Customization specifications can be created to ensure that all hostname, IP addresses, SIDs, and so on are unique to each virtual machine. Virtual machines can be quickly deployed from the template. Use templates to have a base image that is preconfigured and patched, that many virtual machines can be created from, and that can determine a desired configuration for the virtual hardware. A virtual machine can be cloned whether it is powered on or powered off. Preconfigured virtual appliances can be downloaded and easily deployed into the vCenter inventory. Use VMware vCenter Converter Standalone to provision a virtual machine from an existing physical machine or other supported image types.

The next chapter will take a deeper look at some of the advanced virtual machine settings. This will include CPUID, CPU affinity, VMM, and VMware Tools.