User’s Guide Lab Manager 3.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Lab Manager User’s Guide Revision: 20080804 Item: EN-000066-00 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 © 2006–2008 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Protected by one or more U.S. Patent Nos.
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
Lab Manager User’s Guide 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 Propert
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 w
Lab Manager User’s Guide 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 Temp
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 LiveLin
Lab Manager User’s Guide 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 an
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
Lab Manager User’s Guide 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 Crede
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? Extending Guest Customization 236 Glossary 235 237 Index 251 VMware, Inc.
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About This Book 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.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 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.
1 Introducing Lab Manager 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 User’s Guide Lab Manager Components Figure 1‐1 illustrates the components of Lab Manager and how it works with VMware Infrastructure. Figure 1-1. Lab Manager Components Lab Manager Web Console or SOAP API VM Consoles: TCP 902, 903 HTML over HTTPS Lab Manager Server and media servers VIM API VMware Infrastructure NFS or VMFS .
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 User’s Guide 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.
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.
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2 Using the Lab Manager Web Console 2 To get started with Lab Manager, it is important to be familiar with the main elements and operations of the Lab Manager Web console.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Accessing the Lab Manager Web Console You can use either Internet Explorer or Firefox to access the Lab Manager Web console. For information on supported versions, see Appendix B, “Client and Browser Support,” on page 221. You must have a user account that is set up by a Lab Manager administrator to log in to the Web console. To access the Lab Manager Web console 1 On a Windows machine connected to the Internet or your local intranet, open a browser window.
Chapter 2 Using the Lab Manager Web Console To view performance, usage, and support information In the left pane, click Overview. The Performance Summary column includes this information: Server Pool Deployments This Month – Graphical view of virtual machine deployment for the current month. Total Slots – Number of reserved spaces across all virtual machines on the hosts. Slots Used – Number of deployed machines. Slots Available – Difference between Total Slots and Slots Used.
Lab Manager User’s Guide You can specify a new default landing page. To specify the default landing page for the Web console Select the Open Workspace at Startup check box to open the Workspace page instead of the Overview page when you launch the Web console. Specify a default landing page in your user preferences. See “Setting User Preferences” on page 25. Using the Interface The Lab Manager interface includes features such as pop‐up menus and filters.
Chapter 2 Using the Lab Manager Web Console Use the pop‐up menu to the left of the Filter text box to filter based on the content of a specific column. The pop‐up menu lists all searchable columns. To clear a page view filter Click clear filter. Using Column Sorting Most pages in Lab Manager present data in tables. You can sort the data in each column in ascending or descending order. To sort a column Click a column heading name to sort the table.
Lab Manager User’s Guide b Deselect the Show Page Header check box to prevent the display of the information that appears at the top of the each page. This information includes IP addresses, virtual machine descriptions, and snapshot thumbnails. Removing the header gives you more room to view the console. c Enter the number of rows to display on pages with data in tabular format. The maximum number is 500. The default number is 20.
Chapter 2 Using the Lab Manager Web Console General Workflow in Lab Manager When you install or upgrade Lab Manager, you connect Lab Manager to a VirtualCenter Server, and add resources pools, ESX hosts, and a physical network to use with Lab Manager virtual machines. The next steps might involve adding and synchronizing media stores, creating organizations, and adding users and groups to those organizations.
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3 Working with Network Templates 3 A network template is the specification for a virtual network. You can associate a virtual machine NIC with a network template. When you deploy the virtual machine, Lab Manager creates a virtual network based on the network template and connects the NIC to that network. Network templates allow administrators, organization administrators, and template creators to predefine the virtual networks available for other users.
Lab Manager User’s Guide “Changing Ownership of Network Templates” on page 35 “Deleting Network Templates” on page 35 “Viewing IP Pool Usage for a Virtual Network” on page 36 Accessing the Network Templates Page The Network Templates page displays a table listing network templates and providing basic information about the properties or each network template. Use this page to add network templates to the Lab Manager environment.
Chapter 3 Working with Network Templates In the top left corner, use the drop‐down menu to determine the network templates that appear on the page: My Network Templates– View only your network templates, both shared and private. This option displays all your network templates in the selected organization. All Network Templates – View your network templates, both shared and private, and network templates shared by others.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 4 Select the IP addressing modes available to the network template: Static ‐ IP Pool allows Lab Manager to pull static IP addresses from the network template IP pool. DHCP allows Lab Manager to pull IP addresses from a DHCP server. This option avoids preparing and specifying an IP address or IP range. However, you cannot connect virtual networks that use DHCP to physical networks.
Chapter 3 Working with Network Templates Copying Network Templates You can copy an existing network template to create a new network template and modify it as needed. Lab Manager creates the new network template in the organization currently selected in the Organization drop‐down menu. The user performing the copy operation becomes the owner of the new network template.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To share a network template with other users 1 On the Network Templates page, move the pointer over the network template name and choose Sharing from the menu. The Sharing dialog box displays the users and organizations that currently have access to the network template and their level of access control. 2 Click Add Users. 3 Choose the organization containing the users with whom you want to share the network template or choose Global to view users from all organizations.
Chapter 3 Working with Network Templates Modifying Network Template Properties By default, only administrators, organization administrators, and template creators can view and edit the properties of a network template. For information on the properties, see “Creating Network Templates” on page 31. You can also change the network template owner. See “Changing Ownership of Network Templates” on page 35.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To delete a network template 1 In the left pane, click Network Templates. 2 Move the pointer over the network template name and choose Delete from the menu. 3 Click OK to confirm the deletion. Viewing IP Pool Usage for a Virtual Network You can monitor the IP pool of a virtual network that is based on a network blueprint. If a virtual network is running out of IP address, you can add more. See “Adding IP Addresses to the IP Pool of a Virtual Network” on page 37.
Chapter 3 Working with Network Templates Adding IP Addresses to the IP Pool of a Virtual Network By default, only administrators, organization administrators, and template creators can add IP addresses to a virtual network. To add IP addresses to a virtual network 1 In the left pane, click Network Templates. 2 Move the pointer over a network template name and choose Properties from the menu. 3 Type an IP address or IP address range in the Static IP Address Pool text box and click the Add button.
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4 Working with Virtual Machines 4 Lab Manager configurations consist of virtual machines. A host server can run multiple virtual machines concurrently and isolate each virtual machine in a self‐contained environment. Virtual machines are based on virtual machine templates that contain guest operating systems, application servers, databases, directory servers, and other infrastructures. For information on virtual machine templates, see “Working with Virtual Machine Templates” on page 61.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Viewing the Virtual Machines in a Configuration You can access virtual machines from the Workspace and Library pages. On the Virtual Machines tab on the Workspace page, you can perform operations ranging from consolidating a virtual machine to viewing its properties. On the Virtual Machines tab on the Library page, you can only consolidate a virtual machine or edit its storage lease. The options in the pop‐up menu for a virtual machine are contingent upon its state.
Chapter 4 Working with Virtual Machines Deploying Virtual Machines Deploying a virtual machine registers it with a resource pool and provides access to Lab Manager operations at the virtual machine console level. This operation involves specifying a deployment lease. See “Configuring Resource Cleanup Settings” on page 198.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Fencing isolates the virtual machine from other machines on the network and prevents IP and MAC address conflicts that could exist if multiple copies of the same machine are deployed at the same time. 4 Select the Connect Virtual Networks to Physical Networks check box to connect virtual networks to physical networks. The check box is only available if the virtual machine has a NIC connected to a virtual network. a Choose a physical network to connect to.
Chapter 4 Working with Virtual Machines Deploying Virtual Machines on High Availability Clusters If you deploy a virtual machine on a cluster with VMware HA, Lab Manager uses the same calculation that VirtualCenter has for assessing free slots available in the cluster. After assessing that the hosts have enough resources, Lab Manager powers on the virtual machines. If the hosts do not meet compatibility requirements, the deploy operation fails and Lab Manager displays a message.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Discarding State for Virtual Machines When you save the state of a virtual machine (by either using the Undeploy ‐ Save State option or suspending the virtual machine), Lab Manager saves information about the processor type of the host on which the virtual machine was deployed. Lab Manager requires an available host with a compatible processor type to redeploy the virtual machine.
Chapter 4 Working with Virtual Machines To consolidate a virtual machine 1 On the Workspace or Library page, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Open from the menu. 2 If the virtual machine is deployed, undeploy it. 3 On the Virtual Machines tab, move the pointer over the virtual machine name and choose Consolidate from the menu. 4 Choose a datastore for the consolidated virtual machine and click OK. By default, Lab Manager selects the current datastore of the virtual machine.
Lab Manager User’s Guide support. If you have some but not all hosts that provide the required SMP technology, Lab Manager limits the number of hosts on which the virtual machine can be deployed. Guest OS – If you select a 64‐bit guest operating system, the datastore must be connected to an ESX host that provides the required 64‐bit processor for that guest OS.
Chapter 4 Working with Virtual Machines Memory Shares – Relative amount of memory for a virtual machine compared to other virtual machines in the same configuration. Memory Reserved (MB) – Minimum amount of memory set aside for the virtual machine. Memory Limit (MB) – Maximum amount of memory available for the virtual machine. Unlimited – Select this check box to set no memory limit.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Modifying Virtual Machine Hard Disks For virtual machines in Workspace configurations, you can add hard disks, edit hard disks, and delete hard disks. Adding a Virtual Machine Hard Disk You can add one or more virtual hard disks (.vhd files) to an undeployed virtual machine. To add a virtual hard disk 1 On the Workspace page, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Open from the menu.
