2019 - Jesse Boyce

vCenter 6.7 Update 2 – Code Capture

26/05/2019 by user

One of the very cool new features that came with the latest vCenter update is Code Capture. This feature allows you to “record” actions in the HTML 5 web client. When the “recording” is ended, Code Capture will generate PowerCLI.NET code. For those who used Exchange 2007, you may remember a similar feature in the GUI management console. At the end of each wizard, there was a summary of PowerShell code that would perform the same task you just finished.

Code Capture has been around for a while as part of the HTML 5 Client Web Fling. However, at the time, it was not appropriate for production use. With the feature being included in 6.7 Update 2, it now is appropriate for use.

VMware vRealize Automation 7.6 – What’s New

26/04/2019 by user

VMware released an update for vRealize Automation (vRA) at the start of this month. This was a slight increment from 7.5 to 7.6. At a high level, two key areas of change are NSX integration and the vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) user experience. The Release Notes goes into a bit more detail and I’ll be using those more detailed items as a guide for the content in this post. I will be skipping over the new NSX pieces as I don’t have those available to me.

vRealize Automation – Dealing with a disconnected/orphaned IAAS Server

17/04/2019 by user

Following the installation of a replacement UPS I made a horrible discovery – there was problems with my vRealize Automation setup. The first sign of what was to come was when I reviewed the console of the vRealize Automation (vRA) Virtual Applications.

Anyone who has had to setup vRealize Automation would probably know the sinking feeling I started feeling. Having to setup vRA again from scratch was not something I really wanted to do….

Managing F5 Load Balancers with vRealize Orchestrator

28/03/2019 by user

F5 Load Balancers (LB) have been a common feature across a number of environments I’ve worked at. While administration of these devices is generally performed via the web interface, F5s also have a REST API that allows the same management tasks to be performed. This opens the possibility of using VMware’s vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) to manage F5 Load Balancers via the same REST API.

Building Nutanix AHV Templates with Packer

22/03/2019 by user

Packer is a tool that many IT Infrastructure professions would be familiar with. Packer allows the creation of “machine images” (or base templates) in a way that’s consistent and highly repeatable. The result is machine images that can be used on a variety of platforms such as cloud providers like AWS or Azure or on-prem infrastructure like VMware, all configured to your organisation’s needs.

Nutanix has its own Virtual Machine format called AHV, which runs on Nutanix’s hypervisor Acropolis. Since this hypervisor is based off the KVM hypervisor, and Packer has support for KVM, Packer can be used to build templates for a Nutanix target platform. This post will detail the process I went through to create a Windows 2016 template for Nutanix.

vRealize Orchestrator – PowerShell Hosts

02/01/2019 by user

PowerShell Hosts are one of the types of endpoint available in vRealize Orchestrator’s Inventory. By having a PowerShell Host, you can leverage the breadth of PowerShell functionality from within your vRealize Orchestrator workflows. In this article, I’ll run through adding a PowerShell Host as well as some considerations from a technical and security point of view.

Adding A PowerShell Host

vRealize Orchestrator has a built-in Workflow for adding a Host under Library > PowerShell > Configuration. Run the “Add a PowerShell host” Workflow to start it. The opening interface is below: