How can we manage more than one vCenter from a vRealize Automation setup.

[ishaarora3]

hi,

What is the best way to manage more than one VCenter from a vRealize Automation Setup. I have version 7.5 VRA and VRO both in one machine and one windows IAAS machine.

Is it possible to create another vCenter plugin instance and manage VMs from that vCenter.

Currently the VRA machine lies on VCenter1 and manages its VMs and hosts.

I want to manage another vCenter2 on VMC. Can we do it with the previous setup I have or do we need to create a completely new setup on VMC. Can someone please suggest.

Thanks,

Isha

[daphnissov]

You need a proxy agent out in VMC in addition to a role which has the necessary privileges to deploy workloads. If you look at the documentation, I believe there is a guide for VMC on AWS integration.

[iiliev]

vCenter plug-in supports multiple vCenters, so yes, you can register more than one vCenter using the 'Add a vCenter Server instance' workflow and manage them.

As for vCenter on VMC, latest builds of vCenter plug-in can manage such vCenters. Check the following KB - https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/59459

You'll need vCenter plug-in build# 10376265 or later (recent builds can be downloaded from https://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-32872)

One thing that will not work is using vCenter on VMC as Single Sign-On authentication provider in vRO.

[ishaarora3]

Thanks for the reply. So if I just install another vSphere agent on my IAAS and try to add another vCenter instance using workflow in VRO. Would that be sufficient.

I think this KB would be helpful when we update the previously mapped vCenter to 6.8 version.

Is it even needed in case of new vCenter instance. Could you please explain.

[iiliev]

I'm not very familiar with IaaS, so I cannot comment on what are the requirements at vRA/IaaS side of things for your use case. At vRO side, it should be enough to just add the vCenter instance using the workflow mentioned above.

I think the KB is not that much about the update vs new instances, but rather about the fact that you can face issues with connections to vCenter 6.8+ if you are using a vCenter plug-in build older than build# 10376265 (and I suppose these issues to ve valid both for updated and for clean deployments of vCenter 6.8+).

One important thing I forgot to mention - I think the current vCenter plug-in builds use vCenter 6.5-level API. That means that if you add vCenter 6.8+ instance in vRO, you will be able to invoke only those vCenter API that were introduced before and up to version 6.5 of the vCenter. The new vCenter API introduced in vCenter 6.7/6.8+ will not be available. So if the new vCenter API are important/required for your use case, you may want to wait until new vCenter plug-in builds compatible with vCenter 6.8-level API are available.

[ishaarora3]

Thanks! that makes sense.

[ishaarora3]

@daphinssov : Would you be able to answer my question?

[daphnissov]

We need to distinguish between vRA duties and vRO duties. If you want to deploy blueprints to another vCenter through vRA then you don't necessarily need to add another vCenter instance through vRO. You will need to add another proxy agent on a separate Windows server and create the endpoint in vRA. If, however, you are deploying through vRA *AND* using the vRO vCenter plug-in to consume those objects in workflows, then you will also need to add it in vRO.

[ishaarora3]

I need to use both. But I am confused because we provide the windows IAAS details during the initial setup and many things are installed on the windows machine during that.

And now when I am trying to add another proxy agent on a separate windows box let say in VMC in this case, what all applications\softwares do we need to have installed on the new one.

[daphnissov]

You only deploy the proxy/VRM agent at the remote site--VMC in this case. If you read the documentation (which I'd recommend) it shows the procedure for additional proxy installation. You will obviously need connectivity from that Windows VM back to your on-prem vRA server/load balancer as well as IaaS web server/load balancer.