Customize EXSi ISO With required Network Drivers

If you want to use GitHub Actions yourself, your need add own TOKEN to Secrets

check the hardware of which network driver you need

[jason@bo ~]$ lspci | grep -i Ethernet
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 07)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 07)

Find the suitable driver for your device

⚠️ Make Sure Exsi version which compatible with the driver

• Third-party Supported driver list:

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

• VMware Community Driver

  https://flings.vmware.com/community-networking-driver-for-esxi

  https://flings.vmware.com/community-networking-driver-for-esxi#requirements

Customize your driver into ISO

# use online driver and online base image
.\ESXi-Customizer-PS.ps1 -nsc -v60 -vft -load sata-xahci,net55-r8168 -ipname <ISO_File_name>

# Export Main base image
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
Get-EsxImageProfile |ft Name |findstr "ESXi-8.0.0"
Export-ESXImageProfile -ImageProfile "ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-standard" -ExportToBundle -filepath ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-standard.zip

# Download Driver to build work dir
$URL = 'https://download3.vmware.com/software/vmw-tools/community-network-driver/Net-Community-Driver_1.2.7.0-1vmw.700.1.0.15843807_19480755.zip'
$DEST = '.\Net-Community-Driver.zip'
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $URL -OutFile $DEST -Verbose
Expand-Archive -Path $DEST -DestinationPath .\driver
dir .\driver\vib20\net-community

# use online base image
.\ESXi-Customizer-PS.ps1 -nsc -vft -v80 -pkgDir .\driver\vib20\net-community -ipname ESXi-8.0.0-net-community
# use offline base image
.\ESXi-Customizer-PS.ps1 -izip .\ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-standard.zip -nsc -v80 -pkgDir .\driver\vib20\net-community -ipname ESXi-8.0.0-net-community

More Information

• Currently_available_ESXi_packages
• https://github.com/VFrontDe-Org/ESXi-Customizer-PS
• https://oss.msft.vip/2023/02/10/custom-exsi-iso-with-Additional-driver

Small tips

Github Actions to Install VMware.Powercli, offline install will so much faster then we use Install-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI -SkipPublisherCheck -Scope CurrentUser -Force

Offline install VMware.PowerCLI( top 5mins )

# Download VMware.PowerCli
$source = 'https://vdc-repo.vmware.com/vmwb-repository/dcr-public/02830330-d306-4111-9360-be16afb1d284/c7b98bc2-fcce-44f0-8700-efed2b6275aa/VMware-PowerCLI-13.0.0-20829139.zip'
$destination = '.\VMware-PowerCLI-13.0.0-20829139.zip'
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $source -OutFile $destination -Verbose

# Define Powershell Moudle Path
$modulepath = 'C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules'

# Unzip PowerCli Module defined Moudle Path
Expand-Archive -LiteralPath $destination -DestinationPath $modulepath

# Load the new Moudle and Verify
Get-ChildItem $modulepath\* -Recurse | Unblock-File

# Verify
Get-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI* -ListAvailable 

When I use Install-Moudle in Github Actions, It takes 1H, it surprise me !!!

Install-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI -SkipPublisherCheck -Scope CurrentUser -Force