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vRA8 with OneFuse: IPAM Integration

In this article, we are going to create a vRA8 blueprint that utilizes the OneFuse IPAM module to provide IPAM integration for provisioned workloads.  We won’t just be supplying IP information to vRA8 in this example, OneFuse will determine the network placement as well.  We will have a future article on using intelligent placement decisions and dynamic assignments within OneFuse as well as using vRA to drive network placement with OneFuse using vRA network profiles and constraint tags.

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vRA8 with OneFuse: DNS Integration

In this article we are going to add OneFuse DNS support to a vRA8 blueprint.  If you have been following my previous articles you probably have an idea of how this is going to work.  We are going to build upon the examples from previous articles by leveraging the same blueprint that we created in the article “vRA8 with OneFuse: IPAM integration”.

By the end of this article, we will have a blueprint that leverages OneFuse to generate a name, assign Network/IP Address as well as create DNS records for the deployed machine.  Although these examples are simple and static, they are setting the foundation for future articles where we will dive into creating more flexible and dynamic blueprints.

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OneFuse Property Toolkit is now FREE

Yes you read the title correct. Cloudbolt is now giving away the Property Toolkit capability that is part of OneFuse for FREE. If you are not familiar with the OneFuse or its Property Toolkit capabilities below are some links to help get you familiar:

The OneFuse Property Toolkit is the Swiss army knife of the OneFuse Platform.  It can be used in many different ways to assist you in meeting your automation needs.  It can be used to simplify configurations, define business logic as configuration, build simple logic or tackle the most complex problems.  In its simplest form its meta-data that can be used as a reference offering simple name value pairs that can be used as a reference for decision making.  In its most powerful form it can contain logic, decision trees, platform abstractions, and much more.

It’s a blank canvas waiting to solve the needs of any organization.  A common use for the Property Toolkit is to centrally define organizational business logic as configuration that can be used to standardize across different tools allowing you to centralize your business logic and maintain standards across the organization.

Stay tuned for more articles on how you can use this awesome free capability to help achieve your automation goals.

To stay up to date on the latest OneFuse developments, ask questions, share use cases, or just say hello head over to https://onefuse.cloudbolt.io and signup for the OneFuse community.

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Getting Started with OneFuse Property Toolkit

The OneFuse Property Toolkit is the Swiss army knife of the OneFuse Platform

The OneFuse Property Toolkit is the Swiss army knife of the OneFuse Platform.  It can be used in many different ways to assist you in meeting your automation needs.  It can be used to simplify configurations, define business logic as configuration, build simple logic or tackle the most complex problems.  In its simplest form its meta-data that can be used as a reference offering simple name value pairs that can be used as a reference for decision making.  In its most powerful form it can contain logic, decision trees, platform abstractions, and much more.

Continue reading “Getting Started with OneFuse Property Toolkit”
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vRA8 with OneFuse: Custom Naming

In this article we are going to walk through using OneFuse to name a deployed machine in vRA8.  To do this we will create a new blueprint within vRA8 and call upon the OneFuse to name it using the naming policy we created as part of “Creating a OneFuse Naming Policy ”.

By the end of this article we will have created a blueprint that will deploy a vSphere machine that is named using the OneFuse Naming module.  While this will be a simple example we will build upon this in later articles to showcase the advanced capabilities offered by OneFuse as a platform.

Continue reading “vRA8 with OneFuse: Custom Naming”
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SovLabs vRealize Automation Optimization and Upgrade Analysis Tool

SovLabs has been busy developing a tool that is intended to analyse your vRealize Automation 7 environment and provide helpful feedback on areas where you can optimize.  The tool collects data on dozens of vRealize Automation 7 constructs such as number of blueprints, types of blueprints, number of business groups, network profiles, reservations, etc. and looks for key indicators to see if there is room for optimization.  It also goes a step further and looks for items that could create challenges when customers are looking to migrate to vRealize Automation 8.

The goal here is to optimize your vRealize Automation 7 environments before adopting vRealize Automation 8.  We all acknowledge that vRealize Automation 7 will be around for at least another 18-24 months –  if not longer. Even if you are making the move to vRealize Automation 8 today, you will likely still be maintaining your vRealize Automation 7 environments alongside for some time to come. By optimizing your vRealize Automation 7 environments you will be reducing the maintenance overhead required for your current environment while also making it easier to migrate and adopt your solution on vRealize Automation 8.  The more aligned the two instances are, the simpler it will be to maintain both environments side by side.

