I know many of you have been pinging me the last couple of days for an updated Nested ESXi 6.7 Virtual Appliance and I have just finished my strict quality control process 🙂 The only minor change with the 6.7 appliance is the VM is now configured with EFI Firmware, where as in the past it was set to BIOS. As of vSphere 6.5+ appliances, the customization scripts are automatically removed by default which means that customers can turn on Secure Boot feature post-deployment without having to perform any manual workarounds. In addition, you will find a few more updates related to the updated ESXi appliance below. I hope you enjoy these free resources to help learn and plan for your vSphere 6.7 upgrades, Happy Friday!
Note: These solutions are all developed during off hours and does take a considerable amount of time/effort to manage and update. Although they are provided to you as a free solution, the development itself is not 🙂
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Nested ESXi 6.7 Appliance:
ESXi 6.7 Virtual Appliance (Nested_ESXi6.7_Appliance_Template_v1.ova)
Nested ESXi Content Library
If you are using my Nested ESXi Content Library, I have updated it to include the latest 6.7 Appliance. Simply refresh your Content Library to automatically pull down the image or you can create a new Content Library by subscribing to the following URL: https://download3.vmware.com/software/vmw-tools/lib.json For more details, please take a look at this blog post here.
vGhetto vSphere Automated Lab Deployment:
For those that use my vGhetto lab deployment script to automate a fully functional vSphere environment, I have created a new version of the script to support vSphere 6.7 which you can find more details here. One neat feature that was suggested by Christian Mohn awhile back was the ability to get more insights to what is happening during the VCSA deployment since the verbosity can be quite distracting on the primary screen. There is now a new $enableVerboseLoggingToNewShell variable that is enabled by default to spawn a new PowerShell console that will watch the VCSA installer logs, so you have a better idea of what is going on.
Thank you!!!
As always bro, great job! On behalf of the entire community, thank you. Dilly dilly!! ????
Any way to workaround of the 6.7 cpu limitation (remove support for old CPUs) on nested environments? Some CPU mask perhaps...?
Hi william.
Im trying to deploy the 6.7 image, but im getting an error with "file is too large".
[06-21-2018_10:38:37] Deploying Nested ESXi VM vesxi67-1 ...
Import-VApp : 21-06-2018 10:38:40 Import-VApp The file is too large
i just downloaded the ova from your site.
Hi William,
How can I change the disk size with your nested esxi appliance via ovftool?
BTW, I can not built a new nested esxi appliance by myself? Could you tell me some tips for me?
Hi William,
Trying to use the 6.7u1 template with 14.1.5 workstation pro. Getting an error, invalid target disk adapter type: pvscsi.
I probably missed the requirements to use them with vmware workstation but thought I'd at least ask.
Thanks for everything you do for the community!
I guess the issue on Fusion/Workstation hasn't been resolved but they don't support the PVSCSI adapter type (hence the error). You'll need to convert the OVA to and OVF and then update it to use LSILogic which should work (you'll have to look up the ID as I forget off hand)
I might have missed this but what is the default login and password for the Nested ESXi 6.7 Virtual Appliance
VMware1!
? Will VMware support Nested ESXi 6.7 appliance
No, Nested Virtualization and Nested ESXi is NOT supported by VMware
I got this error, when deploying:
Would you share any steps to fix it?
--------------------------------------------------------------
[02-14-2019_08:31:56] Creating VCSA JSON Configuration file for deployment ...
[02-14-2019_08:31:56] Deploying VCSA ...
Error: Problem Id: None Component key: fb-infra Detail:
The installation of vCenter Server failed due to an internal error.
Resolution: This is an unrecoverable error, please retry install. If you
encounter this error again, please search for these symptoms in the VMware
Knowledge Base for any known issues and possible resolutions. If none can be
found, collect a support bundle and open a support request.
