Provisioning vRealize Automation Catalog Items with Ruby

Posted: February 27, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: vRealize Automation | Tags: | Leave a comment

Overview

In this post I’m going to show how to provision vRealize Automation (vRA) catalog items with Ruby.  I’ll enter all the commands in the Ruby interactive console (irb) so you can enter them as you follow along and explore the environment.  The steps we will take are:

  1. Log into vRA
  2. Request all of the catalog items available
  3. Find the one want to provision
  4. Extract all of the needed values from the catalog item
  5. Read a template file from disk and substitute the necessary values
  6. Request a new item

 

Ruby setup

If you haven’t already installed Ruby, go here https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/documentation/installation/.  I’m running Ruby ruby 2.0.0p353 on CentOS 7.  Once you have Ruby installed we will need to install a couple of gems.  From the command line run:

gem install rest-client
gem install multi_json

Issuing commands using Ruby’s irb

Access irb:

[chris@docker ~]$ irb

This will place you into irb where we will run our Ruby commands.  I’m going to paste in the results from my irb session so that you’ll be able to see the input and output.  Items in blue are input.  The output is the text that follows the => characters. Sometimes the output from the commands can be long, but I’ve decided to include them so you can cross reference.  For the long JSON outputs, you may want to paste into http://jsonformatter.curiousconcept.com/ to make the viewing easier.
 
Add the modules that we will need

irb(main):001:0> require ‘rest_client’
=> true

irb(main):002:0> require ‘multi_json’
=> true

irb(main):003:0> require ‘erb’
=> true

irb(main):004:0> require ‘pp’
=> true

 

Log into vRA

 
Set our login URL

irb(main):029:0> url = ‘https://vra62a.vmware.local/identity/api/tokens’
=> “https://vra62a.vmware.local/identity/api/tokens”

 

Create a JSON login string that will be the payload we send to the login URL

irb(main):030:0> payload = ‘{“username”:”chris@vmware”,”password”:”super password”,”tenant”:”vsphere.local”}’
=> “{\”username\”:\”chris@vmware\”,\”password\”:\”super password\”,\”tenant\”:\”vsphere.local\”}”

 
Execute the login request

irb(main):032:0> response = RestClient::Request.execute(:url => url, :method => :post, :payload => payload, :verify_ssl => false, :headers => { :content_type => ‘application/json’, :accept => ‘application/json’} )
=> “{\”expires\”:\”2015-02-28T17:32:57.688Z\”,\”id\”:\”MTQyNTA1ODM3NzY4ODphMzYxNGQzNjFlYmU1OTBiYzdmMzp0ZW5hbnQ6dnNwaGVyZS5sb2NhbHVzZXJuYW1lOmNocmlzQHZtd2FyZTowMzkzOTVkOTNkZTIxODJlZmM5MmU3ZDA5ZWE2ODFlYjlhOGE4ZjBkMDkyNTM0NGIwMzA4Yjg2OWM5YjgxNWUzOGVhNjZjOGQ1YmMyMDNjYzgwMTZjNDhmNzAzY2Q0NzFlMTAzNDM4MzE0Njc0N2RlZmIyOThhNzY3YWE2YjVjNQ==\”,\”tenant\”:\”vsphere.local\”}

The ‘id’ entry is our bearer token that we will need to use on future requests so let’s save it.

 

Convert the above response into JSON

irb(main):033:0> json_response = JSON.parse(response)
=> {“expires”=>”2015-02-28T17:32:57.688Z”, “id”=>”MTQyNTA1ODM3NzY4ODphMzYxNGQzNjFlYmU1OTBiYzdmMzp0ZW5hbnQ6dnNwaGVyZS5sb2NhbHVzZXJuYW1lOmNocmlzQHZtd2FyZTowMzkzOTVkOTNkZTIxODJlZmM5MmU3ZDA5ZWE2ODFlYjlhOGE4ZjBkMDkyNTM0NGIwMzA4Yjg2OWM5YjgxNWUzOGVhNjZjOGQ1YmMyMDNjYzgwMTZjNDhmNzAzY2Q0NzFlMTAzNDM4MzE0Njc0N2RlZmIyOThhNzY3YWE2YjVjNQ==”, “tenant”=>”vsphere.local”}

