VMware vCenter Lab Manager 3.0 User guide

User’s Guide

Lab Manager 3.0

VMware, Inc.

3401 Hillview Ave.

Palo Alto, CA 94304

www.vmware.com

2 VMware, Inc.

Lab Manager User’s Guide

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on our Web site at:

http://www.vmware.com/support/

The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:

docfeedback@vmware.com

6,496,847, 6,704,925, 6,711,672, 6,725,289, 6,735,601, 6,785,886, 6,789,156, 6,795,966, 6,880,022,

6,944,699, 6,961,806, 6,961,941, 7,069,413, 7,082,598, 7,089,377, 7,111,086, 7,111,145, 7,117,481,

7,149,843, 7,155,558, 7,222,221, 7,260,815, 7,260,820, 7,269,683, 7,275,136, 7,277,998, 7,277,999,

7,278,030, 7,281,102, 7,290,253, and 7,356,679; patents pending.

VMware, the VMware “boxes” logo and design, Virtual SMP and VMotion are registered trademarks or

trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Microsoft is a registered

trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other marks and

names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

Lab Manager is distributed with AxpDataGrid, a third-party product, copyright by Axezz, Oslo,

Norway, http://www.axezz.com/axpdatagrid.

Lab Manager User’s Guide

Revision: 20080804

Item: EN-000066-00

VMware, Inc. 3

Contents

AboutThisBook 13

1 IntroducingLabManager 15

LabManagerComponents 16

LabManagerBenefitsandFeatures 17

UnderstandingLabManagerintheVMwareInfrastructureEnvironment 18

UsingClusters,Hosts,ResourcePools,andDatastores 18

UsingVMwareInfrastructureCapabilities 19

2 UsingtheLabManagerWebConsole 21

SettingBrowserOptions 21

AccessingtheLabManagerWebConsole 22

ViewingPerformance,Usage,andSupportInformation 22

UsingtheInterface 24

UsingPop‐UpMenus 24

UsingTextSearchFilter 24

UsingColumnSorting 25

VMwareToolsandMouseControl 25

SettingUserPreferences 25

SetDisplay,Deployment,andLeaseAlertPreferences 25

ChangingYourUserPassword 26

GeneralWorkflowinLabManager 27

3 WorkingwithNetworkTemplates 29

AccessingtheNetworkTemplatesPage 30

CreatingNetworkTemplates 31

CopyingNetworkTemplates 33

SharingNetworkTemplates 33

ModifyingNetworkTemplateProperties 35

ChangingOwnershipofNetworkTemplates 35

DeletingNetworkTemplates 35

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ViewingIPPoolUsageforaVirtualNetwork 36

