Initial ESXi Configuration through direct console

To perform these initial configurations one has to access the ESXi server through direct console. (Unless, ofcourse DHCP is not set)

This is the ESXi console window. Press “F2” here to customize the ESXi server. On pressing “F2” a login window as shown below will appear.

The default “root” user is there. Enter the Password and press “Enter” key to login. On logging in the following window will appear, which helps you to change the desired setting for ESXi.

In the above window the first entry is for changing the “root” user password. The third one named “Configure Management Network” will help you set IP address, DNS, gateway, hostname etc for ESXi host. Use arrow key to select the entry and press “Enter” key to go into the configuration screen.

On pressing “Enter” key here you will be taken to the below screen.

This will show the network card selected for configuring Management Network. The MAC address of the card is also shown. Pressing the “Enter” key will display the screen as shown below.

If more than one network card is there, all will be displayed here. You can select the desired one from here. Pressing “Enter” key will save the changed while “Esc” will discard the changes.
Use the arrow keys on the parent window to select the “IP Configuration” entry as shown below

Now press “Enter” key to go to the configuration window as shown below

Here by default, the dynamic IP address setting is selected. Change it to static IP address to configure a static IP address. The enter the IP address , the mask and default gateway if any. Then press “Enter” key. This will take you to the parent window.
Now from the parent window select “IPV6 Configuration” and press “Enter” key. This will take you to the following window

Here by default IPV6 will be enabled. You can disable it here.
Now from the parent window select “DNS Configuration” and press “Enter” to configure the DNS and hostname entries. You will be taken to the following window

Set the DNS entries and hostname as you desire. Now press “Enter” key to save it.

After all these setting have been changed press “Esc” key from the above window to save the "Configuration. On pressing “Esc” key a dialog box as shown below will appear.

Press “Y” on this screen. If you have disabled IPv6, the host will reboot itself to save the changes.
Otherwise it will only restart the management network service. Then it will go the “System Customization” window.

If you want to ensure the network connectivity of ESXi server after these configurations, use the “Test Management Network” entry as shown in the above screen.

Here one will be address of the Gateway. The other entries by default will be DNS server address, if they are present. Else you can specify the address manually. Click “Enter” will begin the test and will show you the results.
After all the changes the console window will now look as follows.