I've been adding to an existing VCF Automation Blueprint, prompting the user for VM network placement, as opposed to a specific IP. In my environment, I have three networks to choose from, they look like this. Screenshots here are taken from VCF Automation 8.18.1. You'll notice I'm not using Network Profile Capability Tags, as I wanted more granularity, so I'm using Network Tags as shown here. I've given each Network a tag with its name. This allows me to prompt the user f

We've discussed VM Names using VCF Automation previously: Build and Rename VMs with VMware vRA VMware Aria Automation Custom Names I found a more efficient way to do this via two Blueprint Properties: name and hostname. My Blueprint requires the user to input both values, it looks like this (all screenshots here are taken from VCF Automation 8.18.1). # Created by Brock Peterson. formatVersion: 1 inputs: vm_display_name: type: string description: VM Display Name

Looking at my VCF Automation 8.18.1 Service Broker Catalog you'll notice some Catalog Items have detailed descriptions and some don't. Considering the Catalog Item called Generic VM, you'll notice it doesn't have a detailed description. This isn't defined in the Blueprint YAML or via Service Broker - Content & Policies - Content, but rather once you've published the Blueprint. Here's how. Go to Assembler - Design and select your published Blueprint. Select SETTINGS. Give

VCF Automation Network Profiles are a powerful way to define networks and associated settings to Cloud Accounts and/or Regions. I've recently deployed VCF Automation 8.18.1 (but this also works for VCF Automation 9 VM Apps) and would like to start deploying VMs on an IP Block for testing purposes. Here's how I did it. I first setup my Cloud Account via Assembler - Infrastructure - Connections - Cloud Accounts. This is your connection to the vCenter you'll be deploying VMs

We've discussed the VCF Operations API and the Operations for Logs API several times over the years here, but haven't touched on the VCF Automation API. Today we're going to explore it. All screenshots here are taking from VCF Automation 8.18.1 Update 4 . First off, the VCF Automation 8.18.1 API can be found at https://yourvrafqdn/automation-ui/api-docs and looks like this. You'll notice tiles for many endpoints here, but we'll start with Identity, which will give us authe

I've upgraded to the latest patches for the Aria Suite Lifecycle Manager and vIDM: Applying Aria Suite Lifecycle Manager 8.18 Patch 7 Applying CSP-102547 Patch to vIDM 3.3.7 I've upgraded Operations and Logs to 8.18.6: VCF Operations 8.18.6 VCF Operations for Logs 8.18.6 Next we'll apply Automation 8.18.1 Update 4 . There is a useful KB located here with binaries and instructions. I've uploaded the binaries to /data on my ASLCM VM and will now apply them. Click ADD and yo

If you recall, the VMware Aria Automation 8.18 API endpoints can be found at the following url: https://vrafqdn/automation-ui/api-docs . Mine looks like this. These are the endpoints you use to programatically interact with Aria Automation 8.18. First, you'll get a Token via POST /csp/gateway/am/api/login , like this. Once you have your Token you can authenticate via Authorize top right of whatever section you're looking to run calls in. Here I'm in Blueprints section, pr

I wanted to send email notifications to the VCF Automation team on VM Deployments, it wasn't quite as easy as expected, here's how I did it! First, I added all the Properties I wanted to include in the email to my VCFA Blueprints. Here's a code snippet, but if you'd like the full Blueprint you can get it here . Cloud_vSphere_Machine_1: type: Cloud.vSphere.Machine properties: image: ${input.os} cpuCount: ${input.vcpuCount} totalMemoryMB: ${input.tota

We recently discussed several post-provision Orchestrator Workflows in VCF Automation: Adding Notes to your VM in VCF Automation Post-Deployment Actions with VCF Automation Adding Tags to your VMs in VCF Automation Blueprints Adding Notes and Tags to your VMs at build time with your VCFA Blueprints can be quite useful, but I'd also like to add Custom Attributes which are presented in a very consumable fashion in VCF Operations. This is what I want to use them for, let's se

