Getting started with vRO and some other questions?

[ohaya]

Hi,

I've been evaluating/learning several devops-type products including Chef and Ansible for app deployments, and I am very interested in trying vRO, but I am kind of confused about what I need, or indeed, if it's even possible, to get a vRO configuration working without purchasing some kind of license(s) (I currently only have my own license for VMware Workstation)? 

Is there/are there some set of free downloads that would allow me to test vRO's capabilities?

Also, I was wondering, in general:

- How well/extensively vRO supports deployments on Windows-based guests?

- Can vRO support a "push" model, i.e., where we can trigger deployments from a central location?

Thanks,

Jim

[maaca]

Hi Jim,

at first, you will need complete VMware vSphere environment. Orchestrator is included in the vCenter license and is designed to communicate with vCenter.

It is a bit different orchestrator compared to Chef/Ansible/... vRO can automatize all the things, you can do with vSphere using vSphere client (+ something extra). So, it can help you with deployment, customization and management of virtual servers (Windows/Linux/...).

maaca