VMware VS4-ENT-PL-A - vSphere Enterprise Plus Setup Manual page 160

vSphere Installation and Setup
Active Rule Set
Working Rule Set
You use the following workflow with rules and rule sets.
1 Make changes to the working rule set.
2 Use cmdlets that execute the working rule set rules against a host to make sure that everything is
working correctly.
3 Refine and retest the rules in the working rule set.
4 Activate the rules in the working rule set.
If you add a rule and do not specify the
working rule set are activated. You cannot activate individual rules.
See the PowerCLI command-line help and
Auto Deploy Boot Process
When you boot a host that you want to provision or reprovision with vSphere Auto Deploy, the Auto
Deploy infrastructure supplies the image profile and, optionally, a host profile and a vCenter Server location
for that host.
The boot process is different for hosts that have not yet been provisioned with Auto Deploy (first boot) and
for hosts that have been provisioned with Auto Deploy and added to a vCenter Server system (subsequent
boot).
First Boot Prerequisites
Before a first boot process, you must set up your system. Setup includes the following tasks, which are
discussed in more detail in
Set up a DHCP server that assigns an IP address to each host upon startup and that points the host to
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the TFTP server to download the iPXE boot loader from.
Ensure that the Auto Deploy server has an IPv4 address. PXE booting is supported only with IPv4.
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Other components in your Auto Deploy infrastructure can communicate either with IPv4 or with IPv6.
Identify an image profile to be used in one of the following ways.
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Choose an ESXi image profile in a public depot.
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(Optional) Create a custom image profile by using the Image Builder PowerCLI, and place the
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image profile in a depot that the Auto Deploy server can access. The image profile must include a
base ESXi VIB.
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belong to both sets, the default, or only to the working rule set. After you
add a rule to a rule set, you can no longer change the rule. Instead, you copy
the rule and replace items or patterns in the copy. By default, Auto Deploy
uses the name of the rule for the copy and hides the original rule.
When a newly started host contacts the Auto Deploy server with a request
for an image profile, the Auto Deploy server checks the active rule set for
matching rules. The image profile, host profile, and vCenter Server inventory
location that are mapped by matching rules are then used to boot the host. If
more than one item of the same type is mapped by the rules, the Auto
Deploy server uses the item that is first in the rule set.
The working rule set allows you to test changes to rules before making the
changes active. For example, you can use Auto Deploy PowerCLI cmdlets for
testing compliance with the working rule set. The test verifies that hosts
managed by a vCenter Server system are following the rules in the working
rule set. By default, cmdlets add the rule to the working rule set and activate
the rules. Use the
NoActivate
rule set.
NoActivate
"Managing Auto Deploy with PowerCLI Cmdlets,"
"Preparing for vSphere Auto Deploy,"
parameter to add a rule only to the working
parameter, all rules that are currently in the
on page 167.
on page 173.
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