VMware ESXI - 6.7 Instruction Manual

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vSphere Host Proﬁles

17 APR 2018 VMware vSphere 6.7 VMware ESXi 6.7 vCenter Server 6.7

vSphere Host Profiles

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware website at:

https://docs.vmware.com/

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About vSphere® Host Profiles 5

Introduction To vSphere Host Profiles 6

Host Profiles Usage Model 6

Reference Host Independence 7

Using Host Profiles 8

Access Host Profiles 8

Create a Host Profile 8

Attach Entities to a Host Profile 9

Detach Entities from a Host Profile 10

Check Compliance 10

Remediate a Host 11

Edit a Host Profile 12

Duplicate a Host Profile 15

Copy Settings from Host 16

Host Profiles and vSphere Auto Deploy 16

Import a Host Profile 17

Export a Host Profile 17

Copy Settings to Host Profile in the vSphere Web Client 18

Configuring Host Profiles 19

Host Customization 19

Configure Security Host Profile 24

Configure Networking Host Profiles 25

Recommended Host Profiles Upgrade Workflows 27

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.0 to 6.7 With Stateful ESXi Hosts Version 6.0 or Earlier 27

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.5 to 6.7 With Stateful ESXi Hosts Version 6.5 or Earlier 29

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.0 to 6.7 in Environment With Stateless ESXi 6.0 Hosts Only 31

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.5 to 6.7 in Environment With Stateless ESXi 6.5 Hosts Only 32

Answer File Field and Host Profile Extraction 33

Troubleshooting Host Profiles 35

Host Customization Data Is Missing 35

Reference Host is Unavailable 36

Compliance failures with Storage Host Profiles 36

Edit Settings for Host Profiles is Failing 37

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vSphere Host Profiles

Host Profile without NFS Datastore 38

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About vSphere® Host Proﬁles

The vSphere Host Profiles documentation provides information about managing Host Profiles.

The vSphere Host Profiles documentation describes how to manage and configure Host Profiles in the

vSphere Client.

Intended Audience

The vSphere Host Profiles documentation is intended for administrators who are familiar with vSphere

host configuration.

vSphere Client

Instructions in this guide reflect the vSphere Client (an HTML5-based GUI). You can also use the

instructions to perform most of the tasks by using the vSphere Web Client (a Flex-based GUI).

Tasks for which the workflow differs significantly between the vSphere Client and the vSphere Web Client

have duplicate procedures that provide steps according to the respective client interface. The procedures

that relate to the vSphere Web Client, contain vSphere Web Client in the title.

Note In vSphere 6.7, most of the vSphere Web Client functionality is implemented in the vSphere Client.

For an up-to-date list of the unsupported functionality, see Functionality Updates for the vSphere Client.

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Introduction To vSphere Host

Proﬁles 1

The Host Profiles feature creates a profile that encapsulates the host configuration and helps to manage

the host configuration, especially in environments where an administrator manages multiple hosts or

clusters in vCenter Server.

Host Profiles provide an automated and centrally managed mechanism for host configuration and

configuration compliance. Host Profiles can improve efficiency by reducing reliance upon repetitive,

manual tasks. Host Profiles capture the configuration of a pre-configured and validated reference host,

store the configuration as a managed object and use the catalog of parameters contained within to

configure networking, storage, security, and other host-level parameters. Host Profiles can be applied to

individual hosts, a cluster, or all the hosts and clusters associated to a host profile. Applying a Host Profile

to a cluster affects all hosts in the cluster and result in a consistent configuration across the applied hosts.

Host Profiles can be used to validate the configuration of a host by checking compliance of a host or

cluster against the Host Profile that is associated with that host or cluster.

This chapter includes the following topics:

Host Profiles Usage Model

Reference Host Independence

Host Proﬁles Usage Model

The Host Profiles workflow starts with the concept of a reference host. The configuration of the reference

host, which is extracted as a host profile, serves as a configuration template for configuring other hosts.

The reference host does not have to be related or associated with the host profile extracted from it.

Before you begin, ensure that you have an existing vSphere environment installation with at least one

properly and completely configured ESXi host.

The sequence required to create a host profile from a reference host, apply the host profile to a host or

cluster and check compliance against the host profile is as follows:

1 Set up and configure the reference host.

2 Create a host profile from the reference host.

3 Attach hosts or clusters to the host profile.

4 Check the compliance to the host profile. If all hosts are compliant with the reference host, they are

correctly configured.

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vSphere Host Profiles

5 Apply (remediate).

As a licensed feature of vSphere, Host Profiles are only available when the appropriate licensing is in

place. If you see errors, ensure that you have the appropriate vSphere licensing for your hosts.

If you want the Host Profile to use directory services for authentication, the reference host needs to be

configured to use a directory service. See the vSphere Security documentation.

vSphere Auto Deploy

For hosts provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy, vSphere Web Client owns the entire host configuration,

which is captured in a Host Profile. Usually, the Host Profile information is sufficient to store all

configuration information. Sometimes the user is prompted for input when the host provisioned with Auto

Deploy boots. See the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation for more information on Auto

Deploy.

Reference Host Independence

A dedicated reference host is not required to be available to perform host profile tasks.

When you create a host profile, you extract the configuration information from a specified ESXi reference

host. In previous releases, vSphere required that the reference host was available for certain Host

Profiles tasks, such as editing, importing, and exporting. From vSphere 6.0 and later, a dedicated

reference host is no longer required to be available to perform these tasks.

For host profile tasks that require a reference host, an ESXi host that is compatible to the host profile is

assigned as the role of reference host.

Sometimes, a compatible host is not available to validate the host profile during these tasks. If you made

small changes to the host profile that do not require validation, you can choose to skip the validation. If

you choose to skip the host validation, a warning displays indicating that no valid reference host is

associated with the profile. You can then proceed and complete the task.

Due to the introduction of this feature, users can no longer edit or change the reference host from the

vSphere Web Client. The reference host selection occurs at runtime, without notifying users, in the

vCenter Server for on-going tasks.

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Using Host Proﬁles 2

This section describes how to perform some of the basic tasks for Host Profiles.

This chapter includes the following topics:

Access Host Profiles

Create a Host Profile

Attach Entities to a Host Profile

Detach Entities from a Host Profile

Check Compliance

Remediate a Host

Edit a Host Profile

Duplicate a Host Profile

Copy Settings from Host

Host Profiles and vSphere Auto Deploy

Import a Host Profile

Export a Host Profile

Copy Settings to Host Profile in the vSphere Web Client

Access Host Proﬁles

The Host Profiles main view lists all available profiles. Administrators can also use the Host Profiles main

view to perform operations on host profiles and configure them.

