6.0.1

Using Host Profiles 1
The Host Profiles feature creates a profile that encapsulates the host configuration and helps to manage the
host configuration, especially in environments where an administrator manages multiple hosts or clusters in
vCenter Server.
Host Profiles provide an automated and centrally-managed mechanism for host configuration and
configuration compliance. Host Profiles can improve efficiency by reducing reliance upon repetitive,
manual tasks. Host Profiles capture the configuration of a pre-configured and validated reference host, store
the configuration as a managed object and use the catalog of parameters contained within to configure
networking, storage, security and other host-level parameters. Host Profiles can be applied to either
individual hosts or to a cluster; applying a Host Profile to a cluster will affect all hosts in the cluster and
result in a consistent configuration across all hosts in that cluster.
Host Profiles can be used to validate the configuration of a host by checking compliance of a host or cluster
against the Host Profile that is associated with that host or cluster.
NOTE After upgrading to vSphere 6.0, host profiles previously extracted from ESXi 5.5 hosts should
function. However, host profiles extracted from ESXi 6.0 hosts are not compatible with ESXi 5.5 or earlier
hosts.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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“Host Profiles Usage Model,” on page 10
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“Reference Host Independence,” on page 10
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“Access Host Profiles,” on page 11
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“Create a Host Profile,” on page 11
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“Attach Entities to a Host Profile,” on page 11
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“Detach Entities From a Host Profile,” on page 12
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“Check Compliance,” on page 12
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“Remediate a Host,” on page 13
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“Edit a Host Profile,” on page 13
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“Duplicate a Host Profile,” on page 16
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“Copy Settings from Host,” on page 17
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“Host Profiles and vSphere Auto Deploy,” on page 17
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“Import a Host Profile,” on page 17
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“Export a Host Profile,” on page 18
VMware, Inc.
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