 

Extract the the bearer token

irb(main):034:0> bearer = json_response[‘id’]
=> “MTQyNTA1ODM3NzY4ODphMzYxNGQzNjFlYmU1OTBiYzdmMzp0ZW5hbnQ6dnNwaGVyZS5sb2NhbHVzZXJuYW1lOmNocmlzQHZtd2FyZTowMzkzOTVkOTNkZTIxODJlZmM5MmU3ZDA5ZWE2ODFlYjlhOGE4ZjBkMDkyNTM0NGIwMzA4Yjg2OWM5YjgxNWUzOGVhNjZjOGQ1YmMyMDNjYzgwMTZjNDhmNzAzY2Q0NzFlMTAzNDM4MzE0Njc0N2RlZmIyOThhNzY3YWE2YjVjNQ==”

 

Retrieve catalog item

 
irb(main):035:0> url = ‘https://vra62a.vmware.local/catalog-service/api/consumer/entitledCatalogItems’
=> “https://vra62a.vmware.local/catalog-service/api/consumer/entitledCatalogItems”

irb(main):036:0> response = RestClient::Request.execute(:url => url, :method => :get, :verify_ssl => false, :headers => { :content_type => ‘application/json’, :accept => ‘application/json’, :authorization => “Bearer #{bearer}” } )
=> “{\”links\”:[],\”content\”:[{\”@type\”:\”ConsumerEntitledCatalogItem\”,\”catalogItem\”:{\”id\”:\”c25770de-789e-474c-b261-780542cec1a4\”,\”version\”:1,\”name\”:\”RHEL_6.5_Full_Clone\”,\”description\”:\”\”,\”status\”:\”PUBLISHED\”,\”statusName\”:\”Published\”,\”organization\”:{\”tenantRef\”:\”vsphere.local\”,\”tenantLabel\”:\”vsphere.local\”,\”subtenantRef\”:null,\”subtenantLabel\”:null},\”providerBinding\”:{\”bindingId\”:\”b374952e-f368-4b45-a8be-8d0aace542b8\”,\”providerRef\”:{\”id\”:\”84e032be-11a6-46a0-a587-16d47ccdaa89\”,\”label\”:\”iaas-service\”}},\”forms\”:null,\”callbacks\”:null,\”isNoteworthy\”:false,\”dateCreated\”:\”2015-02-24T17:47:18.398Z\”,\”lastUpdatedDate\”:\”2015-02-24T17:47:50.666Z\”,\”iconId\”:\”cafe_default_icon_genericCatalogItem\”,\”catalogItemTypeRef\”:{\”id\”:\”Infrastructure.Virtual\”,\”label\”:\”Virtual Machine\”},\”serviceRef\”:{\”id\”:\”a0d245ab-c453-4e48-b0ea-9a1d84b51c8d\”,\”label\”:\”RHEL\”},\”outputResourceTypeRef\”:{\”id\”:\”Infrastructure.Virtual\”,\”label\”:\”Virtual Machine\”}},\”entitledOrganizations\”:[{\”tenantRef\”:\”vsphere.local\”,\”tenantLabel\”:\”vsphere.local\”,\”subtenantRef\”:\”817a772c-6401-4243-84e1-0dc5ae4a074a\”,\”subtenantLabel\”:\”cloudadmin\”}]},{\”@type\”:\”ConsumerEntitledCatalogItem\”,\”catalogItem\”:{\”id\”:\”9f5c66e6-43c1-4a6b-aa9f-d0199b2bd21e\”,\”version\”:1,\”name\”:\”RHEL-Linked-Clone\”,\”description\”:\”\”,\”status\”:\”PUBLISHED\”,\”statusName\”:\”Published\”,\”organization\”:{\”tenantRef\”:\”vsphere.local\”,\”tenantLabel\”:\”vsphere.local\”,\”subtenantRef\”:null,\”subtenantLabel\”:null},\”providerBinding\”:{\”bindingId\”:\”91493798-353c-43e6-9912-d8e5e328bbc3\”,\”providerRef\”:{\”id\”:\”84e032be-11a6-46a0-a587-16d47ccdaa89\”,\”label\”:\”iaas-service\”}},\”forms\”:null,\”callbacks\”:null,\”isNoteworthy\”:false,\”dateCreated\”:\”2015-02-26T20:28:59.584Z\”,\”lastUpdatedDate\”:\”2015-02-26T20:29:48.753Z\”,\”iconId\”:\”cafe_default_icon_genericCatalogItem\”,\”catalogItemTypeRef\”:{\”id\”:\”Infrastructure.Virtual\”,\”label\”:\”Virtual Machine\”},\”serviceRef\”:{\”id\”:\”a0d245ab-c453-4e48-b0ea-9a1d84b51c8d\”,\”label\”:\”RHEL\”},\”outputResourceTypeRef\”:{\”id\”:\”Infrastructure.Virtual\”,\”label\”:\”Virtual Machine\”}},\”entitledOrganizations\”:[{\”tenantRef\”:\”vsphere.local\”,\”tenantLabel\”:\”vsphere.local\”,\”subtenantRef\”:\”817a772c-6401-4243-84e1-0dc5ae4a074a\”,\”subtenantLabel\”:\”cloudadmin\”}]}],\”metadata\”:{\”size\”:20,\”totalElements\”:2,\”totalPages\”:1,\”number\”:1,\”offset\”:0}}”

