An auto-deployed ESXi server will always have to perform a network boot and engage the Auto Deploy server or the vCenter database (if it has the information of the image profile and the host profile). This is because the ESXi image is not stored on the host's storage but is loaded directly into the host's volatile memory during every boot.
vSphere Auto Deploy can also be used to install the ESXi image onto the local disk of the chosen host. This process is referred to as a stateful install, which allows you to automate the bulk installation of ESXi hosts in a data center.
In this recipe, we will learn how to configure Auto Deploy to perform a stateful installation of ESXi.