Error message: com.vmware.vcsa.installer.monitor.monitor_vcsa_deployment: The
VCSA deployment has failed VCSA Deployment Start Time: 2019-02-14T08:47:51.509Z
VCSA Deployment End Time: 2019-02-14T11:10:36.837Z
[02-14-2019_11:03:53] Disconnecting from 192.168.100.149 ...
William, is there an easy way to update or patch these ESXi virtual appliances? NSX-T 2.4 requires an image that is patched to EP 06 in order to successfully deploy its vibs. Better yet, is there a write up on how exactly you created these virtual appliances in the first place? I'm happy to do it myself, I just need to know the magic. I tried patching the 6.7u1 image and exporting an OVF, but the vmdk's are now an aggregate of about 3G instead of 400K in size, so I'm definitely doing something wrong.
Hello William,
Great article. Thanks for everything. I was wondering how to pass through the disks on the nested esxi to nested virtual machines ? Have you tried before ? Any idea how we can achieve that ?
The Virtual Machines I create on the Nested ESXi appliance doesn't seem to have network connectivity. Any idea why?
The ESXi appliance definitely is accessible since I can add it to vCenter and manage it like normal. But any VM's those I create new or those I clone to it, have no network access.
Thank you for creating these templates. I set up a content library that sync's to yours to make my VMWare study life much easier. How hard would it be to add an option to the deployment form to disable IPv6?
Hi William,
First I want to thank you for your Nested ESXi. It's really helpful for me to do a vSAN LAB. But I want to know how to make one nested ESXi by myself. I read the page "https://www.williamlam.com/2019/02/building-your-own-virtual-appliances-using-ovf-properties-part-2.html", but I don't understand how to create the same file "rc.local". Could you please give me some tips?
what is root password please
Hi William,
Can I disable ipv6 option in your appliance ?
Hi William,
Thanks a lot for all of the hard work you've done so far because this does make my life a lot easier.
I was wondering though: when was the last time you worked with vSAN in the Nested Hypervisors? I read your post on it working in 6.0 and I'm trying to get it to play nicely in 6.7 but I'm having the hardest time. If I use vCenter to try to create a vSAN datastore, it won't let me create it not getting past the selection of disks stage. If I use an Ansible module to create the vSAN datastore, it'll create it but with errors and the vSAN datastore will only consist of the disks of 1 single host. (instead of the three in my cluster)
Any ideas as to what might be going on there?
Kind regards,
Jeroen Kleijer
I use it every single day 🙂 This is most likely a configuration issue
I suggest removing unnecessary variables from the equation to troubleshoot such as ansible/etc. That only complicates the setup. Make sure you can get this working manually before you even think about Automation. If you're using my Nested ESXi Appliances, its already optimized for vSAN OOTB, there's nothing more you need to do other than setting up the Disk Groups. Please run through the workflow by hand and ensure your versions are all matched up
Hi, I just tried the ova in VMware Workstation 15.5.5. Everything worked okay, but all the parameters it asked me for when it booted didn't stick, like the user name, password, IPs, etc. I had to reset everything by logging in with root/VMware1! Any idea why that might be happening? Thank you for the great support and help you give people!
It's me Sam Bell again, I just checked with a friend to see if the prompt for settings was working for him, and he tried it, and it's not working for him either. If you can possible fix it, that would be awesome. Maybe it's a change in WS 15.5.5? I don't know..
Thank you!
I final got around and fit the issue with the ova, where it has to be extract to its file format and import-vapp by OVF. However, I am running into this error with the VCSA
[10-13-2020_01:30:05] Deploying VCSA ...
D:\VMware\VMware-VCSA-all-6.7.0-15132721\vcsa-cli-installer\win32\vcsa-deploy.exe : The VCSA 'VC-100' requires hardware
virtualization support from the ESXi host
At line:1 char:1
+ D:\VMware\VMware-VCSA-all-6.7.0-15132721\vcsa-cli-installer\win32\vcs ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (The VCSA 'VC-10...m the ESXi host:String) [], RemoteException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandError
'ESX01'. You are recommended to check the BIOS settings of the ESXi host for
hardware virtualization support before proceeding.
