I'm wondering if I can export my Lab Manager templates directly into a cheaper ESX host. Easy enough to import from other ESX hosts. I imagine validating machines in LM and then moving the nicely configured templates off to a plain ESX host. That would save Lab Manager resources for things that really need to be there.
Possible? Seems like it ought to be - Lab Manager just runs on ESX. Anyone tried it? How?
Using LM 3, ESX 3.5. (I'm also digging around LM forums, will let you know what we find out)
Lab Manager templates and VM instances from within Lab Manager (as long they're not currently running) can be exported as a series of 2GB (or less) vmdk files. Those files can then be used by any VMware product (ESX, VMware Workstation, Fusion, etc). Depending on the size of the template/VM, it can take an hour or more to export to a network share so don't freak out if you see it spinning for a bit.
If you go to the templates page of LM, you can mouse over the template you want to export to bring up a menu. Choose export, point it to an SMB share and let it go.