1. Product Support Engineering
Host Profiles
Product Support Engineering
Host Profiles are covered in the ESX Configuration Guide
Modified by Cormac Hogan – 12th Feb 2009
VMware Confidential

2. Module 2 Lessons Lesson 1 – vCenter Server High Availability
Lesson 2 – vCenter Server Distributed Resource Scheduler
Lesson 3 – Fault Tolerance Virtual Machines
Lesson 4 – Enhanced vMotion Compatibility
Lesson 5 – DPM - IPMI
Lesson 6 – vApps
Lesson 7 – Host Profiles
Lesson 8 – Reliability, Availability, Serviceability ( RAS )
Lesson 9 – Web Access
Lesson 10 – vCenter Server Update Manager
Lesson 11 – Guided Consolidation
Lesson 12 – Health Status
Agenda Overview
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3. Module 2-7 Lessons Lesson 1 – Overview of Host Profiles
Lesson 2 – Creating a Host Profile
Lesson 3 – Editing a Host Profile
Lesson 4 – Associating & Applying a Host Profile
Lesson 5 – Checking for Host Profile compliance
Lesson 6 – Applying a Host Profiles
Lesson 7 – Exporting/Importing Host Profiles
Lesson 8 – Troubleshooting Host Profiles
Additional Info:
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4. Overview of Host Profiles
The ESX host configuration has a wide scope, including:
Storage – Datastores (VMFS, NFS volumes), iSCSI initiators and targets, multipathing
Networking – Virtual Switch, Port groups, physical NIC speed, security and NIC teaming polices.
Licensing – Edition selection, license key input
DNS and Routing – DNS Server, IP default gateway
Firewall – network ports and system services (sshd, snmpd, CIM, etc.)
Processor – use hyperthreads as logical CPUs
Memory – Service Console static memory partitioning
Consistently deploying standard ESX servers up until now was on a per host basis:
Manual via VI Client or COS commands
Script-based: COS/post-install script, Perl script, etc
You configure one host and then consider that host configuration as a golden image; making other hosts follow the configuration of your golden image.
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5. Overview of Host Profiles (ctd)
Create a Host Profile
Configure an existing golden host which meets all ESX configuration requirements.
Select this host to be the basis of a new host profile.
Profile Creation Abstracts Host Configuration
Right click on a host and select it as a Host Profile “Golden Image” (Create Profile from this host).
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6. Overview of Host Profiles (ctd)
Associate profiles to hosts/cluster
Choose hosts that need to be configured and attach a host profile to them.
You can also attach a host profile to a cluster where new hosts are getting added.
Bring host to desired state of configuration
Simply click a button to “apply” the configuration encapsulated in the attached host profile.
Host is now configured automatically.
Profile associated with Hosts
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7. Overview of Host Profiles (ctd)
Compliance and Remediation
Compliance: whether or not a host matches the configuration specified in a host profile.
Remediation: the act of bringing a host into a state of compliance.
Remediation
Compliance monitoring
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8. Module 2-7 Lessons Lesson 1 – Overview of Host Profiles
Lesson 2 – Creating a Host Profile
Lesson 3 – Editing a Host Profile
Lesson 4 – Associating & Applying a Host Profile
Lesson 5 – Checking for Host Profile compliance
Lesson 6 – Applying a Host Profiles
Lesson 7 – Exporting/Importing Host Profiles
Lesson 8 – Troubleshooting Host Profiles
Agenda Overview
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9. Accessing Host Profiles
To access the Host Profiles main page, choose:
Home Page > Host Profiles
Inventory > Management > Host Profiles
Any existing profiles are listed on the left-hand side.
Profile details are displayed on the right-hand side.
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10. Creating a New Host Profile
In the Host Profiles main page, click Create Profile. You have the option of ‘Create Profile from existing host’ or Import an already existing profile:
You can export and import profiles from a host.
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11. Creating a New Host Profile (ctd)
Select the host from where the profile is retrieved. This host’s configuration is used to create the profile.
Type the name and enter a description for the new profile. Click Next.
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12. Creating a New Host Profile (ctd)
Review the summary information for the new profile and click Finish to complete creating the profile.
The new profile appears in the profile list.
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13. Module 2-7 Lessons Lesson 1 – Overview of Host Profiles
Lesson 2 – Creating a Host Profile
Lesson 3 – Editing a Host Profile
Lesson 4 – Associating & Applying a Host Profile
Lesson 5 – Checking for Host Profile compliance
Lesson 6 – Applying a Host Profiles
Lesson 7 – Exporting/Importing Host Profiles
Lesson 8 – Troubleshooting Host Profiles
Agenda Overview
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14. Editing a Host Profile
A host profile is composed of several sub-profiles that are designated by functional group to represent configuration instances such as vSwitch and PortGroup.
When you edit a Host Profile, each of these functional groups can be observed.
Many configuration options are available.
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15. Editing a Host Profile (ctd)
Policies describe how a specific configuration setting should be applied.
A Profile contains many Policies which describe the host configuration. e.g. Virtual Switch profile includes policies for:
Number of ports configured for the vSwitch (NumPortsPolicy)
NICs connected to the vSwitch (LinkSpecPolicy)
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Copyright © 2007 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved.

