What’s New in VMware Cloud Director 10.1

30-04-2020 Manish Jha

With the release of v10.1 yesterday, vCloud Director has been rebranded to VMware Cloud Director. In this post I will cover what does Cloud Director brings to the table.

1: vCloud Director Rebranding: Upon logging into Cloud Director UI, you will no longer see the ‘v’ of vCloud Director. vCD has been rebranded to VMware Cloud Director.

2: RIP Flex UI: Flex UI is no longer available in Cloud Director. In vCD 10.0, flex UI was disabled by default and if needed, it can be enabled back with cell-management-tool utility.

Note: Although the same command works in 10.1 also as shown below

root@vcd1 [ ~ ]# /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n flex.ui.enabled -v true
New property being stored: Property "flex.ui.enabled" has value "true"

1 2	root@vcd1 [ ~ ]# /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n flex.ui.enabled -v true New property being stored: Property "flex.ui.enabled" has value "true"

But even after running this command, if you try to login to flash client, you will see a page not found error.… Read More

VMware Cloud Director-What’s New-NSX-T UI Enhancements

11-04-2020 Manish Jha

With the release of VMware Cloud Director (Previously vCloud Director), a lot of NSX-T related UI enhancements are added. In this post I will walk through some of them.

Dedicated External Networks

With Cloud Director 10.1, an edge gateway can be provisioned with a dedicated external network. In this configuration, there is a one-to-one relationship between the external network and the edge gateway, and no other edge gateways can connect to this external network.

Note: Provider creates a T0 gateway within NSX-T and add it to Cloud Director as an external network. Once T0 is added, provider could convert an existing org gateway (T1) to this new dedicated T0, or create a new org gateway with Dedicated External Network option selected.

BGP and Route Advertisement

BGP peering & Route Advertisement functionalities are added on Edge Gateway UI.

Route Advertisement

You can decide which of the network subnets that are attached to org gateway will be advertised to the dedicated external network.… Read More

Automating vROPs Tenant Appliance Deployment & Configuration via API

17-03-2020 Manish Jha

In my previous post on vROPs Tenant Appliance for vCD, I covered steps of manual deployment & configuration. In this post I will cover how we can achieve this via CLI/API.

These API’s can be leveraged via any scripting language to automate the deployment of vROPs TA.

Step 1: Deploy vROPs Tenant Appliance via ovftool

As of now there is no API for automating deployment of appliance via API, so we will use ovftool for this purpose.

ovftool --name=<vrops-ta-fqdn> --acceptAllEulas --X:logFile=ovftool.log --X:injectOvfEnv --allowExtraConfig --noSSLVerify --datastore=vsanDatastore --network=VM_MGMT --diskMode=thin --powerOn --prop:vrops_host=<vrops-fqdn> --prop:vami.ip0.vROps_Tenant_App_for_vCD=x.x.x.x.x --prop:vami.netmask0.vROps_Tenant_App_for_vCD=x.x.x.x --prop:vami.gateway.vROps_Tenant_App_for_vCD=x.x.x.x.x --prop:vami.domain.vROps_Tenant_App_for_vCD=<domain-name> --prop:vami.searchpath.vROps_Tenant_App_for_vCD=<domain-name> --prop:vami.DNS.vROps_Tenant_App_for_vCD=x.x.x.x.x "C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\vROPS Tenant App\vROps-Tenant-App-for-vCD-2.3.0.33067-14826907_OVF10.ova" vi://root@<esxi-fqdn>/

1	ovftool --name=<vrops-ta-fqdn> --acceptAllEulas --X:logFile=ovftool.log --X:injectOvfEnv --allowExtraConfig --noSSLVerify --datastore=vsanDatastore --network=VM_MGMT --diskMode=thin --powerOn --prop:vrops_host=<vrops-fqdn> --prop:vami.

Installing & Configuring vCD Content Pack in vRLI via API

07-03-2020 Manish Jha

In this post we will learn how to install vCD content pack in vRealize Log Insight via API.

What is vCD Content pack?

As per VMware official documentation:

The VMware vCloud Director content pack provides you unparalleled visibility into your vCD environment from 5.5 to the new 9.x SP. Providing graphical representations of important log data, metrics of your vCD workloads and a robust set of alerts this content pack will allow you to better manage vCD utilizing Log Insight’s capabilities.

