VMware Cloud Community
LeroyJenkins608
Contributor
Contributor

vRA Blueprint to Provision and then convert to a template

Let me preface by saying that I am extremely new to vRA. I've been doing the HOL but so far no scenario has addressed my goal.


What I'd like to be able to do with my vRA 7.5 environment is to generate a Build machine and convert it to a template to be used for later deployment:

-Provision a new VM from an existing template

-Once provisioned, have an internal process install software and configurations. Once complete, power off

-Once the VM is powered off, have vRA rename an existing prod template to a different name (ex: buildmachinetemplate to buildmachinetemplate-1)

-Rename this build machine to the production name (buildmachinetemplate) and convert it to a template

What I'm trying to figure out is if I should have one complete vRA blueprint do this whole task (which could take ~2 hours), from provisioning, to waiting, to converting to a template. Or, if there is another way to accomplish this with vOrch. If I go the route of having vRA manage the entire process, what does that look like in a blueprint? Do I import a custom vOrch workflow into vRA that includes the 'wait for power off' logic, and mark it to a template once it is powered off? In vOrch, how do I define a workflow to reference the provisioned vRA machine?

Looking for any advice, thanks for your time.

3 Replies
daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

Just to give you a hint here, this *really* isn't what vRA was designed to do. Of course, you can still do it, but you're:

  1. In for a long haul if you're new to vRA and vRO (don't call it "vOrch")
  2. Will require vRA
  3. Will require extensive vRO coding of custom workflows and reuse of existing workflows
LeroyJenkins608
Contributor
Contributor

I'm aware that there is a long haul ahead with lots of learning required.

I see your point, this might be trying to make vRA do what it was not intended to do.

I'm guessing that this whole process belongs in a vRO workflow. Time to start coding some custom workflows...

qc4vmware
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

We do some similar template management in our environment.  We do it with a mix of vRO and vRA.  Without fully understanding your environment its tough for me to offer up advice on what to use and where.  I'll say that most of the work was in vRO for our solution.

Reply
0 Kudos