ESXi Installation and Setup

First, make sure your baremetal unit is on, and ethernet is plugged into the IPMI port. This is necessary for access. While you are at it, connect ethernet cable from port 0 (bottom left) to gateway.

Access the SuperMicro management GUI via web browser using your assigned IPMI address. Your login credentials should have been emailed to you.

Make sure a bootable ESXI USB is plugged into your server's USB port, then access the unit's CLI under Remote Control->iKVM/HTML5

Restart + Use F11 to boot into USB

Installation is fairly intuitive.

Install on the smallest drive if you have multiple.

Don't forget your password! It will be irrecoverable and you will have to start over!

Like the warning says, take the bootable USB out before you reboot into your new installation!

Configure your static IP (ESXi tab on assingment sheet) and DNS (192.168.4.4, 192.168.4.5) and default gateway (192.168.3.250) and DNS suffix (cyber.local)

Restart and Test management network to make sure its working.

Now that installation is complete, we can access the server via VMWare ESXi Host Client.

The username will be "root" if you used the default, use the password you entered earlier.

Configuring Datastores

Rename the datastores to the format "datastoreX-superY" where X is the datastore number and Y is your super#.

Open datastore browser and create a new "isos" directory

Upload the .isos for Xubuntu and pfsense to the isos folder

VSwitch Configuration

Now we will create a vswitch called 350-internal.

Default settings, no uplink necessary

Add associated Port Group

pfSense Firewall (part 1)

We will create a new VM for this

Needs EXSi 6.5 and FreeBSD 64-Bit

• 2GB RAM

• 8 GB Storage (THIN!)

• 2 NICS (VM Network and 350-Internal)

• For CD/DVD Choose Datastore ISO File and pick the pfSense ISO from the isos folder in the datastore.

You should be able to start installation. Defaults are fine.

You only need to worry about options 1 and 2 for now.

Turn off IPV6 and DHCP, we don't need them for now.

em0/vx0 is WAN (external), IP address is on class assignment sheet, don't forget /24 on end for 255.255.255.0 subnet

gateway is 192.168.3.250

em1/vx1 is LAN (internal), IP address should be 10.0.17.2/24

Now take a snapshot for good measure!

We will come back to this after we set up mgmt1.

LAN Management Workstation (mgmt1)

Similar steps to pfsense VM, except it is Ubuntu-based this time.

NOTE: I accidentally named this "ubuntu" initially. It should be called mgmt1. It doesn't really matter but for the sake of consistency, this should be named mgmt1.

Specs:

• 2 CPUS
• 5GB RAM
• 30GB storage (thin provisioned)
• Place on "VM Network" for now

For Boot Device, choose the Xubuntu iso from the isos folder of the datastore.

Make sure to enable minimal installation.

Make a generic account

Installation might take a while (20-30m in my experience) so feel free to work on something else for a bit.

When installation is complete, restart but don't forget to remove the virtual installation media

Now is a good time to grab an initial snapshot

Now move xubuntu from VM Network to 350-internal

Go into Xubuntu and configure the following network settings using CLI or GUI:

• IP Address of 10.0.17.100/24

• Gateway is 10.0.17.2 (this is fw01)

• DNS is 1.1.1.1

You should be able to ping 10.0.17.2 as well as the internet.

pfSense Firewall (part 2)

Still within fw01/Xubuntu, open firefox and navigate to 10.0.17.2 and log in with default credentials

username: admin

password: pfsense

Change the password for good measure

We will use the pfsense setup wizard to finish configuring this

Page 1 settings:

Hostname: pfX, where X is your super number

Domain: yourname.local

Primary DNS Server: 1.1.1.1

Uncheck Unblock RFC1918 Private Networks (page 4)

Everything else default.

Deliverables

Deliverable 1: Screenshot showing successful login to your ESXi host with IP in screenshot (address bar)

Deliverable 2: Screenshot showing your two datastores, where the second one has a directory of two iso files

(only one datastore because only one phsycal storage installed on super19)

Deliverable 3: Screenshot showing your virtual switch and associated port group

Deliverable 4: Screenshot from your mgmt1 box showing your 10.0.17.0/24 address as well as your successful ping to an internet host

Reflection:

This lab was kind of tough but I figured everything out in the end. I did not encounter any massive issues, but I encountered smaller ones at basically every step. I was able to solve them all by asking my classmates and instructor for help, or by doing simple web searches. I am entering this course un familiar with the subject matter, so I made some very simple mistakes like not realizing the IPMI port was separate from the NICs, and not knowing the difference between the ESXi web client and the vSphere web client. However, I felt confident configuring the systems I was familiar with, such as pfSense and Xubuntu, where I encountered comparatively fewer issues. For me, this assignment was a crash course in working with baremetal server hardware, ESXi and VSphere; I learned so much from doing it, and I feel more confident going into the next Milestone.