Installing content packs in vRLI is one of the day 2 operations that most VMware Admins do in their day to day job. In large datacenters where there are several instances of vRLI, configuring content packs & agents via UI is a very tedious and time consuming process. You can use API’s to automate these day 2 tasks to reduce time and to minimize human errors. So let’s get started.… Read More

Install & Configure vCD Management Pack in vROPs via API

01-03-2020 Manish Jha

In this post, I will walk through the steps of installing vCD Management Pack in vROPS via API. Installation of the management pack is leveraged via vROPS CaSA API. The adapter configuration is done via regular suite-api.

What is vROps CaSA API?

CaSA stands for Cluster and Slice Administration. The CaSA API manages the internal working of vRealize Operations Manager and runs on a standalone vFabric tcServer. CaSA API can be explored directly from vROPs by typing https://<vrops-fqdn>/casa/api-guide.html

Install and Configure vCD Management Pack & Adapter

1: Upload vCD Management Pack: First we need to upload vCD MP to vROPs via POST call.

Note: I am executing all API calls via Postman. If you have never used postman to upload files to the server, then please read this post for instructions.

Method: POST

URL: https://<vrops-fqdn>/casa/upgrade/cluster/pak/reserved/operation/upload?pak_handling_advice=CLOBBER&force_content_update=true

Auth: Basic: vROPS-User/Password

Headers: Accept: application/json

Body: form-data, key:contents , value: MP file name

Method: POST

URL: https://<vrops-fqdn>/casa/upgrade/cluster/pak/reserved/operation/upload?pak_handling_advice=CLOBBER&force_content_update=true

Getting Started With vROPs Tenant App For vCloud Director 10.x

23-02-202007-03-2022 Manish Jha

In this post, I will walk through step by step installation for the vRealize Operations Manager Tenant App for vCloud Director. But before I jump into the lab, I want to take a moment to explain what this solution is all about and what it looks like from an architectural point of view.

What is vROPs Tenant App for vCloud Director?

vROPs Tenant App is a solution that helps in exposing vRops performance metrics to tenants in a vCD environment. Each tenant can only see metrics data relevant to their organization.

From a service provider point of view, this is an awesome solution as Tenant App enables tenants to have complete visibility of performance metrics of their environment. If an environment is not performing as per expectations, tenants can leverage this solution to root cause analysis of performance issues and they can perform L1-L2 level of maintenance/troubleshooting tasks themselves without raising service tickets with service providers. … Read More

How To Update/Patch Multi Cell vCD 10.x Environment

17-02-2020 Manish Jha

In this post we will learn how to patch/update a Multi cell vCD 10.x environment.

Note: Above steps are for updating vCD from one build to another (patch release) within same version. Please do not confuse this with upgrading a vCD deployment where we jump from one major version to another.

I will breakup this post in 4 sections:

Pre Update Checks.
vCD Update Process.
Post Update Checks.
Post Update Tasks.

Pre Update Checks

There are number of checks which must be performed before attempting to update a vCD environment.

1: vCD Health Check & Primary Node identification: Before updating multi cell vCD environment, please ensure all vCD cells in server group are healthy and functioning correctly.

Also we need to identify vCD primary node as we will be needing this info later when we will be taking backup of the embedded database. To fetch this info we can make use of vCD Appliance API as shown below:

Method: GET

URL: https://<vcd-fqdn>:5480/api/1.0.0/nodes

Headers: x-vcloud-authorization: auth-token

Response Output:

{
   "localClusterHealth":"HEALTHY",
   "localClusterState":[
      {
         "connectionString":"host=192.168.12.11 user=repmgr dbname=repmgr",
         "id":16390,
         "location":"default",
         "name":"vcd1",
         "nodeHealth":"HEALTHY",
         "nodeRole":"PRIMARY",
         "role":"primary",
         "status":"* running",
         "upstream":""
      },
      {
         "connectionString":"host=192.168.12.13 user=repmgr dbname=repmgr",
         "id":25984,
         "location":"default",
         "name":"vcd3",
         "nodeHealth":"HEALTHY",
         "nodeRole":"STANDBY",
         "role":"standby",
         "status":"running",
         "upstream":"vcd1"
      },
      {
         "connectionString":"host=192.168.12.12 user=repmgr dbname=repmgr",
         "id":26349,
         "location":"default",
         "name":"vcd2",
         "nodeHealth":"HEALTHY",
         "nodeRole":"STANDBY",
         "role":"standby",
         "status":"running",
         "upstream":"vcd1"
      }
   ],
   "warnings":[

