VMware vCenter Orchestrator 5.1 User guide

Brand: VMware

Model: vCenter Orchestrator 5.1

Type: User guide

Using the vCenter Orchestrator Plug-In

for vCloud Automation Center 5.1

vCenter Orchestrator 5.1

This document supports the version of each product listed and

supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced

by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this

document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

EN-001079-00

Using the vCenter Orchestrator Plug-In for vCloud Automation Center 5.1

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Contents

Using the vCenter Orchestrator Plug-In for vCloud Automation Center 5.1 5

1Introduction to the VMware vCenter Orchestrator Plug-In for

vCloud Automation Center 7

Role of vCenter Orchestrator with the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In 7

Installing the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In 7

vCloud Automation Center Plug-In Functional Prerequisites 7

Install the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In 8

2Using the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In 9

Configuring the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In 9

Configuration Workflows 9

Using the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In Standard Workflows 10

Using the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In Inventory 12

Access the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In API 12

Examples of Scripts for CRUD vCloud Automation Center Tasks 12

Index 17

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Using the vCenter Orchestrator Plug-In for

vCloud Automation Center 5.1

Using the vCenter Orchestrator Plug-In for vCloud Automation Center 5.1 provides information and instructions

about configuring and using the VMware® vCenter Orchestrator plug-in for vCloud Automation Center 5.1.

Intended Audience

This book is intended for anyone who is installing and configuring the plug-in, using the API of the plug-in,

and using the workflow library. The information in Using the vCenter Orchestrator Plug-In for

vCloud Automation Center 5.1 is written for experienced users who are familiar with virtual machine technology,

with Orchestrator workflow development, and with vCloud Automation Center.

For more information about Orchestrator, see

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

For more information about vCloud Automation Center, see

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vcac-pubs.html.

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Introduction to the VMware vCenter

Orchestrator Plug-In for

vCloud Automation Center 1

The vCloud Automation Center plug-in (VMware vCenter Orchestrator plug-in for vCloud Automation

Center) allows interaction between vCenter Orchestrator and vCloud Automation Center.

You can use the vCloud Automation Center plug-in to provision virtual machines, take post-provision actions,

and run Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations on the vCloud Automation Center model.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n“Role of vCenter Orchestrator with the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In,” on page 7

n“Installing the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In,” on page 7

Role of vCenter Orchestrator with the vCloud Automation Center Plug-

You must use the Orchestrator configuration interface to install the vCloud Automation Center plug-in. You

use the Orchestrator client to run and create workflows and access the plug-in API.

The vCloud Automation Center plug-in is powered by vCenter Orchestrator. Orchestrator is a development

and process-automation platform that provides a library of extensible workflows to manage the VMware

vCenter infrastructure and other technologies.

Orchestrator allows integration with management and administration solutions through its open plug-in

architecture.

Installing the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In

You must use the Orchestrator configuration interface to install the vCloud Automation Center plug-in.

vCloud Automation Center Plug-In Functional Prerequisites

To be able to install and use the vCloud Automation Center plug-in, your system must meet certain functional

prerequisites.

vCenter Orchestrator

Verify that you have a running instance of Orchestrator. You can log in to the Orchestrator configuration

interface at http://orchestrator_server:8283. Version 5.1 of the plug-in works with vCenter Orchestrator 5.1.

For information about setting up Orchestrator, see Installing and Configuring VMware vCenter Orchestrator.

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vCloud Automation Center

Verify that you have access to a vCloud Automation Center server. Version 5.1 of the plug-in works with

vCloud Automation Center 4.5 and 5.1.

For information about setting up vCloud Automation Center, see vCloud Automation Center Installation Guide.

Install the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In

To be able to use the vCloud Automation Center plug-in, you must download the .vmoapp file containing the

plug-in and install it by using the Orchestrator configuration interface.

Prerequisites

Verify that you are logged in to the Orchestrator configuration interface at http://orchestrator_server:8283.

