In this recipe, we explore how to use Orchestrator to expand the capabilities of vRealize Operations Manager (vROps).
You will need a vROps installation collecting data from vCenter. You also need to have Orchestrator connected to the same vCenter.
You need to download the vROps plugin from Solution Exchange (see the introduction to this chapter). You may need to create a free account to access the download.
If you are new to vROps, check out the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN85uCtPtJ4 .
This recipe is split into multiple sections. To reduce confusion about what plugin is which, I will talk about the vROps plugin, meaning the plugin that goes into vROps and the vROps package that went into Orchestrator.
After you have downloaded the ZIP folder from Solution Exchange, you need to unzip it. It contains the .package file from Orchestrator and the .pak file for vROps. We will now deploy them:
- Import the
.packagefile into Orchestrator (see recipe Working with packages in Chapter 4, Programming skills). This will create a new folder that contains the workflows that vROPS will call. - Log in to vROps as an vROps administrator (for example, using the local admin account you created on install).
- Go to Administration and then to Solutions.
- Click on the green + sign to add a solution. Choose the
.pakfile that comes with the plugin and click on Upload. - Wait until the package is uploaded. Click on Next and accept the warning about the signature.
- Accept the EULA and click Next.
- Wait until the installation is done and then click on Finish.
- Now click on Support and then on Redescribe; then run Redescribe. Wait until you read Describe operation completed successfully.
- Go back to Solutions, select vRealize Orchestrator Action Adapter, and click on Configure (the gear icon on top).
- Enter a name for the configuration.
- Enter the IP or FQDN of your Orchestrator.
- Click on the green plus sign to create new credentials. The user should have permissions to execute workflow in Orchestrator depending on your vCenter Orchestrator connection (shared or not) rights in vCenter.
- Click on Test Connection and accept the Orchestrator certificate.
- If the test was successful, click on Save Settings and then on Close.
We will now use one action in vROps. We will configure an alarm and then trigger it.
- First we have to assign an action to a recommendation. Click on Content and then on Recommendations.
- Click on the green plus sign to create a new recommendation. Select an action and enter text such as
vROPS Test Alarm.
- Next we need to define an alarm. Go to alarm Definitions and click on the green plus sign to create a new alarm.
- Name the alarm
vROPS test. - Select Base Object Type: Virtual Machine from vCenter Adapter.
- As a symptom, select Virtual machine is powered off by writing
powerinto the filter and pressing Enter. - As a recommendation, select the vROPS Test Alarm you have created by writing
vropsinto the filter and pressing Enter. - Save the alarm and wait for five minutes.
- Go to alarms. You should see now some alarms (depending on weather you have a powered off VM or not). Click on one of them and you can execute the action.
The vROpsplugin basically makes use of Orchestrator's REST interface. What happens is that an action triggers a rest call to one of the workflows that comes with the package. As all workflows have a unique ID, this works quite well.
The package contains the following vROps actions:
|
vROps actions |
Description |
|
Host: Maintenance Mode |
Puts a host in or out of maintenance mode. |
|
Host: Decommission Host |
Puts a host in maintenance mode and then removes it from vCenter. |
|
Host: Power Operation |
Shuts down or reboots a host. |
|
VM: Migrate |
Moves a VM to a different host and datastore. |
|
VM: Power Operation |
Reboots, shuts down, or starts a VM. |
|
VM: Manage Snapshots |
Takes, reverts, or deletes snapshots. |
|
VM: Reconfigure |
Changes the CPU and memory settings of a VM. |
|
VM: Upgrade Tools |
Runs the automated VMware Tool upgrade. |
All these action are not assigned to any vROps recommendation.
There is another little post I'd like to point out to you. It's highly unsupported but still a cool way to do it. In this post, a REST outbound is used to start an Orchestrator workflow. For information, refer to:
http://pierrelx.com/new-vrops6-outbound-plugin-alarms-vro-workflows/ .