irb(main):037:0> catalog_items = JSON.parse(response)
=> {“links”=>[], “content”=>[{“@type”=>”ConsumerEntitledCatalogItem”, “catalogItem”=>{“id”=>”c25770de-789e-474c-b261-780542cec1a4”, “version”=>1, “name”=>”RHEL_6.5_Full_Clone”, “description”=>””, “status”=>”PUBLISHED”, “statusName”=>”Published”, “organization”=>{“tenantRef”=>”vsphere.local”, “tenantLabel”=>”vsphere.local”, “subtenantRef”=>nil, “subtenantLabel”=>nil}, “providerBinding”=>{“bindingId”=>”b374952e-f368-4b45-a8be-8d0aace542b8”, “providerRef”=>{“id”=>”84e032be-11a6-46a0-a587-16d47ccdaa89”, “label”=>”iaas-service”}}, “forms”=>nil, “callbacks”=>nil, “isNoteworthy”=>false, “dateCreated”=>”2015-02-24T17:47:18.398Z”, “lastUpdatedDate”=>”2015-02-24T17:47:50.666Z”, “iconId”=>”cafe_default_icon_genericCatalogItem”, “catalogItemTypeRef”=>{“id”=>”Infrastructure.Virtual”, “label”=>”Virtual Machine”}, “serviceRef”=>{“id”=>”a0d245ab-c453-4e48-b0ea-9a1d84b51c8d”, “label”=>”RHEL”}, “outputResourceTypeRef”=>{“id”=>”Infrastructure.Virtual”, “label”=>”Virtual Machine”}}, “entitledOrganizations”=>[{“tenantRef”=>”vsphere.local”, “tenantLabel”=>”vsphere.local”, “subtenantRef”=>”817a772c-6401-4243-84e1-0dc5ae4a074a”, “subtenantLabel”=>”cloudadmin”}]}, {“@type”=>”ConsumerEntitledCatalogItem”, “catalogItem”=>{“id”=>”9f5c66e6-43c1-4a6b-aa9f-d0199b2bd21e”, “version”=>1, “name”=>”RHEL-Linked-Clone”, “description”=>””, “status”=>”PUBLISHED”, “statusName”=>”Published”, “organization”=>{“tenantRef”=>”vsphere.local”, “tenantLabel”=>”vsphere.local”, “subtenantRef”=>nil, “subtenantLabel”=>nil}, “providerBinding”=>{“bindingId”=>”91493798-353c-43e6-9912-d8e5e328bbc3”, “providerRef”=>{“id”=>”84e032be-11a6-46a0-a587-16d47ccdaa89”, “label”=>”iaas-service”}}, “forms”=>nil, “callbacks”=>nil, “isNoteworthy”=>false, “dateCreated”=>”2015-02-26T20:28:59.584Z”, “lastUpdatedDate”=>”2015-02-26T20:29:48.753Z”, “iconId”=>”cafe_default_icon_genericCatalogItem”, “catalogItemTypeRef”=>{“id”=>”Infrastructure.Virtual”, “label”=>”Virtual Machine”}, “serviceRef”=>{“id”=>”a0d245ab-c453-4e48-b0ea-9a1d84b51c8d”, “label”=>”RHEL”}, “outputResourceTypeRef”=>{“id”=>”Infrastructure.Virtual”, “label”=>”Virtual Machine”}}, “entitledOrganizations”=>[{“tenantRef”=>”vsphere.local”, “tenantLabel”=>”vsphere.local”, “subtenantRef”=>”817a772c-6401-4243-84e1-0dc5ae4a074a”, “subtenantLabel”=>”cloudadmin”}]}], “metadata”=>{“size”=>20, “totalElements”=>2, “totalPages”=>1, “number”=>1, “offset”=>0}}