16. Editing a Host Profile (ctd)
An exact specification involves statements like “vmnic0 should be connected to vSwitch0”
What if you could not be so specific?
Host Profile policies allow you to specify what you want to do instead of specifying how to do it, e.g. express how many NICs should be connected to the vSwitch rather than worrying about which NICs should be connected.
Policies provide us the flexibility to express this.
For example, a policy could specify that “vSwitch should have two NICs”. During the actual application of the profile, two free NICs will be selected and assigned to the VirtualSwitch.
This is all fine as long as user is happy with static configuration. What if he needs more flexibility?
The actual configuration would be very similar to the original configuration process. The profile engine will translate the “Any 2 NICs ” into “vmnic0 and vmnic1” and configure the host.
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Copyright © 2007 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. 16 16

17. Editing a Host Profile (ctd)
Users can define a new policy behavior by composing existing policies.
This is what is known as a Composite Policy:
Composite Policies allow users to specify multiple criteria for NICs to connect to a vSwitch
Composite Policies allow users to combine criteria into a composite policy.
2 NICs
> 1Gbps
Full duplex
Free NICs
Set of NICs to connect
Create conditions for creating the host profiles. Screenshot on next slide.
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Copyright © 2007 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved.

18. Editing a Host Profile (ctd)
Conditions defined on the profile to control whether or not the profile will be used are called Pre-Flight Policies.
e.g. create the VirtualSwitch only if number of NICs >= 3.
Checks at profile application time will determine whether the virtual switch gets created.
Use case: create one flexible profile for different types of ESX.
We can possibly have policies that say if hardware type is Dell. NIC count is different.
Verify if the profile is even applicable.
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Copyright © 2007 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. 18 18

