Deploying Virtual

Machines

© 2022 VMware, Inc.

Importance
Virtual machines are the foundation of your virtual infrastructure. Deploying VMs effectively
involves recognizing the different types of virtual hardware. It also requires skills in creating,
cloning and managing VMs and templates, modifying VMs, and updating templates.

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Module Lessons
1. Creating Virtual Machines
2. Virtual Machine Hardware Deep Dive
3. Modifying Virtual Machines
4. Creating Templates and Cloning VMs
5. Introduction to Content Libraries
6. Subscribing to Content Libraries
7. Managing Templates in a Content Library

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Creating Virtual Machines

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
• Create and provision a virtual machine
• Explain the importance of VMware Tools
• Install VMware Tools
• Remove a virtual machine

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About Provisioning Virtual Machines
You can create VMs in several ways.

Provisioning Method Use vSphere Client Use VMware Host Client

Use the New Virtual Machine Yes Yes
wizard.
Deploy VMs from existing Yes No
templates or clones.
Deploy VMs from OVF Yes Yes
templates.

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Creating VMs with the New Virtual Machine Wizard
In the vSphere Client, you can use the New Virtual Machine wizard to create a VM.

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New Virtual Machine Wizard: Name, Folder, Compute Resource
You can use the New Virtual
Machine wizard in the vSphere
Client to create a VM.
The New Virtual Machine
wizard prompts you for
standard information:
• The VM name
• Folder in which to place the
VM
• Resource on which the VM
runs

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New Virtual Machine Wizard: Storage, Compatibility
You select the datastore on
which to store the VM’s files.
You select the ESXi version
that this virtual machine will
be compatible with.

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New Virtual Machine Wizard: Guest Operating System
You select the guest OS to be installed in the VM.

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New Virtual Machine Wizard: Virtual Hardware
You can configure the virtual
machine hardware. The default
values for CPU, memory and
hard disk size are based on the
guest OS that you selected.
You can also mount the ISO
image containing the guest
operating system installation
files.

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Installing the Guest Operating System
Installing a guest operating system in your VM is similar to installing it on a physical computer.

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About VMware Tools
VMware Tools is a set of features that enhance the performance of a VM’s guest operating
system.
Benefits and features include:
• Device drivers
— SVGA display
— VMXNET/VMXNET3
— Balloon driver for memory management
— Sync driver for quiescing I/O
— Paravirtual SCSI controller
• Increased graphical performance
• Improved mouse performance
• Guest OS heartbeat service
• Time synchronization
• Ability to shut down the VM remotely
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Installing VMware Tools
Ensure that you select the latest version of VMware Tools for your guest operating system.
To find out which VMware Tools ISO images are bundled with vSphere 8, see the vSphere 8
Release Notes.
The method for installing VMware Tools depends on the guest operating system type.

Guest Operating VMware Tools Installation Method

System Type
Microsoft Windows Install from windows.iso for Vista and later guests
Linux Use one of the following methods:
• Install from linux.iso.
• For later Linux distributions, use open-vm-tools, available
in various Linux package management systems, such as
yum, apt, or rpm.

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Downloading VMware Tools
You can download a specific version of VMware Tools from the VMware Tools product download
page.

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Deploying OVF Templates
You can deploy any VM or
virtual appliance stored in OVF
format.
Virtual appliances are
preconfigured VMs:
• They are usually designed
for a single purpose.
• They are also available from
VMware Marketplace.

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Removing VMs
You can remove a VM in the following ways:
• Remove from the inventory:
— The VM is unregistered from the ESXi host and vCenter.
— The VM’s files remain on the disk.
— The VM can later be registered (added) to the inventory.
• Delete from disk:
— All VM files are permanently deleted from the datastore.
— The VM is unregistered from the ESXi host and vCenter.

