vRO context execution

[austinb324]

Is there a way to allow orchestrator to 'know' where it was started from in the vcenter web client and import that item into the workflow that is being run so that the user doesn't have to select it?

For example, I want to be able to right click a vm and execute a workflow....

And have it not ask me to select a VM...or at the very least auto populate the field for me:

[schepp]

Hi,

the selected item is passed to the workflow by default.

It will be used in the workflow when the workflow has an input variable of the type of the selected input.

When I use the shutdown and delete VM workflow from web client as in your example, the selected VM is automaticly selected in your second screenshot.

Maybe there is something wrong with your registration of the vRO to the vCenter server.

Did you register it with it's IP address or the hostname?

Tim

[austinb324]

Interesting. I have vRO setup in 3 environments now and this functionality is not present in any of them.

I have tried to register my vRO appliance with it's hostname several times but cannot figure out how. It always shows up with an IP address instead of hostname in the vcenter web client.

[schepp]

select the server and click edit configuration.

Is it registered as IP/hostname or as VC-extension?

I've seen a post once by iiliev‌ that said the problem might be the registering by IP address.

Tim

[austinb324]

It's registered by IP address. Wonder why it does this? I log into the configuration using the hostname. That is the only place where a hostname is specified during the connection process I believe.

[schepp]

Maybe this blog can help, as there were some changes from 5.5 to 6.0:

http://www.vexperienced.co.uk/2015/03/25/vrealize-orchestrator-6-0-deployment-gotchas/

[iiliev]

The problem is likely related to the way vCenter Server instance is registered in vRO (using 'Add a vCenter Server instance' workflow).

If your vCenter Server is visible in vSphere Web Client as eg. myvcserver.CORP.com, please make sure that you have registered it using exactly the same name in vRO. Note that the name is case-sensitive.

[schepp]

Ah, my bad, it's not how vRO is registered in vCenter, but how vCenter is registered in vRO. Confusing stuff 😉

[austinb324 · Accepted solution]

I figured out the issue. Using the VMware interoperability matrix, I determined that my orchestrator appliance was not compatible with the version of vSphere web client that I am running at my company. Our web client is at 5.5 U3 and this problem was occurring while using VMware vCenter Orchestrator 5.5.2 appliance. I deleted the appliance in my lab and redeployed using the Orchestrator 5.5.3 appliance and it fixed the issue.