AddingIPAddressestotheIPPoolofaVirtualNetwork 37

RemovingIPAddressesfromtheIPPoolofaVirtualNetwork 37

4 WorkingwithVirtualMachines 39

ViewingtheVirtualMachinesinaConfiguration 40

DeployingVirtualMachines 41

DeployingVirtualMachinesonHighAvailabilityClusters 43

UndeployingVirtualMachines 43

DiscardingStateforVirtualMachines 44

ConsolidatingVirtualMachines 44

ModifyingVirtualMachineProperties 45

ModifyingVirtualMachineHardDisks 48

AddingaVirtualMachineHardDisk 48

EditingaVirtualMachineHardDisk 48

DeletingaVirtualMachineHardDisk 49

Modifying

VirtualMachineNetworkInterfaces 49

EditingNetworkInterfaceSettings 49

ResettingaNetworkInterfaceMACAddress 51

AddingaNetworkInterface 51

DeletingaNetworkInterface 52

ViewingaVirtualMachineConsole 53

InstallingtheActiveXControlorVMwareRemoteMKSPlug‐In 53

WorkinginaVirtualMachineConsole 54

SettingUpaRemoteDesktopConnection 55

PoweringOnorPoweringOffa

VirtualMachine 55

ResettingaVirtualMachine 56

ShuttingDownaVirtualMachine 56

SuspendingandResumingaVirtualMachine 56

InstallingVMwareTools 57

TakingASnapshotofaVirtualMachine 57

RevertingtoaVirtualMachineSnapshot 58

DeletingaVirtualMachineSnapshot 58

InsertingandSwappingCDs 58

EjectingCDs 59

InsertingandSwappingFloppyDisks 59

EjectingFloppyDisks 59

WorkingwithBEALiquidVMs 60

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Contents

5 WorkingwithVirtualMachineTemplates 61

AccessingtheVMTemplatesPage 62

CreatingVirtualMachineTemplates 64

ImportingVirtualMachineTemplates 66

ImportingVirtualMachineTemplatesfromVirtualCenter 66

ImportingVirtualMachineTemplatesfromSMBStorage 68

SavingVirtualMachinesasVirtualMachineTemplates 69

CloningVirtualMachineTemplates 70

DeployingVirtualMachineTemplates 71

DeployingaVirtualMachineTemplatewithDefaultSettings 72

DeployingaVirtualMachineTemplatewith

CustomSettings 72

DeployingVirtualMachineTemplatesonHighAvailabilityClusters 72

InstallingaGuestOperatingSystem 73

InstallingVMwareTools 74

CustomizingtheGuestOperatingSystem 79

PrerequisitesforGuestCustomization 79

BuildingaMicrosoftSysprepPackage 80

ChoosingtheGuestCustomizationSIDGenerationTool 82

ChoosingtheSIDGenerationToolforLab Manager 82

ChoosingtheSIDGenerationToolforaVirtualMachine

Template 82

ChoosingtheSIDGenerationToolforaVirtualMachine 83

DisablingGuestCustomization 83

DisablingGuestCustomizationforaVirtualMachineTemplate 84

DisablingGuestCustomizationforaVirtualMachine 84

GuestCustomizationforWindowsNTandSolarisVirtualMachine

Templates 85

CustomizingGuestCustomization 86

ImportingVirtualMachineTemplatesfromLabManager2.xwith

VMware ToolsandLM Tools 87

UndeployingVirtual

MachineTemplates 87

SharingVirtualMachineTemplates 88

PublishingVirtualMachineTemplates 89

CheckingVMwareToolsStatusBeforePublishingVirtualMachine

Templates 89

DisablingVMware ToolsCheckBeforePublishingVirtualMachine

Templates 90

PublishingVirtualMachineTemplates 91

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ManagingVirtualMachineTemplates 91

