What are the minimum hardware requirements for CPU and RAM when installing ESX 9.0?

To install or upgrade to ESX 9.0, the host must have at least two CPU cores. Regarding memory, a minimum of 8 GB of physical RAM is required. However, VMware recommends providing at least 12 GB of RAM to run virtual machines in typical production environments,.

2. Q: What is the correct order of operations when upgrading a vSphere environment consisting of vCenter and ESX hosts?

You must upgrade vCenter before you upgrade the ESX hosts. If you do not upgrade the environment in this specific order, you risk losing data and losing access to servers. vCenter 9.0 can manage ESX 8.0 hosts, but an older vCenter cannot manage newer ESX hosts,.

3. Q: Describe the “Interactive Installation” method for ESX. A: Interactive installation is typically used for small deployments (fewer than five hosts). It involves booting the server from a CD/DVD, USB flash drive, or via PXE. The administrator follows prompts in an installation wizard to select the target disk, configure the keyboard, set the root password, and install the ESX boot image. This method reformats and partitions the target disk,.

4. Q: What is the default requirement for the ESX root password during installation? A: By default, the root password must contain between 8 and 40 characters. It must include a mix of at least three from the following four character classes: lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters. It cannot contain a dictionary word or part of the username,.

5. Q: How does the ESX 9.0 installer handle a disk that contains a previous ESX installation? A: If the installer detects an existing ESX installation or a VMFS datastore on the target disk, it provides options to upgrade the host or install fresh. If you choose to install fresh, you can select whether to overwrite the existing VMFS datastore or preserve it. If upgrading, it migrates supported custom VIBs,.

6. Q: What are the supported boot media options for the ESX installer? A: The ESX installer can be booted from a CD/DVD, a USB flash drive, or via the network (using PXE, iPXE, or Native UEFI HTTP). It can also be booted from a remote location using remote management applications like HP iLO or Dell DRAC,.

7. Q: How can you access the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) for initial configuration? A: You connect a keyboard and monitor directly to the host. Once the host boots, you can press F2 to view and change the configuration (such as networking and passwords) or F12 to shut down or restart the host,.

8. Q: From which version of ESX can you directly upgrade to ESX 9.0? A: You can upgrade to ESX 9.0 only from ESX version 8.0. If you are on an earlier version (e.g., 7.0), you must first upgrade to 8.0 before proceeding to 9.0,.

Expert Level Questions (17)

9. Q: Explain the partition structure changes introduced in ESX 9.0, specifically regarding the “ESX-OSData” partition. A: ESX 9.0 consolidates several legacy partitions into a unified location called ESX-OSData. This partition stores non-boot modules, system configuration, logs, and core dumps. It effectively consolidates the legacy /scratch partition, the locker partition for VMware Tools, and core dump destinations. The system storage now consists primarily of the System Boot partition, Boot-bank 0, Boot-bank 1, and ESX-OSData.

10. Q: What is the recommendation regarding the use of SD cards or USB drives for the ESX-OSData partition in ESX 9.0? A: The use of SD and USB devices for storing ESX-OSData partitions is being deprecated. While they can still be used for boot bank partitions, the best practice is to provide a separate persistent local device (such as an SSD, NVMe, or HDD) with a minimum of 32 GB (preferably 128 GB) to store the ESX-OSData volume. If only SD/USB is detected without persistent storage, a warning is displayed during installation,.

11. Q: How does the “Quick Boot” feature optimize the upgrade process in vSphere Lifecycle Manager? A: Quick Boot allows vSphere Lifecycle Manager to reduce the remediation time for hosts undergoing patch and upgrade operations. If activated, it skips the hardware reboot (BIOS/UEFI firmware initialization). Instead, it restarts only the ESX software, significantly reducing the time the host spends in maintenance mode.

12. Q: When performing a scripted installation (Kickstart), how can you configure the host to consume entropy from an external source for high-security environments? A: Starting with ESX 8.0 Update 1, you can use the entropy command in the kickstart script (e.g., entropy --sources=8 --data=<base64_data>). This configures the entropyd daemon to consume entropy from external sources like a Hardware Security Module (HSM) during the first boot. This is critical for meeting standards like NIST FIPS CMVP. This can only be configured during a fresh scripted installation,.

13. Q: What is the “vSphere Distributed Services Engine” and how does it impact the ESX installation process? A: It is a feature that offloads infrastructure functions to a Data Processing Unit (DPU). ESX 8.0 and later builds are unified images containing both x86 and DPU content. During installation, the ESX image is installed simultaneously on the x86 server and the attached DPU. You cannot install them separately. If the system has two DPUs, the installation happens in parallel on both,.