Chapter 4 Working with Virtual Machines 3 In the Hard Disk section, click Edit. 4 Modify the bus number and bus ID and click OK. 5 Click Update. Deleting a Virtual Machine Hard Disk You can delete a virtual machine hard disk. To delete a virtual machine hard disk 1 On the Workspace page, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Open from the menu. 2 On the Virtual Machines tab, move the pointer over the virtual machine name and choose Properties from the menu.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 3 In the Network Interfaces section, change any of the following settings: Deselect the Connected check box to disconnect a virtual NIC. Choose a network from the Network drop‐down menu. The available options are based on the networks in the virtual machine template. If you have access to other networks in Lab Manager, you can add them to the configuration and they will appear here. See “Adding a Network to a Configuration” on page 118. Specify a primary NIC.
Chapter 4 Working with Virtual Machines Resetting a Network Interface MAC Address You can reset a network interface MAC address for an undeployed virtual machine. You might reset a MAC address if you have a MAC address conflict or if you need to discard saved state quickly and easily. To reset the MAC address for a network interface 1 On the Workspace page, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Open from the menu.
Lab Manager User’s Guide c Specify a primary NIC. The primary NIC setting determines the default and only gateway for the virtual machine. The virtual machine can use any NIC to connect to other machines that are directly connected to the same network as the NIC, but it can only use the primary NIC to connect to machines on networks that require a gateway connection.
Chapter 4 Working with Virtual Machines Viewing a Virtual Machine Console You can view the virtual machine console for a deployed virtual machine or virtual machine template from the Workspace or VM Templates pages. The virtual machine console provides access to the guest operating system running on a virtual machine, as well as to operations that affect the guest operating system. To view an individual virtual machine console in a configuration 1 In the left pane, click Workspace.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To install the VMware Remote MKS Plug-in for Firefox 1 Click Install Plugin. 2 Click the Edit Options button in the upper‐right corner. 3 Click Allow and click Close. 4 In the virtual console, click Install Plugin. 5 Click Install Now. 6 Close the dialog box and click the refresh button in the Lab Manager page. For some versions of Firefox, you might have to restart the browser.
Chapter 4 Working with Virtual Machines Setting Up a Remote Desktop Connection To connect to a virtual machine remotely, the virtual machine must be running a Windows operating system and have a static IP address. You must also have network access and access permission as a Lab Manager administrator or authorized remote‐access user.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Resetting a Virtual Machine Resetting a virtual machine restarts it and clears the machine state. This operation does not shut down the guest operating system. If a boot image is not available in peripheral storage, the virtual machine boots off the virtual hard disk. To reset a virtual machine 1 From the virtual machine console page, move the pointer over the virtual machine name and choose Reset from the menu. 2 Confirm the reset operation.
Chapter 4 Working with Virtual Machines To resume operation of a suspended virtual machine From the virtual machine console page, move the pointer over the virtual machine name and choose Resume from the menu. Installing VMware Tools Lab Manager depends on the VMware Tools utility for customizing the guest operating system. VMware Tools also supports shared folders and cut and paste operations between the guest operating system and the machine from which you launch the Lab Manager Web console.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Lab Manager turns off the virtual machine for a short time and then displays the console. A thumbnail icon of the snapshot appears in the upper‐right corner of the page. Reverting to a Virtual Machine Snapshot When you revert a virtual machine to a snapshot, the virtual machine loses its current state. To revert to a snapshot 1 From the virtual machine console page, move the pointer over the virtual machine name and choose Revert from the menu.
Chapter 4 Working with Virtual Machines To swap CDs in a virtual machine 1 From the virtual machine console page, move the pointer over the virtual machine name and choose Swap CD from the menu. 2 Select an ISO file from the Lab Manager media library and click OK. Ejecting CDs After inserting a CD to a virtual machine, you can eject the CD. To eject the CD from a virtual machine From the virtual machine console page, move the pointer over the virtual machine name and choose Eject CD from the menu.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Working with BEA LiquidVMs Lab Manager supports importing BEA LiquidVMs as virtual machine templates from VirtualCenter or an SMB file server. See “Importing Virtual Machine Templates” on page 66. After you import a LiquidVM, you must do the following before you can work with a LiquidVM: Different versions of the WLS‐VE ISO are available for different versions of LiquidVM. Make sure that the media library includes all the versions that you need.
5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates 5 A virtual machine template is a virtual machine image loaded with an operating system, applications, and data. After you define and publish a virtual machine template, you can quickly and easily create multiple virtual machines based on the virtual machine template without having to reinstall software or redo setup tasks on each virtual machine.
Lab Manager User’s Guide “Sharing Virtual Machine Templates” on page 88 “Publishing Virtual Machine Templates” on page 89 “Managing Virtual Machine Templates” on page 91 Accessing the VM Templates Page The VM Templates page displays a table listing virtual machine templates and providing basic information about the properties of each virtual machine template. Use this page to create, import, deploy, export, clone, share, and publish a virtual machine template.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates VMware Tools – Indicates the status of VMware Tools on the virtual machine template. If VMware Tools is installed on the virtual machine template and the version meets Lab Manager requirements, Installed appears in the VMware Tools column. If VMware Tools is installed on the virtual machine template and the version does not meet Lab Manager requirements, Installed (Requires Update) appears in the VMware Tools column.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Creating Virtual Machine Templates The properties you specify when you create a virtual machine template are the default properties for all virtual machines based on the template. When you create a blank template you might need to specify the deployment and storage leases. See “Configuring Resource Cleanup Settings” on page 198. To create a blank virtual machine template 1 On the VM Templates page, click New VM Template.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates Disk Size (GB) – The size of the virtual hard disk. Bus Type – Choose LSI LOGIC or BUS LOGIC. Network – Choose a physical or virtual network for the virtual machine template. IP Address Mode – Choose an IP addressing mode for the network. The available options are based on the IP addressing modes available to the selected network: Static ‐ IP Pool allows Lab Manager to pull static IP addresses from the IP address pool.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Importing Virtual Machine Templates Importing a virtual machine template involves copying a virtual machine external to the Lab Manager system into the virtual machine template library. You can import an existing virtual machine from VirtualCenter or SMB storage to serve as a virtual machine template in Lab Manager. You can import a virtual machine that is new to Lab Manager or was previously exported by Lab Manager.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates To import a virtual machine template from VirtualCenter 1 In the left pane, click VM Templates. 2 Click the Import VM Template button. 3 Enter a name for the imported virtual machine template. The name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a–z, A–Z, 0–9), hyphens, underscores, or periods. The maximum length is 15 characters. 4 (Optional) Enter a description. 5 Select VirtualCenter and choose a virtual machine from the VirtualCenter inventory.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 12 Select the datastore to import the virtual machine template to. 13 Click Import. Lab Manager imports the virtual machine template into the current organization and displays it on the VM Templates page. The import process takes several minutes. Importing Virtual Machine Templates from SMB Storage You can import virtual machines as templates from an SMB share. Do not import virtual machine templates manually with ESX commands.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates 7 Specify the networking information for each NIC in the imported virtual machine template: a Select the Connected check box to connect the virtual machine template to the network when it is deployed. b Choose a default virtual or physical network. c Choose a default IP addressing mode. Lab Manager resets the MAC address for each NIC after the import operation is complete.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To create a virtual machine template from an active virtual machine 1 In the left pane, click Workspace. 2 Move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Open from the menu. 3 Click the Virtual Machines tab, move the pointer over the virtual machine name, and choose Add To VM Templates from the menu. Lab Manager creates the virtual machine template in the current organization. 4 Specify the details of the virtual machine template and then click OK: a Enter a name.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates You cannot make a full clone of a deployed virtual machine template. Linked‐clone and full‐clone operations involve specifying deployment and storage leases. See “Configuring Resource Cleanup Settings” on page 198. Lab Manager creates the cloned virtual machine template in the current organization. The user performing the clone operation becomes the owner of the cloned virtual machine template.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Deploying a Virtual Machine Template with Default Settings When you deploy a virtual machine template with default settings, Lab Manager uses the default settings of the virtual machine template and the default deployment options from your user preferences. See “Setting User Preferences” on page 25.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates The calculation that VirtualCenter and Lab Manager uses is conservative. If necessary, disable it in VirtualCenter to stop this calculation in Lab Manager. To disable the calculation 1 Log in to the VI Client. 2 Right‐click the cluster and select Edit Settings. 3 In the left pane of the dialog box, select VMware HA.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Installing VMware Tools VMware Tools supports shared folders and cut and paste operations between the guest operating system and the machine from which you launch the Lab Manager Web console. Lab Manager depends on the VMware Tools utility for customizing the guest operating system. VMware Tools also allows you to move the pointer into and out of the virtual machine console window.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates To install VMware Tools on a Linux guest from X with the RPM installer 1 On the VM Templates page, move the pointer over the virtual machine template name and choose View Console from the menu. 2 Log in to the guest operating system inside the virtual machine console. 3 Click Install VMware Tools. The remaining steps take place inside the guest operating system.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To install VMware Tools on a Linux guest with the tar installer or RPM installer 1 On the VM Templates page, move the pointer over the virtual machine template name and choose View Console from the menu. 2 Log in to the guest operating system inside the virtual machine console. 3 Click Install VMware Tools. The remaining steps take place inside the guest operating system.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates For the RPM installer, at the command prompt, enter: rpm -Uhv /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-3.5.0-.i386.rpm umount /dev/cdrom Where is the build/revision number of the release. If you attempt to install an rpm installation over a tar installation—or the reverse—the installer detects the previous installation and must convert the installer database format before continuing.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To install VMware Tools on a Solaris guest 1 On the VM Templates page, move the pointer over the virtual machine template name and choose View Console from the menu. 2 Log in to the guest operating system inside the virtual machine console. 3 Click Install VMware Tools. The remaining steps take place inside the virtual machine. 4 Log in as root (su -) and, if necessary, mount the VMware Tools virtual CD‐ROM image, as follows.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates Customizing the Guest Operating System Lab Manager can customize the network settings of the guest operating system of a virtual machine created from a virtual machine template. These settings include the machine name, IP settings, and security identifier (SID) for Windows guest operating systems.
