Foundations and Concepts vRealize Automation 7.1 This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
Foundations and Concepts 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 © 2008–2016 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright and trademark information. VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com 2 VMware, Inc.
Contents Foundations and Concepts 5 Using Scenarios 5 Using the Goal Navigator 6 Introducing vRealize Automation 6 Providing On-Demand Services to Users Overview 6 vRealize Business Standard Edition Overview 10 Tenancy and User Roles 10 Tenancy Overview 10 User Roles Overview 15 Service Catalog 20 Requesting and Managing Items in the Catalog 20 Creating and Publishing Catalog Items 21 Services for the Service Catalog 21 Catalog Items 21 Actions 22 Entitlements 22 Approval Policies 22 Infrastructure as a Se
Foundations and Concepts Leveraging Existing and Future Infrastructure 35 Configuring Business-Relevant Services 36 Extending vRealize Automation with Event-Based Workflows 36 Integrating with Third-Party Management Systems 36 Adding New IT Services and Creating New Actions 36 Calling vRealize Automation Services from External Applications 37 Distributed Execution 37 Index 4 39 VMware, Inc.
Foundations and Concepts VMware vRealize ™ Automation provides a secure portal where authorized administrators, developers, or business users can request new IT services. In addition, they can manage specific cloud and IT resources that enable IT organizations to deliver services that can be configured to their lines of business in a self-service catalog. This documentation describes the features and capabilities of vRealize Automation.
Foundations and Concepts For example, you can use Installing and Configuring vRealize Automation for the Rainpole Scenario to install a working proof of concept vRealize Automation deployment into your existing vSphere environment. Using the Goal Navigator The goal navigator guides you through high-level goals that you might want to accomplish in vRealize Automation. The goals you can achieve depend on your role.
Foundations and Concepts You can create and publish blueprints for a single machine, or a single custom XaaS resource, but you can also combine machine blueprints and XaaS blueprints with other building blocks to design elaborate application blueprints that include multiple machines, networking and security, software with full life cycle support, and custom XaaS functionality.
Foundations and Concepts n Software Components Overview on page 8 Software components automate the installation, configuration, and life cycle management of middleware and application deployments in dynamic cloud environments. Applications can range from simple Web applications to complex and even packaged applications. n XaaS Overview on page 9 With the XaaS, XaaS architects can create XaaS blueprints and resource action, and publish them as catalog items.
Foundations and Concepts n Catalog administrators add the published blueprints to a catalog service, and entitle users to request the catalog item. n Entitled users request the catalog item and provide any configuration values designed to be editable. vRealize Automation deploys the requested application, provisioning any machine(s), networking and security components, and Software component(s) defined in the application blueprint.
Foundations and Concepts Service Catalog Overview The service catalog provides a unified self-service portal for consuming IT services. Users can browse the catalog to request items they need, track their requests, and manage their provisioned items. Service architects and administrators can define new services and publish them to the common catalog.
Foundations and Concepts Table 1. Tenant Configuration Configuration Area Login URL Description Each tenant has a unique URL to the vRealize Automation console.
Foundations and Concepts Comparison of Single-Tenant and Multitenant Deployments vRealize Automation supports deployments with either a single tenant or multiple tenants. The configuration can vary depending on how many tenants are in your deployment. System-wide configuration is always performed in the default tenant and can apply to one or more tenants. For example, system-wide configuration might specify defaults for branding and notification providers.
Foundations and Concepts Figure 1. Single-Tenant Example http://vra.mycompany.com/vcac/ Default Tenant Business group mgr (Tenant config) Tenant admin Business Group • User management • Tenant branding • Tenant notification providers • Approval policies • Catalog management Business goup mgr Business Group http://vra.mycompany.
Foundations and Concepts The following diagram shows a multitenant deployment with centrally managed infrastructure. The IaaS administrator in the default tenant configures all infrastructure sources that are available for all tenants. The IaaS administrator can organize the infrastructure into fabric groups according to type and intended purpose. For example, a fabric group might contain all virtual resources, or all Tier One resources.
