How to install Next Generation ESXi 7.0 version !!

All the VMware professionals are exciting for the new generation of vSphere 7 announcement and General Availability starting from April 02 2020 !

There are lots of great enhancement done on this vSphere 7 version especially the inbuilt Kubernetes availability and support functionality.

This post covers how to install the ESXi 7.0 with detailed steps.
As you all know, ESXi 7.0 is new version of vSphere 7 product and lots of changes happened on this new version release.

I choose  HP DL 360 Gen 9 server for the installation, i think this HP hardware model is supported for ESXi 7.0 version. But I am not 100% sure about the compatibility. So, before choosing the Bare metal servers for ESXi 7.0 installation, please check the compatibility with ESXi 7.0.

This HP servers has 2 sockets with 12 cores each and 64 GB RAM. I have 1120 GB local storage as well on this server with 2 logical drives of 560 each with RAID 10.

                So, Lets see how to install ESXi 7.0.

1. I have updated the drives and firmware on HP server for all components to up-to-date.
2. Downloaded ESXi 7.0 HPE custom ISO file from VMware site.
3. Attached the ESXi 7.0 ISO file on HP server via ILO console and boot from CDROM(ISO).
4. Server booted from ESXi 7 ISO.

5. After ESXi 7 installation loading finish, it comes for installation.

6. Press Enter to continue

7. Press F11 to accept and Continue the EULA

8. Choose the storage device on which you want to install the ESXi 7 and press Enter.

9. Select Keyboard layout and Press Enter.

10. Enter password for Root account and Press Enter.

11. Press F11 to confirm and proceed for installation.

12. Installation started and Progress bar shown the status.

13. After few mins, installation completed successfully and Press Enter for a reboot.

14. After server reboot, it will boot with ESXi 7 image.

15. Once the ESXi 7 comes up on console, login via root account and password and give IP address, DNS servers and name for this host.

So, we have successfully install the ESXi 7 on HP server. 

Have a great day ahead, cheers !!