Technical Preview of Orchestrator plug-in for vSphere Web Client

[#1]

Version 7.4.0.16380053

• Fixed missing plugin on vSphere installations 6.7 P2+. In /var/log/vmware/csphere-client/logs/vsphere_client_virgo.log there is an error:

Resolver report:

A Require-Bundle could not be resolved. Resolver error data <Require-Bundle: com.springsource.org.apache.log4j; bundle-version="0.0.0">.

Caused by missing constraint in bundle <com.vmware.vco.vcoservice_7.4.0> constraint: <Require-Bundle: com.springsource.org.apache.log4j; bundle-version="0.0.0">

Version 7.4.0.13701555

• After rebooting the vSphere appliance the context menu could be missing.
  There is error in the log: var/log/vmware/vsphere-client/logs/vsphere_client_virgo.log:
  [WARN ] pool-10-thread-1 com.vmware.vco.session.ExtensionObjectUpdater Failed to update context menus extension vsphere.vco.contextMenusActionSet.Datastore java.lang.NullPointerException: null
  In case the error appears again  in /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/webclient.properties add/edit property webClient.loadTime and set the value in seconds. By the default the value is 5 sec. Restart the vSphere appliance
  There should be a line in the vsphere_client_virgo.log: Wait web client to load X seconds where X is the value you set

Version 7.4.0.11197016

• Fix a race condition when registering context menus

Version 7.4.0.7760491

• Provide compatibility with vSphere Web Client 6.7

Version 7.3.0.5751400

• Fixed a performance issue causing workflow data adapter requests to timeout in certain environments

Version 7.3.0.5221408

• This technical preview is targeted to existing vRealize Orchestrator 7.2 customers experiencing compatibility issues with vSphere Web Client 6.5.
• Fixed compatibility issues with Web Client 6.5
• Fixed an issue with Orchestrator context menus in Web Client UI if the corresponding context workflow contains '&' characters in its name

Update procedure:

In Orchestrator appliance:

1. Stop Orchestrator server service, either via Orchestrator Control Center UI > Manage > Startup Options, or by executing service vco-server stop in a shell terminal
2. Replace the file /usr/lib/vco/downloads/vco-plugin.zip with the attached technical preview build (make a backup copy of the old file to a safe location, and make sure the new file is copied with the same name vco-plugin.zip)
3. Update file's name/ownership/permission attributes to match the original ones
4. Start Orchestrator server service, either via Orchestrator Control Center UI > Manage > Startup Options, or by executing service vco-server start in a shell terminal

In Web Client appliance:

1. Stop Web Client service by executing service-control --stop vsphere-client in a shell terminal
2. Check the content of folder /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/vc-packages/vsphere-client-serenity/ , and delete the sub-folder named com.vmware.vco-<someversion>
3. Start Web Client service by executing service-control --start vsphere-client in a shell terminal
4. Launch a browser and login to Web Client UI. It should automatically download and deploy the updated plug-in build.

[afragop72]

Dear support

Good morning.

Thanks a lot for the solution.

I tested in my lab environment and it worked with no issues.

For the time being I can see the plug-in under the vCenter web client (FLEX), but under the vCenter HTML5, I can't see it under the registered plugins.

Thx

Tasos

[iiliev]

Unfortunately, I don't have a Windows installation of vSphere Web Client at hand, so the follwoing info may not be fully accurate.

Conceptually, the steps are the same. The equivalent of /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/vc-packages/vsphere-client-serenity/ folder should be C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-client\vc-packages\vsphere-client-serenity\. To restart the service, instead of service-control check if there is vmon-cli in folder C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmon

[SLutgen]

So we moved to VCSA 6.7 and following the instructions was able to get the vro plugin and use the context actions to launch orchestrator actions from vm, resource pool, folder, etc... to work. After reboots of the appliances we can still access the orchestrator plugin to see workflows, but the context action items from the vm, resource pool, folder, etc... is now missing. I have verified that the list of managed context actions is fully populated. Have you seen this before, and if so what is the way correct this?

[manfriday]

I have seen the context items disappear from time to time. If I go in and add/modify one context item, they all re-appear in the context menu again on the next login.

[iiliev]

Actually, there is a real issue with the latest Web Client release (and we have a PR opened to Web Client team about it). When the vRO plug-in calls the Web Client API to register its context menus, the API call might throw a NullPointerException, causing context menu registration to fail.

You can check if this is the case is Web Client main log file (vsphere_client_virgo.log). Fixing this issue will require a code change in Web Client (and possibly in vRO plug-in), so I doubt adding/removing context items will help.

[afrost1030]

Seeing this in a couple of my customer's vSphere environments, as well as our team lab.  After upgrading PSCs and VCSA to 6.7 U2 (from U1), they now see this Orchestrator client-plugin continually trying to download.

Here's a screenshot: