vCO workflows

[sawakine]

Hey

What is the best way to give IP adresses and DNS to VMs using vCO ?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks

[Burke-]

This post should be in the Orchestrator community - could someone please move this post there?

The best way is to during the clone & customization process. The library workflows provide a means to specify IP information for the VM being provisioned out.

[sawakine]

Hi Burke! Thanks for your reply! and sorry I didn't pay attention about where the post would be published.

I tried to work with some workflows such as "Clone, Linux with single NIC" but when the workflow reaches the stage of network configuration (IP address and DNS) it stops and shows me the following error : "Task 'CloneVM_Task' error: A specified parameter was not correct.

spec.identity.hostName (Dynamic Script Module name : vim3WaitTaskEnd#20)"

So in the end the VM is created with all the specified parameters but not the network settings so it has no IP address and DNS is specified as localhost o_O

Any idea about how can I fix this problem please ? the same error happens everytime I try to work with a workflow that set up the network configuration.

[tschoergez]

moved to the Orchestrator forums.

[sawakine]

any help please ? thanks

[Burke- · Accepted solution]

Hello,

  I rarely do the clone/customize for linux machines - simply haven't been involved in many projects requiring it... however, to help out here, I just went through the process myself to make sure it works. I used the "Clone, Linux with single nic" workflow from the Linux Customization folder. I ran the workflow, and provided inputs as follows:

Virtual machine to clone: I selected a valid Linux VM from my vCenter

Name of the new virtual machine: CloneTest

Mark the new virtual machine as a template: No

Power on the new virtual machine: No

Resource pool: Resources (default root Resource Pool for cluster)

Host: Not Set (since I set a Resource Pool, host selection is automatic)

Virtual machine folder: vm (default root vm folder)

Datastore: NFS-01

Run the Sysprep operations and wait for the task to complete: Yes

Name or prefix name of the Linux Client: CloneTest

MAC address: <left blank>

Network on which to attach...: VM Network

Use DHCP: No

Fixed, valid IP address: 192.168.110.98

Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

List of gateways: 192.168.110.2

DNS domain suffix: corp.local

List of DNS servers: 192.168.110.10

End result:

The workflow completed without error. The resulting VM was properly named in vCenter and its hostname. It also had the correct static IP Address & gateway.

Based on the error message you have listed in your post, it sounds as though you have something wrong with the hostname :

A specified parameter was not correct.

spec.identity.hostName

... Did you specify a valid hostname in the "Name or prefix name of the Linux Client" workflow input???

[sawakine]

Thank you so much Burke!

You saw right I had a problem with the "Name or prefix name of the Linux Client" I've never edited it with the same name as the virtual machine and didn't know that hostname = name of the linux client!

Thank you so much it works as expected

I am trying to clone for exemple a bunch of VMs from the same VM, I want that ine the end of my workflow : all my VMs could have an IP address and a DNS! What is the best way to give different IP adresses to all my VMs in your point of view. Here is a picture of the workflow that I am trying to run! But just on VM can have an IP address for the moment Is there any way to make the parameter IP address in "array" type so when the workflow arrives to the next VM that should be cloned it would automatically take the second address IP in the array ?

Any help would be appreciated

[Burke-]

Yes you can have an array input for your ip addresses... you would just need to update your "set VM Name" element to "set VM Name and IP", then edit that scriptable task to set an ipAddress variable with an address from your array. Then use that ipAddress variable as an input to your Clone workflow.

Other options would be:

- If using Infoblox or Bluecat for your IPAM system use their plug-in to retrieve an IP for each VM

- Make a call out to a DB to retrieve a new IP Address (and at the same time flag that IP as used)

- and whatever else you can imagine

[sawakine]

YES, editing the script sounds good

Thank you again