vRO 7.0.1 - Does anybody know for certain if it's possible to pre-populate a workflow with an object from VC when that object is right clicked?

[FillDeUK]

Lots of docmentation I find seem to indicate it is possible, but we just cannot get it to work. I have seen a single post that says it doesn't work "any more" in vCO 6, so has it been depracated? Even a simple WF with a single vc:virtualmachine object linked to vm's will not pre-populate when the object is right clicked and the WF is ran. Even the provided WF's do not do this.

So:

1. Is it possible or am I wasting my time?

2. Any ideas where to start to look why this will not run?

Thanks in advance.

[iiliev]

Hi,

1. Yes, it is certainly possible.

2. First, make sure that when you register the VC using 'Add a vCenter Server instance' workflow, you use vCenter's FQDN and not its IP address.

If it still doesn't work, check vRO and vSphere Web client log files (server.log and vsphere_client_virgo.log, respectively) for any clues around the time you right-clicked in the UI. There could be some traces pointing to failing REST call or SSL handshake issue, or some other error.

[FillDeUK]

Hi,

Thanks for the quick answer. Unfortunately, I didn't install / configure the system, so I am not sure about the original config.

I certainly added a VC (but NOT the original registration of the vRO isntance in VC) and used a Hostname and not the FQDN. This was done with a RO account. The IP was never used as far as I can tell.

Is there a way to be sure of the original details?

If this needs to be redone, is this easy? Will it break any WFs already in use?

I checked both logs and they show no errors.

For info, the Wf runs fine once the correct VM is picked from the inventory browser, it just won't populate from the right click menu.

[iiliev]

The easiest way to check how the vCenters are added is to launch vRO Java client, then go to the 'Inventory tab in the left pane (the rightmost tab), and then expand 'vCenter Server' tree node. If added by FQDN, the vCenter row should look something like https://vcenter123.company.com:443/sdk. If it is something like https://10.20.30.40:443/sdk (IP address) or https://vcenter123:443/sdk (hostname) then the pre-population of the object on right clicking will likely not work.

Another way to check how the vCenters are registered is to launch a Web browser and open the following URL (of course, use the correct of your vRO server) and check href attributes in the result output:

https://10.20.30.40:8281/vco/api/catalog/VC/

If your vCenter is already added by IP or hostname, then you may add it also by FQDN, and you can keep the old entry if you think there might be running workflows using it. You'll end up with 2 records for the same vCenter but this should not be a big issue.

[FillDeUK]

I decied to remove the vC - vRO links by unregistering the vCenter Extension, removing the vCenter and then starting again with FQDNs once the links showed up as gone in vC...

Still doesn't seem to want to work. Again, no errors in the logs only info.

Apparently, a collegue has told me he has a call open with VMWare for months now about this very issue.... I may be out of my depth here....