Ripped straight from the brilliant Duncan Epping comes this absolute gem!
For a while now there have been various ways to do scripted, unattended installs of ESX. The UDA (Ultimate Deployment Appliance) stands out immediately.
From Duncan:
… Herco showed me what he had actually created and how easy it was to deploy ESX with his appliance. I don’t think there’s a reason to tell you guys again why you need to do a scripted install. EDA is a PXE Boot Virtual Appliance build on JeOS.
EDA becomes an all-in-one installer without the need for hacking together your own ISOs etc. Unlike the UDA, EDA is specifically designed with ESX in mind.
For a better idea of how it works, the developer, Herco, has posted the following on YouTube:
Other references:
http://www.virtualappliances.eu/eda.html – Herco’s blog
http://communities.vmware.com/message/916239 – Posting on the VMTN forums dealing with the EDA.
Can’t WAIT to get home to my babies to try this one out!!