7.0

Table Of Contents
n
You must be connected to a vCenter Server to convert a virtual machine to a template. You cannot
create templates if you connect the vSphere Client directly to an vSphere ESXi host.
Procedure
1 Scenario: Prepare Your Reference Machine for Guest Agent Customizations and Software
Components
You want your template to support software components, so you must install both the guest agent
and the software bootstrap agent on your reference machine. To simplify the process, you download
and run a vRealize Automation script that installs both the guest agent and the software bootstrap
agent instead of downloading and installing the packages separately.
2 Scenario: Convert Your CentOS Reference Machine into a Template
After you install the guest agent and software bootstrap agent onto your reference machine, you turn
your reference machine into a template that vRealize Automation architects can use to create clone
machine blueprints.
3 Scenario: Create a Customization Specification for vSphere Cloning
Create a customization specification for your blueprint architects to use with your
cpb_centos_63_x84 template.
You created a template and customization specification from your reference machine that blueprint
architects can use to create vRealize Automation blueprints that clone Linux CentOS machines. Because
you installed the Software bootstrap agent and the guest agent on your reference machine, architects can
use your template to create elaborate catalog item blueprints that include Software components or other
guest agent customizations such as running scripts or formatting disks. Because you installed
VMware Tools, architects and catalog administrators can allow users to perform actions against
machines, such as reconfigure, snapshot, and reboot.
What to do next
After you configure vRealize Automation users, groups, and resources, you can use your template and
customization specification to create a machine blueprint for cloning. See Scenario: Create a vSphere
CentOS Blueprint for Cloning in Rainpole.
Scenario: Prepare Your Reference Machine for Guest Agent Customizations
and Software Components
You want your template to support software components, so you must install both the guest agent and the
software bootstrap agent on your reference machine. To simplify the process, you download and run a
vRealize Automation script that installs both the guest agent and the software bootstrap agent instead of
downloading and installing the packages separately.
Procedure
1 Log in to your reference machine as the root user.
Configuring vRealize Automation
VMware, Inc. 71