VMware ESXi can be installed and deployed using different methods. One of the most common methods is the interactive installation that can be performed by mounting the installation DVD, or its image, to the server chosen for hosting ESXi. The installation was covered in the previous section but there are two other deployment methods:
The scripted-unattended installation
vSphere Auto Deploy
Note
Since the use of vSphere Auto Deploy is dependent on vCenter and other features such as Host Profiles, we will be covering this topic in a later chapter.
A scripted-unattended installation will require the use of an install script that is accessible to the server either via direct access (CD or USB) or via network access (HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, or NFS). The install script is referred to as a kickstart file. Kickstart is a Linux method to perform an unattended installation, hence the name. VMware supports the use of kickstart's...