Automating a vRA instance in Orchestrator
by Daniel Langenhan
VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook - Second Edition
- VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook Second Edition
- VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook Second Edition
- Credits
- About the Author
- About the Reviewers
- www.PacktPub.com
- Preface
- 1. Installing and Configuring Orchestrator
- 2. Optimizing Orchestrator Configuration
- Introduction
- Tuning the appliance
- Tuning Java
- Configuring the Kerberos authentication
- Configuring access to the local filesystem
- Configuring the Orchestrator service SSL certificate
- Orchestrator log files
- Redirecting Orchestrator logs to an external server
- Backup and recovery
- Control Center titbits
- 3. Distributed Design
- Introduction
- Building an Orchestrator cluster
- Load-balancing Orchestrator
- Upgrading a cluster
- Managing remote Orchestrators
- Synchronizing Orchestrator elements between Orchestrator servers
- 4. Programming Skills
- Introduction
- Version control
- Changing elements in a workflow
- Importing and exporting Orchestrator elements
- Working with packages
- Workflow auto documentation
- Resuming failed workflows
- Using the workflow debugging function
- Undelete workflows and actions
- Scheduling workflows
- Sync presentation settings
- Locking elements
- 5. Visual Programming
- 6. Advanced Programming
- Introduction
- JavaScript complex variables
- Working with JSON
- JavaScript special statements
- Turning strings into objects
- Working with the API
- Creating actions
- Waiting tasks
- Sending and waiting for custom events
- Using asynchronous workflows
- Scripting with workflow tokens
- Working with user interactions
- 7. Interacting with Orchestrator
- Introduction
- User management
- User preferences
- Using Orchestrator though the vSphere Web Client
- Accessing Orchestrator REST API
- Accessing the Control Center via the REST plugin
- Running Orchestrator workflows using PowerShell
- Using PHP to access the REST API
- 8. Better Workflows and Optimized Working
- 9. Essential Plugins
- 10. Built-in Plugins
- Introduction
- Working with XML
- Working with SQL (JDBC)
- Working with SQL (SQL plugin)
- Working with PowerShell
- Working with SOAP
- Working with Active Directory
- Working with SNMP
- Working with AMQP
- 11. Additional Plugins
- 12. Working with vSphere
- 13. Working with vRealize Automation
- Introduction
- Working with the vRA-integrated Orchestrator
- Automating a vRA instance in Orchestrator
- Configuring an external Orchestrator in vRA
- Adding Orchestrator as an infrastructure endpoint
- Adding an Orchestrator endpoint
- Integrating Orchestrator workflows as XaaS Blueprints
- Managing AD users with vRA
- Using the Event Manager to start workflows
Not only can vRA use Orchestrator to access vCenter or other plugins, but you can also automate your vRA instance using Orchestrator. In this recipe, we will show you how to do the initial steps.
Please make sure that you read the introduction to vRA at the beginning of this chapter. We need a functional and configured vRA. We also need the vRA plugin for Orchestrator installed.
The vRA plugin is integrated into Orchestrator from version 7.1 onward.
However, you should be aware that even the plugin (7.1 at the time of writing) still shows vCAC and vCACCafe in Control Center, and it shows up in the Library as vRealize Automation.
This recipe is split into Preparation and Example.
To configure the vRA plugin, perform the following steps:
- Log in to the Orchestrator Client.
- Run the workflow Library | vRealize Automation | Configuration | Add a vRA host.
- Add a name for the vRA host.
- Enter the HTTPS URL of the vRA installation, as https://vra.mylab.local.
- Agree to install the SSL certificates.
- Leave the connection variables at their defaults and click Next.
- Choose Shared session and enter the name of the Tenant as
vSphere.local. - Enter a vRA Infrastructure Admin account.
- Click on Submit and wait till the workflow has finished.
- Run the workflow Library | vRealize Automation | Configuration | Add the IaaS host of a vRA host.
- Select the vRA host from the Inventory.
- Accept the defaults, but don't forget to add the Administrator password for the Windows IaaS host.
- Check out your Orchestrator Inventory.
Let's run an example by creating a new Machine Prefix:
- Log in to the Orchestrator Client.
- Run the workflow Library | vRealize Automation | Infrastructure Administration | Extensibility | Machine Prefix | Create a Machine Prefix.
- Set the IaaS host from vRealize Automation Infrastructure, as shown in the following screenshot:
- Enter the New Machine Prefix, such as
Test, as well as the number of digits and the next number. - Check on vRA for the new Machine Prefix.
You have hooked up Orchestrator to vRA and are able to do a lot of things. You can now use vRO to configure vRA.
With this plugin, you can create and configure vRA tenants automatically. It becomes even more handy when you are using the Event Broker and want to retrieve some additional information from vRA.
The difference between the vRA Host (VCAC:VcacCafeHost) and the IaaS Host (VCAC:VcacHost) is that things such as requests and catalog items are stored in the vRA Host and objects such as VMs in the IaaS host.
For any automation of vRA you need to configure this plugin.
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