Book Image

VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook - Second Edition

By : Daniel Langenhan
Book Image

VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook - Second Edition

By: Daniel Langenhan

Overview of this book

VMware vRealize Orchestrator is a powerful automation tool designed for system administrators and IT operations staff who are planning to streamline their tasks and are waiting to integrate the functions with third-party operations software. This book is an update to VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook and is blend of numerous recipes on vRealize Orchestrator 7. This book starts with installing and configuring vRealize Orchestrator. We will demonstrate how to upgrade from previous versions to vRealize Orchestrator 7. You will be taught all about orchestrator plugins and how to use and develop various plugins that have been enhanced in Orchestrator 7. Throughout this book, you will explore the new features of Orchestrator 7, such as the introduction of the control center, along with its uses. You will also come to understand visual programming, how to integrate base plugins into workflows, and how to automate VMware. You will also get to know how to troubleshoot vRealize Orchestrator. By the end of this book, you will be able to get the most out of your Orchestrator installation, and will be able to develop complex workflows and create your own highly integrated automations of vRealize environments.

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VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook - Second Edition
Daniel Langenhan
Nov, 2016 | 556 pages
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Table of Contents (19 chapters)
VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook Second Edition
VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook Second Edition
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Installing and Configuring Orchestrator
Installing and Configuring Orchestrator
Introduction
Deploying the Orchestrator appliance
Important Orchestrator settings
Configuring an external database
Configuring external authentication
Connecting to vCenter
Installing plugins
Updating Orchestrator
Moving from Windows to appliance
Orchestrator Client and 4K display scaling
2
Optimizing Orchestrator Configuration
Optimizing Orchestrator Configuration
Introduction
Tuning the appliance
Tuning Java
Configuring the Kerberos authentication
Configuring access to the local filesystem
Configuring the Orchestrator service SSL certificate
Orchestrator log files
Redirecting Orchestrator logs to an external server
Backup and recovery
Control Center titbits
3
Distributed Design
Distributed Design
Introduction
Building an Orchestrator cluster
Load-balancing Orchestrator
Upgrading a cluster
Managing remote Orchestrators
Synchronizing Orchestrator elements between Orchestrator servers
4
Programming Skills
Programming Skills
Introduction
Version control
Changing elements in a workflow
Importing and exporting Orchestrator elements
Working with packages
Workflow auto documentation
Resuming failed workflows
Using the workflow debugging function
Undelete workflows and actions
Scheduling workflows
Sync presentation settings
Locking elements
5
Visual Programming
Visual Programming
Introduction
Scripting with logs
Scripting with decisions
Error handling in workflows
Scripting with loops
Workflow presentations
Linking actions in presentations
Changing credentials during runtime
6
Advanced Programming
Advanced Programming
Introduction
JavaScript complex variables
Working with JSON
JavaScript special statements
Turning strings into objects
Working with the API
Creating actions
Waiting tasks
Sending and waiting for custom events
Using asynchronous workflows
Scripting with workflow tokens
Working with user interactions
7
Interacting with Orchestrator
Interacting with Orchestrator
Introduction
User management
User preferences
Using Orchestrator though the vSphere Web Client
Accessing Orchestrator REST API
Accessing the Control Center via the REST plugin
Running Orchestrator workflows using PowerShell
Using PHP to access the REST API
8
Better Workflows and Optimized Working
Better Workflows and Optimized Working
Introduction
Working with resources
Working with configurations
Working with Orchestrator tags
Using the Locking System
Language packs (localization)
Working with policies
9
Essential Plugins
Essential Plugins
Introduction
Working with e-mail
File operations
Working with SSH
Working with REST
10
Built-in Plugins
Built-in Plugins
Introduction
Working with XML
Working with SQL (JDBC)
Working with SQL (SQL plugin)
Working with PowerShell
Working with SOAP
Working with Active Directory
Working with SNMP
Working with AMQP
11
Additional Plugins
Additional Plugins
Introduction
NSX integration
Horizon integration
vSphere Replication
SRM (Site Recovery Manager) integration
vROps (vRealize Operations Manager) integration
12
Working with vSphere
Working with vSphere
Introduction
Working with the vCenter API (to change a VM's HA settings)
Standard vSwitch and Distributed Switch ports
Getting started with vAPI
Custom Attributes and Tags (vAPI)
Executing a program inside a VM
An approval process for VM provisioning
13
Working with vRealize Automation
Working with vRealize Automation
Introduction
Working with the vRA-integrated Orchestrator
Automating a vRA instance in Orchestrator
Configuring an external Orchestrator in vRA
Adding Orchestrator as an infrastructure endpoint
Adding an Orchestrator endpoint
Integrating Orchestrator workflows as XaaS Blueprints
Managing AD users with vRA
Using the Event Manager to start workflows

Automating a vRA instance in Orchestrator

Not only can vRA use Orchestrator to access vCenter or other plugins, but you can also automate your vRA instance using Orchestrator. In this recipe, we will show you how to do the initial steps.

Getting ready

Please make sure that you read the introduction to vRA at the beginning of this chapter. We need a functional and configured vRA. We also need the vRA plugin for Orchestrator installed.

The vRA plugin is integrated into Orchestrator from version 7.1 onward.

However, you should be aware that even the plugin (7.1 at the time of writing) still shows vCAC and vCACCafe in Control Center, and it shows up in the Library as vRealize Automation.

How to do it...

This recipe is split into Preparation and Example.

Preparation

To configure the vRA plugin, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to the Orchestrator Client.

  2. Run the workflow Library | vRealize Automation | Configuration | Add a vRA host.

  3. Add a name for the vRA host.

  4. Enter the HTTPS URL of the vRA installation...

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