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HOWTO: Create a Custom VMware vSphere 6.x ESXi Image using PowerCLI

VMware PowerCLI vSphere ESXi

Published on 12 April 2016 by Christopher Lewis. Words: 458. Reading Time: 3 mins.

Introduction

As part of the continual (re)deployment and evolution of my home lab I have created a custom ESXi image to include a VIB for my Synology SAN. Whilst I will concentrate on the steps required to complete this specifically for the Synology, the principle applies to any home lab or indeed any Production environment that needs a custom VMware vSphere ESXi Image.

Required Software:

VMware PowerCLI (latest available)
VMware vSphere offline bundle downloadable from VMware (I’m using the 6.0U2 bundle)
Synology NFS (ZIP) downloadable from Synology (I have the DS1815+)

I try to be structured when it comes to scripting and this sort of thing, so I have create a folder structure which I will share.

Note

I am using Microsoft Windows 10, so if you use another variant or Mac OS the steps maybe subtly different.

Step By Step Guide

Open PowerCLI.

Go to the folder containing the downloaded ZIP/VIBs, in my instance this is the ESX folder using cd c:\homelab\esx.

Mount the VMware vSphere ESXi 6 Offline bundle and additional VIBs (in this instance the Synology NFS VAAI) using the Add-EsxSoftwareDepot command:

Add-EsxSoftwareDepot update-from-esxi6.0-6.0_update02.zip
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot SYN-ESX-5.5.0-NasVAAIPlugin-1.0-offline_bundle-2092790.zip

Create a new ESX Image Profile by cloning the existing standard image using the New-EsxImageProfile command.

New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile ESXi-6.0.0-20160302001-standard -Name <insert new image name> -Vendor Custom

Add the extra software package(s) (in this instance the Synology NFS VAAI Plug-In) using Add-EsxSoftwarePackage command:

Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile <new image profile> -softwarepackage esx-nfsplugin

Create the new VMware vSphere 6 ISO image using the Export-EsxImageProfile command:

Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile <new image profile> -FilePath vsphere.iso –ExportToIso

You can now use the created ISO to build you VMware vSphere ESXi Host Servers.

Full PowerCLI Script

The above steps can be scripted in one Powershell/Power CLI script as follows:

$WorkingFolder = "C:\homelab\esx"
$VMwareOfflineZip = "$WorkingFolder\update-from-esxi6.0-6.0_update02.zip"
$SynologyZip = "$WorkingFolder\SYN-ESX-5.5.0-NasVAAIPlugin-1.0-offline_bundle-2092790.zip"
$NewProfile = "ESXi-6.0.0-20160405"
$NewISO = "$WorkingFolder\vSphere6-Custom.iso"
Write-Host "Adding ImageBuilder Modules" -ForegroundColor Green
Add-PSSnapin Vmware.ImageBuilder -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Write-Host "Adding VMware Offline Bundle to Software Depot" -ForegroundColor Green
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot $VMwareOfflineZip
Write-Host "Adding Synology NFS VAAI Offline Bundle to Software Depot" -ForegroundColor Green
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot $SynologyZip
Write-Host "Cloning VMware vSphere 6 Image Profile and adding the Synology NFS VAAI Plugin" -ForegroundColor Green
New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile ESXi-6.0.0-20160302001-standard -Name $NewProfile -Vendor Custom
Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile $NewProfile -SoftwarePackage esx-nfsplugin
Write-Host "Creating vSphere 6 ISO " -ForegroundColor Green
Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile $NewProfile -FilePath $NewISO -ExportToIso

Which gives the following output within the PowerCLI console:

Note

As part of the PowerCLI session, If you have already created a custom image with the name you want to use (i.e. you have created a new image and decided to add some more custom VIBs to it), you can see the Get-EsxImageProfile cmdlet to view current image profiles and you will need to remove it first by running Remove-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile <name of profile to remove>

Published on 12 April 2016 by Christopher Lewis. Words: 458. Reading Time: 3 mins.

Blog Categories: VMware PowerCLI vSphere

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