WilliamLam.com

Installing ESXi 5.1 Update 1 on Mac Mini is Now a Breeze! (No Custom ISO/patches Needed!)

by // 68 Comments

ESXi 5.1 Update 1 was just released by VMware and similar to the ESXi 5.0 Update 2 release last year, the tg3 (Broadcom) driver has now been updated to 3.123b.v50.1 which is required to support network connectivity on the Apple Mac Mini's. Prior to this, to install ESXi on an Apple Mac Mini, users were required to build a custom ISO that included the updated tg3 driver and I am happy to say this is no long necessary! In addition, having the latest driver also provides out of the box support for the Thunderbolt ethernet adapter which is great if you are looking to add an additional ethernet connection to the Apple Mac Mini.

Disclaimer: The Apple Mac Mini is not officially supported by VMware.

Here is a quick screenshot of the networking details including the Thunderbolt ethernet adapter on my Apple Mac Mini 5,3 running ESXi 5.1 Update 1:

Apple Mac Mini 6,2 Users

If you have an Apple Mac Mini 6,2 the workarounds described in this article are still required as well as an additional issue regarding the on-board NIC for the Apple Mac Mini 6,2. The issue is that the on-board NIC is not recognized and claimed by the tg3 driver because there is not a PCI ID entry in the tg3 map file. Note, BCM57766 driver is supported, just that it was missing the mapping (I believe this was the case in 5.0 as well). Working with VMware engineering, I was able to obtain the SMC fix and along with the workarounds that I built earlier for ESXi 5.0 and I have created a custom ESXi 5.1 Update 1 ISO that includes all the fixes and you will be able to install it on your Apple Mac Mini 6,2 without any further modifications.

Download: ESXi-5.1u1-MacMini-SMC-BOOT-FIX-6-2.iso

Note: From my understanding, some of these issues have been fixed but just did not make it in time for the Update 1 release. I'm hoping that we will be able to get most of these fixed in a future patch or update. This is actually pretty awesome, given that this is NOT SUPPORTED by VMware, but engineers are still willing to help the community out!

UPDATE: When trying to enable vSphere HA, the following error "Could not find a trusted signer" is thrown. To get around this problem, you will need to manually install the vSphere HA VIB and then reconfigure vSphere HA. The easiest method is to SCP the VIB from the VCSA and then using ESXCLI and the --no-sig-check flag to install the VIB.

Here are the commands to run:

scp /etc/vmware-vpx/docRoot/vSphere-HA-depot/vib20/vmware-fdm/VMware_bootbank_vmware-fdm_5.1.0-1064983.vib [email protected]:/tmp
esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/VMware_bootbank_vmware-fdm_5.1.0-1064983.vib --no-sig-check

Additional Resources:

Configure Apple Mac Mini to Default Boot ESXi

by // 13 Comments

If you are running ESXi on an Apple Mac Mini and it is installed on a USB key, you probably have noticed that the Mac Mini tries to boot from disk by default and instead of using the USB device. This means when you reboot your ESXi host each time, you will need to hold down the "ALT/OPTION" key which will present you with a boot menu to select the device you wish to boot from.

This can be quite annoying if you have a headless setup for your Mac Mini and you just want it to automatically boot off of the right device containing your ESXi installation. To fix this, you can configure the default boot device which can be done by first selecting the device you wish to boot off of as shown in the screenshot above. Next, hold down on the "CONTROL" key which will turn the straight arrow into circular arrow icon as shown in the screenshot below.

Now you just need to either hit enter or if you have a mouse, click on the circular arrow icon and this will configure the default boot device the Apple Mac Mini will use going forward. It is that simple! If you want to boot off of another device after configuring the default boot device, you can still do so by holding down "ALT/OPTION" key while the Mac Mini is still booting up.

Credit goes to this site for solution. 

Installing ESXi 5.0 Update 2 on Mac Mini is Now a Breeze! (No Custom ISO/patches Needed!)

by // 15 Comments

VMware has just released ESXi 5.0 Update 2 which includes many bug fixes, but along with these fixes, these updates usually also include new inbox drivers as part of the default ISO image for ESXi. One important driver that I had noticed while going through the release notes is the inclusion of the tg3 (Broadcom) inbox driver:

  • Updates the tg3 driver to version 3.123b.v50.1
    The tg3 inbox driver version shipped with the ESXi 5.0 Update 2 is 3.123b.v50.1.

Disclaimer: The Apple Mac Mini is not officially supported by VMware. 

Why is this awesome!? Well, for those of you who own an Apple Mac Mini and would like to run ESXi, may recall an additional step is required to create a customized ESXi ISO to include an updated tg3 driver for the networking stack to function in an Apple Mac Mini. Though the steps have been documented here, it is great to see this working right out of the box using the new ESXi 5.0 Update 2 ISO from VMware. In addition to the networking stack functioning properly after installation, it also enables connectivity to an Apple Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter if you happen to have one connected to your Apple Mac Mini! You no longer have to create a custom ESXi ISO for the Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter as mentioned in an earlier article here.

Note: This article is only relevant to pre-2012 Apple Mac Mini, if you have a newer Apple Mac Mini 6,2 - Please refer to this article for installation.

Here are a few screenshots of running the latest ESXi 5.0 Update 2 on my Apple Mac Mini 5,3 as well as showing the Apple Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter active in ESXi:

If you want a tiny form factor for a vSphere home lab, you should definitely consider asking Santa for an Apple Mac Mini this Christmas 😉 Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday and Happy New Years!