Allowing users to mount usb devices through vRA/vCO

[CJSysEng]

Hello all,

I have recently built out my vCAC 7 environment and have kept it very minimal for now.  Users are able to log in and request machines and carry out a handful of actions on those VMs including mounting an ISO to the CDROM drive, however I have not been able to put a workflow/resource action in place to mount a client usb device to a VM.  I am using the vCO that comes embedded in vRA which I am not sure is any different from an external Orchestrator appliance.  I was hoping someone could point me toward a resource or workflow cookbook for requests like this if not this exact workflow.  Let me know if I can provide any more details or if perhaps this can be accomplished through an existing workflow or entitlement action.

Thanks!

CJ

[iiliev]

Hi CJ,

There are no significant differences between standalone vRO appliance and vRO embedded in vRA. Most differences are in out of the box configuration, set of bundled plug-ins, etc; but the core binaries are the same.

I don't have such workflow to mount USB device at hand, but I think you can use the stock 'Mount CD-ROM' workflow as a starting point and modify it accordingly.

[CJSysEng]

Hi Ilian,

I appreciate the information. I am currently working with Mount CD-ROM workflow, but I am not sure how to reference the usb controller and subsequent client device/drive.  Do you know if there is a good resource for object names in vsphere?

Thanks,

CJ

[iiliev]

Below are links to official vSphere documentation. I'm not sure whether the information you are looking for is there, but it is worth to check.

Perhaps the folks in vSphere/vCenter communities may provide pointers to other useful resources.

VMware vSphere 6.0 Documentation Center

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp

VMware vSphere API Reference Documentation

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp#com.vmware.wssdk.apiref.doc/right-pane.html

[redyouch]

The big question is why would you want to do this?  If the users are connecting via RDP or PCoIP, they should have client options to passthrough the USB device.

[CJSysEng]

The users generally connect using VMRC which grays out the ability to connect removable devices.  I currently have a resource action for them to connect datastore .iso files to the cd-rom, but I do not have the ability to allow them to connect their own usb flash drives.

I think using RDP could be an effective workaround though so I may go ahead with that as the best option for now.  We will just have to ensure that all end users can configure their RDP sessions to pass through any devices they need.

[rickyward419]

I am in the same boat and trying to figure out how to enable this using VMRC. Have you found a solution?