Create an Image Profile

You can create a new image profile by using the vSphere Client instead of cloning an existing one.

Prerequisites

You might consider creating a new image profile if it differs significantly from the image profiles in your inventory.

Verify that the vSphere ESXi Image Builder service is enabled and running. See Configure the vSphere ESXi Image Builder.
Add or import a software depot to the vSphere ESXi Image Builder inventory. See Add a Software Depot and Import a Software Depot.
Verify that there is at least one custom depot in the vSphere ESXi Image Builder inventory.

Procedure

Navigate to Home > Auto Deploy.
By default, only the administrator role has privileges to use the vSphere ESXi Image Builder service.
From the Software depot drop-down menu, select in which custom depot to add the new image profile.
On the Image Profiles tab, click New Image Profile.
Enter an image profile name, vendor, and description.
You must enter a unique image profile name.
Click Next.
The Select software packages page appears.
From the drop-down menu, select an acceptance level for the image profile.
The acceptance level of the VIBs you add to the base image must be at least as high as the level of the base image. If you add a VIB with a lower acceptance level to the image profile, you must lower the image profile acceptance level. For more information, see Working with Acceptance Levels.
Select the VIBs that you want to add to the image profile and deselect the ones that you want to remove, and click Next.

Note: The image profile must contain a bootable ESXi image to be valid.

vSphere ESXi Image Builder verifies that the change does not invalidate the profile. Some VIBs depend on other VIBs and become invalid if you include them in an image profile separately. When you add or remove a VIB, vSphere ESXi Image Builder checks whether the package dependencies are met.
On the Ready to complete page, review the summary information for the new image profile and click Finish.

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.
Select and Delete an Image profile.
View Software Packages for the selected image profile.

Create a Custom ESXi ISO Image with PowerCLI Cmdlets

With ESXi Image Builder, you can customize an ESXi image profile, but not combine content from different depots to generate an ISO image. Starting with VMware PowerCLI 12.0, you can customize ISO images by using content from multiple software depots and a custom software specification.

The New-IsoImage cmdlet preserves additional metadata required by the vSphere Lifecycle Manager, such as base image, addon and component. This additional metadata is not part of ISO images that you can export by using the legacy ESXi Image Builder cmdlets.

Prerequisites

Install VMware PowerCLI 12.0 or later.

Verify that you have access to the software depot that contains the software specification that you want to use.

Procedure

Gather the required information for the software specification that you use to create a custom ISO image.

Get the base image version for the required patch or upgrade by running the Get-DepotBaseImages cmdlet:

PS C:\> Get-DepotBaseImages -Depot C:\VMware-ESXi-8.xxx-xxxxxxxx-depot.zip

The command output is:

Version                                 Vendor                                  Release date
-------                                 ------                                  ------------
8.0.0-0.0.xxxxxx                      VMware, Inc.                            01/01/20xx 00:00:00

Get other packages, such as OEM addons, with cmdlets used with new metadata in software depots. For example:
```
PS C:\> Get-DepotAddons -Depot C:\addon-depot.zip
```

The command output is:

Name                    Version                 ID                      Vendor                  Release date
----                    -------                 --                      ------                  ------------
testaddonv1             1.0.0-1                 testaddonv1:1.0.0-1     ESXLifecycle QE         02/20/20xx 18:28:23

You can also list all components in a sofware depot with the Get-DepotComponents cmdlet:

PS C:\> Get-DepotComponents -Depot C:\Intel-i40en_1.12.3.0-1OEM.xxxxxxx.zip

The command output is:

Name                             Version                          ID                                               Vendor
----                             -------                          --                                              ------
Intel-i40en                      1.12.3.0-1OEM.xxxxxxx   Intel-i40en:1.12.3.0-1OEM.xxxxxxx     Intel

You can use any number and combination of online and offline software depots.

Create a software specification. For example:

{
    "base_image": {
        "version": "8.0.0-0.0.xxxxxxx"
    },
    "add_on": {
        "name": "testaddonv1",
        "version": "1.0.0-1"
    },
    "components": {
       "Intel-i40en": "1.12.3.0-1OEM.xxxxxxx"
   }
}

The software specification is a JSON file that contains information about the ESXi base image and additional packages, such as a vendor add-on.

