It is of prime importance to make sure that every ESXi host in a cluster is configured identically to achieve operational efficiency at the cluster level. There is a lot of configuration that would go into an ESXi host after it is deployed. These include the general/advanced settings, storage, and networking configuration, licensing, and so on. With the number of ESXi hosts that can be part of a cluster or vCenter increasing with every release of vSphere, the amount of work to be done manually will also increase.
Starting with vSphere 4.1, VMware introduced a method to extract the configuration from an ESXi host and form a configuration template, often referred to as a blueprint or golden image. Such a configuration template is called a vSphere Host Profile. It is important to note that Host Profiles require Enterprise Plus Licenses applied.