Foundations and Concepts Figure 3. Multitenant Example with Infrastructure Configuration in Each Tenant http://vra.mycompany.com/ vcac/org/tenanta/ http://vra.mycompany.com/ vcac/org/tenantb/ http://vra.mycompany.com/ vcac/org/tenantc/ Tenant A Tenant B Tenant C Tenant admin http://vra. mycompany.
Foundations and Concepts System-Wide Roles and Responsibilities Users with system-wide roles manage configurations that can apply to multiple tenants. The system administrator is only present in the default tenant, but you can assign IaaS administrators to any tenant. Table 3. System-Wide Roles and Responsibilities Role System Administrator Responsibilities n n n n n n n n n IaaS Administrator n n n n n n n n 16 How Assigned Create tenants. Configure tenant identity stores.
Foundations and Concepts Tenant Role Overview Tenant roles typically have responsibilities that are limited to a specific tenant, and cannot affect other tenants in the system. VMware, Inc.
Foundations and Concepts Table 4. Tenant Role Overview 18 Role Description Tenant Administrator Typically a line-of-business administrator, business manager, or IT administrator who is responsible for a tenant. Tenant administrators configure vRealize Automation for the needs of their organizations. They are responsible for user and group management, tenant branding and notifications, and business policies such as approvals and entitlements.
Foundations and Concepts Tenant Roles and Responsibilities in vRealize Automation You can assign tenant roles to users in any tenant. The roles have responsibilities that are specific to that tenant. Table 5. Tenant Roles and Responsibilities Role Tenant administrator Responsibilities n n n n n n n n n n n n n Fabric Administrator n n n n n n n n How Assigned Customize tenant branding. Manage tenant identity stores. Manage user and group roles. Create custom groups. Manage notification providers.
Foundations and Concepts Table 5. Tenant Roles and Responsibilities (Continued) Role Responsibilities Software Architect n n Catalog Administrator n n n Business group manager n n n n n n How Assigned Create and manage software blueprint components. Assemble and manage composite blueprints. Tenant administrators can assign this role to users in their tenant at any time from the Administration tab. Create and manage catalog services. Manage catalog items. Assign icons to actions.
Foundations and Concepts When Connie requests a catalog item, a form appears where she can provide information such as the reason for her request, and any parameters for the request. For example, if she is requesting a virtual machine, she might be able to specify the number of CPUs or amount of storage on the machine. If Connie is not ready to submit her request, she can save it and return to it at a later time. After Connie submits her request, it might be subject to approval.
Foundations and Concepts Actions Actions are operations that you can perform on provisioned items. Users can manage their provisioned items on the Items tab. The View Details option is always present in the Actions menu. Additional options might be available depending on the type of item and the user's entitlements. For example, Power On can be available for machines but not for HR services such as provisioning a new hire. You can perform request actions and immediate actions.
Foundations and Concepts The policies are applied to items in an entitlement. You can apply them to services, catalog items, catalog item components, or actions that require an approver to approve or reject a provisioning request. When a service catalog user requests an item that includes one or more approval policies, the approval request is sent to the approvers. If approved, the request moves forward. If rejected, the request is canceled and the service catalog user is notified regarding the rejection.
Foundations and Concepts n Machine Leases and Reclamation on page 29 IaaS provides two mechanisms for controlling resource use and controlling costs. Leases provide access to a machine for a limited period. By using the reclamation process, a tenant administrator can identify underused resources and reclaim them from their owners. n Scaling and Reconfiguring Deployments on page 30 You can scale provisioned deployments to adjust to changing workload demands.
Foundations and Concepts Table 6.
Foundations and Concepts Table 8. Data Collection Types Data Collection Type Description Infrastructure Source Endpoint Data Collection Updates information about virtualization hosts, templates, and ISO images for virtualization environments. Updates virtual datacenters and templates for vCloud Director. Updates Amazon regions and machines provisioned on Amazon regions. Endpoint data collection runs every 4 hours.
Foundations and Concepts To request catalog items, a user must belong to the business group that is entitled to request the item. A business group can have access to catalog items specific to that group and to catalog items that are shared between business groups in the same tenant. In IaaS, each business group has one or more reservations that determine on which compute resources the machines that this group requested can be provisioned.
