Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide vCenter Lifecycle Manager 1.1.0 This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware 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 Copyright © 2010 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws.
Contents About This Book 5 1 Understanding LCM 7 Lifecycle Manager Process 7 Lifecycle Manager Terminology 9 Role-Based User Interface 9 LCM Administrator 10 Lifecycle Manager Architecture 10 2 Setting Up the Virtual Machine Environment 13 Configuring the Infrastructure for Requested Virtual Machines Configuring the Criteria for Requested Virtual Machines 19 13 3 Using LCM 21 Request a Virtual Machine 21 Display Requested Virtual Machines 23 Modify Request Options 25 Check the Power State of a Virtu
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About This Book ® This book, the Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide, provides information about managing VMware vCenter Lifecycle Manager (LCM). Intended Audience This book is intended for administrators who are managing LCM. The information in this guide is written for experienced system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology. Document Feedback VMware welcomes your suggestions for improving our documentation. If you have comments, send your feedback to docfeedback@vmware.
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Understanding LCM 1 VMware vCenter Lifecycle Manager (LCM) automates the process of creating virtual machines and removing them from service at the appropriate time. Using LCM, you can perform the following tasks: n Handle and process virtual machine requests in a Web user interface. n Automatically place servers based on their location, organization, environment, service level, or performance levels. When a solution is found for a set of criteria, the machine is automatically deployed.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide Figure 1-1.
Chapter 1 Understanding LCM Lifecycle Manager Terminology LCM uses specific terminology to describe lifecycle events and attributes. Commission The creation of a requested virtual machine. The commission time is submitted during the request process. Decommission The requested machine reaches the end of its life. A decommission date is submitted during the request process. The decommissioned machine can be archived or deleted.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide LCM Administrator The LCM Administrator sets up the LCM environment, and can perform all tasks that other user roles can perform. The LCM Administrator is responsible for the following tasks.
Chapter 1 Understanding LCM Figure 1-2. Architecture of LCM and Orchestrator browser config vCO database Lifecycle Manager browser config VMware vCenter Orchestrator plug-ins service directory VMware Infrastructure 3.5 Lifecycle Manager database networking database email Orchestrator Plug-Ins After you install LCM, you must configure the following Orchestrator plug-ins: n VMware Infrastructure 3.5 For adding VMware Infrastructure 3.5 or vCenter 4 instances. NOTE Because LCM supports vCenter 4.
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Setting Up the Virtual Machine Environment 2 Before users can request virtual machines, the LCM Administrator must configure the infrastructure and criteria. This chapter includes the following topics: n “Configuring the Infrastructure for Requested Virtual Machines,” on page 13 n “Configuring the Criteria for Requested Virtual Machines,” on page 19 Configuring the Infrastructure for Requested Virtual Machines The infrastructure defines the resources for requested virtual machines.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide Automatic Placement When a virtual machine request is approved, the system tries to place the virtual machine automatically. If automatic placement is successful, the virtual machine is created and the state of the request changes to Available. If the automatic placement fails, the state of the request changes to Waiting for Placement. During automatic placement, one of the following events might occur. n If one path is found, the virtual machine is placed.
Chapter 2 Setting Up the Virtual Machine Environment Register a Datastore You must use an existing datastore for the requested virtual machines. LCM cannot create a datastore. Procedure 1 Log in to LCM as an administrator. 2 Click the Infrastructure view. 3 Click the Datastore icon ( ). 4 Click Register. 5 Select a datastore from the vCenter or ESX host that you want to register and click Submit. 6 Select the criteria options and click Submit.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide Register a Network LCM automatically maps the request to the network. If you map more than one network to the server environment, the LCM IT Staff user can select which one to use. Procedure 1 Log in to LCM as an administrator. 2 Click the Infrastructure view. 3 Click the Network icon ( 4 Click Register. 5 Type or search for a network and click Next. 6 Type the network domain name and click Next.
