ESXi vSphere Build

Hitachi Adavanced Server DS120 G2

https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/web/datasheet/hitachi-advanced-server-ds120-g2-datasheet.html

https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/web/datasheet/advanced-server-ds120-datasheet.html

Network controller

LAN on Motherboard (LOM): 
    Dedicated (1) gigabit Ethernet (GbE) management port
Optional Network Interface Card (NIC): 
    Intel X527-DA2 10G SFP+ dual-port OCP PHY mezzanine, Intel X557-T4 10GBASE-T quad-port OCP PHY mezzanine

Storage Controller

Broadcom SAS3916 4G RAID Mezzanine
Boradcom SAS3816 HBA Mezzanine
Intel Virtual RAID on CPU (vROC)

Security

Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0
UEFI Secure Boot
Cryptographic signed BIOS and BMC firmware

Hitachi Unified Compute Platform (UCP) Advisor

https://knowledge.hitachivantara.com/Documents/Converged/UCP_Advisor/3.11.6/Release_Notes/01_Hitachi_Unified_Compute_Platform_(UCP)_Advisor_v3.11.6_Release_Notes

Hitachi Vantara DS120 G2 VMware USB Build

1. Configure BMC
2. Plug ESXi bootable USB to the server
3. During the system boot, there are 3 options available

a. Press <DEL> or F2
    SET UP      # Configure BIOS
                # Configure UEFI or LEGACY boot
                # Enable or disable Network boot
b. Press F12
                # Boot from network
c. Press F11
                # Boot Option

4. Press F2, to enter BIOS configuration (Aptio Setup - AMI)

There are following options
1. Main
2. Advanced
3. Platform Configuration
4. Socket Configuration
5. Server Mgmt
6. Security
7. Boot
8. Save & Exit

# Press "-->" to view more option
    Security
    Boot
    Save & Exit

5. Select "Boot"

a. Navigate to "Boot mode select [UEFI]", press ENTER to select UEFI or LEGACY
    Note: Select UEFI

b. Under "Fixed Boot Order Priorities"
    Boot Option 1:  [USB : UEFI OS (UBB DISK 2.0 PMAP)]
            # When build server from bootable ESXI bootable USB
    Boot Option 2:  [Network]
    Boot Option 3: [Hard Disk: UEFI OS Slot20 KBG40ZNS256G TOSHIBA MEM]
    Boot Option 4:  [CD/DVD]

If need to disable network boot, by navigat to option 2, then press ENTER, and select "Disable"

Boot Override

    IBA ICE Slot 3100 v2500
    IBA ICE Slot 3101 v2500
    IBA ICE Slot CA00 v2500
    IBA ICE Slot CA01 v2500
    Slot20  KBG40ZNS256G   TOSHIBA MEM      # ESXi will be installed on this hardisk
    Slot21  KBG40ZNS256G   TOSHIBA MEM      # Need to find out both 256G NVMe disk
    UEFI Build-In EFI Shell
    AMI Virtual CDROMO0
    AMI Virtual HDisk0
    AMI Virtual Hdisk1
        USB DISK 2.0 PMAP
    UEFI OS (Slot 20 KBG40ZNS256G TOSHIBA MEM)
    UEFI OS (USB DISK 2.0 PMAP)    
            # When install using bootable ESXi USB, select this option to boot from USB

6. After making changes in Boot menu option, select "Save & Exit
7. System reboot, then select F11 (BBS POPUP Menu)
8. On Welcome to the VMware 7.0.3 Installation (ESC) Cancel (ENTER) Continue # Press "ENTER"
9. On EULA (ESC) Do Not Accept (ENTER) Continue # Press ENTER
10. On "Select A Disk to Install or Upgrade", navigate and select the 256G disk, then press ENTER

# Local Disks       Capacity        
    NVMe    INTEL   3.64 TiB        # Capacity disk
    NVMe    INTEL   745.21 GiB      # Cache disk
    NVMe    INTEL   3.64 TiB
    NVMe    INTEL   3.64 TiB
    NVMe    INTEL   3.64 TiB
    NVMe    INTEL   3.64 TiB
    NVMe    INTEL   745.21 GiB
    NVMe    INTEL   3.64 TiB
    NVMe    INTEL   3.64 TiB
    NVMe    INTEL   3.64 TiB 
    NVMe    KB640ZNS256G    238.47GiB   # Install ESXi on this disk
    NVMe    KB640ZNS256G    238.47GiB   # verify can both disks be configurated as RAID 0 (miror)

Note: 
    There are two disks slot are empty, totally 10 disks
    The server can have up to 12 disks

11. On ESXi and VMFS Found

    ()  Upgrade ESXi, preserve VMFS datastore
    ()  Install ESXi, preserve VMFS datastore
    (x) Install ESXi, overwrite VMFS datastore

Navigate to the option, press SPACE bar to select the option, then press ENTER to install ESXi

12. Select keyboard layout
13. Enter root password, press ENTER to continue
14. On confirm Install Verify the installation to the required disk

    (ESC) Cancel    (F9) Back     (F11) Install     # Press F11

15. Verify installation has been successful

16. When inform to remove USB, then remove the bootable ESXi installation USB, press ENTER to reboot

17. After system reboot, press F2 and enter root password

18. Configure ESXi Management

19. Navigate to Troubleshooting option, enable ESXi Shell

20. Press Alt+F1 to access Shell window, and test the network connectivity

NVIDIA Certified systems

https://docs.nvidia.com/ngc/ngc-deploy-on-premises/nvidia-certified-systems/index.html

VMware Installation Appliance (VIA)

VMware Auto Deploy