UnpublishingVirtualMachineTemplates 91

ExportingVirtualMachineTemplatestoanSMBShare 91

ConsolidatingVirtualMachineTemplates 92

DiscardingStateforVirtualMachineTemplates 93

ModifyingVirtualMachineTemplateProperties 93

ModifyingVirtualMachineTemplateHardDisks 96

AddingaVirtualMachineTemplateHardDisk 96

AddingSCSIVirtualHardDisks 96

EditingaVirtualMachineTemplateHard

Disk 97

DeletingaVirtualMachineTemplateHardDisk 97

ModifyingVirtualMachineTemplateNetworkInterfaces 97

AddingaNetworkInterface 97

EditingNetworkInterfaceSettings 99

DeletingaNetworkInterface 100

ResettingaNetworkInterfaceMACAddress 100

ChangingOwnershipofVirtualMachineTemplates 100

DeletingVirtualMachineTemplates 101

6 WorkingwithConfigurations 103

AccessingConfigurations 104

AccessingtheWorkspacePage 104

AccessingtheLibraryPage 105

CreatingConfigurations 106

ImportingConfigurationsfromanSMBShare 109

CloningConfigurations 110

CloningWorkspaceConfigurations 110

CloningLibraryConfigurations 111

ViewingConfigurationVirtualMachinesandNetworks 112

ViewingConfigurationVirtualMachines 112

ViewingConfigurationNetworks 114

ViewingConfigurationDiagrams 115

ChangingtheVirtualMachinesinaConfiguration 115

AddingaVirtualMachinetoaConfiguration 115

Removinga

VirtualMachinefromaConfiguration 116

MovingVirtualMachinestoAnotherConfiguration 117

ChangingtheNetworksinaConfiguration 118

AddingaNetworktoaConfiguration 118

RemovingaNetworkfromaConfiguration 118

ForciblyRemovingaNetworkfromaConfiguration 119

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Contents

DeployingConfigurations 119

DeployingaConfigurationwithDefaultSettings 120

DeployingaConfigurationwithCustomSettings 120

DeployingConfigurationsonHighAvailabilityClusters 122

WorkingwithConfigurationSnapshots 123

TakingaConfigurationSnapshot 123

RevertingtoaConfigurationSnapshot 123

DeletingaConfigurationSnapshot 123

SavingConfigurationstotheLibrary 124

AddingaConfigurationtotheLibrary 124

CloningaLibraryConfigurationtotheWorkspace 125

Creating

aLiveLinktoaConfiguration 126

DeployingaConfigurationfromaLiveLink 126

SharingConfigurations 127

ManagingConfigurations 128

StoppingConfigurations 128

SuspendingaConfiguration 128

ResumingtheOperationofaSuspendedConfiguration 128

PoweringOffaConfiguration 129

PoweringOnaConfiguration 129

ResettingaConfiguration 129

UndeployingConfigurations 129

ExportingConfigurations 130

DiscardingStateforConfigurations 130

ModifyingConfigurationProperties 131

ChangingOwnershipofConfigurations 132

DeletingConfigurations 132

7 WorkingwithMedia 133

AccessingtheMediaLibrary 134

SynchronizingtheMediaLibrarywithMediaStoreFiles 135

RestrictingAccesstoMediaFiles 135

ModifyingMediaProperties 137

ChangingOwnershipofMediaFiles 137

8 AdministeringandMonitoringLabManager 139

MonitoringLab Manager 139

ViewingtheActivityLog 140

ViewingJobDetails 140

ViewingDeployedVirtualMachines 140

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ManagingUsers,Groups,andRoles 142