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Lab 1: Creating and Removing a Virtual Machine
Use the vSphere Client to create a VM, remove a VM from the inventory, and delete a VM from
the datastore:
1. Create a Virtual Machine
2. Remove the Virtual Machine from the vCenter Inventory
3. Register the Virtual Machine to Re-Add it to the vCenter Inventory
4. Delete the Virtual Machine from the Datastore

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Lab 2: (Simulation) Installing VMware Tools
Use the vSphere Client to install VMware Tools to an existing Windows VM:
1. Mount the VMware Tools Image to the VM's DVD Drive
2. Install VMware Tools with the VMware Tools Setup Wizard
3. Verify that VMware Tools Is Running in the Guest OS

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Review of Learner Objectives
• Create and provision a virtual machine
• Explain the importance of VMware Tools
• Install VMware Tools
• Remove a virtual machine

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Virtual Machine Hardware Deep Dive

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
• Identify the files that make up a VM
• Compare VM hardware versions
• Recognize the virtual hardware components of a VM
• Navigate the vSphere Client and examine VM settings
• Identify methods for accessing a VM console

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Virtual Machine Encapsulation
Each VM is stored either as a
collection of files or objects:
• Files in a directory on a
VMFS or NFS datastore
• Objects on a vSAN or
vSphere Virtual Volumes
datastore
Each virtual disk is
encapsulated into a single file
or object.

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About Virtual Machine Files
A VM includes a set of related files.

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About VM Virtual Hardware

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Virtual Hardware Versions
The virtual hardware version, or VM compatibility level, determines the operating system
functions that a VM supports.
Do not use a later version that is not supported by the VMware product.

Compatibility Virtual Hardware Version

ESXi 8.0 20
ESXi 7.0 U2 and later 19
ESXi 7.0 U1 and later 18
ESXi 7.0 and later 17
ESXi 6.7 U2 and later 15
ESXi 6.7 and later 14
Virtual hardware version 16 is specific to Workstation and Fusion Pro.

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About CPU and Memory
You can add, change, or configure CPU and memory resources to improve VM performance.
The maximum number of virtual CPUs (vCPUs) that you can assign to a VM depends on the
following factors:
• The number of logical CPUs on the host
• The type and version of installed guest operating system
A VM running on an ESXi 8.0 host can have up to 768 vCPUs.
The maximum memory size of a VM depends on the VM’s compatibility setting.
The maximum memory size of a VM with ESXi 8.0 compatibility running on ESXi 8.0 is 24 TB.

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Compute Maximums
vSphere provides compute maximums, which are available at https://configmax.vmware.com.

vSphere 8
Virtual CPUs per VM 768
Memory per VM 24 TB
CPUs per host 896
Memory per host 24 TB
Hosts per cluster 96

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About Virtual Storage
Virtual disks are connected to virtual storage adapters.
The ESXi host offers VMs several choices in storage adapters:
• BusLogic Parallel
• LSI Logic Parallel
• LSI Logic SAS
• VMware Paravirtual SCSI
• AHCI SATA controller
• Virtual NVMe

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About Thick-Provisioned Virtual Disks
Thick provisioning uses all the defined disk
space at the creation of the virtual disk,
regardless of how much disk space is actually
used by the guest operating system file
system.
Thick-provisioned disk types are either eager
zeroed or lazy zeroed:
• In an eager-zeroed thick-provisioned disk,
every block is prefilled with a zero.
• In a lazy-zeroed thick-provisioned disk, a
block is filled with zeroes before data is
written for the first time.

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About Thin-Provisioned Virtual Disks
With thin provisioning, VMs use the disk space
as needed:
• Virtual disks use only the capacity needed
to hold the current files.
• The VM always sees the full allocated disk
size.
Run the unmap command to reclaim the
unused space from the virtual disks.
Reporting and alerts help manage allocations
and capacity.
You can mix thick and thin formats.
The following examples show efficient use of
storage:
• Provisioned space for virtual disks: 140 GB
• Available datastore capacity: 100 GB
• Used datastore capacity: 80 GB
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Managing Datastores Containing Thin-Provisioned Disks
When the total provisioned space of thin-provisioned disks is greater than the size of the
datastore, the datastore becomes overcommitted.

