Business group manager not able to see collected resources

[abhilashhb]

I have created a business group and assigned a business group manager to it. I'm not able to create blueprints using linked clone as none of the inventory shows up when i browse for it in blueprint creation page.

has something changed in vRA 6.2? Or am i missing something?

[SeanKohler]

I don't think the Business Group has anything to do with the ability to see "Clone from: " in the Linked Clone Action type for a Blueprint, but I could be wrong.  I think your ability to see the machines to clone from relies on you being a Fabric Administrator  (Infrastructure/Groups/Fabric Groups).

Business Groups allow you to set Reservations and Entitlements.  A Business Group Manager would also give you the ability to see data about provisioned items and other reporting. (e.g. through portlets)

Maybe I am unclear what you are doing?

[abhilashhb]

I disagree. Business group manager has to see the resources to create a IaaS blueprint for his group. This guy is not a explicit permission that is given on vCenter but as soon as he has been added as a BGM he will get the access to the back-end resources that would potentially back his blueprints.

How can he create a blueprint backed by a template and clones from it, if he can't even see the template when he browses for it on the blueprint creation form?

Am i wrong?

[SeanKohler]

I am just going with what I am seeing...  I am not saying that you are wrong to think it "should" work that way.  I am saying that I can see the vCenter Inventory for the Linked clone... even for machines that are not managed by VCAC (vRA).  For machines that are not managed, it wouldn't have anything to do with a Business Group.

You could easily test by adding the user you are using into the Fabric Administrator group and see if you can see the list of machines from vCenter.

[abhilashhb]

I got that Sean. That's my issue. I'm not seeing those managed/not-managed machines. Not any machine for that matter. Adding the user to fabric admin will not solve my issue. i know that will work for sure. What i'm saying is that business group manager by default should get that permission when he is made owner of a reservation (Which at the back-end links to a cluster).

Can you login using your BGM and see if the inventory shows up while creating a blueprint? And he's just BGM. Not part of any other group!

I think it will work in your case. That's my issue.

[SeanKohler]

I see in the 6.0 docs that you should be able to do it with a Business Group Manager....  I think I can test this now.

Do you have a machine provisioned in the Business Group that you are doing the clone from?

[SeanKohler]

>>. Can you login using you BGM and see if the inventory shows up while creating a blueprint? And he's just BGM. Not part of any other group!

Yeah.  I am following you now.  Looking...

[abhilashhb]

Do you have a machine provisioned in the Business Group that you are doing the clone from?

Nope. This is my first blueprint

I have a master image on my VC which i would like to use to back my blueprint.

[abhilashhb]

This is straight out of vRA 6.2 documentation

Business group manager

■ Create and publish business group–specific machine blueprints from IaaS. ■ Manage business group–specific catalog items and entitlements. ■ Monitor resource usage in a business group.

The tenant administrator designates the business group manager when creating or editing business groups.

I'm not able to do he first point. And i don't see any errors in any logs.

[SeanKohler]

Okay... I can see some items as a Business Group Manager for linked clones.  But, I can ONLY see the machines in the Business Group... which I initially expected.

So we have a cart before horse deal.

If you had a machine in the Business Group, you would see it when you select the machine lookup for Linked Clone.

I think you need an initial machine deployed from a different Blueprint before setting up a Linked Clone.

Still researching...  

[SeanKohler]

Okay... this is what I have been able to figure out so far regarding BluePrint creation as a Business Group Manager.

1. You can create a clone if a template exists in vCenter.

2. Once you deploy a machine from the Clone Blueprint into the Business Group, and then take a snapshot, you can do a Linked Clone off that machine snapshot.

I think number 2 makes sense because I don't think you would want to do a linked clone to a machine outside of your Business Group.

Thoughts?

[SeanKohler]

>>> I have a master image on my VC which i would like to use to back my blueprint

So, would this be an acceptable practice?

1.  Create a template of that image in VC.

2. As Business Group Manager, create a Blueprint off template and entitle it to yourself.

3. As Entitled User (BGM), Provision Machine in Business Group.

4. As Entitled User (BGM), Snapshot and shutdown.

5. As Business Group Manager, Create Linked Clone Blueprint from provisioned image.

6. As Business Group Manager, Entitle Blueprint to Users (or Support Users).

7. As Users, provision Linked Clones.

Curious about other operational practices.

[abhilashhb]

You are missing the point here.

It's a simple problem. I'm not able to see any resources while browsing for the blueprint form.

Take a look at the documentation

http://pubs.vmware.com/vra-62/index.jsp#com.vmware.vra.iaas.virtual.doc/GUID-59BF437F-DDB6-4D72-94F3...

