Installation guide

Table Of Contents
Procedure
1. On target machines, configure the BIOS to network boot.
2. Start the machines on your provisioning network.
3. In VCM, click Administration.
4. Select Machines Manager > OS Provisioning > Provisionable Machines.
5. On the data grid toolbar, click Refresh.
This action collects data from the OS Provisioning Server and the provisionable machines appear in the
data grid when the collection is finished. The machines are identified by MAC address.
What to do next
Provision the target machine. See "Provision Machines with Operating System Distributions" on page 204.
Provision Machines with Operating System Distributions
The OS provisioning process installs one Windows or Linux operating system distribution on one or more
physical or virtual machines using OS provisioning.
Depending on the distribution you are installing, use one of the following procedures.
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"Provision Windows Machines" on page 204
Provisioning physical or virtual machines with a Windows operating system installs the selected
operating system and the VCM Agent on one or more of your Windows machines.
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"Provision Linux Machines" on page 208
Provisioning physical or virtual machines with a Linux operating system installs the selected operating
system and the VCM Agent on one or more of your Linux machines.
Provision Windows Machines
Provisioning physical or virtual machines with a Windows operating system installs the selected operating
system and the VCM Agent on one or more of your Windows machines.
You can install one OS distribution on one or more target machines. To install a different OS distribution,
configure a new OS provisioning action.
Select no more than ten machines per provisioning action.
Prerequisites
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Verify that the operating system you are installing is compatible with the hardware or configuration of
the target physical or virtual machines. For example, the operating system must support the drivers
required by the hardware.
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Verify that the OS Provisioning Servers are registered. See "Add Operating System Provisioning
Servers" on page 202.
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Verify that the OS distributions are collected and appear in the OS Distributions data grid. See "Collect
Operating System Distributions" on page 203.
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Verify that the target machines are discovered and appear in the Provisionable Machines data grid. See
"Discover Provisionable Machines" on page 203.
vCenter Configuration Manager Administration Guide
204
VMware, Inc.