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vcpguy
Expert
Expert

VM deployment with orchestrator, is this possible ?

Hi, I want to create a webpage that will help in vmware deployment process.
We have a big environment and at times i see people do not follow the run book.
My suggestion/plan is to have a webpage, which will have all the required fields and it will force people to follow the naming standards or placing VMs in proper datastore accoring to their tiers OR using the proper network configuration if the VM is part of lab cluster. etc...

Basically a workflow and orchestrator forces people to follow it.

Is this possible in orchestrator. OR do you know any other solution to help me out here.

Thanks

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KiwiDave
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yes, this is definitely possible and what I have been working to implement.

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vcpguy
Expert
Expert

Can you give me some pointers. I want to implement this solution in my environment

Thanks

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Burke-
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

It may be worthwhile going through the tutorial we put together on such a process:

http://www.vcoteam.info/learn-vco/create-a-simple-vco-self-service-vm-provisioning-portal-part-1.htm...

http://www.vcoteam.info/learn-vco/create-a-simple-vco-self-service-vm-provisioning-portal-part-2.htm...

http://www.vcoteam.info/learn-vco/create-a-simple-vco-self-service-vm-provisioning-portal-part-3.htm...

If my answer resolved or helped you, please mark it as Correct or Helpful to award points. Thank you! Visit http://www.vcoteam.info & http://blogs.vmware.com/orchestrator for vRealize Orchestrator tips and tutorials - @TechnicalValues on Twitter
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KiwiDave
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

You need to start at your scope and define your workflows before even opening Orchestrator.

What are you trying to achieve? Deploy from a golden template or from an installation ISO? Windows or Linux? Do you need post-installation tasks (joining a domain, adding extra disks). Do deployments need approval from another party?

I would recommend starting small, deploying a single server type and getting that right and then look at the web-portal side of things after that.

Things to think about:

*What are your constants (attributes in vCO talk)?

*What are your input values, what output will you be wanting from them?

I would suggest having a look at the workflow "Clone virtual machine, no customization" to begin with to get a feel for how things work and then move onto "Clone, Windows with single NIC and credential".

I would also suggest the following plugins:

*Active Directory - to do AD related tasks

*vix - to do guest related tasks

*Perspectives - for the web portal side of things. A lot easier than Web Views.

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vcpguy
Expert
Expert

From where did you download those additional plugins? Where you able to complete the workflow ?

Thanks

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please don't forget to reward Points for helpful hints; answers; suggestions. My blog: http://vmwaredevotee.com
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cdecanini_
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Find the plug-ins here:

http://www.vmware.com/products/datacenter-virtualization/vcenter-orchestrator/plugins.html

And here

http://labs.vmware.com/flings

Christophe.

If my answer resolved or helped you, please mark it as Correct or Helpful to award points. Thank you! Visit http://www.vcoteam.info & http://blogs.vmware.com/orchestrator for vCenter Orchestrator tips and tutorials - @vCOTeam on Twitter
Burke-
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

For the AD plugin, you can get that here:

http://www.vmware.com/products/datacenter-virtualization/vcenter-orchestrator/plugins.html

VIX and Perspectives plugins can be found here:

http://labs.vmware.com/flings/vix-vco

http://labs.vmware.com/flings/perspectives-plug-in-for-vcenter-orchestrator

If my answer resolved or helped you, please mark it as Correct or Helpful to award points. Thank you! Visit http://www.vcoteam.info & http://blogs.vmware.com/orchestrator for vRealize Orchestrator tips and tutorials - @TechnicalValues on Twitter
FSvcoe
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

We used the Portal link defined above, and modified it to our needs, works well for us using 4 VirtualCenters. There a lot of moving parts, and you need to ensure the proper plug-ins are defined, but once you work through that it works well. The biggest PITA is the AD part-Because of LDAP issues have your users in one domain, and the service accounts in another, we had to ensure they were all in the same location.

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