Booting The Esx Installer; Bootstrap Commands - VMware ESX 4.0 - INSTALLATION GUIDE UPDATE 1 Installation Manual

Booting the ESX Installer

You can boot the installer from the DVD using the local DVD-ROM drive, or you can PXE boot the installer.
This chapter includes the following topics:

"Bootstrap Commands,"

n
"Boot the ESX Installer from the Installation DVD,"
n
"PXE Booting the ESX Installer,"
n
Bootstrap Commands
Before the ESX installer Welcome screen appears, the installer displays a boot prompt where you can enter
bootstrap commands to pass arguments to the installer.
When the mode selection screen appears, quickly type F2 to stop the timeout counter. If the mode selection
screen times out, the default graphical mode is launched.
The supported bootstrap commands and subcommands are listed in
Table 5-1. Bootstrap Commands for ESX Installation
Command
askmedia
BOOTIF
gateway=<ip address>
ip=<ip address>
ks=cdrom:/<path>
ks=file://<path>
ks=ftp://<server>/<path>/
ks=http://<server>/<path>
VMware, Inc.
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Description
Allows you to interactively select the location of the ESX
installation media. This option is required if the image is
hosted at an HTTP, FTP, or NFS location.
Accepts the format for the boot network adapter as supplied
by PXELINUX.
Sets this network gateway as the default gateway during the
install.
Specifies a static IP address to be used for downloading the
script and the installation media.
The IPAPPEND option is also supported if you PXE boot the
installer.
Performs a scripted installation with the script at <path>,
which resides on the DVD in the DVD-ROM drive.
Performs a scripted installation with the script at <path>,
which resides inside the initial ramdisk image.
Performs a scripted installation with a script located at the
given URL.
Performs a scripted installation with a script located at the
given URL.
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Table 5-1.
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