I need a blueprint to even deploy machines out of. I'm not able to see any resource to even create my first blueprint.

[SeanKohler]

I was initially missing the point, but for my last few posts I completely understand what you are trying to do and why you are having trouble doing it.  I am sorry that I am failing to impart what I am observing and how it may help you.  Let me see if I can lay it out better...

>> I'm not able to see any resources while browsing for the blueprint form.

Linked Clone as a Business Group Manager

I understand you do not see resources in vRA using Linked Clone.  Per my observations, I think you would see machine items that are part of the business group for the linked clone option.  (to which you stated: since this is your first blueprint, you cannot have machines in the business group -- though that isn't really true since you can move a machine into the business group)

I also think it is valid that you would want the machine that is being used as the Linked Clone master to be WITHIN the business group... but that is just my opinion and not in any way reflective of how that product should actually work for all use cases.  Though the link you provided does state this... "business group managers can create linked clone blueprints from any of the virtual machines requested by users in their business group." Thereby confirming that the machines must exist in the business group in order for there to be a Linked Clone of one.

I can see machine resources that are in the Business Group when I build a Blueprint as a Business Group manager (who is in no other groups).  I could provide a screenshot of this, but I would have to clean up a lot of private information that I cannot share in this forum... or you can just believe that I can see them.

If you DO actually have machines in the Business Group AND you cannot see them as I have stated, then you have some other problem that might require a ticket to GSS.  If you do not have a machine in the business group, I suggest you get one in there and validate you can see it as a resource in the same way I have observed.  (there are several ways to get a machine item into a business group)

Clone as a Business Group Manager

Though I don't think you stated this, I believe you are also saying you cannot see "Clone from:" resources when you select the Clone action (with a Provisioning workflow) in a blueprint.  The resources that are expected for this type of Blueprint are VC Templates.

I have templates in my Virtual Center Inventory, and they DO show up for me as a Business Group Manager (who is in no other groups).

As the Business Group manager, I can create a blueprint based off the VC Template and then create a machine in the business group to be used for the Linked Clone option above.

If you have a template in virtual center, and you cannot see it as a Business Group Manager... that is contrary to what I am observing and may require a ticket to GSS.  If you do not have a template in virtual center, I suggest you create one and validate if you can see it with the Clone option while being a Business Group Manager.

(One other note is that I have a CloneWorkflow item for the ProvisioningWorkflow... I have observed if I blank that entry out and then click the search button for the template, it actually crashes the Template selector window.... you SHOULD see a ProvisioningWorkflow in the list or maybe that is why you are having issues.)

[SeanKohler]

To connect the dots... once you have a Clone blueprint allowing for the creation of a machine in the business group, that provisioned machine can be used as the Resource target for a Linked Clone blueprint.

I don't know if there is some other way that this works... I only know that this way is working for me.  (even though we are not using the Business Group Manager role right now, because we have a different use case... It is interesting to hear of how others are using the product.)

Edit: Please note... once the template is created, the Data Collection inventory needs to be re-run in order for it to be seen as a "Clone From:" template value.

Message was edited by: SeanKohler

[GrantOrchardVMw]

Great post Sean. Very thorough.

Grant

[abhilashhb]

My issue is still not resolved. I have a simple problem. My BGM is not seeing any resource on reservation he's assigned to.

Why would that happen? I do not see any errors anywhere.

And i don't agree with the fact that one cannot create a linked clone blueprint off the template that is already there in VC. Why would anything stop me from doing that?

[GrantOrchardVMw]

At the moment all you've provided is a behaviour. To troubleshoot we need logs.

Sean has indicated that he can see templates, but you can't. Let's leave Linked Clones to the side for now.

1. Can you create a new BG with a different BG Manager and see if the problem manifests again?

2. If it doesn't, then it's either something finnicky with your group or the account you've added as manager.

3. If it does, you've got a bug and should contact GSS.

Grant

[abhilashhb]

Yes that is exactly what i was telling Sean and all i wanted him to do was to check if he can see templates using BGM.

Tried 1 and also created a new user and added him. Same issue. Just wanted to confirm it's something weird coz i do not see anything in the logs.

Let me see what else i can do around this issue. Will keep you guys updated.

Thank you

[SeanKohler]

Sorry I did test that and wrote about it in detail.  (Maybe I was too verbose.)

1. I created a Template in VC (per the screenshot).

2. I went in as a Business Group Manager and could see the Templates (per the screenshot).

Only for the CLONE option though.  Not the LINKED CLONE option.