Kickstart entries example for ESX 4.0

For ESX 4.0, kickstart file entries have a format and syntax different from all other ESX platforms.

The following are the characteristics of the ESX 4.0 kickstart file:

• Kickstart entries have key=value entries instead of space-separated entries.

• If you set the Kickstart Device using the MAC_ADDRESS_CD property, the Kickstart entry is --device=??MAC_ADDRESS_CD??
   where MAC_ADDRESS_CDis a colon-separated MAC address.

  Note

  • The value for MAC_ADDRESS_CD must be a colon-separated MAC address.
     In addition, the MAC_ADDRESS and DEVICE.MAC_ADDRESS properties are not supported for the ESX 4.0 system package type. Both properties resolve to a hyphen-separated MAC address, which is not supported by ESX 4.0.
  • The ESX 4.0 Kickstart does not support ethX as the value for --device.
• If you provided a License Key on the Computer Settings tab, its Kickstart entry is serialnum.
• The --hostname key specifies the name for the installed system. This key works only with -bootproto=static.
• By default, the system clears the disks that you listed on the disk partition panel in the clearpart entry.
• If you do not provide a value for ondisk, the system uses --ondiskfirst as the value.
• If you do not provide a value for onvmfsdisk, the system uses --onfirstvmfs.
• Kickstart for ESX 4.0 does not support the following:
  • mouse
  • lang
  • lang support
  • text

Example: Part of an ESX 4.0 kickstart file

In the clearpart entry in the following example, sbh is an example disk partition specified by the user on the disk partition panel.