ESXi hypervisor on a Hyper-v host

https://www.nakivo.com/blog/install-esxi-hyper-v/

https://dscottraynsford.wordpress.com/2016/04/22/install-a-vmware-esxi-6-0-hypervisor-in-a-hyper-v-vm/

https://www.vembu.com/blog/installing-esxi-6-0-in-a-hyper-v-virtual-machine/

https://vibsdepot.v-front.de/wiki/index.php/Net-tulip

https://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer-ps.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerCLI

https://rlevchenko.com/2018/01/11/how-to-customize-a-vmware-esxi-image-and-install-it-in-a-hyper-v-vm/


https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2018/05/15/upgrading-from-esxi-6-5-to-esxi-6-7-via-ssh-and-esxcli/

https://www.reddit.com/r/vmware/comments/99kiy0/running_vmware_esxi_under_hyperv_2016_lab/

Version 6.I'm using the following command line which should be creating a 6.0 ISO with net-tulip drivers which is supposed to recognize the Hyper-V legacy network drivers but for some reason it doesn't appear to.

.\ESXi-Customizer-PS-v2.6.0.ps1 -v60 -vft -load net-tulip

1

KovakKnight • Aug 24, 2018, 7:31 PM

The tulip network drivers required for this to work were blacklisted or otherwise not compatible with the latest version of ESXi 6.0. ESXi-6.0.0-20170604001-standard was the last version that is currently known to work with these drivers. You can get it using the customizer script with the command " .\ESXi-Customizer-PS-v2.6.0.ps1 -sip -vft -load net-tulip" and choosing the correct number option for 6.0.0-20170604001 (currently #57). I just did this today and the network drivers work just fine.

5

keitheii • Aug 26, 2018, 8:19 AM

Thank you, that did it. I wonder why they're advertising that this works with v6.7 if the last version it worked with is a 6.0 build from 2017. In any event, I was able to get past that blocking point so thank you!

-Keith

https://tinkertry.com/easy-update-to-esxi-67


https://www.vladan.fr/how-to-upgrade-esxi-6-x-to-6-7-via-iso/


https://www.vladan.fr/upgrade-esxi-6-x-to-6-7-via-cli-two-methods/

https://justinbraun.com/2019/01/upgrading-my-home-lab-from-esxi-6-0-to-esxi-6-7/



https://www.stephenwagner.com/2016/12/07/vmware-vsphere-6-5-conflicting-vibs-when-upgrading-esxi-6-0-to-6-5/

https://help.macstadium.com/articles/update-standalone-esxi-host-via-online-bundle


'you may use the esxcli software profile update command to preserve the VIBs"


https://www.v-front.de/2013/09/how-to-update-your-standalone-host-to.html



SOLUTION TO NETWORK PROBLEMS:

https://communities.vmware.com/thread/511875?start=15&tstart=0

"I finally made it!

The second issue I was having was a distraction: when I rebuilt the ESXi from scratch (VM itself), I forgot to enable the MAC Spoofing 

I've been showing it on the phone for like 30 minutes to a colleague of mine, you know, a couple of eyes more and when he asked to see the VM configuration I realized myself what was missing. Basically when I firstly had this set up, it didn't work because I didn't have mac spoofing, promiscuous mode and a legacy adapter on the 2k12 machine. Then I had all done as you guys suggested but then by mistake I forgot about the spoofing..

So, to make it short I:

• Removed the two standard virtual NICs from the DHCP/DC/DNS W2K12 VM and add Legacy NICs. [No need to enable MAC Address Spoofing on these two network cards]
• Created the ESXi in Hyper-V and make sure each NIC was a Legacy NIC. Furthermore, I enabled MAC spoofing in the advanced features tab.
  • Connected the first one to EXT01
  • Connected the second one to INT01
  • Third on to INT02
• Removed, from the ESXi in Hyper-V, all Integration Services (kind of useless to keep them on, I only left the volume checkpoint one on)
• Enabled promiscuous mode in the ESXi's VM's XML, right under
• Installed the ESXi on the newly created VM
• Connected to the ESXi through the EXT01 address (which is the only one with a gateway, from my office)
• Configured the networking as I like
  • So I removed from the standard vSwitch0 the VM Network port group and also disabled Management Traffic as I want this to purely communicate with my office network only to allow me access to the ESXi.
    • I might come in the future (if I want a vCenter VM running in VMware) and add a VM Network again for External access so that I can also access vCenter from the office network
  • I also created two new vSwitches, one for INT01 which I will use for vMotion, FT etc and one for INT02 for VM traffic

I hope I won't encounter any other issue during my testing, one thing I can tell for sure: Having this lab nested is great as I can easily restore a previous configuration in case I break something during my testing.

Now head down to study!!! 

Thanks everybody for helping!"

Manage the Acceptance Levels of Hosts and VIBs
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/com.vmware.vsphere.security.doc/GUID-751034F3-5337-4DB2-8272-8DAC0980EACA.html

Upgrading my home lab from ESXi 6.0 to ESXi 6.7
https://justinbraun.com/2019/01/upgrading-my-home-lab-from-esxi-6-0-to-esxi-6-7/ https://www.v-front.de/2015/03/vsphere-6-is-ga-ultimate-guide-to.html