Tag Archives: vRA7

vRealize Orchestrator Appliance – Guest File Operations Part 1 – (Copying a file to guest VM)

One of the things you will often find you need to do with vRO is to get a file to a guest VM, or just run a file from inside the VM. Now for Windows you can use Powershell remote features in many cases, but what if your server isn’t on the network yet? Until version 5.1 we had to rely on VIX as a way to do this, but now VMware has added a number of new workflows under “Guest Operations” which are much more reliable.

vCO Guest Operations

vRO Guest Operations

“Copy file from vCO to guest” is the one I’m going to be using in this example.

First of all copy the workflow into a sandbox area. This way you can move a bunch of the inputs to attributes and not have to key them in each time (e.g. The local administrator username, password, and test VM).

In my example, I’m going to create a text file called test.txt in a new folder under /opt called “vcofiles”.

My target machine is a Windows 2008 R2 server, where I will copy the file and place it in the C:\temp\ folder with the name “testcopy.txt”

If you run the workflow then these are my input parameters:

GuestFileOperations-Run

The problem is that if you run this you will get an error similar to this:

“No permissions on the file for the attempted operation (Workflow: Copying files from vCO appliance to guest/Scriptable task…”

GuestFileFailure

GuestFileFailure

In order to fix this you first need to give the correct rights to the folder and file on your vCO Appliance.

1. Login as root onto the appliance
2. Give Read/Write/Execution rights to the new folder

FolderRights

3. Give Read/Write rights to the Text file you made

Filerights

Unfortunately we aren’t quite done yet. You also need to tell orchestrator which locations it can read/write/execute from. This involves editing the “js-io-rights.conf” file located in “/opt/vmo/app-server/server/vmo/conf”

Java-FolderRights-2

Add the line “+rwx /opt/vcofiles/” as shown above.

If anyone isn’t too sure on the linux commands to do this:

  • Type “cd /opt/vmo/app-server/server/vmo/conf” and press enter.
  • Type “vi js-io.rights.conf” and press enter.
  • Use the arrow keys to move the cursor where you want and press the insert key
  • Press Enter and type in the line “+rwx /opt/vcofiles”
  • Press ESC
  • Type “:wq” and press enter.

4. Now, there’s one more thing. You need to restart the vCO service for this to take effect.

Login to the vCO configuration manager, go to startup, and click restart service.

ServiceRestarted

5. Now run your workflow and see if your text file copied across.

Success

You can see a quick video demo of this on youtube. (apologies for the mouse pointer issue..)

Thanks for reading. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

vRealize Orchestrator Workflow: Change VM Port Group for VM on Standard vSwitch

*Note: This is a repost due to moving my posts from SystemsGame.com to 2ninjas1blog.com”

I was surprised recently to find that no builtin workflow existed for changing the backing information for a VM if you aren’t using a VDS. Now, before I go any further, I’m a big fan of moving to a vSphere Distributed Switch mode, but there are certainly cases where you might encounter a standard vSwitch environment which you need to automate port group changes upon.

The Approach:

Essentially when it comes to changing NIC settings on a VM, you have to change the “Backing” information for the NIC associated with the VM. In my case this was for VMs which were just built as part of an overall automation process, and had only one NIC.

Step 1: Create Action Item.

I created an action item which has 2 inputs.

“vm” of type VC:VirtualMachine – This is basically so you can select the VM in vCO that you want to modify

“vSwitchPGName” of type String – This is so you can pass in the string value of the portgroup name for the vSwitch.

Code:

The code I then used is below. I’ve commented it but please let me know if you have any questions.

var spec = new VcVirtualMachineConfigSpec(); // Initialize a Virtual Machine Config Spec first
var myDeviceChange = new Array(); // Create an array to hold all of your changes
var devices = vm.config.hardware.device;