Procedure

1 From the home menu, click Policies and Profiles.

2 Select Host Profiles.

Create a Host Proﬁle

You create a host profile by extracting the designated reference host configuration.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Prerequisites

Verify that you have a working vSphere installation and at least one completely and properly configured

host that acts as the reference host.

Procedure

1 Navigate to the Host Profiles main view and click Extract Host Profile.

2 Select the host that acts as the reference host and click Next.

The selected host must be a valid host.

3 Enter the name and description for the new profile, and click Next.

4 Review the summary information for the new profile and click Finish.

The new profile appears in the Host Profiles pane.

Note Host profiles do not capture offline or nonpresent devices. Any changes made to offline devices

after extracting a host profile do not make a difference to the compliance check results.

Attach Entities to a Host Proﬁle

After creating a host profile from a reference host, you attach the host or cluster to the host profile.

Note You can also attach a host profile by right-clicking the specific host and select Host Profiles >

Attach Host Profile.

Procedure

1 From the Host Profiles main view, select the host profile to be applied to the host or cluster.

2 Click Attach/Detach a host profile to hosts and clusters.

3 Select the host or cluster from the expanded list and click Attach.

The host or cluster is added to the Attached Entities list.

4 (Optional) Click Attach All to attach all listed hosts and clusters to the profile.

5 If you enable Skip Host Customization you will not need to customize hosts during this process.

If you skip host customizations during this process, you should edit or import host customizations

before you remediate the host profile

6 Click Next.

7 (Optional) You can update or change the user input parameters for the Host Profiles policies by

customizing the host. You will not see this step if you enabled Skip Host Customization.

See Host Profiles and vSphere Auto Deploy.

8 Click Finish to complete attaching the host or cluster to the profile.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Detach Entities from a Host Proﬁle

To disassociate a configuration from an ESXi host or an entire cluster, that host or cluster must be

detached from the host profile.

When a host profile is attached to a cluster, the host or hosts within that cluster are also attached to the

host profile. However, when the host profile is detached from the entire cluster, there is no association

between the host or hosts within the cluster and that host profile.

Detaching a host profile from an ESXi host or a cluster does not delete that host profile. You can delete

the host profile after detaching it from all the entities it is associated with.

Note You can also detach a host profile by right-clicking the specific host and select Host Profiles >

Detach Host Profile. Detaching a host profile from an ESXi host is non-disruptive.

Procedure

1 From Host Profiles main view, select the host profile to be detached from the entire cluster or

individual hosts.

2 Click Attach/Detach a host profile to hosts and clusters .

3 Select a host or a cluster from the expanded list in the right pane and click Detach.

The host or cluster is moved to the left pane list.

4 (Optional) Click Detach All to detach all listed hosts and clusters from the profile.

5 Click Next.

6 Click Finish to detach the host or cluster from the host profile.

Check Compliance

You can confirm the compliance of a host or cluster to its attached host profile and determine which, if

any, configuration parameters on a host are different from those specified in the host profile.

Procedure

1 Navigate to Host Profiles main view.

2 Right click a host profile.

3 Click Check Host Profile Compliance.

The compliance status is updated as Compliant, Unknown, or Non-compliant.

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vSphere Host Profiles

A non-compliant status indicates a discovered and specific inconsistency between the profile and the

host. To resolve this, you should remediate the host. Any unknown status indicates that the compliance of

the host could not be verified; to resolve the issue, remediate the host through the host profile. Very often

the compliance check fails because the host is disconnected.

Note Host profiles do not capture offline or unpresented devices. Any changes made to offline devices

after extracting a host profile will not make a difference to the compliance check results.

What to do next

To see more detail on compliance failures, select a host profile from the Host Profiles main view for

which the last compliance check produced one or more failures. In order to see specific detail on which

parameters differ between the host that failed compliance and the host profile, click on the Monitor tab

and select the Compliance view. Then select the failing host. The differing parameters are displayed in

the Compliance window, below the host list.

Remediate a Host

In the event of a compliance failure, use the Remediate function to apply the host profile settings onto the

host. This action changes all host profile managed parameters to the values contained in the profile

attached to the host.

Prerequisites

Verify that the profile is attached to the host.

Procedure

1 Navigate to Host Profiles main view.

2 Right-click the host profile and select Remediate.

Note Certain Host Profile policy configurations require that the host be rebooted after remediation.

In those cases, you are prompted to place the host into maintenance mode. You might be required to

place hosts into maintenance mode before remediation. Hosts that are in a fully-automated DRS

cluster are placed into maintenance mode at remediation. For other cases, the remediation process

stops if the host is not placed into maintenance mode when it is needed to remediate a host.

3 Select the host or hosts you want to remediate with the host profile.

The host profile will be applied to each host that you select.

4 (Optional) Enter the host customizations to specify host properties or browse to import a host

customization file.

You can update or change the user input parameters for the Host Profiles policies by customizing the

host, and click Next.

Note See Host Profiles and vSphere Auto Deploy for more information about vSphere Auto Deploy.

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vSphere Host Profiles

5 Click Pre-check Remediation to check if the selected hosts are ready for remediation.

This check generates a list of tasks that will be performed on the host.

6 Select the checkbox to reboot the host if it is required in order to complete the remediation process. If

you wish to manually reboot the host after the process, do not select the checkbox.

7 Review the tasks that are necessary to remediate the Host Profile and click Finish.

The compliance status is updated.

Edit a Host Proﬁle

You can view and edit Host Profiles policies, select a policy to be checked for compliance, and change

the policy name or description.

Procedure

1 Navigate to Host Profiles main view.

2 Select the host profile that you want to edit and click the Configure tab.

3 Click Edit Host Profile.

4 (Optional) Click the Name and description tab to change the profile name and description.

5 In the Edit host profile page expand each category to view or edit a particular policy or settings.

Note See Edit a Policy for detailed instructions for editing a Host Profile policy. See Disable Host

Profile Component or Subprofile for detailed instructions on enabling or disabling a policy from

compliance check or remediation.

6 View All host profile configurations or only Favorites configurations.

You can mark a configuration as a favorite with the star icon. Those are then added to Favorites

configurations.

7 (Optional) In the search field, filter the configuration names and values you want to view.

For example, enter SNMP. All configurations that relate to SNMP are displayed.

8 (Optional) Customize the hosts.

Make any changes to the available configuration values for this profile and click Save.

Note The host customization settings page only appears if you changed any settings that require

host customizations.

The changes are made when the "Update Host Profile" task is completed in the Recent Tasks status. If

you attempt to remediate the profile before the task is complete, the profile configuration does not contain

the change.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Edit a Policy

A policy describes how a specific configuration setting is applied. You can edit policies belonging to a

specific Host Profile.

When you edit the Host Profile, you can expand the Host Profile's configuration hierarchy to see the sub-

profile components that comprise the Host Profile. These components are categorized by functional

group or resource class to make it easier to find a particular parameter. Each subprofile component

contains one or more attributes and parameters, along with the policies and compliance checks.

