VMware Host Profile -Part 2

Configuration Policies in Host Profiles
 In My previous post on Host profile,  Host Profile- Part1  discussed about the overview of host profile and how to create it. Let’s take the detailed look at each configuration setting in this post.
The below are the list of configuration settings captured as part of host profile information.
Memory Reservation Configuration (Service console memory reservation)
Storage configuration (NFS)
Networking Configuration
Date and Time Configuration (NTP settings)
Firewall Configuration
Security Configuration
Service Configuration
Advanced configuration information
User configuration
User Group Configuration
Authentication Configuration (AD Domain)


Let’s look at each of the configurations policy items one by one.
Memory Reservation Configuration:
This setting captures the service console memory reservation settings of the reference ESX host and this will not be captured in ESXI host.

There are 2 Options to edit these settings in host profile
1.Configure a fixed amount of memory for the service console
We can define the Service Console Memory Reservation size

2. User must explicitly choose the policy option
Apply Hos Profile wizard will prompt the user to enter the desired configuration values before applying the host profile.Profile will not be applied until the required values are manually provided by user.

Since ESXi host doesn’t have a service console and Memory reservation Configuration for ESXi host in the host profile will contain any captured information.
The Memory Reservation settings of the reference host in the host profile are abstracted  from the memory reservation configuration of the ESX host.Please refer the below snapshot.

Storage configuration
This setting captures the storage (only NFS) configuration of the reference host. It ensures that NFS configuration of ESX hosts is consistent across the environment by applying this profile.

There are 2 Options to edit these settings in host profile
1.Create NFS datastore with fixed configuration
If we have our reference host configured NFS. This setting will display the NFS storage configuration information or we can define it manually to apply to the host while remediation.

2. User must explicitly choose the policy option
Apply Hos Profile wizard will prompt the user to enter the desired configuration values before applying the host profile.Profile will not be applied until the required values are manually provided by user.

Compliance Details:
If you have unchecked the “Validate that NFS datastore exists with the following Properties” , This particular settings will not be validated as part of compliance check and will not report as non-complaint when host is not configured with this settings.

The NFS storage settings of the reference host in the host profile are abstracted  from the storage configuration of the ESX host . Please refer the below snapshot.

Date and Time Configuration (NTP settings)


This setting captures the NTP servers and time zone settings of the reference host . It validates that list of NTP servers and the configured Time Zone is set on the destination host.

There are 2 Options to edit these settings in host profile
1.Configure a fixed NTP configuration
We can manually define the  time zone and NTP servers IP address for the ESX  to sync the time with.

2. User must explicitly choose the policy option
Apply Hos Profile wizard will prompt the user to enter the desired configuration values before applying the host profile.Profile will not be applied until the required values are manually provided by user.

The Date and Time configuration of  the reference host in the host profile are abstracted  from the time configuration of the ESX host . Please refer the below snapshot.

Firewall Configuration
 This setting captures the firewall configuration of ESX host and ESXi does not include a firewall because it runs a limited set of well-known services.

Firewall settings contain the rule set configuration which contains the ports or services specific firewall configuration. So that the destination host will be configured as exactly as same as the reference host to maintain consistency among the host in your environment.

The firewall settings of the reference host in the host profile are abstracted  from the Security profile  Configuration of the ESX host.

Since network settings have lots of detailed settings to look at it , I will cover network configuration and other settings in my upcoming Post.


Thanks for Reading!!!!!