OK so the first step is of-course to create a virtual machine for the new DSM install.
- Connect to your ESXi hypervisor using the vSphere client.
- Open the “Create New Virtual Machine” window.
- Select “Custom” then “Next”.
- Name it whatever you want and press “Next”.
- Select your “Datastore” then press “Next”.
- Select “Virtual Machine Version: 8” and press “Next”.
- Select “Linux” then select “Ubuntu Linux (64-bit)” and then press “Next”.
- Select the appropriate settings here depending on your hardware and your requirements and then press “Next”.
- Again select the appropriate amount of RAM for your hardware and requirements then press “Next”.
- Select your NIC and keep the “Adapter” at “E1000” then press “Next”.
- Select “VMware Paravirtual” then press “Next”.
- Now since this guide isn’t going to cover RDM (Raw Disk Mapping) select “Create a new virtual disk” and then press “Next”.
- Leave it at the default of “16 GB”, “Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed” and “Store with the virtual machine” then press “Next”.
- Leave the “Virtual Device Node” on “SCSI (0:0)” and leave “Independent” unchecked then press “Next”.
- Press “Next” to finish the creation.
Now we need to upload the files to our “Datastore”.
- Click on your new VM from the left hand menu then select the “Summary” tab.
- Under the “Resources” panel right click your “Datastore” and select “Browse Datastore…”.
- Navigate to the folder your new VM is in and then click the “upload icon” and select “upload file”.
- Navigate to the “NB_x64_5032_DSM_50-4493_Xpenology_nl.rar” file which i will assume you have already extracted using 7zip or winRAR then select one of the two files and press “Open”
- Repeat the above step for the other file (note the flat file won’t show in the file list when uploaded).
- Close the “Datastore” window.
Next we need to add the newly uploaded VMDK to our VM.
- Right click on your new VM using the list on the left panel and select “Edit Settings…”.
- Press “Add…” then select “Hard Disk” and press “Next”.
- Press the “Use an existing virtual disk” radio button then once again press “Next”
- Press “Browse…” and then navigate to where you uploaded the “NB_x64_5032_DSM_50-4493_Xpenology_nl.vmdk” file in the previous step and then press “Next”.
- Make sure the “Virtual Device Node” is set to “IDE (0:0)” and leave the other option alone and then press “Next” and then “Finish”.
- Close the “Virtual Machine Properties” window.
OK now we are done with the ESXi only preparation. Skip below to the “Installation” section to continue this guide.