Chapter 2 Setting Up the Virtual Machine Environment 6 Type the information in the text boxes. 7 Click Submit. Create a Template Profile You can create a template profile. You can select an operating system, and specify the estimated cost for a virtual machine. NOTE For a list of guest operating systems that support image customization, see the VMware Infrastructure Compatibility Matrixes. Procedure 1 Log in to LCM as an administrator. 2 Click the Infrastructure view.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide 7 Click Submit. 8 Select the criteria options and click Submit. Join a Domain or a Workgroup You can join a domain or a workgroup. Procedure 1 Log in to LCM as an administrator. 2 Click the Infrastructure view. 3 Click the Domain icon ( 4 Click Create. 5 Choose whether to join a domain. 6 ). n If you selected Yes, type the necessary information. n If you selected No, type a workgroup name.
Chapter 2 Setting Up the Virtual Machine Environment 3 Click the Unlinked Elements icon ( 4 (Optional) Click Relink All to try to relink all unlinked elements automatically. 5 Relink an unlinked element manually. ). a Click an element in the left pane. b Click Relink in the right pane. c Under Action on unlinked element, select Relink. d Select the element and click Submit.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide Delete Elements You can delete criteria elements. Prerequisites You must delete all tokens associated with a criterion element before you can delete the element. Procedure 20 1 Log in to LCM as an administrator. 2 Click the Criteria view. 3 Click an element and click Delete. 4 Click Submit. VMware, Inc.
Using LCM 3 After you have configured Lifecycle Manager, you can perform administration tasks, such as approving virtual machine requests, importing virtual machines, decommissioning virtual machines, and so on. Some tasks, such as requesting a virtual machine, can be performed by all LCM user roles. Most tasks, however, can only be performed by the LCM Administrator.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide Prerequisites Review the customization template attributes to verify that you understand the default values. For more information, see “Customization Template Attributes,” on page 23. Procedure 1 Log in to LCM and click the Requests view. 2 Click Request. 3 (Optional) To specify a commissioning date, select Yes for Set commissioning date? and select a date.
Chapter 3 Using LCM Customization Template Attributes You can assign custom values for template attributes. Table 3-1. Customization Template Attributes Attribute Values Memory reservation (MB) Minimum is 0 (default is 256) Memory limit/size (MB) Minimum is -1; must be a multiple of 4 (default is 1024); must be greater than the Memory reservation value Selecting -1 maintains the same memory as the vCenter template.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide Procedure 1 Log in to LCM as an administrator. 2 Click the Catalog view. 3 Select a filter from the drop-down menu. Option Description All Displays all the requested virtual machines requested by users. Creating Displays the virtual machines that are being created. Available VM Displays the available virtual machines created by users. Rejected Displays all the rejected virtual machines that were requested by users.
Chapter 3 Using LCM Table 3-2. Virtual Machine Request Status Icons (Continued) Icon State The virtual machine is waiting for creation. The virtual machine is waiting to be deployed by an LCM IT Staff user. The virtual machine is being created. The virtual machine is created. An error occured during the virtual machine creation. An error occured during the virtual machine archiving. An error occured during the virtual machine deletion. A request to prolong the request time is submitted.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide Option Description Change State Move virtual machine requests across different processes in the lifecycle. Used by VMware support to help with troubleshooting. CAUTION Changing a state can move the request to an undesirable state. Virtual machine requests might become unusable. Change Rights Change which groups or users can access, control, or view virtual machines. Delete Request Delete the request and all associated reports and other elements.
Chapter 3 Using LCM Open a Virtual Machine in a Web Browser From your Web browser, you can connect to a virtual machine running any guest operating system. Prerequisites To connect via your browser, you must have the VMware WebCenter Remote MKS Plug-in installed in your browser. Procedure 1 Log in to LCM as an administrator. 2 Click the Catalog view. 3 In the catalog list, click a virtual machine name. 4 In the right pane, click Commands. 5 Click Open console.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide Revert to a Snapshot You can use the snapshot to return to the saved state. Procedure 1 Log in to LCM as an administrator. 2 Click the Catalog view. 3 In the catalog list, click a virtual machine name. 4 In the right pane, click Commands. 5 Click Revert to snapshot. The virtual machine returns to the state it was in when the snapshot was taken. Generate Reports You can generate reports for various LCM events.