Each policy consists of one or more options that contains one or more parameters. Each parameter

consists of a key and a value. The value can be one of a few basic types, for example integer, string,

string array, or integer array.

Note Currently, there is no way to remove or replace policy options policies, or sub-profiles that are

deprecated in this release. Metadata is added to these deprecated policies that allows old host profiles to

continue working but will extract new host profiles with only non-deprecated parts of a host profile.

Table 2‑1. Subset of Host Proﬁle Subproﬁle Conﬁgurations

Component Categories Configuration Settings Notes and Examples

Advanced Configuration

Settings

General System Settings Console, Core Dump, Device Alias, Host

Advanced Options, Agent VM, DirectPath

I/O, Hosts file, Power System, System

Image Cache

Cache, Kernel Module, Management Agent,

System Resource Pool, System Swap,

vFlash Host Swap Cache, CIM-XML

Indication Subscriptions

Host Profiles do not check advanced settings if

they are the same as the default settings.

vCenter Server copies only the advanced

configuration settings that have changed and

that differ from the default values. In addition,

compliance checks are limited to the settings

that are copied.

Host Profiles does not support the configuration

of PCI devices for virtual machine passthrough

on the ESXi host.

For Date and Time Configuration:

For the time zone, enter a UTC string. For

example, "America/Los_Angeles" for United

States Pacific time zone.

The default time zone is set to the local time

and location of the vSphere Web Client

machine.

Configure Network Time Protocol (NTP)

correctly. You can configure the NTP settings

on the host's Configure tab. Click Time

Configuration (under System). Click Edit to

configure the time settings .

Networking vSwitch, Port groups, Physical NIC speed,

security and NIC teaming policies, vSphere

Distributed Switch, and vSphere Distributed

Switch uplink port.

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When DHCPv6 is enabled in the networking

subprofile, manually turn on the corresponding

ruleset in the firewall subprofile.

vSphere Host Profiles

Table 2‑1. Subset of Host Proﬁle Subproﬁle Conﬁgurations (Continued)

Component Categories Configuration Settings Notes and Examples

Security Firewall, Security Settings, Service

Storage Configure storage options, including Native

Multi-Pathing (NMP), Pluggable Storage

Architecture (PSA), FCoE and iSCSI

adapters, and NFS storage.

Use the vSphere CLI to configure or modify the

NMP and PSA policies on a reference host, and

then extract the Host Profile from that host. If

you use the Profile Editor to edit the policies, to

avoid compliance failures, make sure that you

understand interrelationships between the NMP

and PSA policies and the consequences of

changing individual policies. For information

about the NMP and PSA, see the vSphere

Storage documentation.

Add the rules that change device attributes

before extracting the Host Profile from the

reference host. After attaching a host to the

Host Profile, if you edit the profile and change

the device attributes (for example, mask device

paths or adding SATP rules to mark the device

as SSD) you are prompted to reboot the host to

make the changes. However, after rebooting,

compliance failures occur because the

attributes changed. Because Host Profiles

extract device attributes before rebooting, if any

changes occur after the reboot, it evaluates and

finds those changes, and reports it as

noncompliant.

Use the vSphere Web Client to configure or

modify the SatpDeviceProfile policy after

extracting the Host Profile. For compliance

purposes, the policy option strings must be in

the following format:

For an ALUA supported array, e.g.

SATP_ALUA, the policy options must be

separated by a semicolon (;).

For example:

implicit_support=<on/off>;

explicit_support=<on/off>;

action_onRetryErrors=<on/off>

For an ALUA supported array with CX, e.g.

SATP_ALUA_CX, the policy options must

be separated by a semicolon (;).

For example:

navireg=<on/off>;

implicit_support=<on/off>;

action_onRetryErrors=<on/off>

For a CX array, e.g. SATP_CX or

SATP_INV, the policy options must be

separated by a space.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Table 2‑1. Subset of Host Proﬁle Subproﬁle Conﬁgurations (Continued)

Component Categories Configuration Settings Notes and Examples

For example:

navireg=<on/off> ipfilter=<on/off>

action_onRetryErrors=<on/off>

Note The policy configuration options that

are marked with off are not present in the

configuration string.

Other profile configuration categories include: user group, authentication, kernel module, DCUI keyboard,

host cache settings, SFCB, resource pools, login banner, SNMP agent, power system, and CIM indication

subscriptions.

Procedure

1 Edit the Host Profile.

2 Expand a subprofile until you reach the policy to edit.

3 Select the policy.

The policy options and parameters appear on the right side of the Edit Host Profile window.

4 Make changes to the policy.

Disable Host Proﬁle Component or Subproﬁle

You can decide whether a host profile component or subprofile is applied or considered during

compliance check. This allows administrators to eliminate non-critical attributes from consideration or

ignore values that, while part of the host profile, are likely to vary between hosts.

Procedure

1 Edit a host profile.

2 Expand the Host Profile Component hierarchy until you reach the desired component or component

element.

3 Disable the checkbox next to a component to remove it from being applied during remediation or

considered during a profile compliance check.

Note The check box is enabled by default. If you disable the check box so this component or

component element is not checked for compliance or applied during remediation, the other

subprofiles that are enabled will still be applied and checked.

Duplicate a Host Proﬁle

A host profile duplicate is a copy of an existing host profile.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Procedure

1 Navigate to the Host Profiles main view and select the host profile you want to duplicate.

2 Click Duplicate Host Profile.

3 Type different name and description for the duplicate Host Profile, and click OK.

A clone of the profile appears in the Host Profiles list.

Copy Settings from Host

If the configuration of the reference host changes, you can update the host profile so that it matches the

reference host's new configuration.

After you create a host profile, you can make incremental updates to the profile. When making changes to

a host profile, consider the benefits and limitations of the two methods:

Make the configuration changes to a host and copy that host's settings to the profile. The settings

within the existing profile are updated to match those of the host. This method allows you to validate

the configuration on a single host before rolling it to the other hosts that are attached to the profile.

Update the profile directly by editing the host profile. This provides the ability to do more

comprehensive and immediate remediation of those changes.

Note Fixed user password, system image cache and some of the host customized settings are not

present in the newly updated host profile. Edit the host profile to update these settings.

Procedure

1 Navigate to the Host Profiles main view and select the host profile.

2 Click Copy Settings from Host.

3 Select the host from which you want to copy the configuration settings.

4 Click OK.

Host Proﬁles and vSphere Auto Deploy

Host Profiles works with vSphere Auto Deploy to provision physical ESXi hosts have a complete and

expected configuration state for virtual switches, driver settings, boot parameters, and so on.

