How to Create a Customized VMWare

ESXi ISO Image

Lenovo Enterprise Product Group

Version 1.0
September 2014

2014 Lenovo. All rights reserved.

Creating the Customized VMWare ESXi ISO Image

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Creating the Customized VMWare ESXi ISO Image

Contents
1.0

Introduction ................................................................................................................... 4

1.1

Solution Overview ...................................................................................................... 4

1.2

Audience..................................................................................................................... 4

2.0

Preparation .................................................................................................................... 4

2.1

Tools ........................................................................................................................... 4

2.2

ESXi OS offline bundles .............................................................................................. 4

2.3

Add-on cards driver ................................................................................................... 5

3.0

Procedures ..................................................................................................................... 5

3.1

Install the VMware Power CLI .................................................................................... 5

3.2

Load the Offline Bundles ............................................................................................ 5

3.3

Clone an Existing Image Profile .................................................................................. 6

3.4

Patch Driver into New profile..................................................................................... 8

3.5

Make ISO .................................................................................................................... 9

4.0

References ................................................................................................................... 10

Creating the Customized VMWare ESXi ISO Image

1.0

Introduction

1.1

Solution Overview

Learn how to create a customized VMWare ESXi ISO image with add-on card drivers not
currently available in the standard in-box offering.
This document will guide users to generate a customized image with VMware provided tools
and offline bundles.

1.2

Audience

This document is intended for customers who install VMware ESXi on Lenovo ThinkServers.

2.0

Preparation

2.1

Tools

VMware provides the tool named VMware vSphere PowerCLI on each release version. Please
login to my.vmware.com portal, go to download tab , find the binary and download it.

2.2

ESXi OS offline bundles

On each VMware ESXi release, there is an ESXi OS offline bundle for of ESXi OS. , It will be used
for making the customized image. It can be downloaded from the my.vmware.com portal.

Creating the Customized VMWare ESXi ISO Image

2.3

Add-on cards driver

The driver released by the add-on card vendor will also include the offline bundle package. The
correct driver bundle for your card will need to be downloaded
For example,

3.0

Procedures

3.1

Install the VMware Power CLI

VMware Power CLI is a Windows-based tool. Install it on a Windows OS, and run it after
successful installation.

3.2

Load the Offline Bundles

Use the Add-ESXSoftwareDepot command to load both the ESXi offline bundle and driver
offline bundle as depots.

Creating the Customized VMWare ESXi ISO Image

For example, Add-EsxSoftwareDepot C:\ibg-5.0.5.0-offline_bundle-1290233.zip

3.3

Clone an Existing Image Profile

Use the Get-EsxImageProfile command to list available image profiles.

For example, Get-EsxImageProfile

Creating the Customized VMWare ESXi ISO Image

Clone an existing available image profile by specifying a new name for the profile.
For example, New-EsxImageProfile CloneProfile ESXi-5.5.0-1331820-standard name
TestProfile Vendor Lenovo

Creating the Customized VMWare ESXi ISO Image

3.4

Patch Driver into New profile

Use the Add-EsxSoftwarePackage command to add the async driver to the new image profile.
For example, Add-EsxSoftwarePackage ImageProfile TestProfile SoftwarePackage net-igb

In above command, you will need to provide the software package name as a command option.
Use the command Get-EsxSoftwarePackage to get the package name.

Creating the Customized VMWare ESXi ISO Image

3.5

Make ISO

Export the new image profile. Run the Export-EsxImageProfile command to export the image
profile as an ISO.
For example, Export-EsxImageProfile ImageProfile TestProfile ExportToISO filepath
c:\test.iso

Creating the Customized VMWare ESXi ISO Image

4.0
-

References

https://www.vmware.com/support/developer/PowerCLI/

10