 
Find the catalog item that we want to provision

Here I’m going to retrieve the catalog item with the name of ‘RHEL-Linked-Clone’

irb(main):038:0> catalog_item = catalog_items[‘content’].find { |catalogItem| catalogItem[‘catalogItem’][‘name’] == ‘RHEL-Linked-Clone’ }
=> {“@type”=>”ConsumerEntitledCatalogItem”, “catalogItem”=>{“id”=>”9f5c66e6-43c1-4a6b-aa9f-d0199b2bd21e”, “version”=>1, “name”=>”RHEL-Linked-Clone”, “description”=>””, “status”=>”PUBLISHED”, “statusName”=>”Published”, “organization”=>{“tenantRef”=>”vsphere.local”, “tenantLabel”=>”vsphere.local”, “subtenantRef”=>nil, “subtenantLabel”=>nil}, “providerBinding”=>{“bindingId”=>”91493798-353c-43e6-9912-d8e5e328bbc3”, “providerRef”=>{“id”=>”84e032be-11a6-46a0-a587-16d47ccdaa89”, “label”=>”iaas-service”}}, “forms”=>nil, “callbacks”=>nil, “isNoteworthy”=>false, “dateCreated”=>”2015-02-26T20:28:59.584Z”, “lastUpdatedDate”=>”2015-02-26T20:29:48.753Z”, “iconId”=>”cafe_default_icon_genericCatalogItem”, “catalogItemTypeRef”=>{“id”=>”Infrastructure.Virtual”, “label”=>”Virtual Machine”}, “serviceRef”=>{“id”=>”a0d245ab-c453-4e48-b0ea-9a1d84b51c8d”, “label”=>”RHEL”}, “outputResourceTypeRef”=>{“id”=>”Infrastructure.Virtual”, “label”=>”Virtual Machine”}}, “entitledOrganizations”=>[{“tenantRef”=>”vsphere.local”, “tenantLabel”=>”vsphere.local”, “subtenantRef”=>”817a772c-6401-4243-84e1-0dc5ae4a074a”, “subtenantLabel”=>”cloudadmin”}]}

 