ManagingUsers 142

ViewingUsers 142

AddingUsers 144

DisablingandEnablingUsers 146

RemovingUsers 146

ModifyingUserProperties 147

ViewingUserRolesandOrganizations 149

SendingUserNotifications 149

ManagingStrandedUsers 150

ViewingStrandedUsers 150

TransferringOwnershipofStrandedUserObjects 151

ManagingGroups 151

ViewingGroups 151

ImportingLDAPGroups 152

RemovingGroups 153

ModifyingGroupProperties 153

ManagingRolesandRights 154

ViewingRoles 155

AddingRoles 155

Copying

Roles 156

DeletingRoles 156

ModifyingRoleProperties 156

ManagingOrganizations 157

ViewingOrganizations 157

CreatingOrganizations 157

ModifyingOrganizationProperties 159

DisablingOrganizations 160

RemovingOrganizations 160

ManagingResources 161

ManagingResourcePools 162

ViewingResourcePools 162

AttachingandDetachingResourcePools 163

EnablingandDisablingResourcePools 164

ModifyingResourcePoolProperties 164

UndeployingAllVirtualMachinesinaResourcePool 165

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Contents

ManagingHosts 165

ViewingHosts 165

PreparingandUnpreparingHosts 167

EnablingandDisablingHosts 168

ModifyingHostProperties 168

ViewingDeployedVirtualMachinesonaHost 169

UndeployingAllVirtualMachinesonaHost 171

ManagingDatastores 172

ViewingDatastores 172

RemovingDatastores 173

EnablingandDisablingDatastores 174

ModifyingDatastoreProperties 175

ViewingVirtualMachineDatastoreUsage 175

ViewingVirtualMachineDatastoreDirectories 177

DeletingExpiredVirtualMachines 179

Renewingthe

StorageLeaseforanExpiredVirtualMachine 179

DeletingRevertPoints 180

ConsolidatingaVirtualMachineBasedonDatastoreUsage 180

DeletingaVirtualMachineorConfigurationBasedonDatastore

Usage 181

ManagingMediaStores 181

ViewingMediaStores 181

AddingMediaStores 182

SynchronizingMediaStores 183

EnablingandDisablingMediaStores 183

ChangingtheNameofaMediaStore 184

ManagingPhysicalNetworks 184

Viewing

PhysicalNetworks 184

AddingaPhysicalNetwork 185

ViewingIPPoolUsageforaPhysicalNetwork 186

AddingIPAddressestotheIPPoolofaPhysicalNetwork 187

RemovingIPAddressesfromtheIPPoolofaPhysicalNetwork 188

ModifyingPhysicalNetworkProperties 188

DeletingaPhysicalNetwork 188

ConfiguringLabManagerSettings 189

ConfiguringGeneralSettings 189

LabManagerPreferences 189

EmailPreferences 191

SystemAlerts 192

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ConfiguringLDAPSettings 192

LocatinganLDAPServer 193

LDAPConnection 193

LDAPConnectorandSchema 195

LDAPUserAttributes 196

LDAPGroupAttributes 196

TestingLDAPSettings 196

ViewingCapacityLicenseInformation 196

AddingaLab Manager ServerCapacityLicense 196

ConfiguringGuestCustomizationSettings 197

ConfiguringSupportLinkSettings 197

ConfiguringResourceCleanupSettings 198

ConfiguringVirtualCenterSettings 199

ManagingVirtualCenterandDatacenters 199

CredentialRequirementsforConnectingLabManagertotheVirtualCenter



Server 201

Performing“Force”Operations 203

UndeployingVirtualMachineTemplateswithForce 203

UndeployingVirtualMachineswithForce 204

DeletingPublishedVirtualMachineTemplateswithForce 204

A RolesandRights 207

DatastoreRights 208

GeneralRights 208

GroupRights 209

HighI/ORights 209

HostRights 210

LibraryConfigurationRights 211

MachineRights 211

MediaRights 212

MediaStoreRights 213

NavigationBarRights 214

NetworkTemplateRights 215

OrganizationRights 215

PhysicalNetworkRights 216

ResourcePoolRights 216

RoleRights 217

SharingRights 217

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Contents

UserRights 218

VirtualMachineTemplateRights 219

WorkspaceConfigurationRights 219

B ClientandBrowserSupport 221

C GuestOperatingSystemSupport 225

D NetworkFencing 229

WhentoFenceConfigurations 229

UnderstandingFencing 230

FencingOptions 231

ProcessorTypeIncompatibility 234

ViewingVirtualSwitchesforFences 234

E ExtendingGuestCustomization 235

HowDoesGuestCustomizationWork? 235

ExtendingGuestCustomization 236

Glossary 237

Index 251

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12 VMware, Inc.

VMware, Inc. 13

TheLab ManagerUser’sGuidedescribesVMware

®

Lab Manageranditscomponents,

commands,operations,configuration,anduserinterface.

Intended Audience

Theguideisintendedforexperienceddevelopersandtestersofsoftwareapplications.

Thisdocumentassumesthattheuserhassomefamiliaritywiththefollowing:

 Virtualmachinetechnology

 Basicconceptsofdistributed,multitieredsystems

 Currentdevelopmentandtestingpractices

 WindowsandLinuxoperatingsystems

Document Feedback

VMwarewelcomesyoursuggestionsforimprovingourdocumentation.Ifyouhave

comments,sendyourfeedbackto:

[email protected]

Technical Support and Education Resources

Thefollowingsectionsdescribethetechnicalsupportresourcesavailabletoyou.To

accessthecurrentversionsofthisbookandotherbooks,goto:

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs

About This Book

Lab Manager User’s Guide

14 VMware, Inc.

Online and Telephone Support

Useonlinesupporttosubmittechnicalsupportrequests,viewyourproductand

contractinformation,andregisteryourproducts.Goto:

http://www.vmware.com/support

Customerswithappropriatesupportcontractsshouldusetelephonesupportforthe

fastestresponseonpriority1issues.Goto:

http://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.html

Support Offerings

FindouthowVMwaresupportofferingscanhelpmeetyourbusinessneeds.Goto:

http://www.vmware.com/support/services

VMware Professional Services

VMwareEducationServicescoursesofferextensivehands‐onlabs,casestudy

examples,andcoursematerialsdesignedtobeusedason‐the‐jobreferencetools.

