A self-contained HTML build report, down to a Gantt chart that spots the reboots. Plus the Session 0 traps, like mangled vmtoolsd arguments and ejecting an ISO with no Explorer, that cost real hours.
One script runs at every startup until the build is done. Flag files make each step run once, a state file keeps true timings across reboots, and at the end it cleans up, reports and deletes itself.
One catalog request, one fully built, domain-joined Windows Server 2025 with its agents, a validation report, and no trace of the tooling that built it. The three-layer design, and why each seam is where it is.
VCF Automation 9.1 has two provisioning models, as two kinds of organisation. I ran the same use cases through both, from Windows VMs to nested ESXi. The honest scorecard, and how each case is done.