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IntegraRoger
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vRA 7 vSphere Import Question about Blueprint Specification

I am attempting to migrate existing workloads in vCloud Director 6.0.1 to vRA 7.2. The workflow I'm going to use is as follows:

1.       Shutdown each vm

2.       Shutdown the vApp

3.       Remove all snapshots

4.       Consolidate disks

5.       Make a backup of the original .vmx file for each vm.

6.       Update the virtual machine config to remove the value for cloud.uuid and update the value for displayName to be the hostname minus the vCD uuid. This is ok to do in our environment, as there are no duplicate hostnames in use.

7.       Unregister the vm from vCenter

8.       Create a new folder and vmx file and move the virtual disk(s) to this new folder.

9.       Register the new vmx (keep the UUID)

10.   Rename the vCAC vm entity to match the name in vCenter

11.   Run the vCAC plugin work flow named "Import vCenter Virtual Machine"

12.  Delete the vCD vApp

Step 11 is where I am running into problems.. I've been through the documentation, and run through a number of Google searches... nada.

I wonder if anyone has the Blueprint configuration required to import a vCenter VM into vRA 7.2?

Thank you in advance,

Roger the flummoxed

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IntegraRoger
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Just getting back to this now... it would seem that when I use the correct values in the CSV file, I CAN in fact import a system...

What I am running into now is the fact that the imported system has no network connection defined...

Has anyone ever created a CSV fileld (pair? triplet?) to assign a network profile to an imported system?

Thanks in advance...

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bdamian
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Hi,

The step 10 "Rename the vCAC vm entity to match the name in vCenter" is not needed. Instead, when you finish all your tasks in vCenter, you just need to run an "Inventary Data Collection" in the Compute Resource, this will update all the names for you.

About the Blueprint for the workflow "Import vCenter Virtual Machine":

  • The "blueprint" parameter, you can find it in the vRO Inventory: vRealize Automation / Host / Administration / Composite Blueprints
  • The "blueprintComponent" parameter, is a string, and you can get it clicking in the correct "Composite Blueprint" in the vRO inventory and looking into the "Component" attribute as shown in the following screenshot:

pastedImage_2.png

The Blueprint must have only one component.

---
Damián Bacalov
vExpert 2017-2023 (7 years)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianbacalov/
https://tecnologiaimasd.blogspot.com/
twitter @bdamian
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IntegraRoger
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The problem I  ran into (and am still running into) is that I cannot SEE any composite Blueprints in Orchestrator... this was the original problem I ran into.  If I create a CSV file and do a bulk import with only one system as data (with the BlueprintID and the ComponentID as inputs, I can get the system to become managed, however what I am looking into now is the fact that it doesn't get a network definition, nor does it get a static IP address from the pool of addresses based on the network profile scheme(s)...

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bdamian
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Hi,

Two different problems here.

1) I cannot SEE any composite Blueprints in Orchestrator

You need to have the VCACHost pointing to the right Tenant registered in vRO as you can see in the following Screenshot:

pastedImage_0.png

If you didn't, you need to use the WF /Library/vRealize Automation/Configuration/Add a vRA host

Once it appears in the Inventory, you go to /vRealize Automation/<<your vcachost>>/Administration/Composite Blueprints. If there is nothing there, maybe the user doesn't have the permissions to see it.

2) If you need to import Virtual Machines from vCenter to a network that has a Network Profile, you can follow this post:

https://open902.com/vra7-import-unmanaged-virtual-machines-from-vsphere/

---
Damián Bacalov
vExpert 2017-2023 (7 years)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianbacalov/
https://tecnologiaimasd.blogspot.com/
twitter @bdamian
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IntegraRoger
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Thank you!  I'll check all that out when I get back to that client's site (tomorrow).

Some notes...

  • I'm using the embedded Orchestrator in my one vRA appliance. and I can see a sample composites from the default tenant, but not the tenant I am configuring (we're not actually using the default tenant)
  • The user for both vRA and the Orchestrator have Tenant Admin rights (I believe Fabric admin as well)... I'll check again.

Roger

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IntegraRoger
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The account is configured as a Tenant Admin, is a business group manager and support user of the Business group I am importing into, and has admin rights in Orchestrator.

The Orchestrator inventory view shows both of the tenants in the vRealize Automation group (Dev Tenant and vsphere.local)

Hmmm I just noticed that the Dev Tenant doesn't show any of teh business groups either... I think I may need to check permissions one more time...

more digging... thanks for the direction....

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IntegraRoger
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Even with the Dev Tenant not showing anything (Business groups, reservations, blueprints... nothing - Call is in with Support), I am still able to do a bulk import to at least get the machine managed by vRA... here's the DSV entry:

# Import--Yes or No, Virtual Machine Name, Virtual Machine ID, Host Reservation (Name or ID), Host To Storage (Name or ID),

Deployment Name, Blueprint ID, Component Blueprint ID, Owner Name[, Property Name, Property Value, (H|N)(E|O)(R|P)]*

Yes,Bulk-4,c4834b6a-f378-4cd8-b3eb-46f29d825210,Dev-Reservation,Storage-LUN3,Bulk-4,ImportW2012Servers,W2012-Import-Server,myuserID@local.com,VirtualMachine.Network0.Address,10.10.10.151,HOP,VirtualMachine.Network0.Name,Ext-Net-Profile-Dev-Workspaces,HOP,,,

What's happening now is that the server gets imported, and the IP address assigned, but the network is staying as None.

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IntegraRoger
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Update as of March 7, 2018...

I have this process working... its amazing how when you have the right configuration values (like accounts with the correct permissions, and AD groups properly populated!!) that things work as documented!

The next phase of this is to import the identified VMs into an assigned Network Address range based on the Network Profiles... It would be awesome if I could do this as part of the import process, however I've been assured that it cannot be done during the import either through the Orchestrator workflow or using the Bulk Import.

At this point, the test machines can be imported and managed by vRA 7.2, and I can manually assign the correct network (in vCenter) and an IP address (in the Guest OS), but the IP address does not show as "assigned " in the Network Profile range. The IP address can be assigned if using the Bulk Import methodology (as seen here....https://open902.com/vra7-import-unmanaged-virtual-machines-from-vsphere/ so there IS a methodolgy to do so under the hood...

Any ideas?

Roger

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Shanky90
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Did you get to work around this? Am looking for a workflow which can import the VM and reserver the IP under network profile.

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IntegraRoger
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I did. There was a configuration problem that I had to take care of. The above procedure works although there are a few more steps involved... If you would like, I will talk to my client and see if I can send you my detailed walk through (after I sanitize it for content/names).

send me a message where I can email you tomorrow, but this is a manual process. There is no way to inject the IP address or change the network connectivity when the import is done. I had around 150 VMs to import and just plugged away at it until I was done...took 2 months roughly but that had to be scheduled with the users as well.

Support informed me that it could not be fully automated. I suspect there's probably some REST voodoo that could be done, but that'w way beyond me I'm afraid.

Roger

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