Summary: This is a list of steps you should perform after installing or upgrading an host to ESXi 5.1.
Date: Around 203
Refactor: 21 February 2025: Checked links and formatting.

See Configure Syslog on ESXi 5.1 for configuring syslog.

Add these two lines to /etc/vmware/config file:

isolation.tools.copy.disable="FALSE"
isolation.tools.paste.disable="FALSE"

If the host will have VMs that participate in MSCS set the perenially reserved option explained in Configure RDMs On ESXi Hosts.

To make sure the host uses optimized paths make sure ALUA is enabled on the host and that all MPP policies are set to round robin. This is explained in ALUA for ESXi 5.1 and NetApp Storage.

Make sure to set the NTP settings in Configuration → Time Configuration:

• Set the NTP server
• Set the Startup policy to start and stop with the host

If you have big hosts who can handle a lot of guests make sure to change the number of ports on the vSwitches to a higher number (for example 248). This is a setting for which ESXi will have to reboot, so:

• Go to Configuration → Networking
• Select vSwitch0 and click on properties
• Edit the vSwitch and set the number of ports to 248
• Save the settings and reboot the host

If your host is running from usb storage you also need a scratch partition for logging purposes, see here.

If the host will run a large number of VMs increase the size of the VMFS Heap size so the host can handle more then the default of 8 TB on open VMDK disks:

• Go to the Configuration tab → Advanced Settings.
• Click VMFS3.
• Update the field in VMFS3.MaxHeapSizeMB from 80 to 256 MB
• Reboot the host for the changes to take affect.

The new setting will allow for 25 TB on open VMDK files.