vBrownBag Auto Deploy Deep Dive Podcast Live session recorded and available at http://professionalvmware.com

1. AUTO DEPLOY DEEP DIVE – VBROWNBAG STYLE
Rob Nelson – VCP5-DCV
Twitter: @rnelson0
Blog: http://rnelson0.com
http://rnelson0.com/auto-deploy-deep-dive-series/

2. AGENDA
What is Auto Deploy?
Requirements
Lab Setup
Auto Deploy VM
DHCP Settings
Host Profiles
PowerCLI + Image Builder
DHCP Reservations
PXE Boot
Increased Automation
Troubleshooting
Bonus Points – VCSA and Linux Only

3. WHATISAUTODEPLOY?
“VMware vSphere® Auto Deploy™ facilitates rapid server
deployment and provisioning of vSphere hosts by leveraging
the network boot capabilities of x86 servers together with the
small footprint of the VMware® ESXi™ hypervisor.” - VMware
• Automated, network-booted hypervisor provisioning and
configuration.
• Bare metal provisioning – rack, stack, run VMs with low/no
touch.
• Required reading for VCP/VCAP certifications.
Our Focus
• Use the vSphere Web Client exclusively – Way of the future.
• Mostly discrete Single Service VMs.
o Can be combined if desired.
• Troubleshooting – What if it doesn’t work?

4. REQUIREMENTS
• Enterprise Plus License, or 60 Day vCenter Eval License.
o Included in every vCenter installation, use it!
• Host Profiles.
• DHCP – Microsoft (Win) or ISC DHCP (Linux).
• TFTP – Solarwinds (Win) or ISC TFTP (Linux).
• PowerCLI + Image Builder cmdlets.
• EFI systems must be switched to BIOS compatibility mode.
• Initial boot requires IPv4.
• Network, security, storage (350MB per image),
administrative access, etc., as otherwise required for
vCenter.
• See more in vSphere Install And Setup Guide, section
“Installing ESXi Using vSphere Auto Deploy”,
http://bit.ly/1jCQ60B

5. LABSETUP
• Fortigate-VM – Segregates inner/production labs
• Lab-server-1 – RDP gateway between inner/production labs
• Lab-server-2 – Domain Controller
• Lab-server-3 – vCenter
• Lab-server-4 – Auto Deploy + TFTP
• Lab-unix-1 – DHCP + TFTP, CentOS 6.5
• test – Test DHCP availability, CentOS 6.5
• vESXi01 – vPhysical VMHost, already configured
• vESXi02, vESXi03 – vPhysical VMHost, not configured

6. AUTODEPLOYVM
Same OS requirements as vCenter.
• Install Windows Server 2008 R2 per your standards.
• Configure RDP.
• Install .NET 3.5.1 and pre-reqs.
• Install Solarwinds TFTP Server.
• Add firewall rule to allow inbound TFTP (69/udp).
• Install Auto Deploy from vCenter media.
o Use administrator@vsphere.local or service acct.

7. DHCPSETTINGSPART1/2
View Auto Deploy configuration of vCenter and copy settings
for use with DHCP server.
• Launch vSphere Web Client.
• Home -> vCenter -> <vCenter Object> -> Manage -> Settings
-> Auto Deploy
• Copy the BIOS DHCP File Name (option 67) and iPXE Boot
URL (option 66) values.
• Download the TFTP Boot Zip. Uncompress in TFTP Root
o Don’t need the zip, can discard.
o URL is not password protected, can bookmark for
later.

8. DHCPSETTINGSPART2/2
Modify DHCP scope:
• Option 66 – “next-server <ip>”
o Optional: “option tftp-server-name <ip>”, did not need
• Option 67 – “option bootfile-name <filename>”
• Restart service.

9. HOSTPROFILES-DESCRIPTION
• Requires Enterprise Plus license.
• Useful for attaching consistent settings across devices,
ensuring compliance over time.
• Profiles reliant on similar hardware (machine specific).
• Answer file provides host specific information.
• Tricky and time-consuming! May take multiple attempts to
generate a profile that satisfies your needs.
• Not for the faint of heart.
• Could be a vBrownBag of its own!