Because hosts that are provisioned with Auto Deploy are considered to be stateless, configuration state

information is not stored on the host. Instead, create a reference host and configure it completely with the

settings you want. Then, create a Host Profile from this reference host. Next, associate the Host Profile

with a new deploy rule using the Auto Deploy rules engine through the PowerCLI. Now, as new hosts are

provisioned through Auto Deploy, they will automatically have the Host Profile applied

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vSphere Host Profiles

Remediation for these hosts is the same as statefully deployed hosts. The user is prompted to customize

the hosts and enter answers for policies that are specified during Host Profile creation when the Host

Profile is applied.

Note If you deploy ESXi through Auto Deploy, configure syslog to store logs on a remote server. See the

instructions to set up Syslog from the Host Profiles interface in the vSphere Installation and Setup

documentation.

For more information, see about setting up an Auto Deploy reference host in the vSphere Auto Deploy

documentation.

Import a Host Proﬁle

You can import a profile from a file in the VMware profile format (.vpf).

When a host profile is exported, administrator and user profile passwords are not exported. This is a

security measure and stops passwords from being exported in plain text when the profile is exported. You

will be prompted to re-enter the values for the password after the profile is imported and the password is

applied to a host.

Procedure

1 Navigate to Host Profiles main view.

2 Click Import Host Profile.

3 Click Browse to locate the VMware Profile Format file (.vpf) to import.

4 Enter the Name and Description for the imported Host Profile, and click OK.

The imported profile appears in the profile list.

Export a Host Proﬁle

You can export a profile to a file that is in the VMware profile format (.vpf).

When a host profile is exported, administrator and user profile passwords are not exported. This is a

security measure and stops passwords from being exported in plain text when the profile is exported. You

will be prompted to re-enter the values for the password after the profile is imported and the password is

applied to a host.

Procedure

1 Navigate to the Host Profile you want to export.

2 Right-click the profile and select Export Host Profile.

3 Select the location and type the name of the file to export the profile.

4 Click Save.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Copy Settings to Host Proﬁle in the vSphere Web Client

Once you make changes to a host profile, you can propagate those changes to other host profiles in the

inventory.

Procedure

1 Navigate to Host Profiles main view.

Right-click the profile and select Copy Settings to Host Profiles or click the icon.

3 Select the settings you wish to copy to other host profiles, and click Next.

4 Select the target host profile that will be overwritten with the selected settings, and click Next.

The differences between the host profile settings are displayed in the results.

5 Click Finish.

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Conﬁguring Host Proﬁles 3

This section describes how to configure host profiles using the host profile editor.

This chapter includes the following topics:

Host Customization

Configure Security Host Profile

Configure Networking Host Profiles

Host Customization

To customize hosts with shared attributes, you can create a host profile in a reference host. To customize

individual hosts, you can set up some fields in the host profile to prompt the user for input for each host.

Host profiles allow you to prespecify information, for example, the storage setup or Syslog setup in a

reference host to and apply the host profile to a set of target hosts that share the same settings. You can

also use host profiles to specify that certain settings are host dependent. If you do so, the host comes up

in maintenance mode when you provision it with Auto Deploy. Remediate the host or reset the host

customization to be prompted for input. The system stores your input and uses it the next time the host

boots.

When the host profile is set to prompt for user input, you must specify a value in the dialog that appears

when you reset the host customization. An error results if you do not specify a value.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Table 3‑1. Host Proﬁle Options that Prompt for iSCSI User Input

Information to Request User Input For Setting the Host Profile Option

When you apply a host profile on a system that includes a profile

for iSCSI, you are prompted for several properties. For many of

the properties, a system default is available. For some

properties, you must specify a value or an error results.

IQN name If the iSCSI setup uses an IQN name, you

are prompted when you apply the host

profile. You cannot continue until you

provide the name.

CHAP

information

If you set up iSCSI to require CHAP

authentication, you are prompted for

CHAP information including the user

name and the secret when you apply the

host profile. You cannot continue until you

provide the name.

1 Select Edit Host Profile, click Storage configuration, and

click iSCSI Initiator Configuration.

2 Select the folder for an already enabled initiator and set up

the initiator.

3 Set up the initiator. For many fields, the user is prompted as

part of host customization.

Table 3‑2. Host Proﬁle Options that Prompt for Storage User Input

Information to Request User Input For Setting the Host Profile Option

You are setting up the Fixed PSP configuration and want to

prompt for the adapter and target IDs for the storage arrays that

should use the Fixed PSP.

You can set the option only if the adapter is set up to use the

Fixed PSP.

1 Select Edit Host Profile, click Storage configuration.

2 Click Native Multipathing (NMP).

3 Click Path Selection Policy (PSP) configuration.

4 In the Preferred Path window, select Prompt the user for

adapter and target IDs on the host.

Configure FCoE adapter activation based on a user-specified

MAC address.

You can set the option only if an activation profile exists.

1 Select Edit Host Profile, click Storage configuration.

2 Click Software FCoE configuration.

3 Click Adapter Configuration.

4 Click the activation profile and click Policy Profile.

5 Select Activation policy based on adapter MAC address

from the drop-down menu.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Table 3‑3. Host Proﬁle Options that Prompt for Security User Input

Information to Request User Input For Setting the Host Profile Option

Administrator password for ESXi host when the host boots for the

first time.

Preconfigures a user for the ESXi host but prompts for the

password for that user on each host when the host boots for the

first time.

Prompt the user for credentials when the host joins the Active

Directory domain.

1 Select Edit Host Profile, and click Security and Services.

2 click Security Settings and click Security configuration.

3 In the right panel, select User Input Password to be Used

to Configure Administrator Password from the

Administrator password drop-down menu.

You can perform this task only if a user configuration already

exists. Configure the user by selecting one of the options.

Assigned fixed user configurations is available for

compatibility with ESX/ESXi 4.1 system, this option displays

the password in the clear.

Assign advanced fixed user configurations is for users

of ESXi 5.0 and later systems.

Specify the user configuration in the profile but prompt

for password during host configuration allows you to

specify the information about the user but prompt for a

password on each host.

1 Set the Authentication configuration profile to use a fixed

domain.

a Select Edit Host Profile, click Security and Services.

b Click Security Settings, and click Authentication

configuration.

c Click Active Directory configuration.

d In the Domain Name drop-down menu, select

Configure a fixed domain name.

2 Set the method for joining the domain to prompt the user.

a Select Edit Host Profile, click Security and Services

and click Authentication configuration.

b Click Active Directory configuration.

c In the Join Domain Method drop-down menu, select

Use user specified AD credentials to join the host

to domain.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Table 3‑4. Host Proﬁle Options that Prompt for Networking User Input

Information to Request User Input For Setting the Host Profile Option

Prompt the user for the MAC address for a port group. You can

have the system prompt the user in all cases (User specified

MAC address...) or prompt the user only if no default is

available.