To actively monitor datastore capacity: To actively manage datastore capacity:

• Set alarms to send notifications about: • Increase datastore capacity when
necessary.
– Datastore disk overallocation
• Use vSphere Storage vMotion to mitigate
– VM disk use
space use problems on a particular
• Use reporting to view space use. datastore.

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Thick-Provisioned and Thin-Provisioned Disks
Virtual disk options differ in terms of creation time, block allocation, layout, and zeroing out of
allocated file blocks.

Thick Provisioned Thick Provisioned Thin

Lazy-Zeroed Eager-Zeroed Provisioned
Creation time Fast Slow and proportional to Fastest
disk size
Block allocation Fully preallocated Fully preallocated Allocated and zeroed
out on demand at
first write to block
Virtual disk Higher chance of Higher chance of Layout varies
layout contiguous file blocks contiguous file blocks according to the
dynamic state of the
volume at time of
block allocation
Zeroing out of File blocks are zeroed File blocks are allocated File blocks are
allocated file out when each block is and zeroed out when zeroed out when
blocks first written to disk is created blocks are
allocated
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About Virtual Networks
VMs and physical machines
communicate through a virtual
network.
When you configure
networking for a VM, you
select or change the following
settings:
• Network adapter type
• Port group to connect to
• Network connection state
• Whether to connect to the
network when the VM
powers on

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About Virtual Network Adapters
When you configure a VM, you can add network adapters (NICs) and specify the adapter type.
Whenever possible, select VMXNET3.

Network Adapter Description

Type
E1000-E1000E Emulated version of an Intel Gigabit Ethernet NIC, with drivers
available in newer guest operating systems.
VMXNET3 Available only with VMware Tools.
Flexible Can function as either a Vlance or VMXNET adapter.
PVRDMA Paravirtualized device that provides improved virtual device
performance. It provides an RDMA-like interface for vSphere guests.
SR-IOV pass- Allows VM and physical adapter to exchange data without
through using the VMkernel as an intermediary.

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About PCI Passthrough Devices
Passthrough devices help your environment use resources efficiently and improve
performance.
You connect a VM's guest OS to PCI or PCIe passthrough devices that are configured on an ESXi
host.

PCI Passthrough Device Description

vSphere DirectPath I/O • VM accesses directly the physical PCI or PCIe device on a
specific host.
• VM is restricted to that particular host.
vSphere Dynamic • PCI or PCIe passthrough device is not directly mapped to the
DirectPath I/O VM.
• Allows vSphere DRS to place a VM on any ESXi host in the
cluster that provides the assigned passthrough device
NVIDIA GRID GPU • Graphics device that uses the NVIDIA GRID vGPU
technology
• Lets VMs use partial, full, or multiple GPU allocations

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Other Virtual Devices
A VM must have a vCPU and virtual memory. The addition of other virtual devices makes the
VM more useful:
• CD/DVD drive: For connecting to a CD, DVD, or ISO image.
• USB 3.0 and 3.1: Supported with host-connected and client-connected devices.
• Floppy drive: For connecting a VM to a floppy drive or a floppy image.
• Generic SCSI devices: A VM can be connected to additional SCSI adapters.
• vGPUs: A VM can use GPUs on the physical host for high-computation activities.
• Precision Clock: Provides a virtual machine with access to the system time of the primary
ESXi host.
• vTPM: Trusted Platform Module 2.0 virtual cryptoprocessor, providing hardware-based
security-related functions.

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About the Virtual Machine Console
The VM console provides the mouse, keyboard, and screen features to control the VM.
You can use the remote console or the Web console to connect to client devices.

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Lab 3: Adding Virtual Hardware
Use the vSphere Client to examine a virtual machine's configuration and add virtual hardware
to the virtual machine:
1. Examine a Virtual Machine's Configuration
2. Add Virtual Hard Disks to the Virtual Machine
3. Compare Thin-Provisioned and Thick-Provisioned Disks

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Review of Learner Objectives
• Identify the files that make up a VM
• Compare VM hardware versions
• Recognize the virtual hardware components of a VM
• Navigate the vSphere Client and examine VM settings
• Identify methods for accessing a VM console

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Modifying Virtual Machines

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
• Describe virtual machine settings and options
• Add a hot-pluggable device
• Dynamically increase the size of a virtual disk

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Modifying Virtual Machine Settings
You can modify a VM’s
configuration by editing the
VM's settings:
• Add virtual hardware:
– You can add some
hardware while the VM is
powered on.
• Remove virtual hardware:
– You can remove some
hardware only when the
VM is powered off.
• Set VM options.
• Control a VM’s CPU and
memory resources.