//Find devices that are VMXNET3 or E1000
for (var i in devices)
	{
		if 	(
				(devices[i] instanceof VcVirtualVmxnet3) ||
				(devices[i] instanceof VcVirtualE1000) 
			)
		{
			System.log("The device we are going to modify is: " + devices[i]);
			var nicChangeSpec = new VcVirtualDeviceConfigSpec(); //This is the specification for the Network adapter we are going to change
			nicChangeSpec.operation = VcVirtualDeviceConfigSpecOperation.edit; //Use edit as we are going to be modifying a NIC
			nicChangeSpec.device = new VcVirtualE1000;
			nicChangeSpec.device.key = devices[i].key; 
			System.log("NicChangeSpec key is : " + nicChangeSpec.device.key);

			nicChangeSpec.device.addressType = devices[i].addressType;
			nicChangeSpec.device.macAddress = devices[i].macAddress;

			System.log("Adding backing info" ) ;
			//Add backing information

			nicChangeSpec.device.backing = new VcVirtualEthernetCardNetworkBackingInfo();
			System.log("Backing info for nicChangeSpec is : " + nicChangeSpec.backing);
			nicChangeSpec.device.backing.deviceName = vSwitchPGName; //Change the backing to the portgroup input
			System.log("Backing info for deviceName on nicChangeSpec is : " + nicChangeSpec.device.backing.deviceName);

			//Push change spec to device change variable
			myDeviceChange.push(nicChangeSpec);

		}
	}

spec.deviceChange = myDeviceChange;
System.log("DeviceChange Spec is: " + spec.deviceChange);
return vm.reconfigVM_Task(spec);

Step 2:

I created a simple workflow which calls this action item and then has a vim3WaitTaskEnd so we can be sure the task is completed before moving on to any other workflows. This is useful if you are going to be incorporating this action into a larger process.

Update Port Group for vSwitch

Running the workflow gives you this simple presentation.

vSwitchPG 2

And that’s basically all there is to it. Select your VM, type in your PortGroup name, and voila!

For a vDS, VMware included a workflow out of the box in vCO so there is no need to create any of the above.

Enjoy!

vRealize IaaS Essentials: Building your Windows Server 2012 Template on vSphere – Part 3 (OS Tuning)

Now that we have a base OS build completed, we need to start configuring the OS to the settings we want.

Step 1: Get VMware Tools Installed

Without VMware tools on the OS, many things are sluggish and just annoying. Most importantly it fixes the annoying mouse cursor tracking issues (this is even more noticable when you’re in a VDI session into a VMware Console).

  • Login to your vSphere Web Client and Locate your VM
  • Select the VM > Actions > Guest OS > Install VMware Tools...

rwc-template-tools1

  • You will get a prompt to mount the Tools ISO. Select Mount.

rwc-template-tools2

  • Now inside the OS, Open My Computer/This Computer and Tab over to the CD ROM Drive. I found it almost impossible with the mouse using the VRM Console until Tools was installed so I had no choice but to use the keyboard to get it done. A combination of Tab and Space did the trick.

rwc-template-ostools1

  • Once you are there, run Setup and you should be presented with the VMware Tools installation screen.

rwc-template-ostools2

  • Choose Next
  • Select Typical for your installation type

rwc-template-ostools3

 

  • Once installation is complete, reboot the OS

Step 2: Fine tune your OS

First of all a big thanks to some of my twitter friends who gave some good suggestions on tweaks here. There is always going to be a debate as to what gets done in the template vs GPO/Configuration Management. I’d say the settings I set below are just the core ones necessary to facilitate deployment of an OS with ease. AD and configuration management should definitely come in after the fact and take care setting other OS settings to their necessary values.

  1. Patch the OS to the latest (It’s worth automating this in the future)
  2. Set Date/Time
  3. Set the OS Hostname to VM Template Name – this helps to know if sysprep worked etc.
  4. Disable the Windows Firewall
  5. Disable UAC
    1. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/13953.windows-server-2012-deactivating-uac.aspx
  6. Create a Local User account for use by vRealize (e.g. svc_vrealize). You can make sure this account gets disabled automatically as part of your builds or via Puppet, GPO to comply with security requirements. It helps however to be able to easily get into a system using vRO Guest File Operations via a local service account early on.

Also here is a useful link provided by Sean Massey who does a lot of tuning on the Desktop side: https://labs.vmware.com/flings/vmware-os-optimization-tool

Finally, remember to disconnect your CD ISO.

After turning your VM back into a template, we now have a template ready to deploy! Now we can get onto the fun stuff.