   ]
}

{

"localClusterHealth":"HEALTHY",

"localClusterState":[

{

"connectionString":"host=192.168.12.11 user=repmgr dbname=repmgr",

"id":16390,

"location":"default",

"name":"vcd1",

"nodeHealth":"HEALTHY",

"nodeRole":"PRIMARY",

"role":"primary",

"status":"* running",

"upstream":""

{

"connectionString":"host=192.168.12.13 user=repmgr dbname=repmgr",

"id":25984,

"location":"default",

"name":"vcd3",

"nodeHealth":"HEALTHY",

"nodeRole":"STANDBY",

"role":"standby",

"status":"running",

"upstream":"vcd1"

{

"connectionString":"host=192.168.12.12 user=repmgr dbname=repmgr",

"id":26349,

"location":"default",

"name":"vcd2",

"nodeHealth":"HEALTHY",

"nodeRole":"STANDBY",

"role":"standby",

"status":"running",

"upstream":"vcd1"

}

"warnings":[

]

}

From the above output we can infer that all 3 vCD nodes are healthy here, cluster health is also healthy and node “vcd1” is the current primary node.… Read More

vCloud Extender-Part 4: Cloud Provider Registration and VM Migration

01-10-2018 Manish Jha

In last post of this series, I covered the steps needed to configure on-prem environment to connect it to a cloud provider site. In this post I will demonstrate how to register cloud provider and initiate vm migration using vCloud Extender.

1: Introduction to vCloud Extender

2: vCloud Extender-Cloud Provider Setup

3: vCloud Extender-Tenant (On-Premise) Setup

Lets start with Cloud Provider registration.

Login to On-prem vCenter server webclient and click on vCloud Extender plugin and navigate to Provider Clouds tab. Click on Add a Provider Cloud button.

Specify Cloud Provider name and Provider Cloud URL. This should be in format https://provider-url/cloud/org/tenant-org-name.

Also specify the vCD Extender cloud service URL. This URL we configured in post 2 of this series.

Clicking on Test button verifies that if the supplied info is correct and the on-prem vCenter can connect to cloud environment successfully. Once test is passed, click on Add button to save the configuration.… Read More

vCloud Extender-Part 3: Tenant (On-Premise) Setup

30-09-2018 Manish Jha

In last post of this series we covered the deployment/configuration steps in the cloud provider side. In this post we will learn about how to configure the on-premise (tenant) environment.

If you are not following along this series, then I recommend reading earlier posts of this series from below links:

1: Introduction to vCloud Extender

2: vCloud Extender-Cloud Provider Setup

To connect the Tenant environment with the cloud provider, we need to deploy an instance of vCloud Extender in the on-premise. Deployment is more or less same like service provider side, but with difference that we select deployment type as “cx-connector” a shown in below screenshot.

Once appliance is deployed and boots up, it will give you URL for the further configuration of appliance.

Connect to https://CX-Appliance-FQDN/ui/mgmt and login with user administrator and password set during deployment of appliance.

On the home page click on Setup Wizard button to start configuring the appliance.… Read More

vCloud Extender-Part 2: Service Provider Setup

29-09-2018 Manish Jha

In last post of this series, I discussed about vCloud Extender architecture and its capabilities. In this post I will walk through steps of configuring vCloud Extender in cloud provider side.

vCloud Extender is deployed as ova and deployment steps are straight forward as shown in below slide show. Just make sure to select deployment type as “cx-cloud-service” on customization template page.

Once appliance is deployed and boots up, it will show the browser link to access the appliance for further configuration.

Connect to appliance by typing https://appliance-fqdn/ui/mgmt and login with administrator user and password set during deployment.

Click on Setup Wizard to start configuring the cx-cloud-service appliance.

Register appliance with your management vCenter. If your environment have PSC external to VC, then use PSC IP/FQDN for lookupservice url.

Next is to register cx-cloud appliance with the vCloud director. Enter your vCD details and administrator credentials.

Note: No need to append @system with the username.… Read More

VCD

What’s New in VMware Cloud Director 10.1

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Installing & Configuring vCD Content Pack in vRLI via API

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Install & Configure vCD Management Pack in vROPs via API

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Getting Started With vROPs Tenant App For vCloud Director 10.x

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How To Update/Patch Multi Cell vCD 10.x Environment

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