Substitute our template values into our request template

 
irb(main):039:0> @catalogItemId = catalog_item[‘catalogItem’][‘id’]
=> “9f5c66e6-43c1-4a6b-aa9f-d0199b2bd21e”
 
irb(main):040:0> @tenantName = catalog_item[‘catalogItem’][‘organization’][‘tenantRef’]
=> “vsphere.local”
 
irb(main):041:0> @businessGroupId = catalog_item[‘entitledOrganizations’][0][‘subtenantRef’]
=> “817a772c-6401-4243-84e1-0dc5ae4a074a”
 
irb(main):042:0> @blueprintId = catalog_item[‘catalogItem’][‘providerBinding’][‘bindingId’]
=> “91493798-353c-43e6-9912-d8e5e328bbc3”
 
irb(main):043:0> @username = ‘chris@vmware.local’
=> “chris@vmware.local”
 
irb(main):044:0> @cpuCount = 1
=> 1
 
irb(main):045:0> @memorySize = 512
=> 512
 
irb(main):046:0> @leaseDays = 30
=> 30
 
irb(main):047:0> @notes = ‘Provisioned via Ruby’
=> “Provisioned via Ruby”
 
irb(main):048:0> @disk0Size = ’10’
=> “10”
 
irb(main):049:0> @disk0Letter = ‘C’
=> “C”
 
irb(main):050:0> @disk0Label = ‘main’
=> “main”

 

Insert our request information into the catalog request template

 
I’m using Ruby’s templating system ERB.  I’ve created a file called ‘catalogRequest.erb’ on my filesystem with the contents of:

{
    "@type": "CatalogItemRequest",
    "catalogItemRef": {
        "id": "<%= @catalogItemId %>"
    },
    "organization": {
        "tenantRef": "<%= @tenantName %>",
        "subtenantRef": "<%= @businessGroupId %>"
    },
    "requestedFor": "<%= @username %>",
    "state": "SUBMITTED",
    "requestNumber": 0,
    "requestData": {
        "entries": [{
            "key": "provider-blueprintId",
            "value": {
                "type": "string",
                "value": "<%= @blueprintId %>"
            }
        },
        {
            "key": "provider-provisioningGroupId",
            "value": {
                "type": "string",
                "value": "<%= @businessGroupId %>"
            }
        },
        {
            "key": "requestedFor",
            "value": {
                "type": "string",
                "value": "<%= @username %>"
            }
        },
        {
            "key": "provider-VirtualMachine.CPU.Count",
            "value": {
                "type": "integer",
                "value": <%= @cpuCount %>
            }
        },
        {
            "key": "provider-VirtualMachine.Memory.Size",
            "value": {
                "type": "integer",
                "value": <%= @memorySize %>
            }
        },
        {
            "key": "provider-VirtualMachine.LeaseDays",
            "value": {
                "type": "integer",
                "value": <%= @leaseDays %>
            }
        },
        {
            "key": "provider-__Notes",
            "value": {
                "type": "string",
                "value": "<%= @notes %>"
            }
        },
        {
            "key": "provider-VirtualMachine.Disk0.Size",
            "value": {
                "type": "string",
                "value": "<%= @disk0Size %>"
            }
        },
        {
            "key": "provider-VirtualMachine.Disk0.Letter",
            "value": {
                "type": "string",
                "value": "<%= @disk0Letter %>"
            }
        },
        {
            "key": "provider-VirtualMachine.Disk0.Label",
            "value": {
                "type": "string",
                "value": "<%= @disk0Label %>"
            }
        }]
    }
}

Each of the bolded items such as @blueprintId will be replaced by our locally defined variables.
 
Read in the request

irb(main):051:0> request = File.read(‘catalogRequest.erb’)
 
Substitute in our values

irb(main):053:0> erb_request = ERB.new(request).result()
 
