Auto Deploy is the VMware feature that can deploy hundreds of ESXi hosts automatically. To understand Auto Deploy, let's take a look at its architecture:
So, we need to work through the installation stages by navigating to Image Profile → Host Profile → Auto Deploy.
The Auto Deploy server stores the following information:
Image state: This is the required software that needs to be run on an ESXi server. The source of this information is the image profile, created using the Image Builder PowerCLI.
Configuration state: This is the configuration state of the ESXi server. This information is collected from the host profile UI, which is taken from a golden image/template.
Dynamic state: This is the runtime state that is generated by running the software. The source of this information is the memory of the host.
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