VMware ESXi 5 is the bare metal hypervisor from VMware. This is the software we install onto physical servers in the Datacenter. ESXi is managed by VMware vCenter server. But in this scenario we are going to install this on VMware workstation.
Set-Up Virtual Machine in VMware Workstation
Open VMware Workstation > Click File > New Virtual Machine (Wizard)
The New Virtual Machine will appear > Select Installer Disk Image File (ISO) > Browse & Select the Downloaded ESXi 5.5 ISO Image from above.
Select the Guest Operating System as below.
Give your virtual machine a name
Specify the disk size. 40GB is the default and is more than enough.
Before you click Finish, select “Customise Hardware”.
Click on Finish, and wait for your virtual machine to Power on Successfully.
Once you select the media and enter the ESXi installer.
Press Enter to Start the installation wizard.
Select the Local Disk for the Installation > Press Enter
Type password, with a minimum of 7 characters > Press Enter
Confirm > Press F11 to start the installation
Installation will take about 2-5 minutes to complete.
Press Enter to Reboot once the installation has completed successfully.
Once reboot has completed, your installation is now complete. The next step is to configure your ESXi 5.5 Host.
Press F2 to enter the configuration mode
Screen will be promoted for the password which you created during the installation
Check Network Adapters Stauts
Select IP Configuration > Press Enter
Use Dynamic or Set static IP address
In this I Select “Set Static IP Address and Network Configuration” > Type the static IP Address / Subnet mask and default gateway
Apply the changes and restart it.
You have successfully completed configuration for ESXi 5
TEST INSTALLATION – ACCESS ESXi 5.5 USING THE WINDOWS VSPHERE CLIENT.
Open the vSphere Client from the system where it is installed > Type the host name or the IP Address
You have configured on your ESXi host > Type the default username – root > Type the password you had configured during the installation for the ESXi server > Press Login.
Success! If there are no login credentials or network issues, you will see the below screen which indicates a successful and complete installation of ESXi 5