To configure the ESX Server machine, complete the following steps.

1. Launch a supported Web browser and enter the URL for the VMware Management Interface.

   http://<hostname>

   Where <hostname> is the name assigned to the server during installation.

   The browser security certificate screen appears.

2. A dialog box asks whether you want to accept the security certificate presented by the server. The specific certificate presented varies depending upon the browser you are using. For details, see Accepting the Security Certificate from ESX Server.
3. Accept the security certificate. The VMware Management Interface Login screen appears.
4. Log in to the VMware Management Interface as root.

   

   The System Configuration Wizard appears.

   

   Click Next to start the wizard. The End User License Agreement screen appears.

5. Read the end user license agreement and check I Accept the terms of the license agreement.

   

6. Enter the ESX Server serial number in the VMware ESX Server field.

   If you have a license for VMware Virtual SMP for ESX Server, enter that serial number in the VMware Virtual SMP for ESX Server field. This license is required if you want to configure your virtual machines with more than one virtual processor. Entering the serial number installs VMware Virtual SMP for ESX Server.

   To print the license agreement, click Print.

7. To continue, click Next. The Startup Profile screen appears.

   

8. Configure the service console. Configuration parameters include reserved memory, SCSI storage controller and Ethernet controllers.
9. Select Hyper-threading to enable the ESX Server to boot in Hyper-threading mode. This option appears only if the host supports Hyper-threading capabilities.

   Reserved Memory — The default amount of memory reserved for the service console, 192MB, is sufficient for managing up to eight virtual machines concurrently. Change this to 272MB for up to 16 virtual machines, 384MB for up to 32 virtual machines, or 512MB for more than 32 virtual machines. Choose Other to specify a different amount of memory; the dialog box suggests a range. For background on memory, see Sizing Memory on the Server.

   Note: If you have more than 895MB of RAM installed on your server, the available memory is not reported accurately at this stage. The correct amount of memory is reported after you reboot the server.

   SCSI Storage Controller — Allocate storage adapters to be used by the service console and virtual machines on the server. Be sure that both the service console and the virtual machines have access to at least one device.

   A SCSI or RAID adapter should be shared if you want to use that adapter or array for both the service console and virtual machines. To share the SCSI controller, in the Dedicated To list, select Virtual Machines, then check Shared with Service Console.

   When you are allocating SCSI or RAID devices, the unit of device allocation is a PCI card device. You may connect multiple SCSI or RAID disks, CD-ROM drives, tape drives and other devices to the SCSI or RAID adapter.

   You should give as many SCSI or RAID devices to the virtual machines as possible to ensure that the majority of your mass storage resources are used by your virtual machines. If you do not have any SCSI disks, you may have to allocate at least one IDE disk to the service console, since the service console needs to have a disk from which it and the ESX Server can boot.

   Some adapter cards have multiple functions, which means there are multiple adapters on each card. When you allocate a SCSI or RAID device to the service console or to the VMkernel, you are effectively allocating all the SCSI or RAID disks, CD-ROM drives and other attached devices along with the adapter. As a result, you have only coarse-grained control over how you allocate SCSI and RAID devices.

   Consider this example: Suppose your machine has SCSI adapters vmhba0 and vmhba1 that are on the same SCSI adapter card. If you choose to share one of the adapters, you must share both. Similarly, if you choose to allocate one of the adapters for use by virtual machines, you must allocate both for use by virtual machines.

   Note: If you have Fibre Channel adapters, you may have to perform additional configuration of the adapters and the ESX Server system. For more information, see Using Storage Area Networks with ESX Server and Using Multipathing in ESX Server.

   Ethernet Controller — Allocate network adapters to be used by the service console and virtual machines on the server. Be sure that both the service console and the virtual machines have access to at least one device.

   It is generally best to assign the first Ethernet adapter on the list to the service console and assign the other adapters to the virtual machines. If you assign the first adapter to be used by virtual machines, the service console may try to use an inappropriate driver for its network adapter. Ethernet adapters cannot be shared between the service console and virtual machines.

   It is generally good to give as many network adapters to the virtual machines as possible. Doing so helps ensure that the majority of your network resources are devoted to the virtual machines. Because the service console is intended primarily as a management interface, you should minimize resources allocated to the service console. You need to allocate at least one Ethernet device to the service console in order to manage your ESX Server machine remotely.

