6.5.1

Procedure
1 Navigate to the profile that you want to duplicate.
2
Click the Duplicate Host Profile icon ( ).
3 Type different name and description for the duplicate Host Profile, and click Next.
4 Review the summary information for the new profile and click Finish.
A clone of the profile appears in the Host Profiles list.
Copy Settings from Host
If the configuration of the reference host changes, you can update the host profile so that it matches the
reference host's new configuration.
After you create a host profile, you can make incremental updates to the profile. When making changes to
a host profile, consider the benefits and limitations of the two methods:
n
Make the configuration changes to a host in the vSphere Web Client, and copy that host's settings to
the profile. The settings within the existing profile are updated to match those of the host. This
method allows you to validate the configuration on a single host before rolling it to the other hosts that
are attached to the profile.
n
Update the profile directly by editing the host profile. This provides the ability to do more
comprehensive and immediate remediation of those changes.
Note Fixed user password, system image cache and some of the host customized settings are not
present in the newly updated host profile. Edit the host profile to update these settings.
Procedure
1 Navigate to the Host Profiles.
2 Click Copy Settings from Host.
3 Select the host from which you want to copy the configuration settings.
4 Click OK.
Host Profiles and vSphere Auto Deploy
Host Profiles works with vSphere Auto Deploy to provision physical ESXi hosts have a complete and
expected configuration state for virtual switches, driver settings, boot parameters, and so on.
Because hosts that are provisioned with Auto Deploy are considered to be stateless, configuration state
information is not stored on the host. Instead, create a reference host and configure it completely with the
settings you want. Then, create a Host Profile from this reference host. Next, associate the Host Profile
with a new deploy rule using the Auto Deploy rules engine through the PowerCLI. Now, as new hosts are
provisioned through Auto Deploy, they will automatically have the Host Profile applied
vSphere Host Profiles
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