Lab Manager User’s Guide If you import a virtual machine template that was originally used in VMware Lab Manager version 2.x, see “Importing Virtual Machine Templates from Lab Manager 2.x with VMware Tools and LM Tools” on page 87. The virtual machine template cannot be part of a domain. The virtual machine template cannot be configured as a Microsoft Cluster Service server, a Microsoft Certificate Services server, or a domain controller.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates CAUTION Lab Manager provides a customized sysprep.inf file. During the procedure to build a Microsoft Sysprep package, do not overwrite this file with the sysprep.inf file from the Windows CD. To build a Microsoft Sysprep package for guest customization 1 For each operating system, insert the Windows OS CD in the CD‐ROM drive of the Lab Manager Server system. If you have an ISO, mount the ISO using a third‐party tool. 2 Locate the DEPLOY.CAB file in the \
Lab Manager User’s Guide Choosing the Guest Customization SID Generation Tool For guest operating systems that support multiple SID generation tools, you can set a global preference to use Microsoft Sysprep instead of SIDgen, a tool packaged with Lab Manager. You can also choose SIDgen or Microsoft Sysprep as the SID generation tool for an individual virtual machine or virtual machine template.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates To change the SID generation tool for a virtual machine template 1 In the left pane, click VM Templates. 2 Move the pointer over a virtual machine template name and choose Properties from the menu. 3 Choose the SID mechanism. 4 Click Update. Choosing the SID Generation Tool for a Virtual Machine You can override the default SID generation tool specified on the Guest Customization tab for individual virtual machines.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Disabling Guest Customization for a Virtual Machine Template You can disable guest customization in the properties of virtual machine templates. The setting is stored when you export the virtual machine template to SMB storage and import it back to Lab Manager. If you create a virtual machine template based on an active virtual machine in a configuration, the virtual machine template inherits the customization setting of the active virtual machine.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates Guest Customization for Windows NT and Solaris Virtual Machine Templates Windows NT and Solaris virtual machine templates require extra steps for guest customization. To complete guest customization for Windows NT virtual machine templates 1 In the left pane of the console, click VM Templates. 2 Move the pointer over the deployed virtual machine template name and choose View Console from the menu. 3 Log in to the Windows NT guest operating system.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Customizing Guest Customization In most cases, you can achieve your goals by using Lab Manager guest customization, or by disabling guest customization and manually customizing virtual machines. In some cases however, you might want to use Lab Manager guest customization in combination with your own script. Lab Manager provides the opportunity to add a customization script to a virtual machine template.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates Importing Virtual Machine Templates from Lab Manager 2.x with VMware Tools and LM Tools If you import virtual machine templates from a previous version of Lab Manager, the virtual machine templates likely have an older version of VMware Tools, and the VMware Tools enforcement check will prevent you from publishing the virtual machine templates. Review these options: You can upgrade VMware Tools to the current Lab Manager version.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Sharing Virtual Machine Templates When a user creates a virtual machine template in Lab Manager, the user becomes its owner. The owner, or a user with the Administrator View and Control right, can give other users access to the virtual machine template. NOTE By default, only administrators and organizations administrators have the Administrator View and Control right.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates When you share a virtual machine template with a specific user in an organization, that user only has access to the virtual machine template in that organization. To share a virtual machine template with a user in all the organizations to which the user belongs, choose the Global organization. 5 Specify the access rights for the user(s) and click OK.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To check VMware Tools status 1 In the left pane, click VM Templates. 2 Check the VMware Tools column on the VM Templates page: Installed – The virtual machine template is ready to be published. Not Installed – If you want Lab Manager to perform guest customization, you must install VMware Tools. For installation instructions, see “Installing VMware Tools” on page 74.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates When you disable the check of VMware Tools, Lab Manager no longer prompts you to upgrade VMware Tools when publishing a virtual machine template that uses an old version. Publishing Virtual Machine Templates You can only publish undeployed virtual machine templates. To publish a virtual machine template 1 In the left pane, click VM Templates. 2 Move the pointer over the virtual machine template name and choose Publish from the menu.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Export operations require an open SMB port on the ESX hosts. Although Lab Manager opens the port during installation, make sure that the port was not closed after the install. To check the port status, use the esxcfg-firewall -q smbClient command on each host. Prior to exporting a virtual machine template, Lab Manager consolidates it. This results in an increase in the disk space required to store the virtual machine template.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates To consolidate a virtual machine template 1 In the left pane, click VM Templates. 2 Move the pointer over the virtual machine template name and choose Consolidate from the menu. 3 Select a datastore and click OK.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To modify virtual machine template properties 1 On the VM Templates page, move the pointer over the virtual machine template name and choose Properties from the menu. 2 Change any of the following properties: Name – Can only contain alphanumeric characters (a–z, A–Z, 0–9), hyphens, underscores, or periods. Maximum length is 15 characters. Description – (Optional) Maximum number of characters is 128. Number of Virtual CPUs – Maximum number of processors is four.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates CPU Reserved (Mhz) – Minimum amount of CPU set aside for the virtual machine template. CPU Limit (Mhz) – Maximum amount of CPU available for the virtual machine template. Unlimited – Select this check box to set no CPU limit. See the VMware Infrastructure documentation for details on priorities, shares, reservations, and limits. Memory information: Memory – Amount of RAM allocated for running the virtual machine template.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 3 Deployment Lease or Storage Lease – Time to undeploy the virtual machine template or delete the virtual machine template (or mark it for deletion), depending on whether the virtual machine template is deployed or not. System Messages – Messages or alerts about VirtualCenter activity that could raise errors in Lab Manager. Click Update.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates Editing a Virtual Machine Template Hard Disk You can update the bus number and bus ID of a virtual machine hard disk. To edit a virtual machine template hard disk 1 On the VM Templates page, move the pointer over the virtual machine template name and choose Properties from the menu. 2 In the Hard Disk section, click Edit. 3 Modify the bus number and bus ID and click OK. 4 Click Update.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 3 Edit the virtual NIC settings, if necessary: a Deselect the Connected check box to disconnect the virtual NIC. b Choose a network from the Network drop‐down menu. The available options are based on the network templates you own or share and the physical networks available to your organization. c Specify a primary NIC. The primary NIC setting determines the default and only gateway for the virtual machines based on the template.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates Editing Network Interface Settings You can disconnect a virtual machine template NIC, change the network to which a NIC connects, specify a primary NIC, and change the IP addressing mode for a NIC. To edit network interface settings 1 On the VM Templates page, move the pointer over the virtual machine template name and choose Properties from the menu.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Deleting a Network Interface You can delete virtual NICs from an undeployed virtual machine template. To delete a network interface 1 On the VM Templates page, move the pointer over the virtual machine template name and choose Properties from the menu. 2 In the Network Interfaces section, click Delete. 3 Click Update. Resetting a Network Interface MAC Address You can reset a network interface MAC address for an undeployed virtual machine template.
Chapter 5 Working with Virtual Machine Templates Deleting Virtual Machine Templates To delete a virtual machine template, it must be undeployed an unpublished. If you are unable to unpublish a virtual machine template, see “Deleting Published Virtual Machine Templates with Force” on page 204. To delete a virtual machine template 1 In the left pane, click VM Templates. 2 Move the pointer over the virtual machine template name and choose Delete from the menu. 3 Confirm the deletion. VMware, Inc.
