Boot ESXi from iSCSI Target

After preparing the host for an iBFT iSCSI boot and copying the ESXi image to the iSCSI target, perform the actual boot.

Prerequisites

• Configure the iSCSI boot firmware on your boot NIC to point to the boot LUN.
• Change the boot sequence in the BIOS so that iSCSI precedes the boot device.
• If you use Broadcom adapters, set Boot to iSCSI target to Enabled

Procedure

1. Restart the host.
   The host boots from the iSCSI LUN using iBFT data. During the first boot, the iSCSI initialization script sets up default networking. The network setup is persistent after subsequent reboots.
2. (Optional) Adjust networking configuration using the vSphere Web Client.