Custom Exsi Iso With Additional Driver

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Scenario

Sometimes we need additional driver for EXSI ISO installer, this is a tutorial for how to do it.

Additional driver list

https://vibsdepot.v-front.de/wiki/index.php/List_of_currently_available_ESXi_packages

Build Environment preparation

• Python3.7
• VMware.Powercli
• Powershell

If encounter any errors related to the Python3.7, please follow below tutorial check your environment

https://developer.vmware.com/docs/15315//GUID-9081EBAF-BF85-48B1-82A0-D1C49F3FF1E8.html

# example on Linux
PS /Users/jason> Install-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI -Force
PS /Users/jason> Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -PythonPath /usr/local/bin/python3.7  -Scope User
PS /Users/jason> pip3.7 install six psutil lxml pyopenssl

Build Customized EXSI ISO

Download additional drivers (can be done via browser too, either is fine)

# r8101 network driver
aexl http://vibsdepot.v-front.de/depot/bundles/net-r8101-1.020.00-1-offline_bundle.zip 
# sata driver
axel http://vibsdepot.v-front.de/depot/bundles/sata-xahci-1.42-1-offline_bundle.zip 
# Get community network driver 
# https://flings.vmware.com/community-networking-driver-for-esxi#requirements
axel https://download3.vmware.com/software/vmw-tools/community-network-driver/Net-Community-Driver_1.2.7.0-1vmw.700.1.0.15843807_19480755.zip

Use offline vib drivers from https://vibsdepot.v-front.de/

PS /Users/jason/exsi> ./exsi.ps1 -h
# Use offline vib drivers from https://vibsdepot.v-front.de/
PS /Users/jason/exsi> ./exsi.ps1 -v60 -pkgDir ./drivers/exsi6/ -log install.log -nsc

Use online drivers from https://vibsdepot.v-front.de/

# Use online drivers from https://vibsdepot.v-front.de/
PS /Users/jason/exsi> ./exsi.ps1 -v60 -load net-r8101,sata-xahci -vft -log install.log -nsc

Reference

• https://github.com/jonas-werner/custom-esxi-iso-with-network-drivers
• https://github.com/VFrontDe-Org/ESXi-Customizer-PS
• https://vibsdepot.v-front.de/wiki/index.php/List_of_currently_available_ESXi_packages

Final work

customized-iso | SharePoint (azure.com)