ESXi Debian 13 Zero-Touch Deploy

Deploy fully configured Debian 13 VMs on ESXi 8 in ~8 minutes with zero manual interaction.

Required Environment Variables

> ⚠️ Note: The deploy script generates a random VM password and prints it to stdout. The password is also embedded in the preseed ISO uploaded to the ESXi datastore. Remove the ISO after deployment and treat stdout output as sensitive.

Requirements

• ESXi 8.x host with SSH and datastore access
• govc CLI (github.com/vmware/govmomi)
• xorriso, isolinux — for custom ISO build
• sshpass — for automated SSH/SCP
• Tools on agent host: bash, python3, wget

Install on Debian/Ubuntu:

apt install xorriso isolinux sshpass
# govc: https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/releases

Usage

All credentials are passed via environment variables — nothing is hardcoded or embedded in process arguments.

export ESXI_HOST="192.168.1.100"
export ESXI_PASS="your-esxi-root-password"

bash scripts/esxi-deploy.sh [hostname] [cpu] [ram_mb] [disk_gb] [serial_port]

Example:

bash scripts/esxi-deploy.sh webserver 4 4096 50 8610

What It Does

1. Generate preseed.cfg — German locale, DHCP, configurable user + root, random password
2. Build custom ISO — Debian netinst + preseed, patched isolinux for auto-boot
3. Upload ISO to ESXi datastore
4. Create VM — NVMe disk (thin provisioned), dual NIC (E1000 for installer + vmxnet3 for production), serial port via telnet
5. Boot + unattended install — preseed handles everything
6. Post-install — Remove E1000, eject ISO, set boot to HDD
7. Output credentials — SSH + serial console access details

Serial Console

Every VM gets a serial port accessible via telnet to the ESXi host:

telnet <ESXI_IP> <serial_port>

Works even when the VM has no network. Configured:

• GRUB: GRUB_TERMINAL="console serial", serial 115200 8N1
• Kernel: console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8
• Getty: serial-getty@ttyS0.service enabled

ESXi firewall requirement (activated automatically by the script):

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r remoteSerialPort

Important: Set serial port IP to the ESXi host IP, not 0.0.0.0:

serial0.fileName = "telnet://<ESXI_IP>:<port>"

Online Disk Resize

Grow a VM's disk without shutdown:

export ESXI_HOST="192.168.1.100"
export ESXI_PASS="your-esxi-password"
export VM_PASS="vm-root-password"

bash scripts/esxi-vm-resize-disk.sh <vm-name> <new-size-gb>

Requires cloud-guest-utils on the VM (pre-installed by the deploy script).

Configuration

All settings are configurable via environment variables:

export ESXI_HOST="192.168.1.100"    # ESXi host IP (required)
export ESXI_PASS="secret"           # ESXi root password (required)
export ESXI_USER="root"             # ESXi user (default: root)
export ESXI_DATASTORE="datastore1"  # Target datastore (default: datastore1)
export NETWORK="VM Network"         # Port group name (default: VM Network)
export DOMAIN="example.local"       # Domain for VMs (default: local)

No credential store or external resolver is required. Pass secrets via environment variables only — they are never embedded in process arguments or URLs.

VM Configuration Details

Preseed Highlights

• Locale: de_DE.UTF-8, keyboard de, timezone Europe/Berlin
• Partitioning: automatic, single root + swap
• Packages: open-vm-tools, curl, sudo, qemu-guest-agent, cloud-guest-utils
• SSH: PermitRootLogin yes, PasswordAuthentication yes
• Blacklisted modules: floppy, pcspkr (prevent I/O error loops in VMs)

Customize the preseed section in esxi-deploy.sh for different locales or packages.

Security Considerations

• Credentials: All secrets are passed via environment variables, never embedded in URLs or process arguments. govc uses GOVC_USERNAME/GOVC_PASSWORD env vars.
• SSH access: The script uses sshpass for automated SSH. For production, consider SSH key-based auth instead.
• Serial console: Telnet is unencrypted. The serial port is bound to the ESXi host IP (not 0.0.0.0), but anyone with network access to the ESXi host can connect. Restrict access via:
• ESXi firewall rules (limit remoteSerialPort to trusted IPs)
• Network segmentation / VPN
• Disable serial port after debugging
• Generated passwords: VM passwords are output to stdout. Redirect output or use a credential store in production.
• Lab use recommended: Test on a lab ESXi host before using in production. Review all scripts before running.

Gotchas

• No heredoc in preseed late_command — Shell expansion in the deploy script's heredoc destroys nested heredocs. Use echo -e or single-line commands instead.
• Serial console only works after install — The Debian installer uses VGA; serial output starts at first boot (GRUB + kernel).
• ESXi firewall blocks serial by default — The remoteSerialPort ruleset must be enabled.
• Don't resize MBR partitions live with extended/swap layout — Use growpart on the root partition or redeploy with larger disk.
• E1000 removal requires shutdown — The script handles this automatically post-install.

References

• references/preseed-template.cfg — Full preseed config template
• references/vmx-template.md — VMX configuration reference