Procedure

1 On the General tab, click Install Application.

2 Upload the vCloud Automation Center plug-in.

a Click the magnifying glass icon.

b Select the .vmoapp file to install.

c Click Open.

d Click Install.

A message appears after successful installation. The vCloud Automation Center plug-in is installed

without a tab in the Orchestrator configuration interface.

3 On the Startup Options tab, click Restart service to complete the plug-in installation.

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Using the vCloud Automation Center

Plug-In 2

The vCloud Automation Center plug-in workflow library contains workflows that you can use to provision

virtual machines and take post-provision actions.

You can use the scripting API of the plug-in to develop custom workflows. You can use custom HTTP headers,

such as the vCloud Automation Center specific headers Tasks and Identity, and apply them in the CRUD,

provisioning, and post-provisioning workflows.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n“Configuring the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In,” on page 9

n“Using the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In Inventory,” on page 12

n“Access the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In API,” on page 12

n“Examples of Scripts for CRUD vCloud Automation Center Tasks,” on page 12

Configuring the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In

You must use the Orchestrator client to configure the vCloud Automation Center plug-in.

Configuration Workflows

You can use the workflows in the Configuration workflow category to manage vCloud Automation Center

hosts.

You can access these workflows from Library > vCloud Automation Center > Configuration in the

Workflows view of the Orchestrator client.

Workflow Name Description

Add a vCAC host Adds a vCloud Automation Center host to the plug-in's inventory.

Manage SSL certificates Verifies a host URL, and if required, shows a user interaction message for SSL certificates user

approval.

Remove a vCAC host Removes a vCloud Automation Center host from the plug-in's inventory.

Update a vCAC host Updates a vCloud Automation Center host in the plug-in's inventory.

Validate a vCAC host Validates the vCloud Automation Center host and the connection to it.

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Add a vCloud Automation Center Host

You can run a workflow to add a vCloud Automation Center host and configure the host connection

parameters.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have the permissions to perform this task.

Procedure

1 From the drop-down menu in the Orchestrator client, select Run or Design.

2 Click the Workflows view.

3 In the hierarchical list of workflows, select Library > vCloud Automation Center > Configuration and

navigate to the Add a vCAC host workflow.

4 Right-click the Add a vCAC host workflow and select Start workflow.

5 In the Name text box, type a unique name for the host.

6 In the Host text box, type the address of the host.

7 (Optional) In the Connection timeout (seconds) and Operation timeout (secounds) text boxes, type the

timeout interval.

8 Click Next.

9 Select a host authentication type and click Next.

Option Description

Basic Provides basic access authentication.

Select the session mode.

nIf you select Shared Session, provide credentials for the shared session.

nIf you select Per User Session, the Orchestrator client retrieves

credentials from the user who is logged in.

NTLM Provides NT LAN Manager (NTLM) access authentication within the

Window Security Support Provider (SSPI) framework.

Select the session mode.

nIf you select Shared Session, provide credentials for the shared session.

nIf you select Per User Session, the Orchestrator client retrieves

credentials from the user who is logged in.

Provide the NTLM settings.

10 Click Submit to run the workflow.

11 Repeat steps 4-10 for each vCloud Automation Center host.

Using the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In Standard Workflows

You can use the vCloud Automation Center workflows to provision virtual machines and to run basic or CRUD

operations.

You can access these workflows from Library > vCloud Automation Center in the Workflows view of the

Orchestrator client.

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Workflow Name Description

Create a vCAC model entity Creates and persists an entity for a specified vCloud Automation Center

model.

Delete a vCAC model entity Deletes a specified vCloud Automation Center model entity.

Invoke a post-provisioning action Invokes a specified post-provisioning action on a given virtual machine.

Provision a virtual machine from a

blueprint

Provisions a virtual machine from a vCloud Automation Center blueprint.

Read a vCAC entity by custom filter Reads a list of vCloud Automation Center entities by using a custom filter. If

you do not specify a filter, all entities are returned as a result.