Prompt the user for the IPv4 address for each ESXi host to

which the profile is applied. You can have the system prompt the

user in all cases (User specified IPv4 address...) or prompt the

user only if no default is available.

Prompt the user for the IPv6 address for each ESXi host to

which the profile is applied. You can have the system prompt the

user in all cases (User specified IPv6 address...) or prompt the

user only if no default is available.

1 Select Edit Host Profile, click Networking configuration,

and click Host port group.

2 Click Management Network.

3 In the Determine how MAC address for vmknic should

be decided field, select how the system manages the MAC

address.

User specified MAC Address to be used while

applying the configuration

Prompt the user for the MAC Address if no default is

available

1 Select Edit Host Profile, click Networking configuration,

and click Host port group.

2 Click Management Network and click IP address settings.

3 In the IPv4 address field, select how the system manages

the IPv4 address.

User specified IPv4 Address to be used while

applying the configuration

Prompt the user for the IPv4 Address if no default is

available

1 Select Edit Host Profile, click Networking configuration,

and click Host port group.

2 Click Management Network and click IP address settings.

3 In the Static IPv6 address field, select how the system

manages the IPv6 address.

User specified IPv6 Address to be used while

applying the configuration

Prompt the user for the IPv6 Address if no default is

available

Prompt the user for the DNS name of the host. You can have the

system prompt the user in all cases (User specified host

name...) or prompt the user only if no default is available.

1 Select Edit Host Profile, click Networking configuration,

and click DNS configuration.

2 In the Host name field, select how the system manages the

DNS configuration.

Prompt the user for host name if default is not

available

User specified host name to be used while applying

the configuration

Prompt the user for the MAC address for a distributed switch, its

port group, or one of its services. Right-click the Host virtual NIC

folder icon and click the Add sub-profile icon to determine the

component to which the setting is applied.

You can decide to prompt the user in all cases or only if no

default is available.

1 Open Networking configuration.

2 Click Host virtual NIC.

3 In the Determine how MAC address for vmknic should

be decided field, select how the system manages the MAC

address for the distributed switch.

User specified MAC address to be used while

applying the configuration

Prompt the user for the MAC address if no default is

available

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vSphere Host Profiles

Table 3‑4. Host Proﬁle Options that Prompt for Networking User Input (Continued)

Information to Request User Input For Setting the Host Profile Option

Prompt the user for the IPv4 address for a distributed switch, its

port group, or one of its services. Right-click the Host virtual NIC

folder icon and click the Add sub-profile icon to determine the

component to which the setting is applied.

You can decide to prompt the user only if no default is available

or in all cases.

Prompt the user for the IPv6 address for a distributed switch, its

port group, or one of its services. Right-click the Host virtual NIC

folder icon and click the Add sub-profile icon to determine the

component to which the setting is applied.

You can decide to prompt the user only if no default is available

or in all cases.

Export Host Customizations

1 Open Networking configuration.

2 Click Host virtual NIC.

3 Click IP address settings.

4 In the IPv4 address field, select how the system handles the

IPv4 address for the distributed switch.

User specified IPv4 address to be used while

applying the configuration

Prompt the user for IPv4 address if no default is

available

1 Open Networking configuration.

2 Open Host virtual NIC.

3 Open IP address settings.

4 In the Static IPv6 address field, select how the system

manages the IPv6 address for the distributed switch.

User specified IPv6 address to be used while

applying the configuration

Prompt the user for IPv6 address if no default is

available

If a host profile contains any customized attributes, you can export it to a .CSV file on your desktop.

For security, sensitive data such as passwords are not exported.

Note You can also export host profile customizations by right-clicking the specific host and select Host

Profiles > Export Host Profile Customizations.

Procedure

1 Navigate to Host Profiles main view.

2 Right-click the host profile and select Export Host Customizations.

3 Select the location where the customization file is saved.

The file is saved as a .csv file.

4 Click Save.

Note Only English version of the .csv file is supported.

What to do next

Once the file is saved to your desktop, you can manually edit the file and save it to apply the

customizations at a later time.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Edit Host Customizations

You can edit the host customizations for specific hosts attached to a host profile or cluster attached to a

host profile.

Procedure

1 Navigate to Host Profiles main view.

2 Right-click the host profile and select Edit Host Customizations.

3 Select the host or hosts for which to edit the customization, and click Next.

4 (Optional) In the Customize hosts pane, you can Import Host Customization .csv file from your

desktop.

After importing the .csv file, the fields are updated with the information from the file.

5 Edit the host configuration values.

6 Click Finish.

Conﬁgure Security Host Proﬁle

Use this procedure to manage role, user account, and active directory permission profiles that are

grouped as part of the security host profile.

You can configure the host profile options, part of the security profile.

Prerequisites

Make sure that you have the SecurityConfigProfile plugin available to validate the role, user account, and

active directory permission profiles as there are dependencies between them.

Procedure

1 Navigate to Host Profiles main view.

2 Select the host profile that you want to edit and click the Configure tab.

3 Click Edit Host Profile.

4 Unfold the Security and Services > Security Settings profile category and open the Security folder.

You are present with the following profiles:

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vSphere Host Profiles

Role This profile allows you to view default roles and add custom roles within the ESXi system.

User

Configuration

Active Directory

Permission

This profile allows you to create and manage user accounts.

Here are some of the operations that you can perform for user accounts:

Create a user account.

Configure the password for a user account.

Configure the password for the root user.

Configure the role for any user that is not the default one.

Assign a default or custom role (configure permissions) for a local account.

Configure the SSH key for any user.

This profile allows you to manage permissions for active directory users or groups. For example, you can

create permissions that associate an active directory user or a group with a role.

When an ESXi host joins the active directory domain, an Admin permission is created for the DOMAIN

group ESX Admins. Also, when an active directory user or group is given some permissions on the ESXi

host, a corresponding permission is created on that host. The Active Directory Permission profile captures

that permission.

For information on the security profile, see the vSphere Security documentation.

Conﬁgure Networking Host Proﬁles

By default, hosts provisioned with vSphere Auto Deploy are assigned DHCP addresses by a DHCP

server. You can use the vSphere Auto Deploy host customization mechanism to assign static IP

addresses to hosts.

Prerequisites

Set up your vSphere Auto Deploy environment.

Boot the host using vSphere Auto Deploy.

Extract a host profile from the host.

Procedure

1 Navigate to Host Profiles main view.

2 Select the host profile that you want to edit and click the Configure tab.

3 Click Edit Host Profile.

4 Change the default IP address settings by locating Networking configuration > Host port group >

Management Network > IP address settings.

5 From the IPv4 address drop-down menu, select User specified IP address to be used while

applying the configuration.

6 If the host is in a different subnet than the vCenter Server system, select Networking Configuration

> NetStack Instance > defaultTcpipStack > DNS configuration and enter the default route in the

Default IPv4 gateway text box.

