Introduction

VMware Auto Deploy helps an administrator to fast-provision multiple ESXi servers without having the need to insert the ESXi Image DVD to the server's local DVD ROM drive.

In this chapter, we will learn how to setup an auto deployed virtual infrastructure. The new features in vSphere 5.1, such as the stateless caching and stateful install, will further ease the work of an administrator.

VMware Auto Deploy doesn't work on its own. It needs a PXE environment configured for the server to boot up, talk to the Auto Deploy server, and use an appropriate image.

PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) is an environment to boot computers using the network interface on them, without the need for a local/remote data storage or a preinstalled operating system.

We need the following components configured for an ESXi server to be auto deployed.