Read a vCAC model entity Reads a vCloud Automation Center model entity by its ID.

Update a vCAC model entity Updates a vCloud Automation Center model entity by its ID.

Create a vCloud Automation Center Model Entity

You can run a workflow to create simple and complex vCloud Automation Center entities, such as a vCloud

Automation Center Blueprint reference to a ProvisioningGroup.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have the permissions to perform this task.

Procedure

1 From the drop-down menu in the Orchestrator client, select Run or Design.

2 Click the Workflows view.

3 In the hierarchical list of workflows, select Library > vCloud Automation Center and navigate to the

Create a vCAC model entity workflow.

4 Right-click the Create a vCAC model entity workflow and select Start workflow.

5 Select a vCloud Automation Center host.

6 In the Model name text box, type the name of the model.

7 In the Entity set name text box, type the name of the entity set.

The Simple properties, Links to complex properties, and HTTP headers properties are set by using

scripting or REST API.

8 Click Submit to run the workflow.

Read a vCloud Automation Center Model Entity

You can run a workflow to read the vCloud Automation Center model entity.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have the permissions to perform this task.

Procedure

1 From the drop-down menu in the Orchestrator client, select Run or Design.

2 Click the Workflows view.

3 In the hierarchical list of workflows, select Library > vCloud Automation Center and navigate to the Read

a vCAC model entity workflow.

4 Right-click the Read a vCAC model entity workflow and select Start workflow.

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5 Select a vCloud Automation Center host.

6 In the Model name text box, type the model name.

7 In the Entity set name text box, type the entity set name.

The HTTP headers property is set by using scripting or REST API.

8 Click Submit to run the workflow.

Using the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In Inventory

You can use the Inventory view to run workflows on vCloud Automation Center objects.

You can enable the Use contextual menu in inventory option to display the workflows that are available for

an inventory object. After the option is enabled, when you right-click an object in the Orchestrator inventory,

all available workflows for the object are displayed.

Access the vCloud Automation Center Plug-In API

Orchestrator provides an API Explorer to allow you to search the vCloud Automation Center plug-in API and

see the documentation for JavaScript objects that you can use in scripted elements.

Procedure

1 Log in to the Orchestrator client as an administrator.

2 Select Tools > API Explorer.

3 To expand the hierarchical list of vCloud Automation Center plug-in API objects, double-click the

vCAC module in the left pane.

What to do next

You can copy code from API elements and paste it into scripting boxes. For more information about API

scripting, see Developing with VMware vCenter Orchestrator.

Examples of Scripts for CRUD vCloud Automation Center Tasks

You can cut, paste, and edit the JavaScript examples to write scripts for CRUD vCloud Automation Center

tasks.

For more information about scripting, see Developing with VMware vCenter Orchestrator.

Example: Create a vCloud Automation Center model entity

This example script performs the following actions.

1 Defines the model name and the entity set name.

2 Defines the properties of the host prefix.

3 Saves the host prefix entity.

4 Defines the properties of the provisioning group.

5 Defines the provisioning group as a link.

6 Saves the provisioning group entity, by linking it with the host name prefix.

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Table 2-1. Input Variables

Variable Type

host vCAC:VcacHost

var modelName = 'ManagementModelEntities.svc';

var entitySetName = 'HostNamePrefixes';

var links = null;

var headers = null;

//Create properties for prefix entity

var prefixInputProperties = {

MachinePrefix:'test-prefix',

NextMachineNo:1,

MachineNumberLength:3

};

//Save the prefix

var prefixEntity = vCACEntityManager

.createModelEntity(host.id, modelName, entitySetName, prefixInputProperties, links, headers);

entitySetName = 'ProvisioningGroups';

//Create properties for the provisioning group entity

inputProperties = {

GroupName:'TestGroupName',

GroupDescription:'This group was generated with a vCO workflow',

AdministratorEmail:'[email protected]',

AdContainer:'AD',

IsTestGroup:false,

Flags:2,

GroupType:1};

//Add a reference to the newly created prefix entity

links = {

HostNamePrefix:prefixEntity

};

//Save the provisioning group

var entity = vCACEntityManager

createModelEntity(host.id, modelName, entitySetName, inputProperties, links, headers);

Example: Update a vCloud Automation Center model entity

This example script performs the following actions.

