It is very possible that many of the virtual machines deployed in your environment will have similar requirements. If this is true for your environment, then it is advantageous and easy to create a standard build in the form of a template. This will allow for a more expeditious deployment of virtual machines. Standardization simplifies many configuration options; a well-designed, standardized build can be very beneficial with an optimized resource configuration. Templates are not the only method for standardizing, deployments; cloning, virtual appliances, and OVF templates may also be used. Don't forget that if these options do not suit your needs, a virtual machine can always be created from scratch! We'll be discussing a few provisioning methods that are native to vSphere, but keep in mind that there are many third-party automation tools that are available.

The provisioning method is not the only consideration for designing and deploying virtual machines....