After provisioning the first host, you can extract and configure a host profile that can be used to apply the same configuration to other target hosts. Configuration that differs for different hosts, such as a static IP address, can be managed through the host customization mechanism.

vSphere Auto Deploy can provision each host with the same host profile. vSphere Auto Deploy can also use host customization that allows you to specify different information for different hosts. For example, if you set up a VMkernel port for vMotion or for storage, you can specify a static IP address for the port by using the host customization mechanism.

Procedure

  1. Use the vSphere Web Client to connect to the vCenter Server system that manages the vSphere Auto Deploy server.
  2. Click Policies and Profiles and select Host Profiles.
  3. Click Extract profile from a host.
  4. On the Select Host page of the wizard, select the reference host that you configured earlier and click Next.
  5. On the Name and Description page of the wizard, name the profile ESXiGold, add a description, and click Next.
  6. Review the host profile settings and click Finish.
  7. Right-click the new ESXiGold host profile and click Edit Settings.
  8. Leave the name and description unchanged and click Next.
  9. On the Edit host profile page of the wizard, select Security and Services > Security Settings > Security > User Configuration > root.
  10. In Password policy on the right panel, select User Input Password configuration.
  11. Click Finish to save the host profile settings.

What to do next

Create a vSphere Auto Deploy rule to apply the host profile to other ESXi hosts.