19. Editing a Host Profile (ctd)
Users may configure a policy that says “ask for specific configuration values at apply time”. These are called Deferred Value Policies.
During apply time, user is prompted for configuration values.
Only after all questions are answered, profile can be applied.
Default values are picked up from current host configuration.
Use case: setting a static IP address for COS.
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20. Module 2-7 Lessons Lesson 1 – Overview of Host Profiles
Lesson 2 – Creating a Host Profile
Lesson 3 – Editing a Host Profile
Lesson 4 – Associating & Applying a Host Profile
Lesson 5 – Checking for Host Profile compliance
Lesson 6 – Applying a Host Profiles
Lesson 7 – Exporting/Importing Host Profiles
Lesson 8 – Troubleshooting Host Profiles
Agenda Overview
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21. Associating Host Profiles with Hosts/Clusters
Before you can apply the profile to an entity (host or cluster of hosts), you need to attach the entity with the profile.
In the Host Profiles main view, select the profile to which you want to add the association from the profile list.
Click the Attach Host/Cluster button.
In the Attach Host/Cluster dialog, select the host or cluster from the expanded list and click Attach. The host or cluster is added to the Attached Entities list.
Click OK to close the dialog.
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22. Attach a Profile to a Host
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23. Module 2-7 Lessons Lesson 1 – Overview of Host Profiles
Lesson 2 – Creating a Host Profile
Lesson 3 – Editing a Host Profile
Lesson 4 – Associating & Applying a Host Profile
Lesson 5 – Checking for Host Profile compliance
Lesson 6 – Applying a Host Profiles
Lesson 7 – Exporting/Importing Host Profiles
Lesson 8 – Troubleshooting Host Profiles
Agenda Overview
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24. Checking a Host Profile’s Compliance
After a host is configured using the reference host profile, it is possible that a manual change is made to the configuration.
To ensure that it remains in compliance with the reference host profile, compliance checks should be regularly run.
To check a host profile compliance
In the Entities tab of the host profile main view, select the host from the list under Associated Entity.
Click Check Compliance.
The compliance status is updated as Compliant, Unknown, or Non-compliant.
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25. Checking a Host Profile’s Compliance
Checking a Profile’s Compliance
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26. Checking a Host Profile’s Compliance
Some of compliance checks that are tested:
PortgroupOnVSwitch – Portgroup exists on vswitch as per profile
VswitchPhysicalNicList – Vswitch has physical nics as per profile
VSwitchExists – Vswitch exists as per profile
UserExistenceCheck – User exists as per profile
VmotionEnabled - Vmotion is enabled as per profile
FixedVlanCheck - Vlan is set as per the profile
SharedDatastorePresent - Shared datastore is present as per the profile
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27. Module 2-7 Lessons Lesson 1 – Overview of Host Profiles
Lesson 2 – Creating a Host Profile
Lesson 3 – Editing a Host Profile
Lesson 4 – Associating & Applying a Host Profile
Lesson 5 – Checking for Host Profile compliance
Lesson 6 – Applying a Host Profile
Lesson 7 – Exporting/Importing Host Profiles
Lesson 8 – Troubleshooting Host Profiles
Agenda Overview
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28. Applying a Host Profile to a Host/Cluster
In order to configure an entity (host or cluster) with the configuration of a profile, that profile must be applied to the entity.
The host must be in maintenance mode before applying it to a profile.
To apply a host or cluster to a profile:
In the Host Profiles main view, select the profile to which you want to associate the host or cluster.
Select the Host and Clusters tab. The list of attached hosts and clusters are shown under Entity Name.
Right click on the entitiy and click Apply or click on the Apply Profile.
Compliance Status is updated.
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29. Module 2-7 Lessons Lesson 1 – Overview of Host Profiles
Lesson 2 – Creating a Host Profile
Lesson 3 – Editing a Host Profile
Lesson 4 – Associating & Applying a Host Profile
Lesson 5 – Checking for Host Profile compliance
Lesson 6 – Applying a Host Profiles
Lesson 7 – Exporting/Importing Host Profiles
Lesson 8 – Troubleshooting Host Profiles
Agenda Overview
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30. Exporting a Host Profile
You can export an existing Host Profile to a file that is in the VMware profile format (.vpf).
To export a profile to a file:
In the Host Profiles main page, select the profile you wish to export from the profile list.
Click the Export Host Profile icon.
Choose the location and type the name of the file to which the profile will be exported.
Click Save.
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31. Exporting a Host Profile (ctd)
Animation showing the steps involved in importing a host profile.
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32. Importing a Host Profile
To import a profile from a file that is in the VMware profile format (.vpf):
In the Host Profiles main page, click Create Profile icon. The Create Profile Wizard begins.
Choose the option to import a profile. Click Next.
Enter or browse the VMware Profile Format (vpf) file to import. Click Next.
Type the name and enter a description for the imported profile. Click Next when finished.
Review the summary information for the imported profile and click Finish to complete importing the profile.
The imported profile appears in the profile list.
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33. Importing a Host Profile (ctd)
Animation showing the steps involved in importing a host profile.
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34. Module 2-7 Lessons Lesson 1 – Overview of Host Profiles
Lesson 2 – Creating a Host Profile
Lesson 3 – Editing a Host Profile
Lesson 4 – Associating & Applying a Host Profile
Lesson 5 – Checking for Host Profile compliance
Lesson 6 – Applying a Host Profiles
Lesson 7 – Exporting/Importing Host Profiles
Lesson 8 – Troubleshooting Host Profiles
Agenda Overview
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35. Host Profile Logs Host Profile Log locations
Log files for vpxd (vCenter) are at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs
Log files for vpxa (ESX) are at /var/log/vmware/vpx
vc-support and vm-support pick up all the logs.
Log files for ProfileEngine are located at
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs
Log files are named PyVmomiServer.log.*
Py – Python
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36. Host Profile Troubleshooting
Creating Host Profile
[ :23: verbose 'App'] [VpxVmomi] Invoking [createProfile] on [vim.profile.host.ProfileManager:HostProfileManager] session [4824D487-47AC-4ED F2A7846C163]
[ :23: verbose 'App'] Arg createSpec:
(vim.profile.host.HostProfile.HostCreateSpec) {
dynamicType = <unset>,
name = "CS-TSE-f116 Profile",
annotation = "Profile for Classic ESX 4.0",
enabled = true,
host = 'vim.HostSystem:host-29', }
In the logs you can see which profiles are invoked.
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37. Host Profile Troubleshooting
Exporting a Profile
[ :40: verbose 'App'] [VpxVmomi] Invoking [exportProfile] on [vim.profile.host.HostProfile:hostprofile-21] session [4824D487-47AC-4ED F2A7846C163]
Removing a Profile
[ :54: verbose 'App'] [VpxVmomi] Invoking [destroy] on [vim.profile.host.HostProfile:hostprofile-21] session [4824D487-47AC-4ED F2A7846C163]
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38. Lesson 2-7 Summary
Host Profiles builds a golden profile based on information which describes how hosts should be configured.
The golden profile is then used to verify that hosts continue to be properly configured.
Host Profiles provide the flexibility to configure ESX hosts through policy based configuration management.
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39. Lesson 2-7 - Lab 7 Module 2-7 Lab 7 – VMware vCenter Host Profiles
Create a Host Profile
Import/Export a Host Profile
Associate a Host Profile with a Host
Check for Host Profile compliance
Remediating Hosts with associated Host Profiles
Troubleshooting Host Profiles
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