In one of my labs I only have a vCenter, VCF Operations, and Fleet Manager, but still wanted to deploy VCF Automation, here's what I did. First I configured my Fleet Manager Depot, in this case I'm using an Online Depot. I then downloaded the VCFA 9 Install Binaries. Next I added the VCF Automation Component. I went with a Small New Install of VCFA 9.0.0.0. I won't go through the entire workflow here, but this is where you'll do the following: Create your Certificate Select t

In our last blog we discussed a Post-Deployment Action in VCF Automation that creates a Snapshot of the VM once it's deployed, which we implemented via a VCFA Subscription and Orchestrator Workflow. In this blog we will use a similar methodology to add Notes to VMs built with VCFA. Let's go! Too often I see VMs in vCenter that look like this. Powered off, no Notes, no idea who owns it, etc. I'd like all VMs to at least have some text in the Notes tile. We can force this a

In our last several blogs we've discussed VCF Automation related topics. Adding Tags to your VMs in VCF Automation Blueprints VCF Automation Custom Forms Integrating VCF Orchestrator with GitHub VCF Automation Image Mappings Set Administrator Password and Enable RDP on Windows VMs VCF Automation Blueprint Options VCF Automation Quickstart Today we'll cover post-deployment actions with VCF Automation by calling Orchestrator Workflows via Subscriptions. Specifically, I'd like

I've created various Blueprints in my VCF Automation environment, addressing different customer demands. I'd like users deploying VMs via the Generic VM Blueprint to add vSphere Tags to their deployments, this is what I did. All screenshots in this blog are taken from VCFA 8.18.1. I'll be including code snippets below, but if you'd like to have the full Bluepring, you can download it here . First, I ask the user for several inputs: VM Name, vCPU, Memory, OS, IP, etc. inputs:

I've been building VCF Automation Blueprints lately, they present like this in the Service Broker - Consume - Catalog. All screenshots here are from VCF Automation 8.18.1. Selecting the Generic VM tile gives us this. While this is fine, I wanted a bit more: additional text, more descriptive information bubble text, radio button options, and more. How to do this? Custom Forms ! I think of Custom Forms as smart skins on Blueprints, a way to make things look a bit different.

Can I integrate VCF Orchestrator with GitHub? Yes, here's how ! In this blog, I will be using my VCF Automation 8.18.1 embedded Orchestrator. Log into VCF Automation and select the Orchestrator tile. Once there go to Administration - Git Repositories and select ADD REPOSITORY. Define the GitHub Repository URL, provide your Username and a Token. To generate the GitHub Repository Token log into GitHub, select your Profile top right and click Settings. Then select Developer S

We have VCF Automation deployed (in this case 8.18.1) and would like to start giving the user OS options upon request. How can we do this? Image Mappings! Log into VCF Automation, go to Service Broker - Infrastructure - Configure - Image Mappings. Click NEW. Give your Image a name, select an Account/Region to pull from, then select the Image to map from the dropdown of Images. This will be the list of Templates as shown in vCenter. I've created 4 Image mappings, one for ea

We're deploying Windows VMs with VCF Automation, but would like to set the Administrator password and enable RDP as part of the deployment process, how can we do this? VM Customization Specifications, let's go! In vCenter (I'm running 8.0.3 in this lab) go to Policies and Profiles - VM Customization Specifications. I've named mine Windows Customization Specification with a Target Guest OS of Windows. I set the Administrator password here. And turned on RDP here along with al

In our last blog we used the VCF Automation Quickstart to guide us through creation of our first Template/Blueprint. I'd like to take that Template/Blueprint and expand on it, first by allowing the user to input a few things. Let's go. If you recall, our original Template/Blueprint looked like this. When published to the Service Broker Catalog it looks like this. I'd like to make this a bit more robust: Allow the user to select Cpu Count up to a maximum and provide a defau

I recently deployed VCF Automation 8.18.1 to test something and I noticed the Quickstart page upon login. I usually just skip this step, but for some reason it caught my eye this time, let's go through it. Click LAUNCH QUICKSTART, which will ask you to configure your Cloud Account: either vCenter or VCF. In my case, I'll just create a vCenter Cloud Account by clicking START on that tile. Provide a vCenter, Username, and Password. Click VALIDATE to confirm connectivity, wh