Tag Archive for Image

Using PowerCLI Image Builder CLI to build a new ESXi 7.0U1c image

February 14, 2021 AutoDeploy No comments

What do we need to build a custom image?

  • An ESXi image (Download from myvmware.com) and use the depot zip
  • VMware PowerCLI and the ESXi Image Builder module

For more information on setting this up, see this blog. Thanks to Michelle Laverick.

  • Other software depots

The vSphere ESXi depot is the main software depot you will need but there are other depots provided by vendors who create collections of VIBs specially packaged for distribution. Depots can be Online and Offline. An online software depot is accessed remotely using the HTTP protocol. An offline software depot is downloaded and accessed locally. These depots have the vendor specific VIBs that you will need to combine with the vSphere ESXi depot in order to create your custom installation image. An example could be HP’s depot on this link

What are VIBS?

VIB actually stands for vSphere Installation Bundle. It is basically a collection of files packaged into a single archive to facilitate distribution. It is composed of 3 parts

  • A file archive (The files which will be installed on the host)
  • An xml descriptor file (Describes the contents of the VIB. It contains the requirements for installing the VIB and identifies who created the VIB and the amount of testing that’s been done including any dependencies, any compatibility issues, and whether the VIB can be installed without rebooting.)
  • A signature file (Verifies the acceptance level of the VIB) There are 4 acceptance levels. See next paragraph

Acceptance levels

Each VIB is released with an acceptance level that cannot be changed. The host acceptance level determines which VIBs can be installed to a host.

VMwareCertfied

The VMwareCertified acceptance level has the most stringent requirements. VIBs with this level go through thorough testing fully equivalent to VMware in-house Quality Assurance testing for the same technology. Today, only I/O Vendor Program (IOVP) program drivers are published at this level. VMware takes support calls for VIBs with this acceptance level.

VMwareAccepted

VIBs with this acceptance level go through verification testing, but the tests do not fully test every function of the software. The partner runs the tests and VMware verifies the result. Today, CIM providers and PSA plug-ins are among the VIBs published at this level. VMware directs support calls for VIBs with this acceptance level to the partner’s support organization.

PartnerSupported

VIBs with the PartnerSupported acceptance level are published by a partner that VMware trusts. The partner performs all testing. VMware does not verify the results. This level is used for a new or nonmainstream technology that partners want to enable for VMware systems. Today, driver VIB technologies such as Infiniband, ATAoE, and SSD are at this level with nonstandard hardware drivers. VMware directs support calls for VIBs with this acceptance level to the partner’s support organization.

CommunitySupported

The CommunitySupported acceptance level is for VIBs created by individuals or companies outside of VMware partner programs. VIBs at this level have not gone through any VMware-approved testing program and are not supported by VMware Technical Support or by a VMware partner.

Steps to create an custom ESXi image

  1. I have an ESXI 7.0U1c software depot zip file and I am going to use an Intel VIB which I will add into the custom image

2. Open PowerCLI and connect to your vCenter

Connect-VIServer <vCenterServer>

3. Next I add my vSphere ESXi and Intel software depot zips

Add-EsxSoftwareDepot c:\Users\rhian\Downloads\VMware-ESXi-7.0U1c-17325551-depot.zip

Add-EsxSoftwareDepot c:\Users\rhian\Downloads\intel-nvme-vmd-en_2.5.0.1066-1OEM.700.1.0.15843807_17238162.zip

4. If you want to check what packages are available once the software depots have been added.

Get-EsxSoftwarePackage

5. Next we can check what image profiles are available. We are going to clone one of these profiles

Get-EsxImageProfile

6. There are two ways to create a new image profile, you can create an empty image profile and manually specify the VIBs you want to add, or you can clone an existing image profile and use that. I have cloned an existing image profile

New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile ESXi-7.0U1c-17325551-standard -name esxi701c-imageprofile -vendor vmware -AcceptanceLevel PartnerSupported

If I do a Get-EsxImageProfile now, I can see the new image profile I created

7. Next, I’ll use the Add-EsxSoftwarePackage to add and remove VIBs to/from the image profile. First of all I’ll check my extra Intel package to get the driver name then I will add the software package

