stick cannot be used as local storage.
    When you install ESX onto that USB stick, you can certainly boot the server into ESXI, but you will be prompted with a warning that the server has no local storage (even when you have a 64GB USB stick and ESXI only uses a few hundred MB, the reminder won't show up as usable storage).

    You would need to add either some localstorage on SCSI / SATA / SAS or via NFS / ISCSI.

    the virtual center is installed installed on Windows (e.g. Server 2008R2) so you'd need local storage to store the VM on.

    What you can do is

    1. Put some local storage into your "source" server
    2. Install a VM with 2008R2, install vcenter on it
    3. Connect to your ESX server using the client from your workstation
    4. Browse the datastore and copy the VM onto a USB drive you have attached to your workstation

    Then you reverse with the "destination" server. As in, putting the USB stick in, boot up the server, connect via the client to the new server and copy the VM from the USB drive onto the new server (local storage).

    I hope that makes all sense somewhat :)
    My own knowledge base made public: http://open902.com :p
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  • QHaloQHalo Member Posts: 1,488
    Just because you install ESXi on USB doesn't mean it's portable to another server later. Its not going to work and you should probably just reinstall ESXi if you move the USB drive. Re-installing a host takes no time.

    So if I were going to do this, I would boot ESXi and install onto the USB. Then download the Vcenter client from the installation and login to my ESXi instance. Format the internal HDD with VMFS and create a VM for Vcenter and install. This would make Vcenter portable for you should you decide to add/change hosts. Simply SCP the VM to another VMFS datastore and import into the new ESXi host. HTH
    http://vwilmo.wordpress.com

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  • mishymishy Member Posts: 209 ■■■□□□□□□□
    So in short since I already have SATA drives on the source server I can install ESX on my usb drive, then install a VM with either Win 2008 and on the VM I can install the Vcenter on? Also on that 2008 VM with Vcenter will be the location of my datastore.

    I am not really worried about keeping the ( 2008 )VM installed on the HDD but I was not sure if I install ESX on usb where I would install the Vcenter but judging from your replies I think I will install ESX on USB, then a Win2008 VM on the HDD then also install Vcenter on that VM after that I can carry on with what ever I intend to do with my home lab.

    Thanks for the help.
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  • jibbajabbajibbajabba Member Posts: 4,317 ■■■■■■■■□□
    QHalo wrote: »
    Just because you install ESXi on USB doesn't mean it's portable to another server later. Its not going to work and you should probably just reinstall ESXi if you move the USB drive. Re-installing a host takes no time.

    So if I were going to do this, I would boot ESXi and install onto the USB. Then download the Vcenter client from the installation and login to my ESXi instance. Format the internal HDD with VMFS and create a VM for Vcenter and install. This would make Vcenter portable for you should you decide to add/change hosts. Simply SCP the VM to another VMFS datastore and import into the new ESXi host. HTH

    Although I agree with the comment that it takes no time to reinstall, it does work moving around as long as the hardware is on the HCL :)

    You may have to reconfigure the management network though ...
    mishy wrote: »
    So in short since I already have SATA drives on the source server I can install ESX on my usb drive, then install a VM with either Win 2008 and on the VM I can install the Vcenter on? Also on that 2008 VM with Vcenter will be the location of my datastore.

    I am not really worried about keeping the ( 2008 )VM installed on the HDD but I was not sure if I install ESX on usb where I would install the Vcenter but judging from your replies I think I will install ESX on USB, then a Win2008 VM on the HDD then also install Vcenter on that VM after that I can carry on with what ever I intend to do with my home lab.

    Thanks for the help.

    Yepp ... ESXI > USB, VM with 2008 / vcenter > HDD :)
    My own knowledge base made public: http://open902.com :p
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  • mishymishy Member Posts: 209 ■■■□□□□□□□
    jibbajabba wrote: »
    Yepp ... ESXI > USB, VM with 2008 / vcenter > HDD :)

    Thanks for the help. Also thanks to QHalo
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  • QHaloQHalo Member Posts: 1,488
    jibbajabba wrote: »
    Although I agree with the comment that it takes no time to reinstall, it does work moving around as long as the hardware is on the HCL :)

    :p touche
    http://vwilmo.wordpress.com

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