Customizing your ESXi install with oem.tgz

oem.tgz is a file used by ESXi to customize the installation. With this file you can replace default files that ESXi uses or add additional files to the install. Below are some sample files which enable support for various storage controllers.

If you're using the installable CD image to install ESXi, you will have to modify oem.tgz in two places. First you will find oem.tgz in the root of the install CD. This copy of the file is used when ESXi boots from the CD to perform the installation to CD. Should you want to add additional drivers or modify simple.map/pci.ids to recognize additional hardware, then you would first need to modify this file. Otherwise the install process will not be able to recognize the hardware you wish to add support for. The second copy in on a disk dump image within the file install.tgz. For update 2 that file can be found at this path within the install.tgz file - install.tgz/install.tar/usr/lib/vmware/installer/VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0_Update_2-103909.i386.dd.bz2/VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0_Update_2-103909.i386.dd. This copy of oem.tgz would be used when ESXi boots after the install. You would need to modify this copy for ESXi to boot using it after the installation has been completed.

Description	Source
Adds support for the 3Ware 9650SE SATA controller	Giovanni Minniti
Adds support for the 3Ware 9650SE/9690SA controllers	3Ware
Adds support for the LSI MegaRAID SATA 300-8X controller	John Mueske
Adds support for the Intel ICH10 controller	Kuldipsingh
Improves support for the Intel ICH8 controller	Scottish Captain

While it is possible to modify oem.tgz in the dd image, you may find it easier to change the file after it has been installed to your system. This would make your install process look like this should you need to add hardware support:
1) Modify oem.tgz on the install CD
2) Boot the CD and install ESXi
3) After the install is complete, reboot the host with a bootable Linux CD
4) Modify oem.tgz on the Hypervisor1 partition
5) Reboot your host and ESXi will boot using the modified oem.tgz file

When you boot ESXi from a USB flash drive you will have copied the install dd image from install.tgz and you only have to modify oem.tgz on the Hypervisor1 (/bootbank) partition. You can either do this prior to booting ESXi or after. In the below example, ESXi will have been booted and you will then access the console. If you plan to modify oem.tgz to add hardware support, you'll have had to gathered the PCI ids for the hardware.

Instructions to modify oem.tgz if you're booting from a USB flash drive to add support for an unrecognized device.

This example assumes that you have deterimed the PCI ids for the hardware you want to add to the ESXi PCI database files and that you have been able to access the console of ESXi.

1) cd /tmp/
2) mkdir -p oem/etc/vmware
3) mkdir -p oem/usr/share/hwdata
4) cd oem/etc/vmware
5) cp /etc/vmware/simple.map simple.map
6) vi simple.map
--- add the necessary PCI data for your devices
7) close vi - press ESC and enter :wq
8) cd /tmp/oem/usr/share/hwdata
9) cp /usr/share/hwdata/pci.ids pci.ids
10) vi pci.ids
-- add the necessary description for your devices (this will be displayed in the console and VI Client)
11) close vi - press ESC and enter :wq
12) cd /tmp/oem
13) chown -R 201:201 ./etc
14) chown -R 201:201 ./usr
15) chmod -R 755 ./etc
16) chmod -R 755 ./usr
17) chmod 644 ./etc/vmware/simple.map
18) chmod 644 ./usr/share/hwdata/pci.ids
19) tar -cvzf oem.tgz etc usr
20) cp oem.tgz /bootbank/oem.tgz
21) cd /bootbank/
22) chmod 755 oem.tgz
23) reboot the host

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