Foundations and Concepts Configuring Reservation Policies When a user requests a machine, it can be provisioned on any reservation of the appropriate type that has sufficient capacity for the machine. You can apply a reservation policy to a blueprint to restrict the machines provisioned from that blueprint to a subset of available reservations.
Foundations and Concepts You can add custom properties to a machine component in a blueprint to specify attributes of a machine or to override default specifications. You can also add property groups as a convenience for specifying multiple custom properties. Machine Leases and Reclamation IaaS provides two mechanisms for controlling resource use and controlling costs. Leases provide access to a machine for a limited period.
Foundations and Concepts Scaling and Reconfiguring Deployments You can scale provisioned deployments to adjust to changing workload demands. You use the scale in or scale out actions for horizontal scale, and the machine reconfigure action for vertical scale. You govern scale and reconfigure actions by using entitlements, approval policies, or by designing constraints directly into blueprints.
Foundations and Concepts Scale Up or Scale Down By Using Reconfigure After you provision a vSphere, vCloud Air, or vCloud Director virtual or cloud machine you can adjust to changing workload demands by requesting a machine reconfigure to increase (scale up) or decrease (scale down) machine resource specifications for CPU, memory, storage, or networks. You can also add, edit, or remove custom properties and change descriptions. You can request to reconfigure machines that are in the On or Off state.
Foundations and Concepts Custom Resources You must create a custom resource so that you can create an XaaS blueprint for provisioning with the option to access and manage the provisioned items. Custom resources define the items for provisioning, and you can use them to define post-provisioning operations that the consumers can perform. You create a custom resource to define a new type of provisioned item and map it to an existing vRealize Orchestrator object type.
Foundations and Concepts Designing Forms for XaaS Blueprints and Actions The XaaS includes a form designer that you can use to design submission and details forms for blueprints and resources actions. Based on the presentation of the workflows, the form designer dynamically generates default forms and fields you can use to modify the default forms. You can create interactive forms that the users can complete for submission of catalog items and resource actions.
Foundations and Concepts Configure an outbound mail server to send notifications. Do you want users to be able to respond to notifications? Yes Configure an inbound mail server to receive notifications. No Enable notifications for any events you want to allow users to receive updates for. Do you want to customize the templates for IaaS notifications? Yes TEMPLATE Edit the configuration files that control IaaS notifications. No Tell your users how to subscribe to the notifications you enabled.
Foundations and Concepts Branding Each tenant can change the appearance of the vRealize Automation console and login pages. System administrators control the default branding for all tenants. A tenant administrator can change the branding of the portal including the login pages, logo, the background color, and the information in the header and footer. If the branding for a tenant is changed, a tenant administrator can always revert back to the system defaults.
Foundations and Concepts For a full list of supported infrastructure types and provisioning methods, see vRealize Automation Support Matrix. For information about configuring infrastructure blueprints, see Configuring vRealize Automation. Configuring Business-Relevant Services The vRealize Automation console enables administrators to configure business- and user-specific policies through a web-based user interface without writing any code.
Foundations and Concepts Calling vRealize Automation Services from External Applications In some cases, organizations may want to interact with vRealize Automation programmatically rather than via the vRealize Automation console. For such scenarios, the vRealize Automation API provides a standardized, secured RESTful interface for cloud access and interaction, controlled through business-aware policy for consumers such as users, infrastructure, devices, and applications.
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Index A G actions overview 22 XaaS 31 allocating resources, reservations 27 approval policies 22 goal navigator, using 6 B blueprints machine 28 overview 6 XaaS 31 branding, defaults 35 business groups overview 26 requirements 26 C catalog, See service catalog catalog items, overview 21 catalog services, overview 21 compute resources, overview 25 custom resources, overview 32 D dangling resources, partially successful scale 30 data collection, overview 25 documentation, using scenarios 5 dynamic form
Foundations and Concepts reconfiguring machines, overview 30 reservation policies, configuring 28 reservations, allocating resources 27 resource actions overview 32 See also actions resource mapping 32 roles tenant 19 See also user roles S scaling overview of scale operations 30 partially successful scale 30 scenarios, using 5 service catalog creating and publishing flow 21 overview 10 requesting and managing flow 20 services 21 Software components, overview 8 T tenancy default tenant 10 overview 10 sing
