vSphere Auto Deploy Host Cannot Retrieve ESXi Image from vSphere Auto Deploy Server

The host that you provision with vSphere Auto Deploy stops at the iPXE boot screen.

Problem

When you attempt to boot a host provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy, the boot process stops at the iPXE boot screen and the status message indicates that the host is attempting to get the ESXi image from the vSphere Auto Deploy server.

Cause

The vSphere Auto Deploy service might be stopped or the vSphere Auto Deploy server might be inaccessible.

Solution

1. Log in to the system on which you installed the vSphere Auto Deploy server.
2. Check that the vSphere Auto Deploy server is running.
   1. Click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools.
   2. Double-click Services to open the Services Management panel.
   3. In the Services field, look for the VMware vSphere Auto Deploy Waiter service and restart the service if it is not running.
3. Open a Web browser, enter the following URL, and check whether the vSphere Auto Deploy server is accessible.
   https:// Auto_Deploy_Server_IP_Address: Auto_Deploy_Server_Port/vmw/rdb

   Note: Use this address only to check whether the server is accessible.
4. If the server is not accessible, a firewall problem is likely.
   1. Try setting up permissive TCP Inbound rules for the vSphere Auto Deploy server port.
      The port is 6501 unless you specified a different port during installation.
   2. As a last resort, deactivate the firewall temporarily and enable it again after you verified whether it blocked the traffic. Do not deactivate the firewall on production environments.
      To deactivate the firewall, run netsh firewall set opmode disable. To enable the firewall, run netsh firewall set opmode enable.