Get-EsxSoftwarePackage | where {$_.Vendor -eq “INT”}

Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile esxi701c-imageprofile -SoftwarePackage intel-nvme-vmd -Force

8. We now have the option to export the profile as a zip or an iso.

Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile esxi701c-imageprofile -FilePath c:\Users\rhian\Downloads\esxi701c-imageprofile.zip -ExportToBundle -Force -NoSignatureCheck

Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile esxi701c-imageprofile -FilePath c:\Users\rhian\Downloads\esxi701c-imageprofile.iso -ExportToIso -Force -NoSignatureCheck

9. Just as a note, If you need to change the acceptance level, then you can do so by running the following command before creating the iso or zip. The example below shows changing the imageprofile to the PartnerSupport acceptance level.

Set-EsxImageProfile -AcceptanceLevel PartnerSupported –ImageProfile esxi701c-imageprofile

Useful tip

Typing history in PowerCLI will show you all the commands you have typed. Very handy to check mistakes or save the commands for future use.

Identify ESXi Image Builder requirements

March 11, 2013 Objective 9 Advanced vSphere Installation No comments

images

What is ESXi Image Builder CLI?

The ESXi Image Builder CLI is a set of PowerCLI cmdlets that you can use to manage vSphere image profiles and VIB packages, such as driver VIBs and update VIBs. You can also use Image Builder cmdlets to export an image profile to an ISO or offline depot ZIP file that you can use to install ESXi with a customized set of updates, patches, and drivers.

  • Manage software depots
  • Manage image profiles
  • Manage Software packages (VIBs).
  • Image profiles and VIBs specify the software you want to use during installation or upgrade of an ESXi host.

ESXi Image Builder Requirements

  • Microsoft .NET 2.0
  • Microsoft PowerShell 1.0 or 2.0
  • vSphere PowerCLI (includes Image Builder cmdlets)
  • Turn off IE ESC in Server Manager – Allows you to download TFTP Boot Zip file and AutoDeploy Log Files

Image Builder Overview

You use Image Builder cmdlets for managing the software to deploy to your ESXi hosts in several different scenarios.

scenario

The Image Builder PowerCLI cmdlets take image profiles and VIBs as input and produce different outputs.

inputoutput

Image Builder Architecture

Imagebuilder3

Terms and Definitions

VIB

Requirements

You can create a custom image profile from scratch or clone an existing profile and add or remove VIBs. A profile must meet the following requirements to be valid.

  • Each image profile must have a unique name and vendor combination.
  • Each image profile has an acceptance level. When you add a VIB to an image profile with an Image Builder PowerCLI cmdlet, Image Builder checks that the VIB matches the acceptance level defined for the profile.
  • You cannot remove VIBs that are required by other VIBs.
  • You cannot include two versions of the same VIB in an image profile. When you add a new version of a VIB, the new version replaces the existing version of the VIB.

Image Profile Validation

An image profile and its VIBs must meet several criteria to be valid.

  • Image profiles must contain at least one base VIB and one bootable kernel module
  • If any VIB in the image profile depends on another VIB, that other VIB must also be included in the image profile. VIB creators store that information in the SoftwarePackage object’s Depends property.
  • VIBs must not conflict with each other. VIB creators store conflict information in the SoftwarePackage object’s Conflicts property.
  • Two VIBs with the same name, but two different versions, cannot coexist. When you add a new version of a VIB, the new version replaces the existing version of the VIB.
  • No acceptance level validation issues exist.

When you make a change to an image profile, Image Builder checks that the change does not invalidate the profile.

