6.5.1

9 (UEFI only) Specify whether you want for all UEFI hosts to boot the same installer.
Option Description
Same installer Copy or link the boot.cfg file to /tftpboot/boot.cfg
Different installers a Create a subdirectory of /tftpboot named after the MAC address of the
target host machine (01-mac_address_of_target_ESXi_host), for example,
01-23-45-67-89-0a-bc.
b Place a copy of (or a link to) the host's boot.cfg file in that directory, for
example, /tftpboot/01-23-45-67-89-0a-bc/boot.cfg.
Installing ESXi Using vSphere Auto Deploy
vSphere Auto Deploy lets you provision hundreds of physical hosts with ESXi software.
Using Auto Deploy, experienced system administrators can manage large deployments efficiently. Hosts
are network-booted from a central Auto Deploy server. Optionally, hosts are configured with a host profile
of a reference host. The host profile can be set up to prompt the user for input. After boot up and
configuration complete, the hosts are managed by vCenter Server just like other ESXi hosts.
Auto Deploy can also be used for stateless caching or stateful installs.
Important Auto Deploy requires a secure separation between the production network and the
management or deployment networks as discussed in vSphere Auto Deploy Security Considerations.
Using Auto Deploy without this separation is insecure.
Stateless caching By default, Auto Deploy does not store ESXi configuration or state on the
host disk. Instead, an image profile defines the image that the host is
provisioned with, and other host attributes are managed through host
profiles. A host that uses Auto Deploy for stateless caching still needs to
connect to the Auto Deploy server and the vCenter Server.
Stateful installs You can provision a host with Auto Deploy and set up the host to store the
image to disk. On subsequent boots, the host boots from disk.
vSphere Installation and Setup
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