   In the likely event that you have fewer Ethernet devices than virtual machines, you can share VMkernel Ethernet adapters among the virtual machines with little performance penalty.

10. Click Next to continue. The Reboot screen appears.

    

    The ESX Server machine reboots with the configuration you just set up. Rebooting may take ten minutes or more, depending on your system's configuration. A timer indicates the amount of time that has elapsed.

11. You are prompted to log in to the management interface after the reboot. After you log in, the Storage Management screen appears.

    

    Earlier, you configured file systems and storage for the service console when you installed ESX Server. Now you can create new VMFS-2 partitions to store your virtual machines with any remaining free space, edit existing VMFS volumes or remove any extended partitions. You should consider what partitions you want to format for VMFS-2 before you begin, including whether the partitions are on the local system or on SANs. The ESX Server swap file, to be configured in the next step, must be located on a VMFS-2 partition.

    You can also choose not to format a partition for VMFS, if you want to use it as a raw or physical disk for a virtual machine or if the volume is on a SAN that you want to use for other purposes.

    You cannot change any partitions that were set up when you installed ESX Server. These include any volumes with a Linux file system or that are used for Linux or service console swap space.

    For more information, see Configuring Storage: Disk Partitions and File Systems.

12. Click Next. The Swap Configuration screen appears.

    

    Earlier, you configured a swap partition for the service console when you installed ESX Server. Now you can set up the swap file that ESX Server uses as part of its memory management features. For background, see Memory Resource Management.

13. The default configuration creates a swap file equal to the total amount of memory on the server. To make any needed changes to the swap file configuration, click Change. If there is a configured swap file, you can activate it by clicking Activate, or you can edit it by clicking Edit.
14. If there is no active or configured swap file, you can configure one. Click Create.

    

    You can choose the following settings when creating or editing a swap file:

    • The volume on which to locate the swap file.
    • The name of the swap file, which defaults to SwapFile.vswp. To change the name of the swap file, select Other from the File Name list, then type the name of the swap file. The file must have a .vswp extension.
    • The capacity of the swap file in MB. A recommended value is provided.
    • The activation policy. The swap file can be active when the system boots or it can be activated manually.

      Note: If you make changes to the amount of swap space after the initial configuration, you must reboot the server before the changes take effect. If the swap file is set to be activated manually, after you reboot, the swap file is not activated. To activate it manually, you must use vmkfstools -w.

15. If you configured a swap file, click Activate. Otherwise, click Next. The Network Connections screen appears.

    Note: If you activated the swap file, the Network Connections screen appears. You do not need to click Next.

    

    Use this screen to create a virtual switch that the virtual machines are going to use.

16. Click Next. The next Network Connection screen appears and displays the virtual switches in your system.

    

17. In the Overview section, click Add to create a new virtual switch.
18. For an existing virtual switch, click Add to create a port group and assign a label and VLAN ID for the new port group. Click Edit to configure speed and duplex settings for a virtual switch. In the Configured Speed, Duplex list, keep the default, Autonegotiate, to have ESX Server choose the optimal settings for the switch. Otherwise, if you know the exact setting to use, select 10 Mbps half or full duplex, or 100 Mbps half or full duplex.

    Caution: Some network switches may not autonegotiate speed and duplexity correctly. If this issue occurs, set the speed and duplexity both on the network switch and the ESX Server to a fixed setting. For more information on speed and duplex settings, see Configuring Physical Adapters.

19. Click Next. The Security Settings screen appears.

    Select the security level for the ESX Server machine and the network traffic generated by ESX Server.

    

    When you configure a more secure machine, you have fewer options for connecting to it, as the less secure methods for connecting to the computer (such as Telnet or FTP) are disabled.

    High security is selected by default. To change to a different standard security setting, click the setting you want to use.

    To select custom settings, click Custom Security. The Custom Security Configuration screen appears.

    

    You can customize your settings for encrypting VMware Remote Console and VMware Management Interface connections using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. ESX Server uses OpenSSL.

    You may also enable SSH, Telnet, FTP and NFS (portmap) on the service console.

20. After you choose your security settings, click Next. A message appears, stating your configuration is complete. Click OK. The VMware Management Interface Login page appears.