vRealize Automation

When deploying machines from vRealize Automation version 8.x custom properties can be used to store values that you want to process yourself during the lifecycle of the machine. These custom properties can be accessed and updated with a vRealize Orchestrator workflow when called by a subscription. How to read and update custom properties is documented in this article. In the video below I show how the properties are read and updated. Also a new custom property is added during execution.

With vRealize Automation 7 an Approval Policy can be linked to an event subscription that in turn can trigger a vRealize Orchestator workflow to perform an external approval process. In this article I describe how to setup the Workflow, the Approval Policy and the Event Subscription.

Workflow as downloadable package

This workflow allows you to change the machine name for a vRealize Automation Virtual Machine during the build process. It is based on the articles series on the VMware Blog created by Ted Sprinks. (link) That series of three articles is very good, but it might be a bit lengthy if you just need this one single workflow.

In vRealize Automation (formerly know as vCloud Automation Center - vCAC) you can create custom services with forms that allow users to request and work with any type of service. VMware calls this XAAS - Anything as a Service. On request I have created this form that allows a user to change his/her password in Active Directory. The form sets the current logged in user as the user to change the password for and it verifies if the user enters two identical passwords.

The currency for a vRealize Automation (vCAC) deployment defaults to US Dollar. This can be changed by modifying the Currency Region Name setting. This setting can be found in the Infrastructure tab under Administration - Global Properties.

This article describes how to create a workflow in vCenter Orchestrator that, when executed from vCAC, moves a provisioned Virtual Machine to a specified Resource Pool. If the Resource Pool does not exist it will be created.

Requirements:

- vCAC Plugin installed in vCO and configured (documentation and download for plugins)

Virtual machines from an existing vSphere environment can be imported into vCloud Automation Center to manage them from there. You perform this action as an Infrastructure Administrator with a tool named Infrastructure Organizer that you will find under the Infrastructure tab in your vCAC administration portal.

The default timeout value for the vCAC web console is 30 minutes. You might find this not long enough or too long, whatever your reasons are, if you want to change it you can.

Access the vCAC Appliance through SSH (with Putty for example) or access the virtual appliance console directly to modify this file:

for 6.0  /usr/lib/vcac/server/webapps/shell-ui-app/WEB-INF/web.xml

for 6.2  /usr/lib/vcac/server/webapps/vcac/WEB-INF/web.xml