Acceptance Levels

Each VIB is released with an acceptance level that cannot be changed. The host acceptance level determines which VIBs can be installed to a host. You can change the host acceptance levels with esxcli commands.

acceptancelevel

Create an Image Profile

Cloning a published profile is the easiest way to create a custom image profile. Cloning a profile is especially useful if you want to remove a few VIBs from a profile, or if you want to use hosts from different vendors and want to use the same basic profile, but want to add vendor-specific VIBs. VMware partners or large installations might consider creating a profile from scratch.

addprofile

Add VIBs to an Image Profile

You can add one or more VIBs to an image profile if that image profile is not set to ReadOnly. If the new VIB depends on other VIBs or conflicts with other VIBs in the profile, a message is displayed at the PowerShell prompt and the VIB is not added.
You can add VIBs from VMware or from VMware partners to an image profile. If you add VMware VIBs, the Image Builder PowerCLI performs validation. If you add VIBs from two or more OEM partners, no errors are reported but the resulting image profile might not work. Install VIBs from only one OEM vendor at a time.

Custom drivers can be found in the “Drivers & Tools” section in the vSphere 5.0 “Support and Downloads” pages.

Capture

Export an Image Profile to ISO or Offline Bundle ZIP

You can export an image profile to an ISO image or a ZIP file of component files and folders. You cannot create both by running the cmdlet once. You can use the ISO image as an ESXi installer or upload the ISO into vSphere Update Manager for upgrades. You can use the ZIP file, which contains metadata and the VIBs specified in the image profile, for upgrades to ESXi 5.0 and later.

Export an image profile to ISO from the PowerCLI prompt.

builder3

Export an image profile to an offline bundle ZIP from the PowerCLI prompt.

builder4

Demo

  • Log in to the console of the Windows system on which vCenter Server is installed with administrator privileges, either directly or by using RDP.
  • Download the ESXi Depot ZIP file from the VMware Web site to a location the PowerCLI Windows system can access.
  • Typically, you will start by downloading the VMware software depot from http://www.vmware.com/downloads. This depot contains the ESXi VIBs provided by VMware. Choose the zip file

zipfile

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  • The file has a name that follows this pattern: VMware-Esxi-5.0.0-xxxxx-depot.zip.
  • Save the ZIP file to your local D:\ drive or any volume with enough space and note the location of the file. I am using E:\depot
  • Download a VIB from a manufacturers website like Brocade and save this into your depot

brocade

  • Start a PowerCLI session and run the following cmdlets at the prompt.
  • Connect-VIServer -Server your_vc_hostname -User username -Password password
  • Add-EsxSoftwareDepot E:\Depot\VMware-ESXi-5.1.0-799733-depot.zip
  • Add-EsxSoftwareDepot E:\Depot\BCD-bna-3.2.0.0-00000-offline_bundle-944129.zip

depot

  • Run Get-EsxImageProfile

depot2

  • Clone an existing profile to use as your starting point
  • New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile ESXi-5.1.0-799733-standard -name mycustomprofile -AcceptanceLevel PartnerSupported

DEPOT3

  • Next add the Brocade software package to the mycustomprofile
  • Type Get-ESXSoftwarePackage | where {$_.vendor -eq Brocade} to see your software

depot4

  • Then type Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile mycustomprofile -SoftwarePackage net-bna
  • Note you can also remove software by typing remove-esxsoftwarepackage -imageprofile mycustomprofile -softwarepackage net-bna

depot5

  • If you want you can compare the original profile with your custom profile to check the Software Package has been added
  • compare-esximageprofile and then input the Reference profile                                (ESXi-5.1.0-799733-standard) with the Comparison profile (mycustomprofile)

compare

  • After adding the VIBs, you need to save/export the Image Profile which you can do to a zip file or an ISO file

See below 2 commands (ZIP and ISO)

  • For ISO, type Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile mycustomprofile -ExportToIso -FilePath E:\depot\MyCustomImage.iso
  • For ZIP, type Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile mycustomprofile -ExportToIso -FilePath E:\depot\MyCustomImage.zip

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  • Check the depot for your new custom iso

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Given a Scenario, Determine when to Customize a Configuration

  • If you are deploying a single or a few hosts, you will tend to go for an interactive install.
  • When deploying a larger number of hosts, it is a good idea to choose a scripted installation or use Auto Deploy
  • Auto Deploy is under the highest licensing package VMware offer so the functionality depends on what licensing you have
  • Staff will require skills in command line configuration
  • Time taken to write scripts and test custom builds may be not feasible in some IT Departments