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Hot-Pluggable Devices
With the hot plug option, you
can add resources to a running
VM.
Examples of hot-pluggable
devices:
• USB controllers
• Ethernet adapters
• Hard disk devices
With supported guest
operating systems, you can
also add CPU and memory
while the VM is powered on.

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Dynamically Increasing Virtual Disk Size
You can increase the size of a
virtual disk that belongs to a
powered-on VM.
• It must not have snapshots
attached.
• It might require system
tools to make the new space
usable.

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Inflating Thin-Provisioned Disks
Thin-provisioned virtual disks can be converted to a thick, eager-zeroed format.
Choose one of the following methods to inflate a thin-provisioned disk on a VM that is either
powered on or off:
• Select the VM’s file with the .vmdk extension and select Inflate.
• Select thick-provisioned when you use vSphere Storage vMotion to migrate the VM to a
different datastore.

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VM Options: General Settings
You can use the VM Options tab to modify properties such as the display name for the VM and
the type of guest operating system that is installed.

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VM Options: VMware Tools Settings
You can use the VMware Tools controls to customize the power buttons on the VM.

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VM Options: VM Boot Settings
Occasionally, you might need to set the VM boot options.

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Lab 4: Modifying Virtual Machines
Modify a VM’s memory size, increase a VM's storage size, and rename a VM:
1. Adjust Memory Allocation on a Powered-On Virtual Machine
2. Increase the Size of a Virtual Disk
3. Configure the Guest OS to Recognize the Additional Disk Space
4. Rename a Virtual Machine in the vCenter Inventory

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Review of Learner Objectives
• Describe virtual machine settings and options
• Add a hot-pluggable device
• Dynamically increase the size of a virtual disk

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Creating Templates and Cloning VMs

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
• Create a template of a virtual machine
• Deploy a virtual machine from a template
• Clone a virtual machine
• Create customization specifications for guest operating systems

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About Templates
A template is a static image of
a virtual machine. You use
templates to create and
provision new VMs.
A template typically includes:
• A guest operating system
• One or more applications
• A specific VM hardware
configuration
• VMware Tools
To use templates, you must be
connected to vCenter.

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Creating a Template: Clone VM to Template
You can create templates using different methods. One method is to clone the VM to a
template. The VM can be powered on or off.

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Creating a Template: Convert VM to Template
You can create a template by converting a VM to a template. In this case, the VM must be
powered off.

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Creating a Template: Clone a Template
You can create a template from an existing template.

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Updating Templates
You update a template to include new patches, add and remove virtual hardware, upgrade
VMware Tools, update the VM hardware version, and install new applications.

To update a template:
1. Convert the template to a VM.
• VMs cannot be deployed from this
template while it is a VM.
2. Place the VM on an isolated network to
prevent user access.
3. Make appropriate changes to the VM.
4. Convert the VM to a template.

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Deploying VMs from a Template
To deploy a VM, you must provide information such as the VM name, inventory location, host,
datastore, and guest operating system customization data.

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Cloning Virtual Machines
Cloning a VM creates a VM that is an exact copy of the original:
• Cloning is an alternative to deploying a VM from a template.
• The source VM can be powered on or off.

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Guest Operating System Customization
When you deploy a VM from a template or clone a VM, you can customize some aspects of the
guest operating system.
By customizing a guest operating system, you can change information, including the following
details:
• Computer name
• Network settings
• License settings
• Time zone
• Administrator or root password
• Windows Security Identifier

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About Customization Specifications
You can create a customization specification to prepare the guest operating system:
• Specifications are stored in the vCenter database.
• Windows and Linux guests are supported.

