Add a Software Depot

Before you can work with software depots and customize image profiles, you must add one or more software depots to the vSphere ESXi Image Builder inventory. You can add a software depot by using the vSphere Client.

Prerequisites

Verify that the vSphere ESXi Image Builder service is enabled and running. See Configure the vSphere ESXi Image Builder in the vSphere Web Client.

Procedure

1. Navigate to Home > Auto Deploy.
   By default, only the administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere ESXi Image Builder service.
2. On the Software Depots tab, click New.
   The Add Software Depot window appears.
3. Select the type of depot that you want to create.

   Option	Action
   Online Depot	Enter a name of the depot in the inventory. Enter the URL of the online depot.
   Custom Depot	Enter the name of the depot in the inventory.

   The VMware online software depot is located at https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
4. Click Add.
5. (Optional) Click the Software Packages tab to view the contents of the selected depot and additional information about the packages.
6. (Optional) If you added an Online depot, you can also:
   • Check for Updates to get the latest depot packages.
   • Click More info to get additional depot details.

Results

The software depot is added to the list.

What to do next

• You can associate an image profile with a new vSphere Auto Deploy rule to provision ESXi hosts. See Create a Deploy Rule or Clone a Deploy Rule.
• You can associate an image profile with an ESXi host. See Add a Host to the vSphere Auto Deploy Inventory.
• Edit the Image Profile Association of a Host.
• Remove a custom software depot.