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Configure the Components › Configure CA Automation Suite for Clouds Base Configuration for ESX › Managing Virtual Machines in VMware ESX › VMware and Reservation Manager Terminology › Setting up VMware Environment

Setting up VMware Environment

Before you begin configuring the Reservation Manager, ensure to set up the VMware environment and make it operational.

Ensure the following details in the VMware infrastructure:

  1. Test that you can access vCenter by its URL (Default is https using port 443).
  2. VMware ESX host servers are connected and have at least one virtual machine or template registered.
  3. Datastores are connected and viewable within vCenter.

    Note: By default, the datastores are generated with a nonintuitive naming convention. If you want to change the name, ensure to change it before configuring with Reservation Manager.

  4. Create a virtual machine template for each operating system that you want to deploy.
  5. Verify that sysprep is installed if Windows XP and 2003 Standard and Enterprise Servers are deployed.
  6. Create a Custom Specification file for each operating system.

    Note: Because the Reservation Manager can customize these Custom Specification files, create them as generic as possible. For example, the Computer Host Name (NetBIOS Name) set to “Use the virtual machine name” and the Network have DHCP enabled.