You can use the preinstalled Auto Deploy plug-in for VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator to manage the ESXi hosts on your vCenter Server. You use the plug-in to perform different operations associated with your vCenter ESXi hosts, such as applying image profiles and host profiles or changing the location where the host is stored.
An Image profile includes the vSphere Installation Bundles (VIBs) that define the installation and upgrade process for your ESXi host. Image profiles are managed through the vSphere Auto Deploy service and defined through the vSphere Image Builder service. For more information on image profiles, see Image Profiles.
Image profiles and their associated VIBs are stored in software depots. A software depot is a hierarchy of files and folders and can be available through an HTTP or HTTPS URL address (online depot) or a ZIP file (offline depot).
A host profile includes the configuration profile used by a specific ESXi host. Host profiles can be extracted from one ESXi host and applied to a different host that you want to apply the same configuration to. For more information on host profiles, see vSphere Host Profiles.