Generate a custom ISO image by running the New-IsoImage cmdlet with the parameters Depots,SoftwareSpec and Destination. For example:
```
New-IsoImage -Depots “c:\temp\VMware-ESXi-8.0-xxxxxxx-depot.zip” , “c:\temp\HPE-xxxxxxx-Jan20xx-Synergy-Addon-depot.zip” -SoftwareSpec “c:\temp\HPE-80xx-custom.JSON” -Destination “c:\temp\HPE-80xx-custom.iso”
```
The depot(s) include the path to the zip files for the supported ESXi version and vendor add-on. The destination include the path and file name for the custom ISO file.

You can pass additional kernel options, create a live image, overwrite existing files, or check acceptance levels for individual VIBs used during the creation of the image. For more information about the New-IsoImage cmdlet, see https://code.vmware.com/docs/11794/cmdletreference/doc/New-IsoImage.html.

What to do next

You can import the new ISO image to the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot, so that you can create upgrade baselines, which you use for host upgrade operations.

Create a Custom PXE Image with PowerCLI Cmdlets

Starting with VMware PowerCLI 12.0, you can create a custom PXE image by using any software depot and a custom software specification.

Prerequisites

Install VMware PowerCLI 12.0 or later.

Verify that you have access to the software depot that contains the software specification you want to use.

Procedure

Gather the required information for the software specification that you use to create a custom PXE image.

Get the base image version for the required patch or upgrade by running the Get-DepotBaseImages cmdlet:

PS C:\> Get-DepotBaseImages -Depot C:\VMware-ESXi-8.xxxx-xxxxx-depot.zip

The command output is:

Version                                 Vendor                                  Release date
-------                                 ------                                  ------------
8.x.x.xxx.xxxxx                      VMware, Inc.                            04/29/20xx 00:00:00

Get other packages, such as OEM addons, with cmdlets used with new metadata in software depots. For example:
```
PS C:\> Get-DepotAddons -Depot C:\addon-depot.zip
```

The command output is:

Name                    Version                 ID                      Vendor                  Release date
----                    -------                 --                      ------                  ------------
testaddonv1             1.0.0-1                 testaddonv1:1.0.0-1     ESXLifecycle QE         02/20/20xx 18:28:23

You can also list all components in a sofware depot with the Get-DepotComponents cmdlet:

PS C:\> Get-DepotComponents -Depot C:\Intel-i40en_1.12.3.0-1OEM.700.1.0.15843807_18058526.zip

The command output is:

Name                             Version                          ID                                               Vendor
----                             -------                          --                                              ------
Intel-i40en                      1.12.3.0-1OEM.xxxxx   Intel-i40en:1.12.3.0-1OEM.xxxxx     Intel

You can use any number and combination of online and offline software depots.

Create a software specification. For example:

{
    "base_image": {
        "version": "8.0.xxxxx"
    },
    "add_on": {
        "name": "testaddonv1",
        "version": "1.0.0-1"
    },
    "components": {
       "Intel-i40en": "1.12.3.0-1OEM.xxxxx"
   }
}

The software specification is a JSON file that contains information about the ESXi base image and additional packages, such as a vendor add-on.

Generate a custom PXE image by running the New-PxeImage cmdlet with the parameters Depots,SoftwareSpec and Destination. For example:
```
New-PxeImage -Depots “c:\temp\VMware-ESXi-8.0xxxxx-xxxxx-depot.zip” , “c:\temp\HPE-8.0xxxxx-xxx-Synergy-Addon-depot.zip” -SoftwareSpec “c:\temp\HPE-xxx-custom.JSON” –Destination “C:\pxe-image” 
```
The depot(s) include the path to the zip files for the supported ESXi version and vendor add-on. The destination include the path and file name for the custom PXE file.

You can pass additional kernel options, create a live image, overwrite existing files, or check acceptance levels for individual VIBs used during the creation of the image. For more information about the New-PxeImage cmdlet, see https://code.vmware.com/docs/11794/cmdletreference/doc/New-PxeImage.html.

What to do next

You can use the PXE image in remediation workflows of PXE booted ESXi hosts.