How to kick-start scripts to automate VMware's ESXi installation via USB

Rolling out hundreds of VMware's ESXi hypervisors is a time-consuming project with the chance for errors. Learn how to use a USB flash drive to automate the ESXi install. VMware is arguably the standard when it comes to virtualizing infrastructure, despite growing support for other virtualization models such as Docker, Amazon's AWS, and Microsoft's Azure. But the focus of this article isn't market share or what's the best solution for your organization—it's to share a simple, effective way to automate the installation of the ESXi hypervisor onto bare metal hardware in order to facilitate the virtual deployment of servers with as light a touch as possible on the part of the technicians/admins. One method that provides a self-contained and fully scripted process that is easy to replicate is via USB flash drive (UFD). Learn how to create a UFD that will install ESXi, apply basic network settings, and configure the host for remote management. Before we dive in, there are requirements necessary to make this work with little to no error.