VMware ESXi

How to deploy a Domotz Agent VMware disk image onto a VMware ESXi Host

This article contains a few tips and tricks on how to deploy a pre-configured VM image on a VMware ESXi Host.

Get your VM disk image

1. Download our VMware VM image here:

https://domotz-vm-images-temp.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/vmware/domotzpro-ubuntu-24.04-x64-3.3.3-6.0.7-b001-0213-vmware6.5_2024_jul.zip

2. Unzip it in a location of your choice.

Deploy the disk image to your VMware ESXi Host

3. Access your ESXi admin dashboard and create a new VM:

4. Click “Next” and set the following:

• Name: domotzpro-ubuntu-24.04-x64-3.3.3-6.0.7-b001-0213-vmware6.5
• Compatibility: ESXi 6.5
• Guest OS family: Linux
• Guest OS version: Ubuntu Linux (64-bit)

5. Click “Next” and select the storage location for the VM

6. Click “Next” and set the following:

• CPU: 2
• Memory: 2048

7. Delete the Hard disk 1

8. Add an existing hard disk

On the new window do the following:

• In the “Datastore Browser” window create a New Folder and name it with the VM name.
• Upload the .vmdk images you downloaded in the following order:
  • domotzpro-ubuntu-24.04-x64-3.3.3-6.0.7-b001-0213-vmware6.5_2024_jul-flat.vmdk
  • domotzpro-ubuntu-24.04-x64-3.3.3-6.0.7-b001-0213-vmware6.5_2024_jul.vmdk
• Select the domotzpro-ubuntu-24.04-x64-3.3.3-6.0.7-b001-0213-vmware6.5_2024_jul.vmdk hard disk.

The first file “domotzpro-ubuntu-24.04-x64-3.3.3-6.0.7-b001-0213-vmware6.5_2024_jul-flat.vmdk” will not be listed, and this is normal.

9. Select the hard disk file you just uploaded

10. Click on “Next” and then “Finish”.

11. Start the VM and activate your Agent.

To activate the agent access the VM on its port 3000 (http://<VM_IP_Address>:3000) using a browser. (if you need to login into the machine to see its current IP Address the user is domotz and the password is domotz).

We strongly recommend changing the password as soon as possible, and in general to not allow SSH to the VM.

To change it run the following command:

passwd domotz

IMPORTANT SECURITY NOTES:
After setting up your VM you must update it with security patches. You can do it by performing these two commands when logged into the CLi as domotz user:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Ensure to keep a process to continuously update and upgrade the system. Only the Domotz Agent software is automatically upgraded via the SNAPd process.