Introduction

As part of my Intel NUC As A ESXi Host series, the following script helps to automate almost all the configuration steps needed for me to quickly provision a new NUC server, or to rebuild an existing one.

It performs the following basic steps…

• Set root password,
• Enables the ESXi SSH Shell, and disables the warning associated with it,
• Renames the local datastore name to be “Local – [hostname]“,
• Sets up all the networking virtual switches and VLANs that I need,
• Enables vMotion,
• Enables and configures the software iSCSI adapter,
• Puts the host into maintenance mode before the final reboot

I’ll go through the script in detail below.

The Script

vmaccepteula
rootpw [enter-password-here]
keyboard 'United Kingdom'
install --firstdisk --overwritevmfs
network --bootproto=dhcp
reboot

%firstboot --interpreter=busybox

# Enable & start remote ESXi shell
vim-cmd hostsvc/enable_ssh
vim-cmd hostsvc/start_ssh

# Enable & start ESXi shell
vim-cmd hostsvc/enable_esx_shell
vim-cmd hostsvc/start_esx_shell

# Suppress ESXi shell shell warning and set time-out
esxcli system settings advanced set -o /UserVars/SuppressShellWarning -i 1
esxcli system settings advanced set -o /UserVars/ESXiShellInteractiveTimeOut -i 3600

# Rename local data store
vim-cmd hostsvc/datastore/rename datastore1 "Local - $(hostname -s)"

# Configure networking and disable IPv6
esxcli network ip set --ipv6-enabled=false
esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add -p "Live" -v vSwitch0
esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add -p "Private" -v vSwitch0
esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup set -p "Private" -v 42
esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup remove -p "VM Network" -v vSwitch0

# Enable vMotion on adapter
vim-cmd hostsvc/vmotion/vnic_set vmk0

# Enable and configure iSCSI software adapter
esxcli iscsi software set --enabled=true
sleep 5
iscsi_adapter=$(esxcli iscsi physicalnetworkportal list | grep vmhba | awk '{print $1}')
esxcli iscsi networkportal add -A ${iscsi_adapter} -n vmk0
esxcli iscsi adapter set -A ${iscsi_adapter} -a $(hostname -s)
esxcli iscsi adapter param set -A ${iscsi_adapter} -k HeaderDigest -v required
esxcli iscsi adapter param set -A ${iscsi_adapter} -k DataDigest -v required
esxcli iscsi adapter discovery sendtarget add -A ${iscsi_adapter} -a [iscsi-target-address-here]
esxcli storage core adapter rescan -A ${iscsi_adapter}

# Enter maintenance mode, then reboot
esxcli system maintenanceMode set -e true
esxcli system shutdown reboot -d 10 -r "Rebooting"

Detailed Line-By-Line Descriptions

• Line 1 : Accept the VMware End User Licence Agreement
• Line 2 : Set the master ROOT password for this ESXi host
• Line 3 : Set keyboard to British English, United Kingdom – the correct type of English.
• Line 4 : Install ESXi to the first drive, overwriting anything it finds
• Line 5 : Use DHCP to obtain an IP address for the network
• Line 6 : Reboot

• Line 8 : Set the command interpreter to ‘BusyBox’ for the following instructions
• Line 10-16 : Enable and start SSH and the ESXi Shell
• Line 18-20 : Disable the SSH warning, and set the shell timeout to 1 hour

• Line 23 : Rename the local datastore name to “Local – [hostname]”

• Line 25-30 : Set up networking.  I use two networks…
  • LIVE : For all the virtual machines that are available on my live home network
  • PRIVATE :  For all the virtual machines that are only available to each other, and can’t be accessed from anywhere.
    • This network also uses a different VLAN to help separate the network traffic – VLAN 42.

• Line 33 : Enable vMotion on the interface

• Line 35-44 : Enable the software iSCSI adapter and configure it.  Perform a adapter rescan too

• Line 47 : Put host into maintenance mode
• Line 48 : One final reboot, ready for homelab production