I'm using the Dell custom image for 6.7 U3, doing a fresh install of ESXi and VCSA.
1: After installing ESXi, on the host's web client I saw a message stating "You are running a DellEMC Customized version of VMware ESXi Image. Note that this is a static file and doesn’t get updated upon updates". What does this mean, exactly? Will Update Manager detect and apply updates for this host or not? Do I need to do anything special to make Update manager patch or upgrade this host in the future?
2: There was a warning in the events complaining about the size of the scratch partition. It said it was too small and that the recommended size was basically 6 GB. Everything I've raid states that the installer should do this automatically. If that's the case, why did it make it too small? (It seems to have created a 4GB partition for it.) Do I need to do something about this, or should I ignore it? What's the impact if the scratch partition is too small?
3: Also for storage, I can't seem to get a list of the installed drives or their condition like I've had with other Dell servers with PERC devices. I did install the Dell VIB for iDRAC Service module integration. (Before that, there was just a notice about CIM being disabled.) Should I expect to see status of the individual drives?
4: I have a ton of sensors with unknown status values. I have some that match the ones shown at VMware Knowledge Base , and I have some related to fans, and a whole bunch of others. Is this expected, or a known bug? Is there something I need to do? I can provide screenshots if that's helpful.
5: I've also installed the Dell VIB for OpenManage, but I don't think I'll be using OpenManage. Should I uninstall the VIB, or is it necessary for some other functionality?
6: How do I update the Dell Dell VIBs? If I add the Dell patch URL to Update Manager, I can select the Dell VIBs and add them to an Extension baseline, but each version of the VIB has its own entry. Can I make UM update the baseline automatically with new versions of the Dell VIBs and then tell me when hosts need to be updated? Or do I have to handle the Dell VIBs myself?
7: We're using local storage from Dell's built-in RAID controller (PERC). This was flagged as being a non-flash device. Once I had VCSA up and running, I tried to mark it as being an SSD device, but got an error stating it was unable to reconfigure the disk claim rules. I then attempted the same thing using the CLI following a guide that was for an older version of ESXi, and after a reboot it seemed to work and the device is shown as an SSD, not HDD. Should I have done anything differently?
8: Regarding the VCSA installation, I've been doing it with just an IP (not an FQDN). I've read a couple posts stating that this isn't supported, but I'm not sure if that's true or not. I could setup an FQDN using a .local address, but I've also heard that wasn't supported. I can setup a real DNS entry, but the authoritative DNS servers holding that entry would be running on the vSphere stack. If they go down or are misconfigured for whatever reason, I don't want to be stuck in a scenario where my VCSA is messed up. Is setting up the VCSA using an IP address and not an FQDN an actual problem?
Thanks