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 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 Host Profile.
  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, enter a name and description for the new profile and click Finish.
  6. Select the host profile that you want to edit and click the Configure tab.
  7. Click Edit Host Profile.
  8. Select Security and Services > Security Settings > Security > User Configuration > root.
  9. From the Password drop-down menu, select User Input Password Configuration.
  10. Click Save to configure the host profile settings.

What to do next

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