Click Home, then at the bottom select Host Profiles [here
you can create new profiles, manage existing profiles, edit the answer files,
and edit the attached cluster].
Next you will see the Getting
Started screen. You can create a profile from here, by selecting the hyperlink
“Create a Host Profile” or you can create from the button on the top of the
task bar.
No matter which method you chose to begin creating a Host
Profile, the ‘Create Host Profile’ wizard opens and you are prompted to either
create a profile from an existing host or import an existing profile. [If you
create from an existing host, make sure the entire network, storage, etc.
configurations are satisfactory before choosing a host. This should be planned
in advanced]
Click Next.
Select the host from which the
profile should be created from.
Click Next.
Give your profile a name, and add something in the
Description field [insert dates, and configuration information]. This is not required,
but having some description helps when deciding to apply a profile to a host if
Profile Manager is accessed by multiple people.
Click Next.
The Wizard shows you a summary of the new profile, click
finish if everything looks acceptable, otherwise click back and edit the areas
that need to change.
Once you click finish, notice the Active Task bar.
When the task completes, you should see your new profile in
the list of available profiles on the left [this example we created TEST01]
Now, depending on the profile you would like to use, you
will need to assign a datacenter and host to the profile for compliance. To
assign a datacenter, right click the new profile and select Attach
Host/Cluster.
First attach the Cluster by selecting the cluster, then
clicking the Attach button. Next add the individual hosts underneath the
cluster, clicking attach after each one. You can add multiple clusters and
multiple hosts. When you are finished, click OK.
You will see the task in the
active task bar at the bottom. When it is complete, your new profile is
available, and the hosts and datacenter [cluster] have been attached to the new
profile.
In order for a host to check compliance against a profile,
it must first have a completed answer file.
Think of the answer file as containing the “dynamic”
information within the environment [IP addresses, mac addresses, server name,
etc.] All of these things are the dynamic information that should change from
one host to another [with the exception of a duplicated DR site]. You can view
the status of a hosts answer file by going to Home > Host Profiles >
select the profile > click the Hosts and Clusters tab > then view the
answer file status column.
To edit, the answer file on any given hosts, simply right
click on the host, and select either Check, Update, Import or Export. Any
changes you make to the answer file will not take effect unless you click
Update.
If you make a mistake or are unsure about the changes you
have made, simply click Cancel! You will not see all of the same options in the
Answer File as you do the Profile. Remember Answer = Dynamic.
Once you have been through the process of inserting and
applying all of the ‘user prompted’ information, Update the answer file. In the
status should change to complete. You can check compliance against the profile
to see if the changes you made are still in compliance or not. If not, put the
host in maintenance mode, and apply the profile.
Host Profiles:
By right clicking on the Host Profile, you have a couple of
options, they include:
Edit Profile: by editing the profile, you make changes to
the “blueprint” of the golden host configuration without actually changing any
configurations on any of the hosts, until you’ve applied that newly changed
Host Profile to your hosts.
Enable/Disable Profile Configuration: This allows you to
apply specific configurations to the hosts in which you are checking
compliance. Simply uncheck the box and click ok.
Clone, Delete, Export. [These should be self-explanatory].
Change Reference Host: the reference host is the host in
which the profile was originally created from. For example, I have 3 hosts in
my environment, Host1, Host2, Host3. I originally created Profile A from Host1,
but my networking guy made drastic changes to the virtual networking on Host2,
and those changes need to be applied to all of the hosts. By changing the reference
host from Host1 to Host2, I can capture the changes and Update the profile to
reflect.
Update Profile From Reference Host: Continuing from the
example above, in order for the Profile to reflect the changes the Networking
guy made, I will need to not only Change my reference host, but also Update my
profile from the Reference Host. Updating the profile, changes the Static
information contained in the profile.
After you have changed the reference host, and updated the
profile from the reference host, be sure to check compliance against the other
hosts in the cluster. If any are not compliant, put the host in maintenance
mode and apply the profile.
Some TROUBLE-shooting Encounters & Measures:
General Error…
After some digging around and a lot of headache… check to
make sure that IF your hosts log files are stored somewhere OTHER than local to
the host, that the logging is working!! Sometimes this can be remediated by
rebooting the host. Be sure to take the steps of turning off HA, and DRS if
enabled on the cluster, then migrate the virtual machines off and reboot the
hardware. This should kick start all of the services and fix any connection
issues to the hosts logs.