7 Select Networking Configuration > NetStack Instance > defaultTcpipStack > DNS configuration.

8 Make sure the Flag indicating if DHCP should be used check box is deselected.

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vSphere Host Profiles

9 Right-click the host and select All vCenter Actions > Host Profiles > Attach Host Profile.

10 Select the profile to attach and click Next.

11 Provide the IP address and net mask and click Finish.

12 Reboot the ESXi host.

The IP address is saved as a host customization and applied to the host.

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Recommended Host Proﬁles

Upgrade Workﬂows 4

Each workflow is the recommended upgrade path while upgrading your vCenter Server 6.0 and 6.5

environment, that contains one or more host profiles with version 5.5, 6.0 and 6.5.

Upgrade Support Matrix

When you upgrade your vCenter Server from version 6.0 or 6.5 to version 6.7, you can keep your current

ESXi host version and Host Profiles version. For other upgrade workflows, see the Upgrade Support

Matrix.

Table 4‑1. Upgrade Support Matrix

Upgrade Workflow vCenter Server ESXi host Host Profiles

earlier than 5.5 -> 5.5 / 6.0 / 6.5

-> 6.7

5.5 -> 6.7 Requires an upgrade Requires an upgrade Requires an upgrade

6.0 -> 6.7 Requires an upgrade An optional upgrade An optional upgrade

6.5 -> 6.7 Requires an upgrade An optional upgrade An optional upgrade

This chapter includes the following topics:

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.0 to 6.7 With Stateful ESXi Hosts Version 6.0 or Earlier

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.5 to 6.7 With Stateful ESXi Hosts Version 6.5 or Earlier

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.0 to 6.7 in Environment With Stateless ESXi 6.0 Hosts Only

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.5 to 6.7 in Environment With Stateless ESXi 6.5 Hosts Only

Answer File Field and Host Profile Extraction

Requires an upgrade Requires an upgrade Requires an upgrade

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.0 to 6.7 With Stateful ESXi Hosts Version 6.0 or Earlier

Use the upgrade workflows to resolve version compliance errors when upgrading vCenter Server with

version 6.0 to version 6.7.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Environment Contains Stateful ESXi 5.5 and 6.0 Hosts

If your cluster contains stateful ESXi 5.5 and ESXi 6.0 hosts, you use the present workflow to resolve

version compliance errors when upgrading vCenter Server with version 6.0 to version 6.7.

Prerequisites

Your cluster contains ESXi 5.5 and ESXi 6.0 hosts.

A host profile with version 5.5 is attached to the cluster.

Your vCenter Server is with version 6.0.

Procedure

1 Upgrade all ESXi 5.5 hosts in the cluster to version 6.0.

2 Remediate the upgraded hosts against the host profile with version 5.5.

3 Extract a new host profile from one of the upgraded hosts in the cluster.

There are some changed parameters for the host profile policy. For more information, see Answer

File Field and Host Profile Extraction.

4 Attach the host profile with version 6.0 to the cluster.

5 Remediate the cluster against the host profile with version 6.0.

6 Upgrade your vCenter Server to version 6.7.

There are no changes in the vCenter Server configurations.

7 Upgrade all ESXi hosts in the cluster to version 6.7.

Edit host customization and host profile edit operations are not available, see KB 2150534.

Compliance check, attach host profile and remediate hosts operations are available.

8 Remediate the ESXi hosts in the cluster against the host profile with version 6.0.

Note Hosts display a compliance error post remediation for the

UserVars.ESXiVPsDisabledProtocols option, see VMware vSphere 6.7 Release Notes.

All host profile settings are applied.

9 Extract a new host profile from an ESXi 6.7 host.

There are some changed parameters for the host profile policy. For more information, see Answer

File Field and Host Profile Extraction.

10 Attach the host profile with version 6.7 to the cluster.

The host customization data auto-populates.

All host profile operations are available.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Environment Contains Stateful ESXi 6.0 Hosts Оnly

If your cluster contains stateful ESXi 6.0 hosts, you use the present workflow to resolve version

compliance errors when upgrading vCenter Server with version 6.0 to version 6.7.

Prerequisites

Your cluster contains ESXi 6.0 hosts.

A host profile with version 6.0 is attached to the cluster.

Your vCenter Server is with version 6.0.

Procedure

1 Upgrade your vCenter Server to version 6.7.

There are no changes in the vCenter Server configurations.

2 Upgrade all ESXi hosts in the cluster to version 6.7.

Edit host customization and host profile edit operations are not available, see KB 2150534.

Compliance check, attach host profile and remediate hosts operations are available.

3 Remediate the ESXi hosts in the cluster against the host profile with version 6.0.

Note Hosts display a compliance error post remediation for the

UserVars.ESXiVPsDisabledProtocols option, see VMware vSphere 6.7 Release Notes.

All host profile settings are applied.

4 Extract a new host profile from an ESXi 6.7 host.

There are some changed parameters for the host profile policy. For more information, see Answer

File Field and Host Profile Extraction.

5 Attach the host profile with version 6.7 to the cluster.

The host customization data auto-populates.

All host profile operations are available.

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.5 to 6.7 With Stateful ESXi Hosts Version 6.5 or Earlier

Use the upgrade workflows to resolve version compliance errors when upgrading vCenter Server with

version 6.5 to version 6.7.

Environment Contains Stateful ESXi 5.5 , 6.0 and 6.5 Hosts

If your cluster contains stateful ESXi 5.5, ESXi 6.0and ESXi 6.5 hosts, you use the present workflow to

resolve version compliance errors when upgrading vCenter Server with version 6.5 to version 6.7.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Prerequisites

Your cluster contains ESXi 5.5, 6.0 and ESXi 6.5 hosts.

A host profile with version 5.5 is attached to the cluster.

Your vCenter Server is with version 6.5.

Procedure

1 Upgrade all ESXi 5.5 hosts in the cluster to version to 6.0 or 6.5.

The Active Directory settings configured in the ESXi host before upgrade are not retained when the

host is upgraded to ESXi 6.0. The host is no longer joined to the domain. After the upgrade, you have

to rejoin the hosts to the Active Directory domain.

2 (Optional) If you encounter "objectNotFound" error:

a Right-click on the host and disconnect it.

b Reconnect the host to vCenter Server and join the host to the Active Directory domain.

3 Detach the host profile with version vCenter Server from the cluster.

4 Extract a new host profile from an ESXi 6.0 host and attach it to the cluster.

5 Delete the host profile with version 5.5.

6 Upgrade your vCenter Server to version 6.7.

There are no changes in the vCenter Server configurations.

7 Upgrade all ESXi hosts in the cluster to version 6.7.

Edit host customization and host profile edit operations are not available, see KB 2150534.

