Console requirements

[networkadmin]

Hello,

Does SmartDeploy support installing the SmartDeploy server on a VM or does it have to be a physical box?  I have an esxi 6 environment and would like to use a vm for the console and capture image(s) of separate vms.

[SmartDeploySupport]

Hello networkadmin

Yes, as of SmartDeploy v2, you may install the software on a virtual machine. But I should warn you; it does add some additional complexity.

 

In order to capture an image, you would need to either copy the virtual hard disk from your reference machine into the VM where SmartDeploy is installed (so that you can run the Capture Wizard, offline), or you would need to copy a SmartDeploy boot media ISO from the VM where SmartDeploy is installed, to your VM host, so that you can attach it to your virtual reference machine for a warm/online capture (as described in Appendix 1 of the SDE User’s Guide (here).

 

Additionally, if you wish to use SmartDeploy Media Wizard to create any USB media (boot media or offline deployment media), configuring USB passthrough from a host to a VM can be tricky, and doesn’t always function properly (or offer full speed or functionality).

 

And finally – not all virtualization platforms support nested virtualization (“VM within a VM”) – so if you’re planning to try that setup, we can’t guarantee it will work properly.

 

Thank you,

 

SmartDeploy Support

[Rambotan]

So I create a SMart deploy server VM.  but now having issues when creating an image as I cannot open the VM via vmware player or workstation.  Can I just copy the vmdk files to the vcenter and make my updates/changes then copy them back to smartdeploy VM server?