Convert the request to JSON

irb(main):054:0> json_request = JSON.parse(erb_request).to_json
=> “{\”@type\”:\”CatalogItemRequest\”,\”catalogItemRef\”:{\”id\”:\”9f5c66e6-43c1-4a6b-aa9f-d0199b2bd21e\”},\”organization\”:{\”tenantRef\”:\”vsphere.local\”,\”subtenantRef\”:\”817a772c-6401-4243-84e1-0dc5ae4a074a\”},\”requestedFor\”:\”chris@vmware.local\”,\”state\”:\”SUBMITTED\”,\”requestNumber\”:0,\”requestData\”:{\”entries\”:[{\”key\”:\”provider-blueprintId\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”91493798-353c-43e6-9912-d8e5e328bbc3\”}},{\”key\”:\”provider-provisioningGroupId\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”817a772c-6401-4243-84e1-0dc5ae4a074a\”}},{\”key\”:\”requestedFor\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”chris@vmware.local\”}},{\”key\”:\”provider-VirtualMachine.CPU.Count\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”integer\”,\”value\”:1}},{\”key\”:\”provider-VirtualMachine.Memory.Size\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”integer\”,\”value\”:512}},{\”key\”:\”provider-VirtualMachine.LeaseDays\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”integer\”,\”value\”:30}},{\”key\”:\”provider-__Notes\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”Provisioned via Ruby\”}},{\”key\”:\”provider-VirtualMachine.Disk0.Size\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”10\”}},{\”key\”:\”provider-VirtualMachine.Disk0.Letter\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”C\”}},{\”key\”:\”provider-VirtualMachine.Disk0.Label\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”main\”}}]}}”

 

Make the catalog item request

 
Set the request URL

irb(main):055:0> url = ‘https://vra62a.vmware.local/catalog-service/api/consumer/requests’
=> “https://vra62a.vmware.local/catalog-service/api/consumer/requests”

Assign our prepared JSON request into the payload variable

irb(main):056:0> payload = json_request
=> “{\”@type\”:\”CatalogItemRequest\”,\”catalogItemRef\”:{\”id\”:\”9f5c66e6-43c1-4a6b-aa9f-d0199b2bd21e\”},\”organization\”:{\”tenantRef\”:\”vsphere.local\”,\”subtenantRef\”:\”817a772c-6401-4243-84e1-0dc5ae4a074a\”},\”requestedFor\”:\”chris@vmware.local\”,\”state\”:\”SUBMITTED\”,\”requestNumber\”:0,\”requestData\”:{\”entries\”:[{\”key\”:\”provider-blueprintId\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”91493798-353c-43e6-9912-d8e5e328bbc3\”}},{\”key\”:\”provider-provisioningGroupId\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”817a772c-6401-4243-84e1-0dc5ae4a074a\”}},{\”key\”:\”requestedFor\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”chris@vmware.local\”}},{\”key\”:\”provider-VirtualMachine.CPU.Count\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”integer\”,\”value\”:1}},{\”key\”:\”provider-VirtualMachine.Memory.Size\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”integer\”,\”value\”:512}},{\”key\”:\”provider-VirtualMachine.LeaseDays\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”integer\”,\”value\”:30}},{\”key\”:\”provider-__Notes\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”Provisioned via Ruby\”}},{\”key\”:\”provider-VirtualMachine.Disk0.Size\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”10\”}},{\”key\”:\”provider-VirtualMachine.Disk0.Letter\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”C\”}},{\”key\”:\”provider-VirtualMachine.Disk0.Label\”,\”value\”:{\”type\”:\”string\”,\”value\”:\”main\”}}]}}”
 
Execute the catalog item request.  If you receive no response (“”), then the request was valid

irb(main):057:0> response = RestClient::Request.execute(:url => url, :method => :post, :payload => payload, :verify_ssl => false, :headers => { :content_type => ‘application/json’, :accept => ‘application/json’, :authorization => “Bearer #{bearer}” } )
=> “”
 
You should now be able to see the request in vRA and eventually your VM:

2015-02-27_10-27-43

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Creating a vCloud Air OnDemand endpoint in vRealize Automation

Posted: February 10, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

In a previous post I describe how creating a vRealize Automation (vRA) endpoint to a vCloud Air OnDemand resource didn’t work.  At that time, you could only create an endpoint to a vCloud Air subscription resource.