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6 Working with Configurations 6 Configurations are the core of the Lab Manager system and are composed of one or more virtual machines created from virtual machine templates. Lab You can group, deploy, save, share, and monitor multimachine configurations. Before you can create a configuration, you must publish at least one virtual machine template.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Accessing Configurations You can access configurations in the Workspace and in the configuration library. You can perform configuration operations from both the Workspace and Library pages. Some operations are only available from the Workspace, some are only available from the Library, and some are available from both.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations Date Deployed – Shows the date and time of the last deploy operation. Messages – Messages or alerts about VirtualCenter activity that could raise errors in Lab Manager. See “Using Text Search Filter” on page 24 for information on using the Filter feature. In the top left corner, use the drop‐down menu to determine the configurations that appear on the page: My Configurations – View only your configurations, both shared and private.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Sharing – Shows whether a configuration is shared or private. Description – Shows the optional description from the capture operation. Date Captured – Shows the date and time when the configuration was captured from the Workspace to the configuration library. # Machines – Shows the number of virtual machines in the configuration. Gold Master – Indicates whether or no the configuration has been labeled as a gold master.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations To create a configuration 1 On the Workspace page, click the New Configuration button at the top of the page. 2 Enter a name for the configuration. 3 (Optional) Enter a description of the configuration. 4 Specify a time to delete the configuration or mark the configuration for deletion. 5 Specify the fencing policy for the configuration: Allow Fenced or Unfenced Fenced Only Unfenced Only The default is Allow Fenced or Unfenced.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 9 Specify the network information for the virtual machine. Your options are based on how the virtual machine template was defined. a Specify a primary NIC for virtual machines with multiple NICs. The primary NIC setting determines the default, and only, gateway for the virtual machine.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations Importing Configurations from an SMB Share You can import a configuration and all its virtual machine files from SMB share. Import operations require an open SMB port on the ESX host. Although Lab Manager opens the port during installation, make sure that the port was not closed after the install. To check the port status, use the esxcfg-firewall -q smbClient command on each host. Importing a configuration involves specifying a storage lease.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Cloning Configurations You can clone a Workspace configuration to create a new copy of the configuration in the Workspace, or to add some or all of the virtual machines in the configuration to an existing Workspace configuration. You can clone a Library configuration to create a new copy of the configuration in the Library. To clone a Library configuration to the Workspace, see “Cloning a Library Configuration to the Workspace” on page 125.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations To clone a Workspace configuration 1 On the Workspace page, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Clone from the menu. 2 Specify the destination: New Configuration Enter a name, description, and storage lease. Existing Configuration Select a configuration. 3 Specify the type of clone: Linked Clone Full Clone You cannot make a full clone of a deployed configuration.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Lab Manager creates cloned configurations in the organization currently selected in the Organization drop‐down menu. The user performing the clone operation becomes the owner of the cloned configuration. To clone a Library configuration 1 On the Library page, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Clone to Library from the menu. 2 Enter a name. 3 (Optional) Enter a description.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations To view details on the virtual machines in a configuration 1 On the Workspace or Library page, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Open from the menu. 2 Click the Virtual Machines tab. For each virtual machine in the configuration, Lab Manager displays the following information: Console – Displays a thumbnail icon of the virtual machine console. VM Name – Displays the virtual machine name.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Viewing Configuration Networks The Networks tab for a configuration displays basic information about each network in the configuration. From the tab, you can interact with the networks and add networks to the configuration. To view details on the networks in a configuration 1 In the left pane, click Workspace or Library. 2 Move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Open from the menu. 3 Click the Networks tab.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations Viewing Configuration Diagrams The Configuration Diagram tab for a configuration displays a visual representation of the virtual machines and networks in the configuration. You can see which NICs are connected to which networks and initiate various virtual machine and network operations. To view a configuration diagram 1 On the Workspace or Library page, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Open from the menu.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 6 Specify the network information for the virtual machine. Your options are based on how the virtual machine template was defined. a Specify a Primary NIC for virtual machines with multiple NICs. The primary NIC setting determines the default, and only, gateway for the virtual machine.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations To remove a virtual machine from a Workspace configuration 1 On the Workspace page, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Open from the menu. 2 In the Virtual Machines tab, move the pointer over the virtual machine name and choose Delete from the menu. 3 Confirm the deletion. Moving Virtual Machines to Another Configuration You can move virtual machines from one configuration to another.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Changing the Networks in a Configuration You can add networks to and remove networks from Workspace configurations. You cannot add or remove networks in the Library. Adding a Network to a Configuration Virtual machines in a configuration can connect to any network included in the configuration. If you want to connect to a different network, you must first add the network to the configuration. You can also add a network to a configuration that no virtual machines connect to.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations 3 Move the pointer over a configuration network name and choose Remove. 4 Click OK to confirm. If none of the virtual machines in the configuration connect to the network, the network is removed from the configuration. If the network is in use by any virtual machines, Lab Manager displays an error message stating that the network is in use.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Deploying a configuration involves specifying a deployment lease. See “Configuring Resource Cleanup Settings” on page 198. For information about deploying an individual virtual machine in a configuration, see “Deploying Virtual Machines” on page 41. Deploying a Configuration with Default Settings When you deploy a configuration with default settings, Lab Manager uses the default settings of the configuration and the default deployment options from your user preferences.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations Deploying a configuration in fenced mode places all the virtual machines on a single ESX host. You must have a host connected to the datastore where the virtual machine templates that serve as the basis of this configuration reside. The host must have enough resources to pass VMware Infrastructure admission controls for virtual machines.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 4 Select the Use Server Boot Sequence check box if you want to use the boot sequence specified during the creation of the configuration. Otherwise, Lab Manager boots the virtual machines all at once. 5 Deselect the Power On Machines After Deployment check box to prevent Lab Manager from powering on virtual machines immediately after deployment. Use this option when you need to manually bring up virtual machines.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations Working with Configuration Snapshots A snapshot captures the state the virtual machines in a configuration at a specific point in time. After deploying a configuration, you can take a snapshot and revert the configuration to that snapshot at a later time. Taking a Configuration Snapshot Lab Manager stores the snapshot persistently with the configuration. If you undeploy a configuration and deploy it, the snapshot remains.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To delete revert points for all virtual machines in a configuration On the Workspace page, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Delete Revert Point from the menu. For each virtual machine in the configuration that has a revert point, Lab Manager deletes the revert point. Saving Configurations to the Library You can save a Workspace configuration to the Library to make it available to other users as the basis for new configurations.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations Cloning a Library Configuration to the Workspace If you have a Library configuration that you want to work with, you can clone it to the Workspace. Lab Manager creates a new configuration in the Workspace, which you can modify and deploy. The original configuration remains in the Library, so users can continue to make additional clones. Cloning to the Workspace creates a linked clone.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Creating a LiveLink to a Configuration A LiveLink is the HTTP URL of a configuration in the Library. You can email this URL to another Lab Manager user, who can click it to deploy a copy of the configuration exactly as it was when it was saved to the Library. You can only create LiveLinks for shared configurations. See “Sharing Configurations” on page 127. NOTE You cannot create a LiveLink of a configuration that includes any virtual machines using DHCP.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations Sharing Configurations When a user creates a configuration in Lab Manager, that user becomes its owner. The owner, or a user with the Administrator View and Control right, can give other users access to the configuration. NOTE By default, only administrators and organizations administrators have the Administrator View and Control right.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 5 Specify the access rights for the users and click OK. Access rights combine with the rights of a user’s role to determine how a user can interact with the shared configuration. Access rights cannot provided users with rights that they don’t already have based on their role. If you are sharing the configuration with users in an organization other than the one in which the configuration was created, you can only specify Read access.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations Powering Off a Configuration Powering off a deployed configuration turns the virtual machines off. It is the virtual equivalent of powering off a physical machine. The virtual machines remain registered with VirtualCenter. To power off a configuration On the Workspace page, move the pointer over the deployed configuration name and choose Power Off from the menu.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Exporting Configurations You can export an undeployed configuration and all its virtual machine files from either the Workspace or Library to an SMB share. This operation requires that you have a shared folder with full control permissions at the share and file system level. Export operations require an open SMB port on the ESX hosts. Although Lab Manager opens the port during installation, make sure that the port was not closed after the install.
Chapter 6 Working with Configurations You can only discard state for undeployed configurations that include at least one virtual machine with saved state. If you add a Workspace configuration with saved state to the Library, the Library configuration includes saved state as well. To discard state for a configuration 1 On the Workspace or Library page, move the pointer over the undeployed configuration name and choose Discard State from the menu. 2 Click OK to confirm.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Changing Ownership of Configurations The original owner of a configuration is the user who created it. You can change the owner to assign a configuration to another user in the same organization as the current owner. To change ownership of a configuration 1 In the left pane, click Workspace or Library. 2 Move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Properties from the menu. 3 Click Change Owner. 4 Choose a new owner for the configuration and click OK.
7 Working with Media 7 The media library enables you to store media image files. You can upload data (for example, drivers) to a virtual machine template or virtual machine from the media library. During the CD and floppy operations available from the individual console of a virtual machine template or virtual machine, you can access the image files in the media library.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Accessing the Media Library Access the Media page to work with CD, DVD, and floppy image files. Use this page to synchronize the contents of the media library with the contents of your media stores. To access the media library In the left pane, click Media. The Media page includes information about available media files: Name of the file and its media (in parentheses). The file’s owner and organization.
Chapter 7 Working with Media Synchronizing the Media Library with Media Store Files You can synchronize the contents of the Lab Manager media library with the contents of the media store directories on all your datastores. Synchronizing adds files to or deletes files from the library based on the latest content in the media stores, allowing users to perform ISO operations outside of the Lab Manager Web console.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Owners can share objects to all or specific users in the following ways, depending on their rights: Across the entire Lab Manager installation Across an organization Within an organization By default, administrators and organization administrators can share in all three ways. All other types of users (except view only) can only share within their own organization.
Chapter 7 Working with Media 6 Specify the access rights for the user(s). Access rights combine with the rights of a user’s role to determine how a user can interact with the shared media. Access rights cannot provided users with rights that they don’t already have based on their role. If you chose to share the media with users in an organization other than the one in which the media was added, you can only grant Read access. Media added in the Global organization can only be shared with Read access.
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8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager 8 Use the Lab Manager Web console to manage and monitor your Lab Manager system. By default, only administrators and organization administrators can perform the operations described in this chapter.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Viewing the Activity Log You can view the Activity Log to monitor operations that are in progress, to find and troubleshoot failed jobs, and to view jobs by owner or organization. Lab Manager administrators can see all entries. Other users can see entries about their own operations. To view the Activity Log Click Activity Log in the left pane. The log lists activities for the currently selected organization.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager The page displays a list of deployed machines for the currently selected organization. If you select the Global organization, the page lists deployed machines for the entire Lab Manager installation. On this page, a table includes this information: Console – Provides access to the virtual machine console through the thumbnail icon. Virtual Machine – Provides a pop‐up menu to view the virtual machine console or undeploy the virtual machine.
