Which Windows Template Again?
The one with SP1? With .NET 4.5? Without IE 11? Your template library has become an unmaintainable nightmare.
Template sprawl is everywhere
Every IT team drowns in template versions
Enterprise IT
127 templates
Nobody knows what's in them
Software Dev
New template weekly
Old ones never deleted
MSP Provider
Template per client
Maintenance nightmare
Education
Semester chaos
Templates for each class
The Pattern
Every organization hits the same wall: Manual VM provisioning doesn't scale. What starts as "just a few VMs" becomes a full-time job, blocking your team from actual work.
Ready to end template chaos?
Transform your VM templates into versionable code
Why template management fails
Monolithic templates can't handle variation elegantly
Combinatorial Explosion
Need Windows + SQL 2019? 2022? With IIS? Without?
→ Dozens of similar templates
Update Nightmares
Security patch? Update 47 templates manually
→ Some always missed
Documentation Black Hole
What's in 'Win2019_Final_v3_FIXED'?
→ Deploy wrong template
No Version History
Who changed what? When? Why?
→ Can't rollback mistakes
Naming Chaos
Everyone's naming convention differs
→ Can't find right template
Storage Explosion
Each template is 30-100GB
→ Terabytes of redundancy
VM-as-Code enables version control
Transform binary templates into versionable YAML configurations
Binary Template Hell
- ✗50GB binary VM templates
- ✗Can't diff or version
- ✗Manual GUI-based updates
- ✗No change tracking possible
- ✗Documentation separate from template
- ✗Massive storage duplication
Infrastructure as Code
- Small YAML configuration files
- Store in Git like any code
- Declarative specifications
- Full commit history & diffs
- Config is the documentation
- Inherit from base genes
How it works
1. Define as Code
VMs are YAML files, not binary images
2. Inherit & Extend
Base genes + your changes = new version
3. Version Control
Store in Git, track every change
4. Deploy Fast
5-minute deployments, every time
See it in action
# Base Windows template (reusable)
name: windows-base
parent: dbosoft/windows-2022/latest
fodder:
- source: gene:myorg/base-config
---
# SQL Server template (inherits everything from base)
name: windows-sql
parent: gene:myorg/windows-base
fodder:
- source: gene:myorg/sql-server-2022
---
# Dev environment (inherits from SQL)
name: windows-dev
parent: gene:myorg/windows-sql
fodder:
- source: gene:myorg/visual-studio
- source: gene:myorg/dev-tools
# Deploy any template in 5 minutes
gc windows-dev.yaml | New-Catlet
Template management transformed
Ready to End Template Chaos?
Transform your template sprawl into elegant, versioned genes.
Your potential time savings:
*Based on 30 VMs/month at $50/hour