This seem weird because
1. virtualization is enable on the BIOS (Asus Prime X399 using AMD Ryzen 1950)
2. When I install the physical ESX on this box, it didn't ran into any error
3. No error either when I deployed the 3 nested ESXi OVA either.
Any feedback or insight would be appreciated
is it possible to convert Nested ESXi 6.7 Virtual Appliance to qemu VM and use it gns3.
Me want to test vlan routing with ESXI and L3 cisco switch
This is a bit of an odd one perhaps: Is there a trick to getting mac guests running in the nested ESX on fusion?
Here is what I'm doing:
I installed ESX 6.7 bare metal on my Mac Pro 7,1.
Mac guests are running great
When I boot the machine to Mac OS Catalina, I use fusion to run ESX ala "bootcamp" and used rawdiskCreator to get it working. This worked amazingly well to be honest.
The only issue is that my esxi "guest" doesn't seem to allow the mac OS guests to run- even though I'm on a mac for sure.
Is there a guest setting I can tweak to get this going? I scanned your site on the nested virtualization but I don't think this has come up before and maybe it's already working for most.
It sounds like https://www.williamlam.com/2014/08/how-to-run-nested-mac-os-x-guest-on-nested-esxi-on-top-vmware-fusion.html should help
Amazing! There is so much content up here sometimes it's hard to find LOL. Trying to dig through the vsan stuff now too.
You rule- thanks William!
Tell me about it! I often forget I had written something and end up Googling it myself. The search in WordPress isn't the greatest either, so I often use Google to quickly find something based on keywords that I can remember 😀
Hi William,
I installed two Nested_ESXi6.7_Appliance_Template_v1.ova in my physical host ESXi 6.7U3.
I add 2 network to the nested esxi (tot. 4 vmnic for each esxi nested)
I create a new VSS (NAS) e new portgroup (PGNAS) in nested esxi.
I create a new vmkernel (vmk1) for each esxi nested, and set IP,Mask and connect it on PGNAS.
Both esxi nested has same configuration.
I create a two VSS (Mgmt and NAS) with two portgroup (PG-Mgmt on vss MGMT ; PG-NAS on vss NAS) on physical esxi where I connected the uplinks of the two esxi nested.
I try to run ping between esxi nested on vmk0 and works fine.
Than i try to run ping between esxi nested on vmk1 and not works.
If add a two simple vm with windows on the same PG-NAS it works fine.
Can you help me please ?
Thanks for your support.
ps...ping on vmk0, works if IPV6 is enabled...if disable it, ping on vmk0 doesn't work.
Sorry for post....I had forgotten to enable Mac Learning on PG-NAS...after enabled it, the pinging works...BUT.. IPv6 must be enabled... Why , if disable IPv6 the ping doesn't work ?
Good morning William,
Was wondering the implications of having an MC-LAG configuration; where the LAG itself is the active uplink for the physical host and the actual physical uplinks are unused. When attempting to migrate the nested host to the newly created DVSwitch it fails and rolls back...as the only physical nic presented to the nested hosts is vmnic0.
Hi William,
Thanks for all your work on this. It's much appreciated.
I am running a single implementation of your Nested ESXi on a cluster in our labs environment. This is being used to test remote deployment and configuration of some capabilities using a vendor solution. The vendor deployment toolset is on the cluster and the target DC is hosted on the nested ESXi. Both the cluster and the nested virtualization are hosted by the same vCenter but as different datacenters.
The Nested ESXi has three VSS configured, one with a vmk0 for the management and the other two as trunks which are attached to specific DPGs on the cluster DVS's for the VLANs and interconnectivity required.
We can deploy the VMs onto the nested ESXi with no problem as it's only talking to the ESXi via the vCenter. However the configuration isn't working as the IPs of the VMs on the nested virtualization aren't visible. We can't log into the VMs on the nested either.
Am I missing something obvious vis a vis the networking?