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I am trying configure server using PXE boot. I successfully installed ESXi hypervisor using PXE and would like to know if there is a way by which I can specify Virtual machines at the time of PXE boot. So effectively when user will select hypervisor to install (Among Esxi, Xen etc.) He will also have option to install VMs above it.

Please help me or give me some direction where I should look?

masegaloeh
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Kapil
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3 Answers3

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No, this will not be possible. You'll need to add a second VM provisioning step that takes place once the hypervisor is up and running.

EEAA
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  • Hi @EEAA when you say second VM provisioning step which is simpler than custom iso , I understand it as follows. When user selects hypervisor which it wants to install on server and list of VMs, I will generate post hypervisor installation script. When hypervisor installation gets completed,this script will download VMs from remote repository and will deploy using CLI commands. do you think this is proper way of doing this. If yes can you suggest some tools which can help me in such operation? – Kapil Jul 12 '15 at 15:39
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If I understand the question correctly the sort of customization that you are talking about should be possible. Assuming that a kickstart file has been used in the installation additional scripts, like copying files, or asking users questions can be taken care of in the %pre and %post sections of a kickstart file. More info on ks files from VMWare.

One could develop a variety of kickstart files for various hypervisor and VM combinations with the appropriate install, and post scripts for copying/mounting VM storage, etc. Menu items can then be added in the PXE server for the various combinations, allowing the user to select the hypervisor/VM combo they desire.

Adding a web interface that allowed users to interactively configure a kickstart file if the one they desire is not immediately available would also be possible.

Matt
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  • Thanks Matt. I am trying to figure how to create suck kickstart file with VMware Esxi and Ubuntu 14.04 VM. I will comment here if it works. – Kapil Jul 11 '15 at 21:41
  • Thanks, I have a similar example that works with LXC containers mounted on on openSUSE backend hypervisor, but there may be some similarities. I will see if I can dig it up somewhere. As I recall I may have had to modify some first-boot and installer files. SUSE has a great utility called [SUSEStudio](https://susestudio.com) to make custom OS builds, and you might also be able to use the [Kiwi build system](http://doc.opensuse.org/projects/kiwi/doc/) to help create a custom image if you need to. I used to use Kiwi to frequently build OS images that were deployed over PXE – Matt Jul 13 '15 at 16:40
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I solved this problem using OVF tool. When hypervisor is deployed I wrote lines in post script which will download OVF tool and OVA and deploy it in ESXi.

Kapil
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