Lab Manager User’s Guide In the top left corner, use a drop‐down menu to determine the virtual machines to display: My Deployed Machines – View only your machines, both shared and private. This option displays all your deployed machines in the selected organization. All Deployed Machines – View your machines, both shared and private, and all machines shared by others. This option displays all deployed machines in the selected organization that are available to you.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager To view users 1 In the left pane, click Users and Groups. 2 Click the Users tab. The Users tab includes these elements: Username – Displays an icon next to the user name in this column. A gray icon indicates the user is disabled and cannot log in to the Web console. A blue and yellow icon indicates the user is enabled. The user name for the current logged in user appears in bold text. You cannot disable or delete the current user.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Adding Users Administrators and organization administrators can add users on the Users tab. They can also add users when creating (administrators only) or editing organizations. See “Creating Organizations” on page 157 and “Modifying Organization Properties” on page 159 for more information about adding users from the Organizations page.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager f Choose a role for the user in the selected organization. If you are adding a user to the Global organization, you can only choose No Role or Administrator. If you choose No Role, the user cannot log in to the Lab Manager system or access any resources until they are added to another organization. 5 g Deselect the Is Enabled check box to prevent the user from accessing the Web console.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 8 Assign a role to the added users. If you are adding users to the Global organization, you can only choose No Role or Administrator. If you add a user who is an administrator in the Global organization, Lab Manager assigns that user the administrator role in all other organizations. 9 Click OK. 10 Repeat these steps to add more users with different roles. Disabling and Enabling Users You can only disable and enable users in the Global organization.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Removing a User from an Organization When you remove a user from an organization, they become stranded. All of the private and shared objects (for example, media, undeployed configurations, and undeployed virtual machine templates) of the user are saved and can be reassigned a new owner by the administrator. See “Managing Stranded Users” on page 150. To remove a user from an organization 1 In the left pane, click Users and Groups.
Lab Manager User’s Guide The Role, Stored VM Quota, and Deployed VM Quota properties are organization‐specific. If you edit these properties in any organization other than Global, the user’s properties are only modified for the currently selected organization. This allows a user who is a member of two organizations to have a different role or quota in each organization. Overriding roles is especially useful for users that are part of LDAP groups.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Number of virtual machines at a time the user is allowed to deploy on hosts. Use an integer number to set a quota. You can leave this field blank or enter “0” to avoid setting a quota. This setting only appears for organizations other than the Global organization. 5 Click OK. Viewing User Roles and Organizations You can view the roles assigned to an individual user.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 3 Choose the recipients. You can choose to email everyone, administrators only, or non‐administrators only in the entire Lab Manager installation, or in a specific organization. You can also choose to email all users with virtual machines deployed on a specific resource pool or with virtual machines on a specific datastore. The choices available for these last two options depend on the organization currently selected in the Organization drop‐down menu. 4 Type a subject.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager LiveLink – The number of LiveLinks created by the stranded user. LiveLinks that have already been deployed as Workspace configurations are not included in this count, because they are owned by the user that deployed them. Managed Media– The number of media images owned by the stranded user. See “Using Text Search Filter” on page 24 for information on using the Filter feature.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To view groups In the left pane, click Users and Groups and click the Groups tab. The Groups tab includes these elements: Name – Displays an icon next to the group name in this column. Description – Displays optional descriptive text about the LDAP group. Role – For the Global organization, displays Administrator for groups assigned to the administrator role and a dash “‐” for other groups.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager 6 Select the check box for each group you want to add. You cannot select group that are already in the organization. 7 Click the Add button. 8 Assign a role to the added groups. If you are adding groups to the Global organization, you can only choose No Role or Administrator. All members of the group are assigned the selected role. You can change the roles of individual group members later. See “Modifying User Properties” on page 147.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To modify group properties 1 In the left pane, click Users and Groups. 2 Click the Groups tab. 3 Use the Organization drop‐down menu to select the organization for which you want to edit the group properties. If you want to edit the group properties for all organizations, choose the Global organization. 4 Move the pointer over the group name and choose Properties from the menu. 5 Change the group description and role.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Administrators can create new roles or modify existing roles. When a user or group is assigned to an organization, each user or group is given a role within that organization. The same user or group can have different roles in different organizations. Viewing Roles The Roles and Rights page displays a list of all the roles in the entire Lab Manager installation, regardless of which organization is selected.
Lab Manager User’s Guide The new role appears on the Roles and Rights page. You can now assign this role to users and groups. Copying Roles You can copy an existing role (except the administrator role) to use as the basis for a new role. To copy a role 1 In the left pane, click Roles and Rights. 2 Move the pointer over a role name and click Copy. 3 Type a name for the new role. 4 (Optional) Enter a description for the role.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager To modify role properties 1 In the left pane, click Roles and Rights. 2 Move the pointer over the role name and choose Properties from the menu. 3 Modify the information and click OK. Managing Organizations Organizations determine which resources (resource pools, hosts, datastores, media stores, and physical networks) users and groups can access. By default, only users with the Administrator role can add and delete organizations.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To add an organization 1 In the left pane, click Organizations. 2 Select the Global organization from the Organization drop‐down menu. 3 Click New Organization. 4 Enter the information for the organization: 5 6 7 a Type the name of the organization. b (Optional) Type a description. Add resource pools to the organization. a Select an available resource pool. b Click the arrow to add it to the organization. Add physical networks to the organization.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Modifying Organization Properties By default, only administrators and organization administrators can modify organization properties. Organization administrators can edit only the organizations for which they are the administrator. NOTE If you just want to modify the users and groups in an organization, move the pointer over the organization name and choose Users and Groups from the menu.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 9 10 Set the user preferences for users in this organization: Stored VM Quota – Number of virtual machines a user can store on datastores. Deployed VM Quota – Number of virtual machines a user can deploy at one time. Click OK. Disabling Organizations Before you can delete an organization, you must disable it. Only administrators can enable or disable an organization. When you disable an organization, all of its users become stranded.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager 3 Move the pointer over the organization name and choose Delete from the menu. 4 Click OK to confirm. Managing Resources In Lab Manager, resources (resource pools, hosts, datastores, and media stores) can be dedicated to a specific organization or shared between organizations. Resource pools and hosts provide computing and memory resources for virtual machines. Datastores provide storage for virtual machines.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Managing Resource Pools Lab Manager provides access to VirtualCenter resource pools. A resource pool is a logical structure that allows delegation of control over the resources of a host. Resource pools compartmentalize all resources in a cluster. In VirtualCenter, you can create multiple resource pools as direct children of a host or cluster and configure them. You can then delegate control over them to other individuals or organizations.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Number of virtual machines deployed on hosts in the resource pool. This number is organization‐aware. For the Global organization, Lab Manager displays the total number of virtual machines deployed on hosts in the resource pool. For any other organization, Lab Manager displays the number of deployed virtual machines from configurations created in the selected organization.
Lab Manager User’s Guide If you added the resource pool to the Global organization, you can now assign it to an organization, so the virtual machines of the organization can use its resources. See “Modifying Organization Properties” on page 159. To detach a resource pool 1 In the left pane, click Resources. 2 On the Resource Pools tab, move the pointer over the resource pool and choose Detach from the menu. 3 Click OK to confirm the operation.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager 3 Modify the name or description. 4 Clear messages regarding VirtualCenter activity if necessary. 5 Click OK. Undeploying All Virtual Machines in a Resource Pool Administrators can undeploy all virtual machines associated with a resource pool, for example to perform maintenance. This operation undeploys the virtual machines on all hosts in the resource pool.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To view hosts 1 In the left pane, click Resources. 2 Click the Hosts tab. The Hosts tab includes the following information: Name of the ESX host that provides a pop‐up menu for various operations. State of the host: Ready – Indicates whether a host is prepared or not. When Lab Manager prepares a host, it completes certain tasks such as checking the ESX version and installing an agent. If the host is not prepared properly, Lab Manager cannot mark it as ready for use.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Resource pools associated with the host. Messages about VirtualCenter activity that could generates errors in Lab Manager. From the table, you can undeploy, redeploy, and force undeploy all virtual machines on a host. Other operations include disabling and unpreparing hosts, along with accessing deployed virtual machines and properties of a host. See “Using Text Search Filter” on page 24 for information on using the Filter feature.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To unprepare a host 1 Click Resources in the left pane. 2 In the Hosts tab, move the pointer over the host name to choose Unprepare from the menu. 3 Click Unprepare. During the unprepare operation, Lab Manager tries to uninstall the Lab Manager agent. If this attempt fails, Lab Manager continues to unprepare the host and relays any errors in a message. Enabling and Disabling Hosts By default, only administrators can enable and disable hosts.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager 3 Do any of the following and then click OK: Enter a description. Change the user name and password for the host. Change the maximum number of deployed virtual machines allowed on the host. The Maximum Number of VMs field is only available for a cluster without DRS and applies to the virtual machines deployed in this Lab Manager installation. Lab Manager might raise the quota over the maximum value of 200 in certain circumstances.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Status indicating that the virtual machine is deployed. The name of the configuration the virtual machine resides in. A dash in the Configuration column indicates the virtual machine is a virtual machine template. NIC information for the virtual machine. IP address of the virtual machine or DHCP specification. External IP address for the virtual machine if it requires one. Virtual machine template that serves as the basis of the virtual machine.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Undeploying All Virtual Machines on a Host Administrators can undeploy all the virtual machines associated with a specific host. This is useful when you want to perform maintenance on a host. You can either undeploy or redeploy virtual machines. Undeploying affects anyone using those virtual machines and can result in partially deployed configurations. You must manually redeploy the undeployed virtual machines.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Managing Datastores A datastore provides storage resources for virtual machines. Lab Manager supports VMFS and NFS datastores, which it accesses through VirtualCenter. You can add datastores to Lab Manager by attaching them to ESX hosts in VirtualCenter. VMware recommends shared storage (NFS, iSCSI, or Fiber Channel). If you store virtual machine files on local (not shared) storage, you can only deploy the virtual machines on the local ESX host.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Amount of datastore disk space in use and the total amount of disk space. Percentage of datastore disk space used. Alerts on VirtualCenter activity that could generate errors in Lab Manager. For example, Lab Manager creates an installation directory for virtual machines and would generate a message if it discovers an existing directory with the same name. See “Using Text Search Filter” on page 24 for information on using the Filter feature.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Enabling and Disabling Datastores Administrators can enable and disable datastores for virtual machines, and datastores for media (media stores). When you disable a datastore, the configurations associated with the datastore cannot be deployed. You can also disable the creation of virtual machines or media stores in a datastore.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager To disable media store creation in a datastore 1 In the left pane, click Resources. 2 In the Datastores tab, move the pointer over the resource and choose Disable Media from the menu. Modifying Datastore Properties By default, only administrators can modify the properties of datastores. To modify datastore properties 1 In the left pane, click Resources. 2 In the Datastores tab, move the pointer over the datastore and choose Properties from the menu.
