6.7

Host profiles Define machine-specific configuration such as networking or storage setup.
Use the host profile UI to create host profiles. You can create a host profile
for a reference host and apply that host profile to other hosts in your
environment for a consistent configuration.
Host customization Stores information that the user provides when host profiles are applied to
the host. Host customization might contain an IP address or other
information that the user supplied for that host. For more information about
host customizations, see the vSphere Host Profiles documentation.
Host customization was called answer file in earlier releases of vSphere
Auto Deploy.
Preparing for vSphere Auto Deploy
Before you can start using vSphere Auto Deploy, you must prepare your environment. You start with
server setup and hardware preparation. You must configure the vSphere Auto Deploy service startup type
in the vCenter Server system that you plan to use for managing the hosts you provision, and install
PowerCLI.
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Prepare Your System for vSphere Auto Deploy
Before you can PXE boot an ESXi host with vSphere Auto Deploy, you must install prerequisite
software and set up the DHCP and TFTP servers that vSphere Auto Deploy interacts with.
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Using vSphere Auto Deploy Cmdlets
vSphere Auto Deploy cmdlets are implemented as Microsoft PowerShell cmdlets and included in
PowerCLI. Users of vSphere Auto Deploy cmdlets can take advantage of all PowerCLI features.
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Set Up Bulk Licensing
You can use the vSphere Web Client or ESXi Shell to specify individual license keys, or you can set
up bulk licensing by using PowerCLI cmdlets. Bulk licensing works for all ESXi hosts, but is
especially useful for hosts provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy.
Prepare Your System for vSphere Auto Deploy
Before you can PXE boot an ESXi host with vSphere Auto Deploy, you must install prerequisite software
and set up the DHCP and TFTP servers that vSphere Auto Deploy interacts with.
For detailed steps and information about preparing your system for vSphere Auto Deploy, see vSphere
Installation and Setup.
Prerequisites
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Verify that the hosts that you plan to provision with vSphere Auto Deploy meet the hardware
requirements for ESXi. See ESXi Hardware Requirements.
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Verify that the ESXi hosts have network connectivity to vCenter Server and that all port requirements
are met. See vCenter Server Upgrade.
VMware ESXi Upgrade
VMware, Inc. 77