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Customizing the Guest Operating System
When cloning a VM or deploying a VM from a template, you can use a customization
specification to prepare the guest operating system.

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Lab 5: Creating Templates and Deploying VMs
Create a VM template, create a customization specification, and deploy VMs from a template:
1. Create a Virtual Machine Template
2. Create Customization Specifications
3. Deploy Virtual Machines from a Template

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Review of Learner Objectives
• Create a template of a virtual machine
• Deploy a virtual machine from a template
• Clone a virtual machine
• Create customization specifications for guest operating systems

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Introduction to Content Libraries

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
• Identify the benefits of a content library
• Recognize types of content libraries
• Create a local content library
• Deploy a virtual machine from a content library

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About Content Libraries
Content libraries are repositories of OVF templates and other file types that can be shared and
synchronized across vCenter systems globally.

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Benefits of Content Libraries
Storage efficiency and consistency are key reasons to install
and use a content library.
Using content libraries, administrators can perform the
following functions:
• Store and share content, such as templates, ISO images,
scripts.
• Perform distributed file management.
• Synchronize content libraries across sites and vCenter
instances.
• Mount an ISO file directly from a content library.
• Maintain versions of VM templates.
Content libraries are stored on vSphere datastores.

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Content Library Types
Content is stored in one of the content library types:
• Local: Content that is controlled by the administrator
• Published: A local library that is available for subscription
• Subscribed: A library that synchronizes with a published library
Administrators can change content in a local or published content library.
Users cannot change content in a subscribed content library.
A subscribed content library cannot be published.

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Content Library Interface
To create and manage your content libraries, from the main menu, select Content Libraries.

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Creating a Local Content Library
When you create a content library, you select the content library type, for example, Local
content library.

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Populating the Content Library with Templates
You can populate the content library with the following template types:

VM Templates: OVF Templates:

• Can be stored on any datastore type, except • Must be stored on the datastore (of any
NFS type) that is associated with the content
library
• Stored in the default disk format of the
datastore (for example, thick-provisioned • Stored in thin-provisioned format
eager-zeroed)
• Are not associated with a host
• Are associated with a host
• Do not appear in the vCenter inventory
• Appear in the vCenter inventory

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Adding VM or OVF Templates to a Content Library
When you clone a virtual machine into a template in a content library, you can select whether
to create a VM template or an OVF template.

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Adding OVF Templates to a Content Library
When you clone a template from the vCenter inventory into a template in a content library, the
template is stored as an OVF template in the library.

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Viewing Content Library Items
The content in the content
library is divided into
categories:
• Templates:
• VM templates
• OVF templates
• Other Types:
• All other file types, such
as ISO images

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Deploying VMs from a Content Library
You can deploy VMs from templates in a content library by using the New Virtual Machine
wizard.

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Lab 6: Using Local Content Libraries
Create a local content library to clone and deploy virtual machines:
1. Create a Local Content Library
2. Create an OVF Template in the Content Library
3. Create a VM Template in the Content Library
4. View the Content Library Templates
5. Deploy a VM from a Template in the Content Library

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Review of Learner Objectives
• Identify the benefits of a content library
• Recognize types of content libraries
• Create a local content library
• Deploy a virtual machine from a content library

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Subscribing to Content Libraries

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
• Publish content libraries
• Subscribe to a published content library

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Content Libraries: Local, Published, and Subscribed
You can publish a local content library so that other libraries can subscribe and download a
copy of the data.
After synchronization, both published and subscribed libraries contain the same items, or the
subscribed library contains the metadata for the items.

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Publishing a Content Library
You can enable publishing on a
local content library by editing
its settings.
You can add password
protection to the library.
Subscribed libraries use the
subscription URL to access the
published library.

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Subscribing to a Content Library
You subscribe a content library
to a published content library
by configuring the path to the
subscription URL:
• You can immediately
download all library content
to the storage location that
you configure.
• To save space, you can store
only metadata for items
until they are used.

