First look at easy install of VMware ESXi 6.5, preparing for vSphere 6.5/VCSA

Read more/comment at: https://TinkerTry.com/first-look-at-esxi-6-5-install-and-html5-ui, where I explain that November 15 2016’s GA level code was used here, not beta! Here’s the files:
VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.5.0-4564106.x86_64.iso
VMware-VCSA-all-6.5.0-4602587.iso
with download links at https://TinkerTry.com/downloadvsphere65#download

This video highlights the straightforward install of ESXi 6.5 that has changed very little since prior versions, but I share some tips along the way, and use a BIOS in UEFI mode. I’ve pre-configured my DNS with a DHCP reservation with name, FQDN, and reverse lookup, for both my ESXi host, and my VCSA host. The network DHCP/DNS/routing device I used is a ~$85 Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite http://fave.co/2eFZdEt, see: https://TinkerTry.com/highlights001#network but their ~$50 Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X http://fave.co/2eFTRcm should give you the same functionality. Either can be connected to just your home lab gear if you prefer, leaving your existing WiFi/router alone, assuming you have a way to get to a workstation on the same private lab network. I also used a ~$250 ASUS XG-U2008 fanless unmanaged switch featuring two 10GbE ports and 8 1GbE ports, see: https://TinkerTry.com/asus-xg-u2008-announced-at-249-with-2-10gbe-8-1gbe

The install is further simplified by using the iKVM remote console of the Supermicro SYS-5028D-TN4T Xeon D-1567 12 Core SuperServer (Bundle 2) https://TinkerTry.com/superservers#Bundle2-12c, but worry not, if you can skip this iKVM ISO mounting stuff and easily create a bootable USB flash drive for install to itself instead, prepared using Rufus: https://TinkerTry.com/rufus-takes-2-minutes-to-create-a-bootable-usb-flash-drive-for-esxi-installation

Once the hypervisor is running, you’ll see my first login using the new vSphere Host Client, the web-based HTML5 UI.