Edit an Image Profile

You can edit image profiles by using the vSphere Client. You can change the name, details and VIB list of an image profile.

Prerequisites

• 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

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, use the drop-down menu to select the software depot that contains the image profile that you want to work with.
3. On the Image Profiles tab, select the image profile that you want to edit and click Edit.
   The Edit Image Profile wizard appears.
4. (Optional) Change the name, vendor and description information of the image profile.
5. Click Next.
   The Select software packages page appears.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. On the Ready to complete page, review the summary information for the edited 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.

Add VIBs to an Image Profile with PowerCLI Cmdlets

You can add one or more VIBs to an image profile if that image profile is not set to read only. If the new VIB depends on other VIBs or conflicts with other VIBs in the profile, a message is displayed at the PowerShell prompt and the VIB is not added.

You can add VIBs from VMware or from VMware partners to an image profile. If you add VMware VIBs, vSphere ESXi Image Builder performs validation. If you add VIBs from two or more OEM partners simultaneously, no errors are reported but the resulting image profile might not work. Install VIBs from only one OEM vendor at a time.

If an error about acceptance level problems appears, change the acceptance level of the image profile and the acceptance level of the host. Consider carefully whether changing the host acceptance level is appropriate. VIB acceptance levels are set during VIB creation and cannot be changed.

You can add VIBs even if the resulting image profile is invalid.

Note: VMware can support only environments and configurations that are proven to be stable and fully functional through rigorous and extensive testing. Use only those supported configurations. You can use custom VIBs if you lower your host acceptance level, and as a result, supportability. In that case, track the changes you made, so you can revert them if you want to remove custom VIBs and restore the host acceptance level to the default (Partner Supporter) later. See Working with Acceptance Levels.

Prerequisites

Install the PowerCLI and all prerequisite software. See Configure vSphere ESXi Image Builder

Procedure

1. In a PowerCLI session, run the Add-EsxSoftwareDepot cmdlet for each depot you want to work with.

   Option	Action
   Remote depot	Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl <depot_url>.
   ZIP file	Download the ZIP file to a local file system. Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl C:\<file_path>\<offline-bundle>.zip

   The cmdlet returns one or more SoftwareDepot objects.
2. Run the Get-EsxImageProfile cmdlet to list all image profiles in all currently visible depots.
   The cmdlet returns all available profiles. You can narrow your search by using the optional arguments to filter the output.
3. Clone the profile.

   New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile My_Profile -Name "Test Profile 42" -Vendor "My Vendor"

   Image profiles published by VMware and its partners are read only. To make changes, you must clone the image profile. The vendor parameter is required.
4. Run the Add-EsxSoftwarePackage cmdlet to add a new package to one of the image profiles.

   Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile My_Profile -SoftwarePackage partner-package

   The cmdlet runs the standard validation tests on the image profile. If validation succeeds, the cmdlet returns a modified, validated image profile. If the VIB that you want to add depends on a different VIB, the cmdlet displays that information and includes the VIB that can resolve the dependency. If the acceptance level of the VIB that you want to add is lower than the image profile acceptance level, an error occurs.