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Viewing Content Libraries
The Content Libraries pane shows all local and subscribed libraries and whether publishing is
activated on a local library.

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Viewing Subscribed Content Library Templates
The OVF & OVA Templates
pane lists OVF templates. To
update the list, you select
ACTIONS > Synchronize.
The VM Templates pane lists
VM templates. To update the
list, you must create and
publish subscription in the
published library to push VM
templates to the subscribed
library.

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Creating a Subscription to Publish VM Templates
1. From the published library
pane, select ACTIONS >
New Subscription and
create a subscription.
2. After the subscription is
created, select the
subscription in the list and
click PUBLISH.
If you add new VM templates
to the published library, you
must publish them so that the
subscribed library receives
them.

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Synchronizing Libraries With or Without Enhanced Linked Mode
Transfer speeds are optimized during the synchronization of published and subscribed content
libraries in the same vCenter Single Sign-On domain.

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Advanced Configuration
You can use the Advanced Configuration page to control and optimize how a published library
stores and synchronizes content.

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Content Library Maximums
The content library has the following configuration maximums.

Configuration Item Maximum

Content library item size 1 TB
Total items per library 1,000
Total library items per vCenter instance (across all libraries) 2,000
Maximum number of concurrent sync operations on the published 16
library’s vCenter instance
Total number of libraries per vCenter instance 1,000

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Lab 7: Using Subscribed Content Libraries
Publish a local content library and create a second library that subscribes to it:
1. Publish a Local Content Library
2. Create a Subscribed Content Library
3. Create a Subscription for VM Templates
4. Deploy a VM from the Subscribed Content Library

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Review of Learner Objectives
• Publish content libraries
• Subscribe to a published content library

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Managing Templates in a Content
Library

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.

Learner Objectives
• Manage multiple versions of VM templates in content libraries

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Benefits of Using a Content Library to Manage VM Templates
When managed by a content library, you can
work with VM templates in the following ways:
• Make changes to VM templates by checking
them out.
• Deploy VMs while simultaneously patching
the VM template.
• Get a history of changes made to the VM
template.
• Access two copies of the VM template, the
previous and current versions. App-LibTemplate is managed by content
library SA-Local-Library.
• Revert to a previous version of the VM
template.

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Overview of the Template Versioning Process
To create a new version of a template, you perform the following steps:
1. Check out a VM from the template.
2. Make changes to the VM.
3. Check in the VM to the template.

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Checking Out a VM from the Template
To update a VM template, you use the Versioning tab to check out a VM from the template.

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Making Changes to the VM
After checking out the template to a VM, you can make hardware or software changes to the
VM.
You can change the VM while the VM template continues to be available for VM deployments.
If you do not want to keep the changes you made to the VM, you can discard the checked out
VM.

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Checking In the VM to the Template
After making changes to the VM, you check in the VM to the template.
The Check in notes box is required.

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Viewing Template Versions
The version information appears in the Versioning tab.
Each time you check in the VM back to the template, you create a new version of the VM
template.

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Deleting and Reverting to Template Versions
Delete a previous version of a VM template if you no longer want to allow the use of the
template.
Revert to a VM template version if:
• The latest VM template contains changes that you no longer need.
• You made a mistake during your last edit.

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Lab 8: Versioning Templates in the Content Library
Manage multiple versions of a VM template versioning in the local content library:
1. Check Out a VM Template in the Content Library
2. Make Changes to the VM Template
3. Check In the VM Template to the Content Library
4. Revert to a Previous Version of the VM Template

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Review of Learner Objectives
• Manage multiple versions of VM templates in content libraries

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Key Points
• vCenter provides features for provisioning virtual machines, such as templates, cloning, and
content libraries.
• By deploying VMs from a template, you can create many VMs easily and quickly.
• You can dynamically manage a VM's configuration by adding hot-pluggable devices and
increasing the size of a VM's virtual disk.
• You can publish a local content library so that other libraries can subscribe and download an
exact copy of the data.
• You can update a VM template managed by content library while the same VM template is
being used to deploy VMs.
Questions?

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