Lab Manager User’s Guide On this page, a table includes this information: Virtual machine name that provides a pop‐up menu for operations. Name of the configuration containing the virtual machine. A dash appears in this column for virtual machine templates. The datastore for the virtual machine. Name and organization of the user who owns the virtual machine. Status (for example, deployed or undeployed) of the virtual machine.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Viewing Virtual Machine Datastore Directories The Context view provides a high level view of the dependencies between virtual machines. The Context view for a virtual machine displays a tree view of the virtual machine’s relationship to other virtual machines on which it depends (ancestor nodes) and which depend on it (child nodes). Each node in the tree represents a specific directory location on the datastore.
Lab Manager User’s Guide In the Context view, the chain of virtual machine and internal node directories are to the right of the ancestor directories. The boxes with thick borders represent the virtual machines that you can see in the Lab Manager Web console. The boxes with lighter borders represent the hidden internal directories associated with the virtual machines. Deletion of internal nodes only occurs as a side effect of deleting the virtual machines associated with those nodes.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Deleting Expired Virtual Machines When the storage lease for a virtual machine expires, Lab Manager either deletes the virtual machine or marks it for deletion, depending on the resource cleanup settings. See “Configuring Resource Cleanup Settings” on page 198. You can delete virtual machines that are marked for deletion from the Virtual Machine Datastore Usage page. To delete expired virtual machines 1 Click Resources in the left pane.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 3 Click the Refresh Disk Space button to ensure the data is current. For all virtual machines with expired storage leases, the Status column displays Expired. 4 Move the pointer over the virtual machine name and choose Renew Storage Lease from the menu. 5 Click OK. Lab Manager renews the storage lease for the selected virtual machine and all other virtual machines in its configuration (if applicable) and updates the Cleanup Date column to reflect the new lease expiration date.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager 3 Move the pointer over the virtual machine name and choose Consolidate from the menu. 4 Select a datastore and click OK. You can keep the consolidated virtual machine in the current datastore (displayed in bold), or you can move the consolidated virtual machine to a different datastore.
Lab Manager User’s Guide The Media Stores tab includes the following information: Name of the media store that provides a pop‐up menu for various operations. Type of datastore (NFS of VMFS3) where the media store resides. State of the media store: Datastore Enabled – Indicates whether or not the datastore where the media store resides is available for use. This setting is specified in the Datastores tab. Media Enabled – Indicates whether or not you can use media on the media store.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager 4 On the Media Stores tab, click the Add Media Store button. 5 Type a name for the media store. The name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a–z, A–Z, 0–9), hyphens, underscores, or periods. 6 Select the datastore. 7 Type the path to the media. For NFS datastores, type the path relative to the mount point. For VMFS datastores, type the path relative to the root. A media store and its NFS datastore must not have the same NFS path root.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To disable a media store 1 In the left pane, click Resources. 2 On the Media Stores tab, move the pointer over the media store and choose Disable from the menu. 3 Click OK. Use the disable operation to block the use of a media store. Changing the Name of a Media Store By default, only administrators can change the name of a media store. To change the name of a media store 1 In the left pane, click Resources.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Primary DNS IP addressing mode Messages IP Pool (used/total) Use this tab to add a physical network. From the table, you can delete a physical network, as well as access its properties and IP pool. See “Using Text Search Filter” on page 24 for information on using the Filter feature. Adding a Physical Network By default, only administrators can add a physical network. To add a physical network 1 In the left pane, click Resources.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 7 8 Static ‐ Manual requires you to specify a static IP address when configuring the network interface for a virtual machine connected to. The IP address you specify cannot belong to the network IP pool. However, if you want to use fencing, you must have IP addresses in the IP Pool for use as virtual machine external IP addresses.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Every virtual machine using a static IP addressing mode for a NIC connected to a physical network requires an IP address from the IP pool of the physical network. This IP address stays with the virtual machine through the various operations in Lab Manager. When you delete all instances of the virtual machine with this IP address, Lab Manager releases the IP address to the IP pool.
Lab Manager User’s Guide 3 Type an IP address or IP address range in the Static IP Address Pool text box and click the Add button. 4 Click Update. Removing IP Addresses from the IP Pool of a Physical Network By default, only administrators can remove IP addresses from a physical network. To remove IP addresses from the IP pool of a physical network 1 In the left pane, click Resources. 2 On the Physical Networks tab, move the pointer over a physical network name and choose Properties from the menu.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager To delete a physical network 1 In the left pane, click Resources. 2 In the Physical Networks tab, move the pointer over a physical network name and choose Delete from the menu. 3 Click OK to confirm. Configuring Lab Manager Settings Administrators can access the General, LDAP, License, Guest Customization, SupportLink, Resource Cleanup, and VirtualCenter tabs from the Settings link in the left pane to modify various Lab Manager settings.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Lab Manager Installation ID – Lab Manager uses the installation ID to generate MAC addresses for virtual machines. If you have more than one Lab Manager installation on the same network, each installation must have a unique ID to ensure that there are no MAC address conflicts. Lab Manager randomly assigns an ID and allows the administrator to manually edit the value in case an ID collision occurs. Lab Manager Host IP Address – IP address of the Lab Manager Server system.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Storage Server Garbage Collection Frequency (Seconds) – Frequency of garbage collection on datastores. The default is 120 seconds. Garbage collection is the automatic detection and freeing of images that are no longer in use. Lab Manager does not immediately delete files associated with a deleted virtual machine. Lab Manager stores virtual machine files in a tree of related‐linked clones.
Lab Manager User’s Guide System Alerts Lab Manager can send system alert emails to all Lab Manager administrators or to a specified list of email addresses. All Lab Manager Administrators– Select this option to send system alerts to all administrators. These Email Addresses – Select this option to send system alerts to a specified list of email addresses. Enter comma‐separated email addresses for the recipients in the text box.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Lab Manager cannot update the information in the LDAP directory. If you want to add, delete, or modify LDAP users or groups, you must do so in the LDAP directory. Lab Manager synchronizes user and group information with the LDAP directory on a regular basis. To configure LDAP settings 1 In the left pane, click Settings. 2 Click the LDAP tab. 3 Modify the LDAP settings and click OK.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To connect to a node in the tree, specify the distinguished name for that node, for example: OU=LabManager,DC=vmware,DC=com. Connecting at a node limits the scope of the directory available to Lab Manager. CAUTION If you specify an OU, the only LDAP users that can log in to Lab Manager are users in that OU. In some cases, this can block access to users that you do not want to block. For example, consider the following scenario: Domain Name: mydomain.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Authentication Method – Select the authentication method for your LDAP server. Active Directory Negotiate – Choose this method for Active Directory. Digest‐MD5 – Choose this method for OpenLDAP without LDAPS. If you choose Digest‐MD5, you must provide MD5 Realm information. Basic – Choose this method for OpenLDAP with LDAPS. If you choose Basic without LDAPS, be aware that the LDAP password is sent over the network in clear text.
Lab Manager User’s Guide The combination of connector and schema populates the fields in LDAP User Attributes and LDAP Group Attributes. LDAP User Attributes The LDAP user attributes provide Lab Manager with details about how user information is defined in the LDAP directory. This allows Lab Manager to access that information and map it to its own user database. If your LDAP directory uses different syntax for user attributes than what is displayed, modify the information here to match the LDAP directory.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager To add a capacity license 1 In the left pane, click Settings. 2 In the License tab, click the Add Capacity License button. 3 Enter the serial number and click OK.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Configuring Resource Cleanup Settings Use the Resource Cleanup tab to define the maximum deployment lease and storage lease times for virtual machine templates and configurations. The values you specify here are also used as the default settings for new virtual machine templates and configurations. You can override these defaults (up to the maximum) when you create or edit individual virtual machine templates and configurations.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager To set deployment and storage leases 1 In the left pane of the console, click Settings. 2 Click the Resource Cleanup tab. 3 Choose deployment lease maximums for Workspace configurations and VM templates. 4 Choose storage lease maximums for Workspace configurations, VM templates, and Library configurations. 5 Choose whether to delete or mark for deletion configurations and templates with expired storage leases. 6 Click OK.