Real World Cloud: Template Creation and Management

To bake in, or not to bake in, that is the question you must ask.

rwc-keepitsimple

Keeping it simple…

Without a doubt, template creation and template sprawl are items people worry about when getting ready for their cloud environment. Maybe you have a Linux team that use PXE plus kickstart in the past and you’re having to convince them to move to templates, or maybe you had a bunch of templates with everything baked inside. When it comes to cloud, I’m personally a big believer in keeping your template as bare as possible, providing it doesn’t add a significant overhead to the build time.

This means stripping the template down to the base OS and layering everything on top.

The key also to remember here is that you want to try to be able to use a similar approach to your template management in your Public Cloud, as well as, your On-Premises Datacenter. This way you aren’t managing 2 completely separate processes and creating more complexity.

How do I configure things like agents, settings etc. after the template is cloned?

The rise of configuration management tools in the past few years has been key. Puppet and Chef in particular have become extremely widespread in the past few years. On top of that Microsoft is constantly evolving PowerShell DSC, and we have other newcomers like Saltstack and Ansible that are quickly gaining traction.

Essentially, everything you install and configure on top of the VM deployed, will be via Configuration Management. This allows us to completely abstract the configuration from the virtual machine. Think of it like a container (not to be confused with docker), that just hosts a specific configuration. The more you can modularize the pieces that sit on top of the OS, the easier it is to manage. This does however come at a cost of speed, because each application and potentially a number of reboots will need to be configured post VM provisioning.

rwc-vmtemplatelayers

How are Configuration Management Tools Changing?

I’m fortunate enough to work with some great Puppet engineers at Ahead who work on these pieces daily. Rather than retype what one of my colleagues at Ahead has already written, I suggest you check out this blog article on the Ahead Blog. http://blog.thinkahead.com/the-present-and-future-of-configuration-management

Creating the Template:

There are a number of ways to do this, and i’m sure the are more than the ones I list here:

  1. vSphere: Clone from an Existing VM and prep it.
  2. vSphere: Create a fresh template from an ISO.
  3. Amazon: Create a Windows AMI from a running instance. (Use a prebuilt Amazon AMI basically and customize it)
  4. Amazon: Import your vSphere VM and convert.

In the next post, we will be drilling down in detail on creating a fresh Windows vSphere Template for use in your Cloud. As we progress to Public Cloud, we will come back to the Amazon AMI options.

Server Name Generator – Part 1

Generate Partial Name Workflow

Summary/Use Cases:

So you finally agreed on a naming standard, congratulations!  This one uses a datacenter location  + network tier + OS + environment level (prod, test, dmz) + application type.  This workflow has several scriptable tasks within it to go with the naming standard we have chosen for servers.  An example server name with this workflow would be AKLP1L1APP (Auckland datacenter on the production VLAN running on a Linux OS for a generic application) with the sequential number appended at the end.  This workflow outputs a partial name to the Server Name Generator Workflow(coming in Part 2) depending on the drop-down choices a user can pick.  An action, is also used, that is dependent on Location in the Presentation of the workflow.   Only location Auckland will have DMZ as an option.

General Attributes:

  • datacenterSN: Type = String
  • networkSN: Type = String
  • envNUM: Type = Number
  • appSN: Type = String
  • osSN: Type = String

 

Inputs:

  • appType: Type = String
  • location: Type = String
  • network: Type = String
  • envLevel: Type = String
  • OS: Type = String

Outputs:

  • partialName: Type = String

The Workflow:

In the workflow, be sure to use notes to  describe what is being done in each task.

workflowNotes

The Code:

Each scriptable task uses a switch statement with cases defined.

The Network task looks like:

switch(network)
{
//--TriTech Production environment---//
 case "Production":
 {
 networkSN = "P1"
 }
 
break;
//--TriTech DMZ environment---//
 case "DMZ":
 {
 networkSN = "Z1"
 }

break;
//--TriTech Test environment---//
 case "Test":
 {
 networkSN = "T1"
 }
 
break;

}

System.log("The network shortname is " + networkSN);

The code is the same format for Location,Operating System, Environment and Application.

