Duplicating a Host Profile
An existing Host Profile can be cloned to create a duplicate of the same. This can be achieved by using the "Duplicate Host Profile" operation. Keep in mind that only a Host Profile with a reference host associated with it can be duplicated.
How to do it…
The following procedure will guide you through the steps required to duplicate an existing Host Profile:
- Connect to the vCenter server using the vSphere Web Client.
- Go to the vCenter Inventory Home tab and navigate to Rules and Profiles | Host Profiles.
- Select the Host Profile that you intend to duplicate and click on the Duplicate Host Profile icon:
- On the Duplicate Host Profile wizard screen, supply a name and an optional description for the duplicate profile and click on Next to continue:
- On the Ready to complete screen, click on Finish to create the duplicate Host Profile.
- The Recent Tasks pane should show a Duplicate Host Profile task in progress and a subsequent Create a Host Profile task completed successfully.
How it works…
The Host Profile duplicate operation will create an exact duplicate of the original profile. Unlike the export operation, which discards the password data, the duplicate operation includes it. This is because the duplicate operation doesn't export the contents to a file.
Imported Host Profiles cannot be duplicated since they don't have a reference host associated with them. Attempts to do so will throw a warning indicating the same, as shown in the following screenshot:
However, copying the settings to it from a reference host creates the association so it can be duplicated.