1 Gets the host id from the provided entity.

2 Gets the model name from the provided entity.

3 Gets the entity set name from the provided entity.

4 Gets the entity id from the provided entity.

5 Defines a set of properties that will be updated.

6 Invokes the action responsible for updating the entity.

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Table 2-2. Input Variables

Variable Type

entity vCAC:Entity

updatedDescription String

var hostId = entity.hostId;

var modelName = entity.modelName;

var entitySetName = entity.entitySetName;

var entityIdString = entity.keyString;

var links = null;

var headers = null;

var updateProperties = new Properties();

updateProperties.put("UserNameDescription", updatedDescription);

//Update the user description

System.getModule("com.vmware.library.vcac")

.updateVCACEntity(hostId, modelName, entitySetName, entityIdString, updateProperties, links,

headers);

Example: Read a vCloud Automation Center model entity

This example script performs the following actions.

1 Defines the model name and the entity set name.

2 Defines the blueprint ID with a property object.

3 Reads the entity.

Table 2-3. Input Variables

Variable Type

host vCAC:VcacHost

blueprintID String

var modelName = 'ManagementModelEntities.svc';

var entitySetName = 'VirtualMachineTemplates';

var links = null;

var headers = null;

//Create properties for the prefix entity

var blueprintId = {

VirtualMachineTemplateID:blueprintId,

};

//Read the blueprint

var entity = vCACEntityManager

.readModelEntity(host.id, modelName, entitySetName, blueprintId, headers);

Example: Delete a vCloud Automation Center model entity

This example script performs the following actions.

1 Gets the host ID from the provided entity.

2 Gets the model name from the provided entity.

3 Gets the entity set name from the provided entity.

4 Gets the entity id from the provided entity.

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5 Invokes the action responsible for deleting the entity.

Table 2-4. Input Variables

Variable Type

entity vCAC:Entity

var hostId = entity.hostId;

var modelName = entity.modelName;

var entitySetName = entity.entitySetName;

var entityKeyString = entity.keyString;

var headers = null;

//Delete the entity

System.getModule("com.vmware.library.vcac")

.deleteVCACEntity(hostId, modelName, entitySetName, entityKeyString, headers);

Example: Read a vCloud Automation Center entity by custom filter

This example script performs the following actions.

1 Defines the model name and the entity set name.

2 Defines the properties by which the entities are filtered.

3 Reads a list of entities.

Table 2-5. Input Variables

Variable Type

host vCAC:VcacHost

templateName String

var modelName = 'ManagementModelEntities.svc';

var entitySetName = 'VirtualMachineTemplates';

var headers = null;

//Create properties for prefix entity

var properties = {

VirtualMachineTemplateName:templateName,

};

//Read a list of entities

var entities = vCACEntityManager

.readModelEntitiesByCustomFilter(host.id, modelName, entitySetName, properties, headers);

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Index

adding a vCloud Automation Center host 10

adding a vCloud Automation Center model

entity 11

API access 12

audience 5

configuration 9

functional prerequisites 7

host

configure 9

manage 9

installation 7

installation process 8

introduction, vCloud Automation Center plug-

in 7

Inventory 12

Orchestrator 7

reading a vCloud Automation Center model

entity 11

registering a vCloud Automation Center host 10

scriptable task elements 12

scripting 12

vCloud Automation Center host

adding 10

registering 10

vCloud Automation Center model entity

adding 11

reading 11

workflow library 9

workflows

configuration 9

CRUD 10

model entity 10

standard workflows 10

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VMware vCenter Orchestrator 5.1 User guide

VMware vCenter Orchestrator 5.1 User guide

VMware vCenter Orchestrator 5.1 User guide

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