The best part is it’s free, yes that is correct I said free.  You simply register at https://www.sovlabs.com/vrealize-automation-optimization-assessment and, once registered, a member of the SovLabs team will reach out to assist you with the data collection.  The data is done using a vRO workflow that produces a JSON output. The data that is collected is non-identifying or sensitive so you don’t have to worry.  The data collected is also presented in plain text so you can review the data before you send it back to Sovlabs for analysis. If you have more than one vRealize Automation 7 environment you can run the collector for each environment and then zip all the files together for upload.

Once data collection is complete, you then head over to https://optimize.sovlabs.com/ and upload your results file.  From there the folks at SovLabs will take the result, run it through their analysis tool and produce a report detailing all the areas where you can optimize your vRealize Automation 7 environment(s).  A SovLabs technical representative will reach out to schedule a time to go over the report and send you a copy. Whether you are looking to Optimize your vRealize Automation 7 environment or gain some insight into your pending vRealize Automation 8 migration, the SovLabs Optimization and Upgrade Assessment provides great information and insights to help plan and prepare your automation path.

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vRealize Automation 8 – A first look at vRA8 Migration Assessment Tool: Part 2 of 2

In Part 1 of this two-part series on the vRealize Automation Migration Assessment Tool, we looked at the vRA8 migration tool to see how it might help you plan your migration from vRA7 to vRA8.  In this article, we are going to look at what it will take to migrate your custom workflows from vRA7 to vRA8.  To start, we will explore what a custom workflow looks like to day in vRA7.

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vRA7 Workflow Components

In vRA7, there are a number of components that come together to make the magic happen.  Each component plays a vital role in how you design, build, and invoke your customizations.

Event Broker

The event broker was introduced in vRA7 to make it easier to trigger the workflow stubs that existed within the IaaS server.  These stubs were always there, but only a handful were accessible and they were not easy to configure. The Event Broker also introduced a more granular way to decide when a workflow should or should not be executed.  Although the event broker has dozens of events you could subscribe to the following were the most commonly used:

  • Machine Requested
  • Building Machine
  • Machine Provisioned
  • Machine Activated
  • Machine Destroyed

Many of these states included a pre and a post execution allowing you to decide if you wanted to execute your workflow before of after vRA’s execution of that state.  These states that are the core of vRA7 extensibility no longer exist in vRA8. vRA8 is a completely new platform, written from the ground up, and no longer includes the IaaS host that controlled all of these states in vRA7.

Read the full article here

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A VMware Admin’s First Impressions of vRealize Automation 8 (vRA8) — Part 1 of 2

Article by Mike Bombard

Many of us have been eager to get our hands on vRealize Automation 8 (vRA8) for some time now. If any of you are like me, you may have dabbled in the Hands On Labs with vRealize Automation Cloud (formerly CAS) for the past year. But, without having the capability or the requisite login for the service, you kept abreast of any updates coming out of the vRAC camp. I have been through quite a few versions, upgrades, migrations and code changes in my time working with the vRealize products. Most of this experience was spent in architecture, engineering, and development at a large enterprise customer, where we had to carefully navigate each of these changes. This article covers some of my first impressions of vRA8 as an advanced user of the product since the early days, circa vRA6. 

Introduction

There is a lot to cover here. The product has been re-written from the ground up. The Cafe and IaaS nodes that we are all familiar with are now gone. Custom workflows will most likely have to be completely re-written. Migrations will have to be planned and extensive testing required prior to any production deployment. It will likely take the better part of the next year for the community to get a handle on the new product. However, if you’re reading this blog post, you are probably actively engaged in working with vRA in some fashion, and you’re excited to see the new capabilities offered in vRA8.x. 

The following is a two-part summary of some of the very high level aspects of the new system that have jumped out at me in the first 2-3 weeks of working with VMware’s reconstructed code for vRealize Automation. In part one, I explain my experience working with the Documentation of vRA8 and Tagging, the new way to manage your machine metadata.  Part 2 will cover my take on ABX and Policies. Also, we’re going in depth on these and other topics in our December 10th webinar: Top vRA8 Deployment Considerations. Click here to sign up.

Read the full article here