Yesterday I received a tip on how to get it working so I thought I’d share it here.  It will probably be a KB article soon, but I hope this helps until then.

The URL endpoint was the part that was giving me issues.  I tried several combinations but none of them worked.  It turns out that the correct URL is:

https://region-name.vchs.vmware.com/api/compute

Getting the vCloud Air endpoint info

Log into the vCloud Air portal at https://iam.vchs.vmware.com and select “Virtual Private Cloud OnDemand”.

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Select the region where you want to point the endpoint to.  Here I’m selecting “US California 1 3” (there is a space between the 1 and 3).

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You can get the region name by looking at your the URL:

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For this region the name is “us-california-1-3”.  Next we need to get the vCloud Director organization.   Right-click on an org vDC and select “Manage Catalogs in vCloud Director”:

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Here you can see that my organization name is “15afdeb2-7ae5-468a-a57b-4bc1aca2d71c”.  You can copy the name from the URL.

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Creating the vRA Endpoint

Now that we have all the info we need, we can create the vRA endpoint by logging into the vRA interface and going to Infrastructure > Endpoints > New Endpoint > Cloud > vApp (vCloud).

Address: https://us-california-1-3.vchs.vmware.com/api/compute
Credentials: Same as you use to log into the vCloud Air portal.
Organization: 15afdeb2-7ae5-468a-a57b-4bc1aca2d71c

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Now performing a data collection should succeed:

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You can then proceed to create your fabric groups, reservations, blueprints, etc and test out provisioning to vCloud Air from vRA.

Installing vRO customizations on vRealize Automation

Posted: February 9, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Overview

In a previous post I described how to configure vRealize Automation’s (vRA) built-in vRO.  In this post I’ll show to install the vRO customizations on vRA.  You may want to have a blueprint already created in vRA before proceeding.

vRA was previously known as vCloud Automation Center (vCAC).
vRO was previously known as vCenter Orchestrator (vRO).

Installing the vRO customizations

Launch the vRO client and browse to Library > vCloud Automation Center > Infrastructure Administration > Installation > and run the workflow “Install vCO customization”.

  1. Select “Not set”
  2. Browse to your vRA/vCAC host
  3. Confirm

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Select Next and we see all the workflow stubs that will be installed. What this allows us to do is configure any workflow we want to be ran during any of the following actions:

  • Building Machine
  • Machine Disposing
  • Machine Expired
  • Machine Provisioned
  • Machine Registered
  • Unprovision Machine

Let’s say we have a vRO provisioning workflow that we want to have ran each time a new VM is created.  This workflow could do common tasks such as renaming the VM according to your naming standard, creating a computer account in AD, creating an entry into your IPAM software, creating tickets, etc.  We will do some of these in a future post.

On the next screen we can specify how many menu operations we want to create.  You can re-run the workflow and change this value if needed.  I’ve specified 8 for now.

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Submit the workflow and if everything goes okay, you’ll see the following:

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Verifying that the customizations were installed in vRA

Open the vRA web UI, browse to any of your existing blueprints and edit it.  Select the Actions tab and you’ll be able to see the newly installed vRO entries:

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The items in blue were previously installed and renamed.  The items in red are the new entries and what you can expect to see after you’ve installed the customizations for the first time.  I’ll cover how to use these menu operations in a later post.

Adding a vRO endpoint

The last thing we need to do is to add a vRO endpoint.  In the vRA web UI, go to Infrastructure > Endpoints > New Endpoint > Orchestration > vCenter Orchestrator.  Fill in the following details:

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Lastly, we have to create a custom property with the following values:

  • Name: VMware.VCenterOrchestrator.Priority
  • Value: 1

Conclusion

In this post we installed vRO customizations into vRA that will allow us to call out to vRO and run workflows when certain actions take place within vRA.  The vRO plug-in allows us to easily extend the functionality of vRA without resorting to what would normally be a complex process.  In upcoming posts I’ll show how to run a vRO workflow while provisioning a new VM and how to create a custom menu action that will run a vRO workflow.