Creating a Custom ISO using Image Builder includes VIBs that were removed

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

You have created a custom image (zip bundle or ISO image) using Image Builder after removing few VIBs.

When reviewing the software packages within the image,

• The removed VIBs are listed
• Similar VIBs with different versions exist in the image.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

This is an expected behavior.

Removing VIBs or Overriding different versions of the same VIB are included in the image as reserved VIBs.

Reserved VIBs are preserved in an image profile per design.
When exporting or generating an image from the image profile, the removed VIBs will exist in the bundle or image.
However, reserved VIBs will not be installed during installation of the ESXi host. They are preserved in the Image to ensure Image Integrity.

Resolution

The following steps can be used to validate reserved VIBs

1. Export the Image profile as a zip bundle.
2. Use VMware PowerCLI to create a depot using the exported zip bundle.
   
   > Add-ESXSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl C:\custom-image.zip
   
   
3. List the Image profile
   
   > Get-EsxImageProfile | Format-Table -AutoSize -Wrap
Name               Vendor      Last Modified          Acceptance Level
----               ------      -------------          ----------------
custom-image       Vendor Inc. DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS AM CommunitySupported

4. Assign Get-ESXImageProfile to a variable $profile
   
   > $profile = Get-EsxImageProfile
> $profile[0] | Format-Table -Autosize -Wrap
Name               Vendor      Last Modified          Acceptance Level
----               ------      -------------          ----------------
custom-image       Vendor Inc. DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS AM CommunitySupported

5. List all VIBs using the command,
   
   > $profile[0].VibList | Format-Table -AutoSize -Wrap
6. List all reserved VIBs using the command,
   
   > $profile[0].ReservedVibList| Format-Table -AutoSize -Wrap