The term nested is running a hypervisor, such as ESXi, or Hyper-V under another hypervisor. Running a nested ESXi server, on another ESXi server, is not supported by VMware, but it is an excellent way to experiment, and explore setting up a VMware Environment. In this blog will cover how to install and configure nested ESXi 6.7.
This operating system is not supported, see below VMware KB of “Unsupported”
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2015161
ESXi 6.7 Virtual Machine
Create a new virtual machine on your existing cluster or host
Create a new virtual machine. Click Next
Provide new virtual machine name and Click Next
Select cluster or host on which you want to deploy this virtual machine. Click Next
Select datastore for virtual machine. Click Next
Select virtual machine compatibility. Click Next
Assign a name, select compatibility, OS Family, OS Version, and click Next
Make any Guest resource changes as desired.
Expand CPU and enable “Expose hardware assisted virtualization to the guest OS”
Expand Network and change Adaptor type to “VMXNET 3”
Click on VM Options and change Firmware to “EFI (recommended)” and Enable Secure boot.
Click Finish to deploy the virtual machine
Power On the virtual machine and connect ESXi 6.7 iso image to boot with
ESXi will start boot from ISO
Press F11 to accept the EULA
The installer will search and find the local storage, select and press Enter to continue
Select keyboard layout, press Enter to continue
Provide the root password, and verify
Press F11 to install
Press Enter to Reboot and disconnect the ISO from virtual machine
Once ESXi virtual machine comes up Press F2 and Enter the root password
Select Configure Management Network and IPv4 Configuration
Select Set Static IP address, and enter the IP information
Select DNS Configuration. Select Use the Following Addresses, enter DNS Server IP’s, and assign a hostname
Select Custom DNS Suffixes
Press ESC, and Yes to apply and restart ESXi host.
Once the host comes up you can access it with host web URL as below with FQDN / IP
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