vSphere Host Profiles is a new feature in vSphere 5.0 that allows you to manage virtual machine hosts by defining a consistent configuration for them. The configuration includes the hardware of the host, the configuration of the virtual machines, and the configuration of the virtual networks. vSphere Host Profiles can be created, managed, and applied using the vSphere Client.
The vSphere Host Profiles documentation provides instructions for administrators on managing host configurations within vCenter Server. It details the workflow for creating a profile from a reference host, attaching entities, checking compliance, and applying settings to ensure consistency across datacenter hosts or clusters.
Key procedures covered include exporting and importing profiles, cloning profiles, editing policies, and handling answer files for hosts provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy. The guide also addresses compatibility requirements, noting that the feature is only supported for VMware vSphere 4.0 hosts or later.
Using host profiles is only supported for VMware vSphere 4.0 hosts or later.
No, you cannot create a host profile that uses a VMware Infrastructure 3.5 or earlier host as a reference host.
The answer file mechanism manages cases where a user is prompted for input when a host provisioned with Auto Deploy boots.