Chapter 3 Using LCM 9 Specify whether you want to link the virtual machine with criteria. If you select Yes, select entries for Location, Organization, Server Environment, Service Level, and Performance. 10 Type the contact email and click Next. 11 Specify whether you want to use the virtual machine name as the request name. 12 Select an existing template profile for the virtual machine. 13 Click Submit.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide 5 Type a comment and click Next. 6 Specify whether you want to set a decommissioning date. 7 (Optional) Specify who can control or view the virtual machine. If you do not specify a user or group, only you have control. 8 Click Next. 9 Specify whether you want to link the virtual machines with criteria. If you select Yes, select entries for Location, Organization, Server Environment, Service Level, and Performance.
Chapter 3 Using LCM Check Licensing Status You can review the licensing status of LCM to check the number of used CPUs. Procedure 1 Log in to LCM as an administrator. 2 Click the Administration view. 3 Click Licensing status. 4 Select whether you want to proceed. 5 Click Submit. Export Logs and Application Settings You can export logs and application settings for analysis purposes. Procedure 1 Log in to LCM as an administrator. 2 Click the Administration view. 3 Click the Export icon ( ).
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide Networking Plug-In Errors Networking plug-in errors might cause an LCM operation, such as registering a network, to fail. Problem A task from the Network view in the Infrastructure tab fails. Cause The Networking plug-in is missing or not enabled. Solution 1 Log in to the Orchestrator configuration interface. http://orchestrator_server:8282 2 32 On the Plug-ins tab, check whether the Networking 1.1.0 plug-in is missing or is not enabled.
4 Customizing LCM LCM is highly customizable. You can change the look of the UI, or create custom workflows to modify the functionality of LCM. This chapter includes the following topics: n “Customizing the User Interface,” on page 33 n “Callback Workflows,” on page 36 Customizing the User Interface You can customize certain elements of the user interface. For example, you can add buttons to link to a particular workflow, or you can add your company logo.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide 4 Click the Custom style sheet ( ) that you want to modify to display its contents. n To modify the content of the custom style sheet, click Edit. n To upload a different style sheet, click Upload. n To download the existing style sheet, click Download. n To remove the existing style sheet, click Remove. 5 Click Submit. 6 Click Reset Cache to apply the changes.
Chapter 4 Customizing LCM Change a Navigation Element You can add a link to the navigation bar in the LCM UI. This link can point to a custom URL. Procedure 1 Log in to LCM as an administrator. 2 Click the Configuration view. 3 Click the Custom Element icon ( 4 Click Navigation Items ( ). ). n Click Edit to modify the label of the link and the URL. n Click Reinitialize to remove the link from the navigation bar. 5 Click Submit. 6 Click Reset Cache to apply the changes.
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide 3 Click the Web views view. 4 Right-click vCenter Lifecycle Manager and select Unpublish. 5 Right-click vCenter Lifecycle Manager and select Edit. 6 On the Attributes tab, select the userAllowedWorkflowPaths attribute. 7 Click the entry in the Value column and add the category where the workflows are stored. 8 Click Save and close. 9 Right-click vCenter Lifecycle Manager and select Publish.
Chapter 4 Customizing LCM Callback workflows that contain an in = out element perform the following tasks: n Clone the properties of the LCM workflow that calls the callback workflow. n Optionally perform processing on the cloned properties in the callback workflow to modify them. n Pass the modified properties as the outCloneProperties output parameter to the next element in the LCM workflow, thus changing the result of the request.
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Index A administrator tasks 10 application logo, changing 34 architecture 10 automatic placement 14 datastore, registering 15 decommissioning time, modifying 23 disk shares 23 displaying virtual machines 23 domain, joining 18 C E cache plug-in errors 31 callback workflows adding an operation 36 categories 37 cloneProperties 36 finding related workflows 37 input parameters 36 modifying request results 36 token 36 checking power state 26 commands Connect 27 Open console 27 Power on 26 Revert to snapshot
Lifecycle Manager Administration Guide R V RDP client, opening virtual machines 27 RDP template, modifying 34 reports, generating 28 request options, modifying 25 requesting virtual machines 21 resource pool creating 14 registering 14 reverting to snapshots 28 roles 9 vCenter compatibility 10 virtual machine environment 13 virtual machine folder creating 15 registering 15 virtual machines checking power state 26 connecting 26 displaying 23 importing 28 importing from a resource pool 29 importing from a
