Template creation

:::note Placeholder page The confirmed console copy and screenshot below are real; steps and fields around them are still being verified against a full capture-and-deploy pass. :::

From the console's own template library:

A template is a hardware profile, a guest customisation profile, and a generalised VHDX held on storage. Capture one from any VM that is powered off ("Capture as template..." on the VM), then deploy from it: the image is copied, the guest's unattend is written into the copy, and the new VM's desired state is authored once the copy lands — from then on it is an ordinary managed VM. A template on a cluster's shared storage deploys anywhere in that cluster; one on a host's local volume deploys only to that host.

Creating a template from an existing VM

1. Power off the source VM.
2. From the VM's detail page, use Capture as template....
3. Once the capture task succeeds, the template appears in VM templates with its guest OS, vCPU/memory profile, image size, and which cluster or host it is held on.

Creating a VM from a template

Deploying from a template asks for the values a template intentionally leaves open — hostname, IP configuration, target host or cluster, and resource sizing — then creates the VM as a normal desired-state object. From that point it is reconciled exactly like any other VM; the template is only how it was seeded.

Where a template can deploy

This is the one rule worth remembering: a template on a cluster's shared storage deploys anywhere in that cluster; one on a host's local volume deploys only to that host. Where you capture it decides where it can go.

Templates and ROBO sites

A template created centrally can be deployed at any site the centre manages, including a remote-office/branch-office (ROBO) site with only one or two hosts — the same template, deployed locally by that site's agent(s), without duplicating the definition per site.