Lab Manager User’s Guide To change the port number for the VirtualCenter Server 1 In the left pane of the console, click Settings. 2 Click the VirtualCenter tab. 3 Enter the port number. 4 Click OK. To change the VirtualCenter system 1 Unprepare all the hosts attached to Lab Manager. See “Preparing and Unpreparing Hosts” on page 167. 2 Detach all the resource pools attached to Lab Manager. The resource pools can involve clusters and hosts.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager 3 In the left pane, click Resources. 4 On the Resource Pools tab, click the Attach Resource Pool button. 5 Select the resource pool associated with the new datacenter. 6 (Optional) Enter a different name for the resource pool in Lab Manager. 7 Click OK.
Lab Manager User’s Guide The privileges in Table 8‐1 appear in the Edit Role dialog box of the VI Client: Table 8-1.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Table 8-1.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Undeploying Virtual Machines with Force If standard undeploy operations do not work, Lab Manager administrators can forcefully undeploy a virtual machine to clean the Lab Manager database. An example of this kind of situation is when an ESX host goes offline or someone manually removes a virtual machine template from VirtualCenter inventory.
Chapter 8 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager To forcefully delete a published virtual machine template 1 In the left pane, click VM Templates. 2 Move the pointer over the published virtual machine template name and choose Force Delete from the menu. 3 Confirm the deletion. VMware, Inc.
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A Roles and Rights A Lab Manager applies the concept of roles and rights to determine which users and groups can perform which operations. See “Managing Roles and Rights” on page 154 for more information predefined roles, creating roles, and assigning rights to roles. See “Managing Organizations” on page 157 for more information on assigning roles to users and groups.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Datastore Rights Only administrators can create, delete, and edit datastores. The create right is required to add a datastore to an organization. Other users can access datastores that are added to their organization as resources. Table A-1.
Appendix A Roles and Rights Table A-2. General Rights for Predefined Roles (Continued) Change Ownership Administrator View and Control Global Settings Modify User View Only Group Rights Only administrators and organization administrators can add, delete, and edit groups. Lab Manager only supports groups created on an LDAP server. You cannot create a group or add users to a group within the Lab Manager environment. Table A-3.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Table A-4. High I/O Rights for Predefined Roles (Continued) Import Export Full Clone Consolidate X X X X Application Owner User View Only When an owner shares an object with another user, the user’s ability to perform high I/O operations on that object is based on the intersection of the rights of their role and the access rights assigned by the owner sharing the object. Table A-5.
Appendix A Roles and Rights Library Configuration Rights Table A-7.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Table A-9. Machine Rights for Predefined Roles (Continued) Edit Edit Memory Edit Network Edit Boot Sequence and Delay Edit CPU Edit Hard Disk Configuration Application Owner X X X X X X User X View Only The Edit column above refers to all virtual machine properties, except those called out in their own column. For example, a User can edit a virtual machine name, but not its memory or network information.
Appendix A Roles and Rights When an owner shares media with another user, the user’s rights are based on the intersection of the rights of their role and the access rights assigned by the owner sharing the object. Table A-12. Media Rights for Sharing Roles Access Edit Full Control X Change X Synchronize Read Media Store Rights Only administrators can create, delete, and edit media stores. Other users can access media stores that are added to their organization as resources. Table A-13.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Navigation Bar Rights Access to certain areas of the Lab Manager Web console navigation bar is restricted based on the role of the logged in user. Table A-14.
Appendix A Roles and Rights Network Template Rights Administrators, organization administrators, and templates creators can create, delete, and edit network templates. Table A-15.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Table A-17. Organization Rights for Predefined Roles (Continued) Edit Edit Membership Edit Resources User View Only Physical Network Rights Only administrators can create, delete, and edit physical networks. Other users can access physical networks that are added to their organization as resources. Table A-18.
Appendix A Roles and Rights Role Rights Only administrators can create, delete, and edit roles. Table A-20. Role Rights for Predefined Roles Create Delete Edit X X X Administrator Organization Administrator Template Creator Application Owner User View Only Sharing Rights Based on their role, a user can share objects to all or specific users in the following ways: Across the entire Lab Manager installation Between organizations Within an organization Table A-21.
Lab Manager User’s Guide When an owner shares an object with another user, the user’s ability to share that object is based on the intersection of the rights of their role and the access rights assigned by the owner sharing the object. Table A-22.
Appendix A Roles and Rights Virtual Machine Template Rights Table A-24. VM Template Rights for Predefined Roles Create Delete Edit Deploy/ Undeploy Administrator X X X X Organization Administrator X X X X Template Creator X X X X Application Owner User View Only When an owner shares a virtual machine template with another user, the user’s rights are based on the intersection of the rights of their role and the access rights assigned by the owner sharing the object. Table A-25.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Table A-26. Workspace Configuration Rights for Predefined Roles (Continued) Application Owner Create Delete Edit Add Machine X X X X X X User Delete Machine Deploy/ Undeploy Fenced Deploy/ Undeploy Nonfenced X X X X X View Only When an owner shares a Workspace configuration with another user, the user’s rights are based on the intersection of the rights of their role and the access rights assigned by the owner sharing the object. Table A-27.
B B Client and Browser Support The following tables list browsers and operating systems for client machines accessing the Lab Manager Web console. Table B-1. 32-Bit Client Operating System and Web Browser Support Operating System IE 6.0 IE 7.0 Firefox 2.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Table B-1. 32-Bit Client Operating System and Web Browser Support (Continued) Operating System IE 6.0 IE 7.0 Firefox 2.0 2.1 AS/ES/WS No No Yes 3 AS/ES/WS No No Yes 4 AS/ES/WS No No Yes 5 AS/ES/WS No No Yes Red Hat Enterprise Linux SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 (SLES) SP4 No No Yes Enterprise Server 9 (SLES) SP3 No No Yes No No Yes Enterprise Server 10 (SLES) Table B-2.
Appendix B Client and Browser Support Table B-2. 64-Bit Client Operating System and Web Browser Support (Continued) Operating System IE 6.0 IE 7.0 Firefox 2.0 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 (SLES) SP3 No No Yes Enterprise Server 10 (SLES) RTM No No Yes VMware, Inc.
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C C Guest Operating System Support The following tables list uniprocessor (UP) and multiprocessor (MP) operating systems, and the SIDgen and Microsoft Sysprep components of guest customization. Although Lab Manager uses guest customization on both Windows and UNIX‐based guest operating systems to configure network settings, these tables address only the Windows‐specific support for the SIDgen and Microsoft Sysprep components of guest customization. Table C-1.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Table C-1. 32-Bit Guest Operating System Support (Continued) Microsoft Sysprep Support (Windows Only) Operating System UP MP SIDgen Support (Windows Only) XP Professional SP1 Yes No Yes Yes SP2 Yes No Yes Yes 2000 Server SP3 Yes Yes Yes Yes SP4 Yes Yes Yes Yes 2000 Advanced Server SP3 Yes Yes Yes Yes SP4 Yes Yes Yes Yes 2000 Terminal Services SP3 Yes Yes Yes Yes SP4 Yes Yes Yes Yes NT 4.
Appendix C Guest Operating System Support Table C-2.
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D Network Fencing D Lab Manager uses network fencing, an architecture that isolates or “fences” virtual machine configurations while allowing full network access. Fencing enables you to work with live instances of the same configuration on the same physical network. For example, when you want to have concurrent development or testing on the same configuration, you can duplicate or clone the configuration and avoid any IP or MAC address collision with this technology.
Lab Manager User’s Guide From a performance perspective, network fencing impacts the traffic flow between modules. Fencing requires a slightly higher number of resources on the host, such as memory, CPU, and networking. If you enable fencing but never use it, these resources are not consumed. Understanding Fencing Virtual machines in a configuration have preconfigured (internal) IP addresses.
Appendix D Network Fencing Fencing a configuration does not require any changes to its virtual machines. Within a fenced configuration, virtual machines continue to use preassigned IP addresses to communicate with each other. Fencing Options You can deploy fenced configurations in three ways: Allow In and Out – Virtual machines can communicate with machines outside the fence, and machines outside the fence can communicate with virtual machines in the fenced configuration. Figure D-2.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Allow Out – Virtual machines in a fenced configuration can initiate communication to machines outside the fence and can receive messages back on the same connection. Machines outside the fence cannot initiate communication to virtual machines in the fenced configuration. This option is useful when virtual machines need to obtain data or execute code outside the fence (such as with Web services or databases) but do not want to receive messages that might disrupt testing.
Appendix D Network Fencing Block In and Out – Network traffic does not travel across the fence. Virtual machines in a fenced configuration cannot communicate with machines outside of the fence, and machines outside the fence cannot communicate with virtual machines in the fenced configuration. When you deploy a fenced configuration with this option, Lab Manager does not create a virtual router or assign external IP addresses. Figure D-4.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Processor Type Incompatibility Deploying a configuration in fenced mode hosts all the virtual machines on a single ESX host. You must have a host connected to the datastore where the virtual machine templates that serve as the basis of this configuration reside. The host must have sufficient resources, such as memory, CPU, and fences.