 

Instead of adding a list of predefined answers, you can create an Action with a Return type: Array/String
createAction

action

 

Code for the action

var result = new Array();
switch (DatacenterSN) 
       {
      case "Auckland":
              result.push("Production");
              result.push("DMZ");
              result.push("Test");
break;

       case "Cape Town":
              result.push("Production");
              result.push("Test");


       case "London":
              result.push("Production");
              result.push("Test");

default:
        result.push("Unknown Error. Contact automation team");
        }
return result;

 

Now attach the action to the presentation of Network Tier by going to the Presentation tab on the workflow.
Presentation allows you options for your inputs, you can set a drop down list by using Predefined answers (probably the most common choice) or in this case we are choosing Predefined list of elements.

presentationview

Select Network Tier
addToPreso

Hit the fun purple button to make an action call
funpurple

Search in the filter box for your Action and tie it to Datacenter location
location

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now you should see the Get Action code for Network Tier
preso2

 

 

 

The end result.  Only DMZ in the Network Tier will Display for the Datacenter Location, Auckland.  This can be useful in other cases such as specific VLANs assigned to specific locations as well.

dmzAuckland

At the end, we put it all together with the Partial VM Name scriptable task:

partialName = datacenterSN + networkSN + osSN + envNum + appSN
 System.log(partialName);

 

Download the Generate Partial Name workflow here
We will use this later to create a full server name in the next post of the Server Name Generation series.

Real World Clouds with vRealize Automation 7 – Getting Started

Welcome to what we hope is a long journey in Real World Clouds. Over the past 6 years, we’ve both personally seen much change in this space but one thing that we felt was definitely missing in the blogosphere, were answers to real customer questions. In this series, we’re hoping to showcase some of the complex integrations and advanced services that can be built using the vRealize Suite. Our goal is to get you setup with blueprints and then discuss all the nitty gritty details around service design. With that said, let’s get started.

deployacloud

Getting Started

First of all, this is not a beginners series. You will absolutely need to have vRealize Automation 7 setup and configured. We also assume you already know what Business Groups, Reservations, Entitlements, etc. are. Some of these items will be recapped as needed, but if you want a great getting started guide on vRealize Automation 7 there are several great resources at the www.theithollow.com by Eric Shanks and http://www.virtualjad.com by Jad El-Zein.

The following items are assumed to be in place and working:

  • vRealize Automation 7 Installed and Configured – Simple or Distributed is fine
  • vRealize Orchestrator Installed and Configured
    • vSphere Plugin Configured
    • vRealize Automation Plugin Configured
    • Active Directory Plugin Configured
  • Tenant Configuration Complete with EndPoints for vSphere and vRO configured
  • 1 x Fabric Group created
  • 1 x Business Group created
  • 1 x Reservation created

Programming Skills

Am I going to need to program? The short answer is, absolutely yes. We get asked this a lot and we definitely plan on writing some posts on this soon, but for now, let’s assume you have a basic knowledge in the following areas:

  • Javascript
    • Basic Understanding of variable passing
    • If/Else
    • Switch
    • While Loops
    • For Loops

Also be sure to check out W3 Schools http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp which is a great reference website. I almost always search in google things like “w3schools javascript while loop” to find what I need quickly. 

For a great primer on Javascript, I still to this day recommend the book Eloquent Javascript. It’s also a great book just to have at hand while programming workflows.

 

Last, but certainly not least, are other great vRO/vRA Websites like vCO Team, and many others.

vRealize Orchestrator

vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) is going to be the basis for a number of the subsequent posts. Don’t worry if you aren’t 100% versed in vRO just yet. We will walk you through all of the workflows in detail and I’m also in parallel working to publish a pluralsight class (https://www.pluralsight.com/)  on developing workflows with vRO.

Infrastructure

We will be focusing primarily on VMware vSphere 6 in this series. It is assumed you already have a base understanding of vSphere and vCenter.

Other Useful VMware Reference Sites:

VMware Documentation – http://pubs.vmware.com/vra-70/index.jsp

vRealize Automation SDK 7.0 – https://developercenter.vmware.com/web/sdk/7.0.0/vrealize-automation

VMware vRealize Automation Cloud Client – https://developercenter.vmware.com/tool/cloudclient/4.0.0