Install Nested ESXi 6.x Host Under CentOS 7 Kvm Host

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Hi all,

I am trying to install nested Esxi 6.x under a CentOS7 kvm host to use it as test lab for new ESXi versions, but I am doing something wrong because I can’t install it.

I have configured kvm and kvm_intel modules with the following options:

options kvm ignore_msrs=1
options kvm_intel nested=1 ept=1

and I add the following options in xml guest file:


Westmere

qemu-kvm package is installed from Virtualization SIG:

qemu-kvm-common-ev-2.1.2-23.el7_1.8.1.x86_64
qemu-kvm-ev-2.1.2-23.el7_1.8.1.x86_64

Am I doing something wrong or is it not possible to accomplish this scenario??

Thanks.

6 thoughts on - Install Nested ESXi 6.x Host Under CentOS 7 Kvm Host

  • Here are my old notes how to run ESXi6 on KVM on Fedora 21:

    # cat /etc/modprobe.d/nested.conf options kvm ignore_msrs=1
    options kvm-intel nested=y ept=y

    Install ESXI6 Hypervisor with the vmxnet3 nic:

    # virt-install –connect=qemu:///system -n esxi6 –cpu=host –vcpus=2
    –ram 4096 –os-type=linux
    –cdrom=/var/lib/libvirt/images/VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.0.0-2494585.x86_64.iso
    –disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/esxi6.qcow2,format=qcow2,bus=ide,size%,cache=none
    –hvm –network

  • Many thanks Patrick for your valuable help!!. I’ve found the problem:
    removing my entries and adding ““, works…

    But in my case, I can’t assign vmxnet3 as a virtual nic for ESXi, it seems is not supported at this time …

  • [snip]

    Have you tried installing with the e1000 nic (the second virt-install command)?

    Cheers, Patrick

  • Forgot to ask. Is the vmxnet3 kernel module loaded? It’s present on EL7:

    /usr/lib/modules/3.10.0-229.20.1.el7.x86_64/kernel/drivers/net/vmxnet3/vmxnet3.ko

    It should show up in:
    # lsmod | grep vmxnet3

    If it doesn’t then do:
    # modprobe -v vmxnet3

    and try the virt-install command again.

    Cheers, Patrick

  • That’s good to hear. If you are going to install vCenter below is the link to the vCenter CIP (browser plugin). IIRC Google Chrome seems the only supported Linux x86_64 browser. The plugin requires flash 11.5
    which rules out Firefox because there is only flash 11.2 for Linux from Adobe.

    $ wget -v http://vsphereclient.vmware.com/vsphereclient/1/8/8/7/2/7/0/VMware-ClientIntegrationPlugin-6.0.0.x86_64.bundle
    $ chmod +x VMware-ClientIntegrationPlugin-6.0.0.x86_64.bundle
    $ ./VMware-ClientIntegrationPlugin-6.0.0.x86_64.bundle

    Version 5.5.0 of the plugin seems no longer available from the vmware site but is available here:

    https://download.iseage.org/vmware-plugin/

    HTH, Patrick