Introduction

It is of prime importance to make sure that every ESXi host in a cluster is configured identically to achieve operational efficiency at the cluster level. There is a lot of configuration that would go into an ESXi host after it is deployed. These include the general/advanced settings, storage, and networking configuration, licensing, and so on. With the number of ESXi hosts that can be part of a cluster or vCenter increasing with every release of vSphere, the amount of work to be done manually will also increase.

Starting with vSphere 4.1, VMware introduced a method to extract the configuration from an ESXi host and form a configuration template, often referred to as a blueprint or golden image. Such a configuration template is called a vSphere Host Profile. It is important to note that Host Profiles require Enterprise Plus Licenses applied.

Note

It is important to note that Host Profiles require Enterprise Plus Licenses applied to the ESXi hosts.

Host Profiles help an administrator...