Coursesareavailableonsite,intheclassroom,andliveonline.Foronsitepilot

programs andimplementationbestpractices,VMwareConsultingServicesprovides

offeringsto helpyouassess,plan,

build,andmanageyourvirtualenvironment.To

accessinformationabouteducationclasses,certificationprograms,andconsulting

services,goto:

http://www.vmware.com/services/

VMware, Inc. 15

1

VMwareLab ManagerisanapplicationthatrunsontopofVMwareInfrastructureand

createsandmanagesESXvirtualmachines.UsingLab Manager,youcancreatea

sharedvirtualmachinelibrarythatstoresmultimachineconfigurationsinstateandas

aunit.Lab Managercanquicklycreatecopiesofvirtualmachinesandrunidentical

copies

ofthesamevirtualmachineonthesamenetwork.

Lab ManagerusersaccessthelibrarythroughaWebbrowser.Lab Managerdoesnot

requireextensiveknowledgeofvirtualizationandallowsuserstoquicklyprovision,

share,andteardownmultimachinetestcasesorconfigurations.

Thischaptercoversthesetopics:

 “LabManagerComponents”onpage 16

 “LabManagerBenefitsandFeatures”onpage 17

 “UnderstandingLabManagerintheVMwareInfrastructureEnvironment”on

page 18

Introducing Lab Manager

1

Lab Manager User’s Guide

16 VMware, Inc.

Lab Manager Components

Figure 1‐1illustratesthecomponentsofLab ManagerandhowitworkswithVMw are

Infrastructure.

Figure 1-1. Lab Manager Components

TheLab ManagerServerprovidesWebandSOAPinterfacesfortheLab Manager

Serversystem.

Lab ManagerclientuserscanaccesstheLab ManagerWebconsoleusingMicrosoft

InternetExplorerorMozillaFirefox.

TheLab ManagerSOAPAPIenablesusersto

accessLab Managerprogrammatically.

Thisallowseasyintegrationwithbuildmanagementsystemsandwithautomated

testingtools.SeetheLab ManagerSOAPAPIGuide.

VirtualCenter

Server

Lab Manager

Web Console

or SOAP API

Lab Manager

Server

and media servers

VMware Infrastructure

ESX servers

shared

storage

HTML

over HTTPS

VM Consoles:

TCP 902, 903

VIM API

NFS or

VMFS

.NET

remoting

FC, iSCSI, or NFS

VMware, Inc. 17

Chapter 1 Introducing Lab Manager

TheLab ManagerServermanagesanddeploysvirtualmachineconfigurationsagainst

acollectionofESXServerresourcepoolsandsharedstorageattachedtoaVirtualCenter

Server.FormoreinformationabouthowLab ManagerworkswithVirtualCenter,see

“UnderstandingLabManagerintheVMwareInfrastructureEnvironment”onpage 18.

Lab Managermediaservers(mediastores)provide

usersaccesstotheoperating

systemsandapplicationstheyneed,withoutrequiringtheusertoknowwherethe

mediafilesarestored.

Lab Manager Benefits and Features

Lab Managerenablesuserstolowerdevelopment,test,andintegrationcosts,aswellas

tapintoasharedpoolofresources,eliminatemanualsetup,anddecreasesoftware

developmenttimes.

Reviewthesespecificbenefits:

 Productivity–Savestimewhenprovisioningmachines.

 Processimprovement–Assistswithcommunicationbetweentestingand

developmentteams.

 Serverconsolidation–Includespoolandshareservers,storage,andothertesting

anddevelopmentresources.

 Computeraccess–Providesaccesstomorecomputersthanavailablephysical

machines.

 Self‐help–Allowsengineerstoindividuallycreate,setup,andteardown

configurationswithoutrelyingonIT.

