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TheITHollow
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vRA Composite Blueprint Approvals

Prior to the Composite Blueprint we could create approval policies based on the number of CPUs, Memory etc.

In version 7 of vRA we don't use vSphere machines any longer and are working with a composite blueprint. The options for creating approvals of a composite blueprint don't let us use memory, cpu, etc as criteria.

How do you go about creating conditional approvals in version 7 with a composite blueprint?

Note: you can still create a virtual machine approval, but are unable to add it to the entitlement if the machine is a composite blueprint.

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daphnissov
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Hi, Eric. I dealt with this conundrum recently so can shed some light. You can still get this behavior although you give up flexibility when it comes to services. In vRA 7.x, the approval policy type to look for is "Service Catalog - Catalog Item Request - Virtual Machine" as seen in the below screenshot.

pastedImage_0.png

The conditions for which an approval can be built are as follows.

pastedImage_4.png

Once you've created that, a couple things I've noticed:

  1. This type of approval policy can only be applied to an individual blueprint level (even if composite). It cannot be applied to a service.
  2. In your Entitlements, the only way to link this Approval Policy is to change the filter from "Show applicable" to "Show all" as you can see here.
    pastedImage_5.png

Once done, however, the approvals do work as intended. I wish that vRA were smart enough to apply any sort of approval policy to a service (thereby having it propagate to children blueprints) and be intelligent enough to only apply to objects/types for which it is applicable. But the "Show all" switch just seems to be a plain old bug.

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daphnissov
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Hi, Eric. I dealt with this conundrum recently so can shed some light. You can still get this behavior although you give up flexibility when it comes to services. In vRA 7.x, the approval policy type to look for is "Service Catalog - Catalog Item Request - Virtual Machine" as seen in the below screenshot.

pastedImage_0.png

The conditions for which an approval can be built are as follows.

pastedImage_4.png

Once you've created that, a couple things I've noticed:

  1. This type of approval policy can only be applied to an individual blueprint level (even if composite). It cannot be applied to a service.
  2. In your Entitlements, the only way to link this Approval Policy is to change the filter from "Show applicable" to "Show all" as you can see here.
    pastedImage_5.png

Once done, however, the approvals do work as intended. I wish that vRA were smart enough to apply any sort of approval policy to a service (thereby having it propagate to children blueprints) and be intelligent enough to only apply to objects/types for which it is applicable. But the "Show all" switch just seems to be a plain old bug.

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TheITHollow
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Thank you for the response.

I saw the virtual machine option but couldn't figure out how to add it to an entitlement so assumed that ONLY composite blueprint types could be used.

I didn't even notice the show all policies link.

To be honest I feel kind of silly because I knew there had to be a way, but this wasn't very intuitive. Thanks for the write up. +1

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TedSpinks
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Another aspect of vRA having multiple types of Approval Policies (Virtual Machine, Composite Blueprint, etc) is that there doesn't seem to be a way to mix them.  An Approval Policy can only include one type of properties - so you could have Virtual Machine-specific items like CPU/Memory, OR Composite Blueprint items like Lease Duration/Number of Deployments.  But not both.  And you can only choose one Approval Policy per Catalog Item, so it seems like you have to pick one or the other.

Anyone found a good solution to this problem?

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daphnissov
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Yeah, this is one of those situations where you kind of have to dig into your blueprint pocket and come up with multiple items upon which you can declare specific approvals be necessary. One of many instances where it assists in creating blueprint sprawl. You can have multiple clauses in an approval but, as you probably know, they can only come from the *same* item type. A way to get created is to have a separate service in your catalog just for items that require a certain form of approval and segregate them that way. I hope vRA becomes more flexible in the future to do mixed-type clauses and being able to apply and approval policy to a service and have it propagate to its items.

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