E Extending Guest Customization E Enabling guest customization allows Lab Manager to customize the network settings for a virtual machine made from a virtual machine template. For general information on guest customization, see “Customizing the Guest Operating System” on page 79. In some cases, you might want to extend the customization, using a customization script. For example, the script could check for viruses or start and stop processes.
Lab Manager User’s Guide The Lab Manager Server system does set customization actions in the machine.id line while deploying Workspace virtual machines or changing virtual machine network settings. When these virtual machines first start up, the guest customization script performs the relevant actions. To access the machine.id line from the ESX host 1 From the ESX host system, open the .vmx file. 2 Find the machine.id line. If you install VMware Tools, you can also access the machine.
Glossary A Active Directory A Microsoft directory service that stores information about users, computers, and the Windows operating system. Active Directory enables administrators to set security policies, control resources, and deploy programs across an enterprise. You can point Lab Manager at a Microsoft Active Directory domain or domain controller to enable an entire company (or subset) of users. ActiveX Control An object that supports programmatic interfaces.
Lab Manager User’s Guide C chain length The number of delta disks associated with a virtual machine. The chain length indicates how distributed a virtual machine image is across the directories of a datastore. See also base disk, consolidate, delta disk. clone See linked clone, full clone. cluster A server group in the virtual environment. compute resource A compute resource is the cluster or host providing compute power to a resource pool.
Glossary delta disk “Differencing” disk created during the cloning process. A virtual machine created as a linked clone consists of a base disk, plus a chain of one or more delta disks that store the differences between the cloned virtual machine and the original virtual machine. See also base disk, chain length, clone. deploy To register a virtual machine or configuration on an ESX host. This host must have the proper CPU type, CPU numbers, and 64‐bit capability if necessary.
Lab Manager User’s Guide F fencing An architecture that isolates virtual machine configurations while allowing full network access. Fencing enables you to work with live instances of identical configurations on the same network simultaneously. force delete To forcefully delete a virtual machine when an ESX host failure prevents the Lab Manager administrator from deleting the virtual machine. The operation cleans the virtual machine from the Lab Manager database but not from the VirtualCenter inventory.
Glossary Without guest customization, the virtual machine uses the settings of the virtual machine template it is based on. This situation can create machine name and network conflicts when you deploy more than one virtual machine created from the same virtual machine template at the same time. guest operating system An operating system that runs inside a virtual machine. H host The physical computer on which the virtual machines managed by Lab Manager reside.
Lab Manager User’s Guide Lab Manager Web console A browser‐based interface that provides access to all Lab Manager operations. LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) A protocol that enables you to locate organizations, individuals, or other resources from a server. lease See deployment lease, storage lease. linked clone (n.
Glossary NIC (Network Interface Card) An expansion board that provides a dedicated connection between a computer and a network. Also called a “network adapter.” P Prepare Hosts wizard A wizard that prepares ESX hosts for Lab Manager use after attaching a resource pool. The wizard installs the Lab Manager agent on the hosts and collects information on user names, passwords, virtual switches, and datastores.
Lab Manager User’s Guide resume To return a virtual machine or configuration to operation from its suspended state. When you resume a suspended virtual machine or configuration, all applications are in the same state they were when the virtual machine or configuration was suspended. See also suspend. revert To return the virtual machine to an earlier state captured in a snapshot. revert point The state of a virtual machine as captured by a snapshot at a specific point in time.
Glossary SMTP Server A system running email server software that accepts email from within your enterprise. Lab Manager must connect to an SMTP server to send email alerts. snapshot A reproduction of the virtual machine or configuration as it was when you took the snapshot, including the state of the data on all the virtual disks and power state (on, off, or suspended). Lab Manager stores the snapshot with the configuration or virtual machine image. Only one snapshot is active at a time.
Lab Manager User’s Guide U undeploy To unregister a virtual machine or configuration from an ESX host. This operation makes the resources associated with that virtual machine available for use by the rest of the virtual environment. unprepare To remove an ESX host from use in the Lab Manager environment. This operation uninstalls the Lab Manager agent. V VirtualCenter See VMware VirtualCenter (VirtualCenter), virtual machine disk (.vmdk).
Glossary virtual machine disk (.vmdk) A file or set of files that appears as a physical disk drive to a guest operating system. These files can be on the host machine or on a remote file system. virtual machine template A master image of a virtual machine that typically includes a specified operating system and virtual counterparts to hardware components. A virtual machine template can include an installed guest operating system and a set of applications.
Lab Manager User’s Guide VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) A feature that balances virtual machine workloads across ESX hosts using the VirtualCenter and VMotion products. VMware DRS detects when virtual machine activity saturates an ESX host and triggers automated VMotion live migrations, moving running virtual machines to other ESX nodes so that all resource commitments are met.
Glossary VMware Tools A suite of utilities and drivers that enhances the performance and functionality of your guest operating system.
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Index A accessing configurations 104 media library 134 network templates 30 virtual machine consoles 53 virtual machine templates 62 virtual machines 40 Active Directory 192 ActiveX control 53 activity log 140 adding capacity licenses 196 groups 152, 158 IP addresses 37, 187 media stores 182 members 158 network interfaces to virtual machines 51, 97 networks to configurations 118 organizations 157 physical networks 185 roles 155 SCSI virtual hard disks 48, 96 users 144, 158 virtual hard disks to virtual mac
Lab Manager User’s Guide clusters, defining 161 column sorting 25 configuration library accessing 105 configurations accessing 104 accessing the configuration library 105 adding virtual machines 115 capturing 124 changing owner 132 cloning 110, 111 cloning to the Workspace 125 creating 106 creating LiveLinks 126 defining 103 deleting 132, 181 deploying 119 deploying in fenced mode 41, 120, 231 deploying on clusters with VMware HA 122 discarding state 130 editing properties 131 exporting 130 forced deployme
Index virtual machine templates 101 virtual machines 116, 181 Deployed Virtual Machines page 140 deploying configurations 119 configurations on clusters with VMware HA 122 virtual machine templates 71 virtual machine templates on clusters with VMware HA 72 virtual machines 41 virtual machines on clusters with VMware HA 43 deployment lease alerts 26 deployment leases 47, 96, 122, 198 detaching resource pools 163 directed deployment 72, 122 disabling datastores 174 guest customization 83 hosts 168 media stor
Lab Manager User’s Guide editing properties 153 viewing 151 Groups page 151 guest customization building a Microsoft Sysprep package 80 disabling 83 extending the customization 235 guest operating system support 225 installing VMware Tools 57 prerequisites 79 setting up 79–82 settings in virtual machine properties 47 settings in virtual machine template properties 95 steps for Windows NT and Solaris virtual machine templates 85 guest operating systems 32 and 64-bit support 225 customizing 79–82 installing
Index LDAP tab 192 LDAPS 194 lease alerts 26 leases cleanup date 176 deployment 47, 96, 122, 198 Resource Cleanup tab 198 storage 47, 89, 96, 198 system-wide settings 198 Library page 105 License tab 196 licenses adding capacity 196 LiquidVM 60 LiveLinks creating 126 restoring 126 LM Tools defining 235 M MAC addresses generating 190 resetting 51, 100 Managed Server about 16 media about 133 accessing the library 134 adding media stores 182 changing owner 137 editing properties 137 restricting access 135 sh
Lab Manager User’s Guide O OpenLDAP 192 organizations adding 157 adding members 158 disabling 160 editing properties 159 viewing 157 Organizations page 157 Overview page 22 P physical networks adding 185 deleting 188 editing properties 188 removing IP addresses 37, 188 pop-up menus 24 powering off configurations 129 virtual machines 55 powering on configurations 129 virtual machines 55 preparing hosts 167 prerequisites for guest customization 79 properties of configurations 131 of datastores 175 of groups
Index resuming operation of configurations 128 operation of virtual machines 56 revert points creating 57, 123 deleting 58, 123, 180 roles adding 155 deleting 156 editing properties 156 viewing 155 Roles page 155 storage leases 47, 89, 96, 198 storage leases, renewing 179 stranded users 150 Stranded Users page 150 SupportLink tab 197 suspending configurations 128 virtual machines 56 synchronizing media library with media store files 135 system alerts 192 S undeploying all virtual machines 165, 171 confi
Lab Manager User’s Guide V virtual hard disks adding 48, 96 adding SCSI disks 48, 96 editing 48, 97 Virtual Machine Datastore Usage page 175 virtual machine template consoles 53 virtual machine templates accessing 62 accessing virtual machine consoles 53 adding virtual hard disks 48, 96 changing owner 100 cloning 70 consolidating 92 creating 64 creating by importing virtual machines 66 creating from active virtual machines 69 defining 61 deleting 101 deleting after ESX host failure 204 deleting with force
Index redeploying all 171 remote desktop connections 55 removing from a configuration 116 resetting 56 resuming operation of 56 reverting to snapshots 57 shutting down 56 suspending 56 swapping CD images 58 swapping floppy files 59 taking snapshots 57 undeploying 43 undeploying all 165, 171 undeploying with force 204 viewing datastore usage 175 viewing storage usage 175 Virtual Machines tab 40 virtual switches, viewing 234 VirtualCenter connecting to Lab Manager 201 importing virtual machine templates from
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