Caution: Articles written for technical not grammatical accuracy, If poor grammar offends you proceed with caution ;-)
The VMware vCloud Automation Center Designer is a great tool that allows you to modify pre-built workflow stubs that are included with the designer. These workflow stubs allow you add custom machine menu items, call out to external systems at different states of the machines lifecycle including:
- Machine Requested
- Machine Provisioned
- Machine Expired
- Machine Destroyed
- Machine Registered
These are very common machine lifecycle states to perform activities such as:
- CMDB Integration
- Help Desk Ticketing System Integration
- Asset System Integration
- IP Management System Integration
- DNS Integration
- and many many more…….
An example of this might me when a machine is requested (Machine Requested State) you might call out to an IP Management database to get an IP address for the machine, then once the machine is provisioned (Machine Provisioned State) you may want to update your CMDB, Asset System, Ticketing System, or all of them. If the machine were to enter the expires state (Machine Expired State) you may want to update your CMDB of the change, and then finally if the machine is destroyed you may want to release the IP address from you IP Management Database, update your CMDB, Assett System, Ticketing System, or all of them to note the change. These become really useful for performing these and other types of integrations.
The vCAC Designer has a number of activities that is includes as well. Some of these activities are:
- Send Email
- Log Message
- Run Process
- Execute PowerShell Script
- Execute SSH scripts against remote hosts
- Invoke vCenter Orchestrator Workflows
- Invoke other WWF workflows
There are many other Activities included and with the use of these and other you can execute many different types of code and scripts to perform just about whatever you want. Whether it has PowerShell CMDlet’s, an API, or a database you can connect to it and perform he actions you need. If this isn’t enough with the vCAC CDK (product add-on) you can not only utilize the pre-built workflow stubs that are included with the designer, but you can also create you own workflows and configure them to execute during one of over 50 different machine life-cycle states.
Installing the Designer
1. Right click the “DesignCenter-Setup.exe” file and select “Run as Administrator”
2. Click “Next”
3. Accept the agreement and click “Next”
4. Click “Next“.
5. Un-check “use HTTPS” input the “hostname” for the “Model Manager We Service” and make sure to input the port and then click “Next” to continue.
6. Click “Install”
7. Click “Finish”
8. Launch the Workflow Designer
