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Installing ESXi 4.0 on a HP e9170c
(16 Jan 2010) - The default install for ESXI 4.0 on a HP e9170c just doesn't work. The built-in NIC on the motherboard is too new for the install to be successful. Following are quick notes (from approximately 6 hours of trial and error) for installing a working ESXI 4.0 install on my friend's new system.Short version of the story is that you'll need to modify the install disk, adding the proper NIC driver(s), before you attempt to install ESXi. It's not as scary as it sounds. Other people have already done the heavy lifting. For the HP e9170c, the heroes of the day are Varazir (for his script) and geppi (for his oem.tgz version).
Note: The following build was performed on a more-or-less stock install of the 64-bit version of Ubuntu 9.10. From what I've read, for ESXi 4.0, the build system must be 64-bit. This may or may not be true.
Let me know if I've missed something?
Steps
1) Point a browser at the VM-Help Forum and register for an account. This will allow you to download files if anyone else has worked on your model system.
2) Create a working folder, something like:
mkdir esxi
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3) Download ESXi 4.0 from the VMware site and move the tarball into your new folder.
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4) Go to Varazir's web page and download his most recent mkesxiaio script. At the time of this writing, he'd published v3.8. Put this file in your working folder.
5) While you're on Varazir's web site, you may also want to grab his copy of inetd.conf. For this build, you need a inetd.conf, even an empty one (4.0 uses xinetd.conf, though Varazir's script references inetd.conf). If you're going to use it, put it in your working folder with the other two files.
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6) Log into VM-Help Forum and go to this conversation. At the end of geppi's post, you'll see some fine print and a link to RTL8111_8168_P55_integr_SATA_Ctrl.(AHCI).oem.tgz. Download that file and put it in your working folder with the other three files. You should now have the following files in your working folder:
inetd.conf mkesxiaio_3.8.sh RTL8111_8168_P55.oem.tgz VMware-VMvisor-Installer-4.0.0.Update01-208167.x86_64.iso
If you didn't download Varazir's inetd.conf, create an empty file by running:
touch inetd.conf
Again, this file doesn't affect your install, other than to keep Varazir's script from aborting.
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7) Make Varazir's script executable by running:
chmod a+x mkesxiaio_3.8.sh
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8) Run Varazir's script by running:
sudo ./mkesxiaio_3.8.sh
The above will check for various binaries needed for the build, ask you a few questions, and will then perform various magical feats to build your new ISO. For specifics and screenshots, see the post in the VM-Help Forum.
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Note: We did not have any success with the USB options. Maybe it had something to do with the make/model (U3 Cruizer) of the thumb drive.
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Note: I'm not yet sure if using the script to add SSH and FTP actually does anything valuable. More on this after I've had a chance to investigate.
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Note: The system takes quite awhile to bunzip2 the dd file and then re-bzip it back up containing the new drivers. Be patient. Go make coffee or pasta.
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9) Once the script finishes, check your working folder. There should be a sub-folder called "save" and that should contain a file called "VMware-VMvisor-Installer-4.0.0.Update01-208167.x86_64.iso". Burn that to disk and use it to install ESXi 4.0 on your HP e9170c.
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Note: For anyone else attempting to get ESXi 4.0 running on a different system: this page might be valuable. It contains links to pages where people discuss known issues/solutions.