Compliance check, attach host profile and remediate hosts operations are available.

8 Remediate the ESXi hosts in the cluster against the host profile with version 6.0.

Note Hosts display a compliance error post remediation for the

UserVars.ESXiVPsDisabledProtocols option, see VMware vSphere 6.7 Release Notes.

All host profile settings are applied.

9 Extract a new host profile from an ESXi 6.7 host.

There are some changed parameters for the host profile policy. For more information, see Answer

File Field and Host Profile Extraction.

10 Attach the host profile with version 6.7 to the cluster.

The host customization data auto-populates.

All host profile operations are available.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Environment Contains Stateful ESXi 6.5 Hosts Only

If your cluster contains stateful ESXi 6.5 hosts, you use the present workflow to resolve version

compliance errors when upgrading vCenter Server with version 6.5 to version 6.7.

Prerequisites

Your cluster contains ESXi 6.5 hosts.

A host profile with version 6.5 is attached to the cluster.

Your vCenter Server is with version 6.5.

Procedure

1 Upgrade your vCenter Server to version 6.7.

There are no changes in the vCenter Server configurations.

2 Upgrade all ESXi hosts in the cluster to version 6.7.

Edit host customization and host profile edit operations are not available, see KB 2150534.

Compliance check, attach host profile and remediate hosts operations are available.

3 Remediate the ESXi hosts against the host profile with version 6.5.

Reboot is required for all remediated hosts.

4 Reboot all ESXi hosts.

5 Extract a new host profile from an ESXi 6.7 host.

There are some changed parameters for the host profile policy. For more information, see Answer

File Field and Host Profile Extraction.

6 Attach the host profile with version 6.7 to the cluster.

The host customization data auto-populates.

All host profile operations are available.

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.0 to 6.7 in Environment With Stateless ESXi 6.0 Hosts Only

If your cluster contains stateless ESXi 6.0 hosts, you use the present workflow to resolve version

compliance errors when upgrading vCenter Server with version 6.0 to version 6.7.

Prerequisites

Your cluster contains ESXi 6.0 hosts.

A host profile with version 6.0 is attached to the cluster.

Your vCenter Server is with version 6.0.

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vSphere Host Profiles

Procedure

1 Create a host profile from an ESXi 6.0 host.

2 Apply the host profile to the cluster.

3 Upgrade your vCenter Server to version 6.7.

There are no changes in the vCenter Server configurations.

4 Create a new rule with an image profile version 6.7 and select the cluster.

5 Activate the rule.

6 Boot all ESXi hosts in the cluster.

All hosts are compliant with the host profile. Remediation and check compliance operations are

available, but the host profile with version 6.0 cannot be edited.

The hosts boot using the new rule and the new host profile is applied.

7 Extract a new host profile from an ESXi 6.7 host.

There are some changed parameters for the host profile policy. For more information, see Answer

File Field and Host Profile Extraction.

8 Attach the host profile with version 6.7 to the cluster.

The host customization data auto-populates.

All host profile operations are available.

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.5 to 6.7 in Environment With Stateless ESXi 6.5 Hosts Only

If your cluster contains stateless ESXi 6.5 hosts, you use the present workflow to resolve version

compliance errors when upgrading vCenter Server with version 6.5 to version 6.7.

Prerequisites

Your cluster contains ESXi 6.5 hosts.

A host profile with version 6.5 is attached to the cluster.

Your vCenter Server is with version 6.5.

Procedure

1 Upgrade your vCenter Server to version 6.7.

There are no changes in the vCenter Server configurations.

2 Create a new rule or edit the existing rule with an image profile version 6.7 and select the cluster.

3 Remediate all ESXi hosts by clicking Remediate Host Associations.

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vSphere Host Profiles

4 Reboot all the ESXi hosts in the cluster.

Remediation and check compliance operations are available, but the host profile with version 6.5

cannot be edited.

All the hosts are compliant with the host profile.

5 Extract a new host profile from an ESXi 6.7 host.

There are some changed parameters for the host profile policy. For more information, see Answer

File Field and Host Profile Extraction.

6 Attach the host profile with version 6.7 to the cluster.

The host customization data auto-populates.

All host profile operations are available.

Answer File Field and Host Proﬁle Extraction

There are changes in the host profiles policy options and host customization values, when a new profile is

extracted from a host (or post upgrade). You can get more familiar with those changes by referring to the

Answer File Field and Host Profile Extraction table.

After you extract a new host profile from an ESXi host, the values for some of the policy options change.

To keep these values, you have to save them manually before extracting the host profile. The Answer File

Field and Host Profile Extraction table lists the policy options with changed values as well as the options

that keep their values the same in the newly extracted host profile.

To locate the policy options, navigate to Host Profiles main view, right-click the extracted host profile and

select Edit Host Customizations.

Table 4‑2. Answer File Field and Host Proﬁle Extraction

Variations in the policy options value in the newly

Policy option path Policy option

Secuirity and Services ->

Security Setttings ->

Security

Storage configuration ->

iSCSI Initialtor Configuration

UserInputPasswordConfigOption

UserInputAdminPasswordOption

AdvancedUserInputUserConfigOption

UserInputIqn

extracted profile

For default users, it leaves the password unchanged

(root).

For non-default users, it always extracts user input.

If host profile version is earlier than 6.5, this option is not

extracted. You explicitly need to create a UserAccount

profile in the extracted host profile.

Changes to fixed. Does not keep user input value.

Keeps user input value.

UserInputAlias

UserInputChapName

UserInputChapSecret

UserInputFirstBurstLength

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Keeps user input value.

Changes to fixed. Does not keep user input value.

vSphere Host Profiles

Table 4‑2. Answer File Field and Host Proﬁle Extraction (Continued)

Variations in the policy options value in the newly

Policy option path Policy option

extracted profile

General System Settings ->

Management Agent

Configuration -> SNMP

Agent Configuration

Secuirity and Services ->

Security Setttings ->

Security -> Active Directory

Permission

Networking Configuration

Advanced Configuration

Settings -> Advanced

Options

Advanced Configuration

Settings -> System Image

Cache Configuration

UserInputMaxBurstLength

UserInputMaxReceiveSegmentLength

UserInputUsers

UserInputV3Targets

UserInputEngineId

UserInputContact

UserInputLocation

UserInputUserName

UserInputPassword

UserInputMacAddress

UserInputHostName

UserInputIPAddress

UserInputAdvancedConfigOption

Enable Stateless Caching

Enable Stateful Install

Changes to fixed. Does not keep user input value.

Keeps user input value.

Conditional, prompt user if no default value is available.

Changes to fixed. Does not keep user input value.

You must explicitly select the policy option.

Note This table does not list all policy options. You must be aware of the policy options you modified

before extracting a new host profile.

