Before you set up your virtual environment and consider how the virtual machines that it will support are going to be used and administered, you should configure ESXi hosts in vCenter Server.

The configuration of ESXi hosts involves several tasks. Learn how to configure the boot device of the ESXi host, the agent VM settings, advanced host attributes, and time configuration settings.

For information on configuring network and storage access, and security settings, see the configuration information for the specific vSphere component in the vSphere Security documentation, the vSphere Storage documentation, and the vSphere Networking documentation.

How to Configure the Boot Device on Your ESXi Host

On servers running ESXi, you can select the device that the server boots from.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Client home page, navigate to Home > Hosts and Clusters.
  2. Select a host in the inventory and click the Configure tab.
  3. Under Hardware, select Overview and click the Boot Options button.
  4. Select a boot device from the drop-down menu.
  5. (Optional) To reboot immediately from the device you selected, select Apply and Reboot on OK.
    If you do not select Apply and Reboot on OK, the new setting takes effect when the host reboots next.
  6. Click OK.

How to Configure Your Agent VM Settings in the vSphere Client

In your vSphere environment, you can configure the datastore and network settings for the ESX agent virtual machines that you deploy on a host.

An ESX agent is a virtual machine, or a virtual machine and a vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB), that extend the functions of an ESXi host to provide additional services that a vSphere solution requires.

For example, a solution might require a particular network filter or firewall configuration to function. A solution can use an ESX agent to connect to the vSphere Hypervisor and extend the host with functions specific to that solution. For example, the ESX agent can filter network traffic, act as a firewall, or gather other information about the virtual machines on the host.

When you configure the datastore and network settings for ESX agents on a host, all of the ESX agents that you deploy on the host use that datastore and network configuration.

Important: ESX agents are deployed only if you configure the network and datastore settings.

Procedure

  1. Select a host in the vSphere Client inventory.
  2. Click the Configure tab.
  3. Under Virtual Machines, select Agent VM Settings.
    The current settings for the ESX agents on the host, if any, appear.
  4. Click Edit.
  5. From the Datastore drop-down menu, select a datastore in which to deploy the ESX agent virtual machines.
  6. From the Network drop-down menu, select a network to connect the ESX agents.
  7. Click OK.

What to do next

For information about ESX agents and ESX Agent Manager, see Developing and Deploying vSphere Solutions, vServices, and ESX Agents.

How Do You Set Advanced Host Attributes in the vSphere Client

Learn how to set advanced attributes for an ESXi host.

Caution: Changing advanced options is considered unsupported. Typically, the default settings produce the optimum result. Change the advanced options only when you get specific instructions from VMware technical support or a knowledge base article.

Procedure

  1. Browse to the host in the vSphere Client.
  2. Click the Configure tab.
  3. Under System, click Advanced System Settings.
  4. Click the Edit button.
  5. Find the appropriate item and change the value.
  6. Click OK.