View source for Install Alpine on VMware ESXi

= Preparation =

This Guide assumes you are using the latest as of this writing (ESXi 6.7) host client on a free install of ESXi, not the VSphere client.  Options may be slightly different for that client.

== Download Alpine and upload to a reachable Datastore ==
For this guide, I used the latest Virtual Images, as of writing 3.10.2

== Create VM Options ==

# Name: Choose any Name you Like
# Compatibility: Linux
# Guest OS Version: Select ''Other 4.x or later Linux (64-bit)'' if you downloaded the x86_64 Alpine-ISO, or ''Other 4.x or later Linux (32-bit)'' if you downloaded the x86 Alpine-ISO.

== Edit VM Settings once Created ==
The default alpine linux iso images only boot from bios, not the ESXi default of UEFI for Linux 4.0+ hosts. To get around this limitation, you have three options:
# Change the VM to use Bios Boot
## Make sure the VM is powered off.  (If it is on, you will not be able to change boot options, and your save will fail.)
## Right click on the VM, and select Edit Settings
## Select VM Options
## Under Boot Options > Firmware, select bios
## Click save.

# You could create a new ISO image following the [[Create_UEFI_seureboot_USB]] guide (outside the scope of this guide)

# You can change the VM Compatability options to ''Other Linux (64-bit)'' but you loose the VMXNET and SR-IOV Passthrough NIC options (helpful for a virtualized firewall) and are limited to the E1000 NIC driver which has been known to drop network connectivity.

= Installation =
Install Alpine Linux, I used the default setup-alpine script 

= Post-Install =
== Install and enable Open-VM-Tools ==

Enable the Community repo
using root/sudo/wheel privileges, edit /etc/apk/repos and un-comment the community repo

Install {{Pkg|open-vm-tools}}
{{Cmd | apk add --update open-vm-tools }}

Start and enable at boot. As of this writing the open-rc scripts are included in the base open-vm-tools package instead of a separate -openrc package.
{{Cmd | /etc/init.d/open-vm-tools start
rc-update add open-vm-tools}}