Synergy is when two powerful products come together, the result is better than the sum of their abilities.
That describes the newest management pack for vRealize Operations which provides access to vRealize Orchestrator workflows for more remediation actions and the ability to launch workflows directly from the vR Ops user interface.
Customers have long known about the benefits of both. vR Ops gives you visibility and understanding of your hybrid cloud for efficienct management. vRealize Orchestrator provides a rich library of extensibility and workflows to automate the SDDC. Combine the situational awareness of vR Ops with the business logic and control of vRealize Orchestrator and you have enabled the self-driving datacenter.
Powerful Out of the Box Content
The management pack comes with a set of workflows which combine with the vR Ops action framework to extend one-click remediation for virtual machines, hosts and datastores. For example, you can place hosts into maintenance mode, reconnect them or restart them right from vR Ops using vRealize Orchestrator workflows provided in the management pack.
Need to evacuate a datastore? Simply select the vRO Workflow : VM : Migrate from the action menu and all associated VMs will be provided. Simply fill in the desired target and vR Ops and vRO will do the rest!
There are many benefits to automating routine tasks in your SDDC including time savings and reduced risk. Using this management pack you can be assured that the tasks are performed correctly, every time and on every object. All while you go refill your coffee!
Easy Configuration
You probably think this kind of power comes with a long list of installation and configuration steps – we’re happy to tell you that is not the case! In fact, if you’re already running a vRO for vRealize Automation or just standalone, it could not be easier.
When you install the management pack, you will have the option to set up an adapter instance for one or more vRO instances. This works pretty much the same as the vSphere adapter that you had to set up by default in vR Ops. Provide a host name, port and credentials. The only option that requires a decision from you is the Auto Discovery – do you want the adapter to find ALL workflows in vRO and expose them to vR Ops? If so, set Auto Discovery to “true” and save settings.
The vRO adapter instance will then connect to the vRO you specified and import the additional workflows that are used by the MP for the actions we covered earlier. You don’t even need to log into vRO! Of course, you will want to have your vRO already set up with a vCenter endpoint for those workflows to be able to perform the task.
Once everything is configured, you’re all set. Any user with Environment > Action permissions in vR Ops can launch the workflow actions. Additionally, a new Environment inventory is created in vR Ops so you can browse available workflows. Here’s an example of an alert recommendation that launches a vRO workflow to decommission a host:
Running the recommended action provides some additional options.
Learn More and Try It Out
Ready to try out Self-Driving Operations for yourself? Download a trial of vRealize Operations and grab the vRealize Orchestrator Management Pack from VMware Marketplace. If you own vCenter Server, you already own vRealize Orchestrator. Also, check out our step-by-step guide on installing and configuring the management pack to get your started.
This blog post was co-authored with Alok Srivastava:
“Alok Srivastava is a Product Line Manager in the Cloud Management business unit of VMware. Alok is a seasoned IT practitioner with experience across product management, engineering and solutions in data center product organizations, service providers and open source. He enjoys traveling, spending time with family and watching sports.”