 Outsourcinganddistributeddevelopment–Allowsgeographicallydispersed

teamstoworkonthesamemachinesandconfigurationsovertheInternet.

Reviewthesespecificfeatures:

 VirtualMachineTemplates–Createnew,fullyconfiguredvirtualmachinesin

seconds.

 Configurations–Run,manage,andmonitormultipleconfigurations

simultaneously.

 Configurationlibrary–Storeconfigurationstopersistentstorageforteamuse.

 Statecapture–Capturethelivestateofallthemachinesinaconfiguration.You

cancaptureandsharebugsintheirrunningstate.

 Networkfencing–Runcopiesofconfigurationswithidenticalnetworkprofiles

simultaneouslyusingthisnetworkisolationtechnology.

Lab Manager User’s Guide

18 VMware, Inc.

 Resourcemanagement–Manageapoolofcomputingandstorageresources.

 Deltatreemanagement–Savevirtualmachinefilechangestoefficientand

high‐performancestorage.

 Applicationintegration–IntegratetestapplicationswiththeLab Manager

SOAP API.

 Monitoring–Viewandcontrolserverfarmutilizationinrealtime.

 Browseraccess–RemotelyaccessLab Managerfromanylocation.

 Automation–Automatetestmatricesend‐to‐end.

Understanding Lab Manager in the VMware Infrastructure

Environment

Lab ManagerisanapplicationthatresidesonandusestheVMwareInfrastructure

product.

VMwareESXprovidesresourcestorunthevirtualmachines.Lab Managermanages

theESXhoststhroughtheVirtualCenterServerandtheLab Manageragentinstalledon

thosehosts.

VMwareVirtualCenterServerisacontrolpointforthedatacenterandprovides

datacenter

servicessuchasaccesscontrol,performancemonitoring,andconfiguration.

VirtualCenteralsoprovidesadvancedVMwareInfrastructurecapabilitiesdescribedin

“UsingVMwareInfrastructureCapabilities”onpage 19.ESXhostscontinueto

functioneveniftheVirtualCenterServerbecomesunreachable(forexample,the

networkconnectionissevered).

Using Clusters, Hosts, Resource Pools, and Datastores

IntheVirtualCenterServer,youcanview,configure,andmanagethefollowingkey

elements:

 Computingandmemoryresourcescalledhosts,clusters,andresourcepools

 Storageresourcescalleddatastores

 Networks

 Virtualmachines

SeetheVMwareInfrastructure3documentationat

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vi_pages/vi_pubs_35.html

VMware, Inc. 19

Chapter 1 Introducing Lab Manager

Hosts,clusters,andresourcepoolsprovideflexiblewaystoorganizetheaggregated

computingandmemoryresourcesinthevirtualenvironmentandlinkthembacktothe

underlyingphysicalresources.

 Ahostrepresentstheaggregatecomputingandmemoryresourcesofaphysical

x86server.

 Aclusteractsandcanbemanagedmuchlikeahost.Itrepresentstheaggregate

computingandmemoryresourcesofagroupofphysicalx86serverssharingthe

samenetworkandstoragearrays.

 Resourcepoolsarepartitionsofcomputingandmemoryresourcesfromasingle

hostoracluster.WithVMware Distributed Resource Scheduler,thesepoolscanbe

hierarchicalandnested.

Using VMware Infrastructure Capabilities

Lab ManagerusesVMwareInfrastructurecapabilitiessuchasVMw areVMotion™,

VMwareDRS,andVMwareHighAvailability(HA).Thesearedistributedservicesthat

enableefficientandautomatedresourcemanagementandhighvirtualmachine

availability.

Lab ManagerworkswithvirtualmachinesregisteredwithVirtualCenterandVMware

Infrastructureadmissioncontrols.FormoreinformationaboutVirtualCenter,see

the

VMwareInfrastructure3documentationat

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vi_pages/vi_pubs_35.html

Lab Manager User’s Guide

20 VMware, Inc.

VMware vCenter Lab Manager 3.0 User guide

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