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Troubleshooting Host Proﬁles 5

The Host Profiles troubleshooting topics provide solutions to problems that you might encounter when

performing tasks for Host Profiles in vCenter Server .

If upgrading your vCenter Server to version 6.7 results with a failure due to an existing host profile in the

inventory, see vCenter Server Upgrade for Upgrade Issues with vCenter Server Containing Host Profiles.

This chapter includes the following topics:

Host Customization Data Is Missing

Reference Host is Unavailable

Compliance failures with Storage Host Profiles

Edit Settings for Host Profiles is Failing

Host Profile without NFS Datastore

Host Customization Data Is Missing

Deploying a stateless host results with a failure in exiting maintenance mode.

Problem

When you are in the process of deploying a stateless host, the host fails in exiting maintenance mode.

Cause

In an environment where the following takes place for a host profile:

The host profile is attached to a stateless host.

The host profile has host-specific settings.

When the stateless host is rebooting, applying the host profile fails because the host does not exit from a

maintenance mode.

Solution

Provide a host customization as described in Edit Host Customizations.

Remediate the host profile to the host again.

Reboot the host, if needed.

VMware, Inc.

vSphere Host Profiles

Refer to the host profiles command-line utility in Host Profiles CLI for customizing stateless hosts.

Reference Host is Unavailable

Creating a Host Profile into the vCenter Server inventory results with a failure.

Problem

When you perform Host Profiles operations into the vCenter Server inventory such as:

Edit a Host Profile.

Import a Host Profile.

Export a Host Profile.

The process of creating a host profile fails with an error.

There is no suitable host in the inventory as reference host for the profile Host Profile. The profile

does not have any associated reference host.

Cause

The vCenter Server inventory does not have a compatible host that acts as a reference host for the host

profile you are trying to create.

Solution

Add a host that acts as a reference host in the vCenter Server inventory with the same version as the

host profile you are trying to create.

Compliance failures with Storage Host Proﬁles

When you use storage devices, that are not shared across a cluster, but the vSphere storage stack

cannot detect them as local (for example, some SAS devices), applying a host profile might result with

compliance failures.

To resolve the compliance failures caused by using local storage devices, use the upgraded Pluggable

Storage Architecture (PSA) and Native Multipathing Plug-In (NMP) host profile policies.

Note ESXi diagnostic data that you obtain by running the vm-support command contains host profiles

information which includes storage host profiles, PSA, NMP, and Virtual Volumes data. No sensitive

information, such as passwords, is collected.

Prerequisites

Extract a host profile from a reference host. See Create a Host Profile for instructions.

VMware, Inc. 36

vSphere Host Profiles

Procedure

1 For SAS devices that are not detected as local, navigate to Edit Host Profile and select Storage

configuration > Pluggable Storage Architecture configuration > PSA device sharing > name of

device.

2 For each device not shared across the cluster, disable Device is shared clusterwide.

Note By default, the Device is shared clusterwide setting is disabled for devices detected as local

and enabled for non-local devices. This setting allows storage host profiles to ignore local devices

during compliance checks.

The Device is Shared Clusterwide setting for PSA devices helps you determine which devices in

the cluster should be configured by a host profile. Correctly setting this value for devices in the cluster

eliminates compliance errors due to non-shared devices.

To find out whether the device is detected as local or not, you can check the Is Local setting for the

device by running the command esxcli storage core device setconfig -d naa.xxxx --

shared-clusterwide=false in the ESXi shell. For more information on this command and

identifying disks or LUNs, see KB 1014953.

3 For SAN boot LUN devices shared across the cluster, but logically local to the host, disable the

Device is shared clusterwide on the reference host. You must set the value to False before

extracting the host profile from the reference host. By using the command esxcli storage core

device setconfig -d naa.xxxx --shared-clusterwide=false you can disable the Device is

shared clusterwide value, where naa.xxxx is the unique device identifier generated in naa format.

When applying the host profile to the target host, the boot device settings for the remote boot LUN

device are copied from the reference host into the target host.

4 Select Storage configuration > Pluggable Storage Architecture configuration > Host boot

device configuration and verify that the boot LUN ID is correctly captured.

5 Remediate the host profile to the reference host for the changes to take effect.

If you must re-extract the profile (for example, if you attach more shared SAN boot LUNs to your

cluster), you do not need to reconfigure Device is Shared Clusterwide setting for devices that you

previously configured.

Edit Settings for Host Proﬁles is Failing

Editing a host profile results with an error.

Problem

In a vCenter Server inventory upgraded to version 6.5 if you try to edit the settings for a host profile with

version 5.1, one of the following errors might appear:

Unexpected status code: 503

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vSphere Host Profiles

There are no hosts available in the inventory at the version for the selected Host Profile

Cause

vSphere 6.5 supports only hosts and host profiles with version 5.5 and later.

Solution

Extract a Host Profile from an already upgraded host to version 5.5. or later.

Use the Copy Settings from Host option to copy the configuration settings from a host already

upgraded to a version 5.5. or later.

Note Using the Copy Settings from Host option overwrites the settings within the existing Host

Profile or sets them to the default values.

Host Proﬁle without NFS Datastore

Host profile compliance check fails for NFS datastore.

Problem

When you confirm the compliance of your ESXi host to its attached Host Profile, a non-compliant status is

present for the NFS datastore. The compliance check detects the mounted NFS datastore to the ESXi

host as an additional datastore.

Cause

The remediate or compliance check failure occurs when the following two conditions take place:

The extracted Host Profile does not have NFS storage (NasStorageProfile).

The ESXi host, attached to the Host Profile, has an already mounted NFS storage.

Solution

1 Create a dummy NFS datastore in the Host Profile.

2 Disable the dummy NFS datastore so that the NFS storage profile is fully disabled.

VMware, Inc. 38

VMware ESXI - 6.7 Instruction Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Host Profiles Usage Model

Reference Host Independence

Access Host Profiles

Create a Host Profile

Check Compliance

Remediate a Host

Edit a Policy

Copy Settings from Host

Host Customization

Export Host Customizations

Edit Host Customizations

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.0 to 6.7 With Stateful ESXi Hosts Version 6.0 or Earlier

Environment Contains Stateful ESXi 5.5 and 6.0 Hosts

Environment Contains Stateful ESXi 6.0 Hosts Оnly

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.5 to 6.7 With Stateful ESXi Hosts Version 6.5 or Earlier

Environment Contains Stateful ESXi 5.5 , 6.0 and 6.5 Hosts

Environment Contains Stateful ESXi 6.5 Hosts Only

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.0 to 6.7 in Environment With Stateless ESXi 6.0 Hosts Only

vCenter Server Upgrade from 6.5 to 6.7 in Environment With Stateless ESXi 6.5 Hosts Only

Host Customization Data Is Missing

Reference Host is Unavailable