14. Q: When using esxcli to manage upgrades, what is the critical difference between esxcli software profile update and esxcli software profile install? A:

• esxcli software profile update: Updates existing VIBs with the versions in the specified profile but does not affect other VIBs installed on the target server (e.g., third-party drivers). This is the only method supported for VMware-supplied ZIP bundles.
• esxcli software profile install: Installs the VIBs present in the profile and removes any other VIBs installed on the target server that are not present in the profile. This effectively overwrites the software state.

15. Q: You are using vSphere Auto Deploy. How does the “First Boot” process flow differ from subsequent boots? A:

• First Boot: The host contacts the DHCP server, downloads iPXE via TFTP, and makes an HTTP boot request to the Auto Deploy server. The server streams the image profile and optional host profile. vCenter stores the host customization (user input) after the host is added.
• Subsequent Boots: The host reboots, and vSphere Auto Deploy provisions it again using the image profile and the stored host profile/customization. If using Stateless Caching, the host can boot from a cached local disk image if the Auto Deploy server is unavailable,,.

16. Q: What is the systemMediaSize boot option, and why would an administrator use it during installation? A: The systemMediaSize boot option limits the size of system storage partitions on the boot media. It accepts values like min (32 GB), small (64 GB), default (128 GB), or max. An administrator would use this to strictly define how much space ESX consumes, particularly on multi-terabyte servers or embedded servers where specific partition sizing is required,.

17. Q: Why might a rollback from ESX 9.0 to ESX 8.x be impossible if the boot banks were resized during the upgrade? A: Starting with ESX 9.0, boot banks must be 1 GB or 4 GB. If upgrading a system with existing 500 MB boot-banks, the upgrader automatically repartitions the boot device to expand them to 1 GB. This repartitioning modifies the disk structure, making a rollback to the previous version impossible.

18. Q: Describe the requirements for using “Native UEFI HTTP” boot for ESX installation. A: To use Native UEFI HTTP boot, the ESX host must have UEFI firmware version 2.5 or later that supports the HTTP boot feature and a network adapter with UEFI networking support. This method allows the firmware to load the ESX boot loader (mboot.efi) directly from an HTTP server without needing legacy PXE or iPXE intermediaries,.

19. Q: How do you verify if “Secure Boot” can be enabled on a host after upgrading it from a version that did not support it? A: You can run the secure boot validation script located at /usr/lib/vmware/secureboot/bin/secureBoot.py -c on the ESX host. This script checks if the hardware supports UEFI secure boot and if all installed VIBs have signatures of at least “PartnerSupported” level. If old VIBs remain without signatures (common in ESXCLI upgrades), secure boot cannot be enabled,.

20. Q: What happens if you upgrade an ESX host that contains third-party custom VIBs? A: When upgrading to ESX 9.0, all supported custom VIBs are migrated, regardless of whether they are in the installer ISO. However, if a VIB creates a conflict (e.g., dependency errors), the upgrade is prevented. You must either remove the conflicting VIB or use vSphere ESX Image Builder to create a custom installer ISO that resolves the conflict.

21. Q: In the context of Auto Deploy, what is the role of the “Deploy Rule”? A: A Deploy Rule maps a set of hosts (identified by attributes like MAC address, IP range, or Vendor) to specific software settings, including an Image Profile, a Host Profile, a vCenter location (folder/cluster), and a Script Bundle. When a host boots, the rules engine evaluates the active rule set to determine how to provision that host,.

22. Q: Why is the autoPartition boot option relevant when automating ESX installations? A: By default (autoPartition=FALSE), ESX 9.0 formats only boot devices larger than 140 GB with VMFS. Setting autoPartition=TRUE forces the automatic formatting of all available empty devices with VMFS (except legacy SD/USB). This is crucial for ensuring local datastores are created automatically during automated deployments.

23. Q: What is the “vSphere Configuration Profiles” feature, and how does it relate to Host Profiles in ESX 9.0? A: vSphere Configuration Profiles allow administrators to manage host configuration at a cluster level using a desired state model (JSON document). In ESX 9.0, the legacy Host Profiles capability is deprecated. Administrators should transition to using Configuration Profiles to manage settings collectively for a cluster rather than attaching profiles to individual hosts,.

24. Q: How does vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) differ from the legacy Update Manager regarding “Images” vs. “Baselines”? A: vLCM “Images” define a precise, declarative software stack (ESX base image + Vendor Add-ons + Firmware + Drivers) for a cluster. “Baselines” are collections of bulletins/patches. In vSphere 9.0, using baselines is deprecated for upgrades. Administrators must use vLCM images for upgrades to ensure consistent state and manage firmware via hardware support managers,.

25. Q: When performing a scripted installation via network boot, how do you specify the location of the installation script? A: You must edit the boot options (e.g., in boot.cfg via kernelopt) to include the ks parameter. For example: ks=http://<IP_Address>/kickstart/ks.cfg. If this option is omitted, the installer defaults to the interactive text installer,.