Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Creating an Image Profile
The process for creating an image proi le may seem counterintuitive at i rst; it did for us. Creating
an image proi le involves i rst adding at least one software depot . A software depot could be a direc-
tory structure of i les and folders on an HTTP server, or (more commonly) it could be an ofl ine
depot in the form of a Zip i le. You can add multiple software depots.
Some software depots will already have one or more image proi les dei ned, and you can
dei ne additional image proi les (usually by cloning an existing image proi le). You'll then have
the ability to add software packages (in the form of VIBs) to the image proi le you've created.
Once you've i nished adding or removing software packages or drivers from the image proi le,
you can export the image proi le (either to an ISO or as a Zip i le for use as an ofl ine depot).
All image proi le tasks are accomplished using PowerCLI, so you'll need to ensure that you
have a system with PowerCLI installed in order to perform these tasks. We'll describe PowerCLI,
along with other automation tools, in more detail in Chapter 14, “Automating VMware vSphere.”
In the next part of this section, we'll walk you through creating an image proi le based on the
ESXi 5.5.0 ofl ine depot Zip i le available for downloading by registered customers.
Perform the following steps to create an image proi le:
1. At a PowerCLI prompt, use the Connect-VIServer cmdlet to connect to vCenter Server.
2. Use the Add-EsxSoftwareDepot command to add the ESXi 5.5.0 ofl ine depot i le:
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot C:\vmware-ESXi-5.5.0-XXXXXX-depot.zip
3. Repeat the Add-EsxSoftwareDepot command to add other software depots as necessary.
The code listed below adds the online depot i le:
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot
https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
4. Use the Get-EsxImageProfile command to list all image proi les in all currently visible
depots.
5. To create a new image proi le, clone an existing proi le (existing proi les are typically
read-only) using the New-EsxImageProfile command:
New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile ″ESXi-5.5.0-XXXXXX-standard″
-Name ″My_Custom_Profile″
Once you have an image proi le established, you can customize it by adding VIBs or you can
export it. You might want to export the image proi le because once you exit a PowerCLI session
where you've created image proi les, the image proi les will not be available when you start a
new session. Exporting the image proi le as a Zip i le ofl ine depot, you can easily add it back in
when you start a new session.
To export an image proi le as a Zip i le ofl ine depot, run this command:
Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile ″My_Custom_Profile″ -ExportToBundle
-FilePath ″C:\path\to\ZIP-file-offline-depot.zip″
When you start a new PowerCLI session to work with an image proi le, simply add this
ofl ine depot with the Add-EsxSoftwareDepot command.
The i nal step is establishing deployment rules that link image proi les to servers in order to
provision ESXi to them at boot time. We'll describe how to do this in the next section.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search