Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
3.
If the vCenter Server computer is running Windows Server 2003, copy the sysprep.exe
and setupcl.exe i les to this directory:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware
VirtualCenter\sysprep\svr2003
If the vCenter Server computer is running Windows Server 2008 or later, then this is the
correct path to use:
C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Sysprep\svr2003
Repeat these steps for other platforms (use the svr2003-64 folder for customizing 64-bit
installations of Windows Server 2003 or the xp and xp-64 folders for customizing installations
of Windows XP and Windows XP 64-bit, respectively). As mentioned previously, customiz-
ing installations of Windows Server 2008 and later does not require a version of Sysprep to be
installed on the vCenter Server computer.
Once you've installed the Sysprep tools for the appropriate versions of Windows (where
applicable), you're ready to start cloning and customizing VMs. Before you clone your i rst
VM, though, we recommend that you take the time to create a customization specii cation, as
described in the next section.
Creating a Customization Specifi cation
vCenter Server's customization specii cation works hand in hand with the tools for customizing
VM clones (Sysprep for VMs with a Windows-based guest OS, open-source tools for a VM with
a Linux-based guest OS). As you'll see later in this chapter in the section “Cloning a Virtual
Machine,” the administrator has to provide vCenter Server with the information necessary to
give the cloned VM its own unique identity. This includes the IP address, passwords, computer
name, and licensing information. With customization specii cation, an administrator provides
all the information only once and then applies it as needed when cloning a VM.
You can create a customization specii cation in the following two ways:
By creating it during the process of cloning a VM
◆
By using the Customization Specii cation Manager in vCenter Server
◆
We'll show you how to create a customization specii cation while cloning a VM in the sec-
tion “Cloning a Virtual Machine.” For now, we'll show you how to use the Customization
Specii cation Manager.
To access the Customization Specii cation Manager, within the vCenter Web Client select
Home
➢
Customization Specii cation Manager, as you see in Figure 10.2.
After you're in the Customization Specii cation Manager area of vCenter Server, you can cre-
ate a new customization specii cation or edit an existing customization specii cation. The pro-
cess is almost identical, and in both cases it involves the New VM Guest Customization Wizard.
Perform the following steps to create a new customization specii cation:
1.
If the vSphere Web Client isn't already running, launch it and connect to a vCenter Server
instance. (This functionality is available only when connecting to vCenter Server, not a
stand-alone ESXi host.)
➢
2.
Navigate to the Customization Specii cation Manager by selecting Home
Customization Specii cation Manager.
