This time in a fortnight I will have just landed back in the UK after my very first VMworld in Barcelona. I’m not 100% sure what to expect from the 4 full days, but hope to immerse myself in all the cool stuff VMware have to talk about.
Add to that the ability to spend the evenings catching up (and networking) with other colleagues, vBloggers, vExperts and anyone who generally just wants to talk tech (over a beverage or three).
Written by Christopher Lewis on October 7, 2016.
If you plan to deploy the Platform Services Controller without using it with VMware vCenter, such as when deploying it for SSO for vRealize Automation 6. The options for configuring SYSLOG are not available through the GUI without the VMware vCenter Web GUI.
Problem:
How do you configure SYSLOG on a Platform Services Controller when its not deployed with VMware vCenter Server 6.x?
Solution:
- Log into the Platform Services Controller as Root via SSH.
- Type echo ‘. @SYSLOG-IP/FQDN:514;RSYSLOG_SyslogProtocol23Format’ » /etc/vmware-syslog/syslog.conf and press enter.
- Type /etc/init.d/vmware-syslog restart.
This will forward all messages to the target SYSLOG Server (such as VMware’s vRealize Log Insight).
Written by Christopher Lewis on September 19, 2016.
So after much deliberation and many discussions I have finally booked my VMworld 2016 Barcelona ticket and I’m now registered for the event! It will be my first time at the event (and in fact only my second ever conference) even though I have worked in the IT Industry for over 15 years.
I’m self-funding, so I am free to decide on which agenda I want to get the most out of my investment and therefore I am planning to make the most of the experience by attending sessions networking with my peers, completing some Hands-On Labs and maybe party or two.
Written by Christopher Lewis on September 2, 2016.
It has been a tense but satisfying couple of weeks for me. I have been waiting on three things, vExpert Announcement and the results from the VCAP6-DCV and VCAP6-CMA Design BETA exams.
As you’ll get from the title of the post, I managed two out of three. So that’s vExpert 2016 as well as VMware Advanced Professional 6 - Cloud Management and Automation Design certification.
I’m not disheartened about not passing the VCAP6-DCV Design exam afterall I lost one hour out of four in that BETA exam because of the fact the exam kept freezing so it would have been a miracle to have passed it.
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 26, 2016.
VMware have just released VMware vRealize Automation 7.1
- vRealize Automation 7.1 Release Notes
- Download VMware vRealize Automation 7.1 (MyVMware account required)
Remember those change requests and Approvals when your doing an upgrade - and for your own sake, test the upgrade path in a representative environment first! :-)
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 23, 2016.
Just got confirmation that I’ve been selected to be included in the vExpert Class of 2016.
I am truly humbled that my contribution to the wider VMware community has been recognised by my peers. I have only had the opportunity to share my thoughts, tips, tricks and experiences for the last 9 months but look forward to maintaining this for many years to come.
In becoming recognised as a vExpert, I will be listed amongst some giants of the industry and community!
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 19, 2016.
I thought I would share a quick script to create a vCenter User Role with all the appropriate permissions for use with vRealize Automation (6.x or 7.x).
The script creates a new User Role within vCenter called vRealize Automation User.
Note: if you don’t like the name you can change the $role property to anything you like.
The script prompts for following information:
- vCenter Server FQDN
- the vCenter/SSO User with rights to create the role
- the vCenter/SSO User password
- the vRealize Automation Service account (that you want to assign to the permission)
And then automagically creates the new vCenter role with the required privileges and assigns permissions to the vRealize Automation service account from the root of the vCenter Server and propagates down.
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 16, 2016.
This is the final post in a series of post on automating the deployment of the Platform Services Controller (PSC). To be honest I didn’t expect these posts to turn into a series but as I like to share.
The previous two articles in this series can be found here:
- HOWTO: Automate the installation of the External Platform Services Controller using PowerCLI & JSON - Part 1
- How to Automate the installation of the External Platform Services Controller using PowerCLI & JSON - Part 2
Within this final post, I will tackling the automated deployment of a two node PSC Cluster and will be sharing the script I use.
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 11, 2016.
Over the last few months I have been designing and building a solution for vRealize Automation 6 for a customer. (I know, I know, its not the latest and greatest version with all the whiz-bang features of vRA7 - but the only solace I take is that the VCAP-CMA exams are currently based on vRA 6 - so hopefully it is good practice).
You will have noticed that the last few posts I have created are concerning the VMware vSphere Platform Services Controller (PSC) and how to install it (and automate it). This is because I am using the PSC as the SSO solution instead of the Identity Appliance (which not highly available and therefore not suitable for production environments) or the vSphere 5.5 SSO (out dated and replaced with the vSphere PSC).
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 29, 2016.
VMware Platform Services Controller vRealize Automation vSphere
As a follow on to my previous article, HOWTO: Automate the installation of the External Platform Service Controller using PowerCLI & JSON - Part 1 , I had a new customer requirement to deploy the Platform Service Controller as the identity solution for vRealize Automation 6.x, but this time directly onto a VMware vCenter Server rather than an VMware vSphere ESXi host.
I can hear you all screaming at the article about vRealize Automation 7, how it is much cooler and has its own highly available vIDM - but this project started when vRA7 had only just come out and the customer didn’t want to take the risk.
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 25, 2016.
Platform Services Controller PowerCLI PowerShell PSC VMware vSphere
- Operating a Private Cloud - Part 3: Creating a Pricing Card in VMware Aria Automation
- Operating a Private Cloud - Part 2: Creating a Pricing Card in VMware Aria Operations
- Operating a Private Cloud - Part 1: Understanding Pricing Cards in VMware Aria
- Zero2Hero - Using Aria Automation to Deploy Multiple Machines with Multiple Disks - Part 5
- Zero2Hero - Using Aria Automation to Deploy Multiple Machines with Multiple Disks - Part 4