10. HOSTPROFILES–STATEFULCREATION
Create a “stateful” profile:
• There is no editor, must extract from an existing VMHost.
• Use vESXi01 as the reference host.
• Uncheck everything except:
Advanced Configuration Settings ->
System Image Cache Configuration ->
System Image Cache Configuration ->
System Image Cache Settings ->
Enable stateful installs on hosts
• Could also include root’s password, syslog and ntp settings,
and other hardware independent configuration.
• If your hardware is all the same, use the full profile.
• Always test with one device, don’t mass produce crap.

11. HOSTPROFILE–WHYSTATEFUL?
I used a stateful install for simplicity. When should you use it?
Use Stateful:
• Small system or management cluster – Physical hosts cannot
be dependent on VMs to provide the hypervisor.
• Don’t have Enterprise Plus and want VMHosts to work 61
days later.
• Can’t afford to wait extra 10+ minutes for PXE boot + install.
Use Stateless:
• Deploying similar hardware en mass – With a single rule,
deploy a large number of hosts with zero touch.
• Can upgrade/downgrade images or VIBs with a single change
to Auto Deploy rule and a reboot.

12. POWERCLI+IMAGEBUILDER
Commands:
• Connect-VIServer
• Get-Cluster – Cluster to add VMHost to.
• Get-VMHostProfile – Find our stateful profile.
• $HostRangePattern – http://bit.ly/1eTgfnO for other patterns.
• Add-EsxSoftwareDepot – Remote or offline.
• Get-EsxImageProfile – Select profile from the depot.
• New-DeployRule – Create a new rule.
• Set-DeployRuleSet – Overwrite existing rules, or…
• Add-DeployRule – Add to existing rules.
Customize with:
• New-EsxImageProfile – Clone existing image.
• Add-EsxSoftwarePackage – Additional VIBs, see
http://bit.ly/1eBmIne
• Export-EsxImageProfile – Create a zip bundle or ISO.

13. POWERCLI+IMAGEBUILDERSCRIPT
Connect-VIServer vcenter.insidelab.nelson.va
$Cluster = Get-Cluster
$HostProfile = Get-VMHostProfile stateful
$HostRangePattern = "ipv4=172.19.0.241-172.19.0.249"
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot
https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-
index.xml
#New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile ESXi-5.5.0-20131201001s-standard -Name
Lab-5.5-Standard -Vendor Nelson
# Add VIBs here with Add-EsxSoftwarePackage
# Export to a bundle or an ISO if necessary
#Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile Lab-5.5-Standard -ExportToISO C:lab-
5.5-standard.iso
$ImageProfile = Get-EsxImageProfile -Name "ESXi-5.5.0-20140302001-
standard"
New-DeployRule -Name vBrownBagDeploy -Item
$HostProfile,$ImageProfile,$Cluster -Pattern $HostRangePattern
Set-DeployRuleSet -DeployRule vBrownBagDeploy
Get-DeployRuleSet

14. POWERCLI+IMAGEBUILDER–HOWITWORKS
How it works:
• PoSH uses Objects.
• New-DeployRule applies objects intelligently.
o Auto Deploy Rules Engine determines what should
happen.
o Auto Deploy Server serves images and profiles to clients.
• Our rules apply an image, a host profile, and a cluster at
once.
o Host Profiles are attached for compliance, but failures do
not abort the process.
• SoftwareDepot “goes away” once PoSH session ends, still
remembered in Rules Engine. Save your script for future
editing.

15. POWERCLI+IMAGEBUILDER–REMOTESOFTWAREDEPOT
Using a remote software depot causes the contents to be
downloaded on first use.
If your vCenter network is restricted, use an offline bundle!
PS C:Usersrnelson0> New-DeployRule -Name vBrownBagDeploy -Item
$HostProfile,$ImageProfile,$Cluster -Pattern $HostRangePattern
Downloading misc-cnic-register 1.72.1.v50.1i-1vmw.550.0.0.1331820
Downloaded 0 bytes...Downloaded 0 bytes...Downloaded 0 bytes...Downloaded
10,904 bytes...Download finished, uploading to AutoDeploy...
Upload finished.
Downloading scsi-lpfc820 8.2.3.1-129vmw.550.0.0.1331820
Downloaded 0 bytes...Downloaded 0 bytes...Downloaded 0 bytes...Downloaded 0
bytes...Downloaded 163,840 bytes...Downloaded 410,516 bytes...Download
finished, uploading to AutoDeploy...
Upload finished.
...

