Transitioning to VMware vSphere Configuration Profiles from Host Profiles

About vSphere Configuration Profiles Transitioning from Host Profiles Manage Configuration at Cluster Level Create Configuration Pre-check and Apply Summary Discover more from VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Blog Related Articles Applying GitOps Principles to Maintain Desired State Configuration using VMware vSphere Configuration Profile - Part 3 Transitioning to VMware vSphere Configuration Profiles from Host Profiles Unlocking VMware Cloud Foundation Enterprise Value: Cloud Field Day 25 vSphere Configuration Profiles, first introduced in VMware vSphere 8.0, allows VMware Cloud Foundation administrators to manage the ESX host configuration at a cluster level. In this article, we will discuss how this feature compares to Host Profiles, and how to transition from Host Profiles to vSphere Configuration Profiles in vSphere 9. Note: Screenshots and steps described are based on vSphere 9.0.2. Certain UI elements or verbiage may differ in earlier or later versions. vSphere Configuration Profiles is a new feature, first introduced in vSphere 8.0, that is a successor to Host Profiles, in its ability to manage ESX host configurations at scale. Host Profiles is made unwieldy by its requirement that the host configuration needs to be specified in its entirety. This places an undue burden on administrators, who may only be aware of the changes that they want to make to the configuration. vSphere Configuration Profiles, in contrast, only requires the admin to define the changes to the default configuration. This also makes the configuration document human-readable and much more manageable. Administrators currently managing ESX host configurations using Host Profiles on a cluster whose lifecycle is managed by vSphere Lifecycle Manager images, can transition their clusters to use vSphere Configuration Profiles. Note: Using vSphere Configuration Profiles with baseline managed clusters are supported in vSphere 8 U3. However, baseline managed clusters are no longer supported in vSphere 9 and Host Profiles are deprecated, but still supported, in vSphere 9.