Introduction

VMware ESX Server 3 installs on Bare Metal . Unlike some virtualization applications VMware ESX Server 3 is also the Operating System. When installing VMware ESX Server 3 you do not need to first install another operating system such as Windows 2003 server or Linux first. You instead simply need to install VMware ESX Server 3 on the Server.

The installation of VMware ESX Server 3 can be quite simple. A typical installation takes under thirty minutes. If you have ever in installed Red Hat Linux or other popular Linux distributions you will find the installation very similar. The installation of VMware ESX server 3 simply get the server up and running on VMware. Most of the settings that are critical for a successful VMware deployment are configured after the initial installation; they are configured using the VMware Infrastructure Client. We will cover this in the next chapter which will focus on post installation tasks.

There are three main methods for the installation of VMware ESX server 3:

• Graphical

• Text

• Scripted

This chapter will focus on the graphical method of installation.

Prerequisites