16. DHCPRESERVATIONS
Create DHCP reservations:
• One per VMHost.
• Must be in the correct scope AND in the range defined in
your Auto Deploy rules.
• Restart service.
host vesxi02 {
hardware ethernet 00:50:56:9a:7b:ce;
fixed-address 172.19.0.242;
option host-name vesxi02;
}

17. PXEBOOT
• Power on your (v)hardware and initiate a PXE boot.
• sudo make me a sandwich
• Return to a VMHost running the image you specified, with a
stateful install and in the cluster.
• Take it out of maintenance mode and start using it!

18. SUMMARY
One-time steps:
• Created an Auto Deploy VM.
• Installed/configured TFTP.
Repeated steps:
• Update DHCP configuration.
• Select/Create a host profile.
• Create Image Builder images and rules.
• Deploy hosts.
• Make a sandwich.
This is just the start of your SDDC – bare metal hypervisor
provisioning with manual touch.

19. INCREASEDAUTOMATION
What’s next:
• Apply a more complete host profile.
• Automate DNS configuration, DHCP reservations, Host
Profiles and Image Builder.
• Tie it all into a single workflow.
• Receive MACs from your vendor before devices ship and
configure auto deploy. On-site racks and stacks and powers
on. 60 minutes later your DC is up and running.
• Take small steps, continue pushing toward the end goal!

20. TROUBLESHOOTING–PXE&SWITCHCONFIG,TFTP
What do you do when things don’t work? Start with the
physical layer and work your way up the stack.
PXE & Switch Configurations:
• PXE & vSphere DHCP clients can act differently. Beware
VLAN configuration!
• Not all switch providers are equal. Know how they handle
native vs. tagged vs. access port configuration.
• VLAN tagged (trunked) boot NICs not recommended, but if
it’s all you have…
TFTP:
• Install a client and try it yourself.

21. TROUBLESHOOTING–DHCPOPTIONS
DHCP Options:
• Always make sure DHCP was restarted after making changes.
• Check that the DHCP server is providing addresses in the
correct scope/VLAN. Stand up a VM and make sure it gets an
address – that’s the only reason the test VM exists.
• Use tcpdump to see packets on the wire and ensure options
66 and 67 are set.
• More details at http://rnelson0.com/2014/04/07/auto-
deploy-deep-dive-part-4/

22. TROUBLESHOOTING–HOSTPROFILES1/2
Host Profiles:
• Applied profile for compliance is not the profile used by
Auto Deploy. If a profile is applied to a cluster, it will
override the profile you attempted to attach to the VMHost.
Unattach the profile from the cluster. Useful in clusters with
mixed hardware VMHosts.
• If it’s not applying properly, uncheck all suspect items in the
profile and re-enable one at a time until error occurs. Very
specific, may take many iterations.

23. TROUBLESHOOTING–HOSTPROFILES2/2
Host Profiles:
• Always check KB for known bugs. Examples:
o vMotion not enabled on vmkernel ports.
o Default GW lost after reboot.
• Can enhance with PowerCLI and other tools – don’t need to
use Host Profiles exclusively.

24. BONUSPOINTS–LINUXONLY
 If you’re using the VCSA, perhaps you want to be as
Windows-free as possible (damn you, VUM!). The VCSA can
provide Auto Deploy, use ISC DHCP and ISC TFTP to avoid
Windows dependencies.
 Can fit in 4.5 GB RAM!
• Install tftp-server package (CentOS).
• Un-disable tftpd in /etc/xinetd.d/tftp.
• Start and enable xinetd.
• Download the deploy-tftp.zip files to /var/lib/tftproot.
• Change next-server in DHCP scope.
o Be explicit, it’s self-documenting.

25. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Acknowledgements:
Vladan Seget, https://twitter.com/@vladan,
http://www.vladan.fr/vmware-vsphere-autodeploy/
VMware docs, http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-
55/index.jsp#com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc/GUID-
9A827220-177E-40DE-99A0-E1EB62A49408.html
#vBrownBag community
You guys rock!