ESX Server 3 and VirtualCenter Installation Guide
82 VMware, Inc.
Installation Methods
TwoinstallationmodesareavailableforinstallingVMwareESX Serversoftware:
Graphicalmode–Thisisagraphical,mouse‐basedinstallationprogramtoinstall
orupgradeESX Server.Thisistherecommendedinstallationmethod.
See “InstallingESX Server”onpage 83.
Textmode—Thisisatext‐basedinterfacetoinstallorupgradeESX Server.Choose
thisinstallationmethodifyourvideocontroller,keyboard,ormousedoesnot
functionproperlyusingthegraphicalinstaller.See “InstallingESX Server”on
page 83.
Using Remote Management Applications
Ifyouuseremotemanagementapplications—suchasIntegratedLights‐Out(iLO),Dell
RemoteAccessCard(DRAC),IBMmanagementmodule(MM),orRemoteSupervisor
AdapterII(RSAII)—toinstallESX Server,becarefulusingthevirtualCDfeature.You
mightencountercorruptionproblemsifyouusethisinstallationmethodwithsystems
underload.
Ifyoumustusethismethod,runthemediatestprovidedbytheESX Server
Installer.
IfaremoteinstallationfromanISOimagefails,carryouttheremoteinstallationfrom
thephysicalCD‐ROMmedia.
Installation on SATA Drives
WheninstallingESX ServerSATAdrives,considerthefollowingsituations:
EnsurethatyourSATAdrivesareconnectedthroughsupportedSAScontrollers:
mptscsi_pcie—LSI1068E(LSISAS3442E)
mptscsi_pcix—LSI1068(SAS5)
aacraid_esx30—IBMserveraid8kSAScontroller
cciss—SmartArrayP400/256controller
megaraid_sas—DellPERC5.0.1controller
DonotuseSATAdiskstocreateVMFSdatastoressharedacrossmultiple
ESX Serverhosts.
See “ESX Server 3Requirements”onpage 21forcompletehardwarerequirements.
See “ESX ServerPartitioning”onpage 97foradescriptionofpartitioning
requirements.
