I do a lot of VMware. Seriously, a lot! A common thread I see with virtualization deployments is that soon-to-be-virtualizers download the ISO from VMware and rock and roll. But wait. There is a better way! No, really there is. But for most folks it's unknown. Until now.....

Almost all server hardware manufactures have a customized version built specifically for their iron. Usually this involves adding drivers and monitoring stuff, but if you've ever tried installing a CIM package, then you know having it already bundled into the installer and installed for you is a huge time saver, not to mention you'll swear a lot less......

The server vendors maybe a "U" or so back, but I'll take that over manually installing device drivers and CIM packages.

You can get IBM's customized ESXi images from here: http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/x/os/vmware/

Simply look for this:



Other vendors have similar images, a few minutes on Google will point them out to you.

Oh, you still need to get vCenter from the VMware site, but get your ESXi ISO elsewhere when you can.