vRealize Orchestrator as a tool is good and really good but it has its own limits just like any other automation tool out there. It’s way of implementation, scope of reach and underlying capabilities all impose restrictions when we think of a complete Automation solution. That doesn’t mean we can replace it, it has it’s own unique place in VMware ecosystem. It is, in fact, the sentinel of VMware Automation. That means, we just have to find the right set of tools to make it more complete.

And I think when we talk about VMware, it’s always tip-toed, which means they have already figured out what would work best for them. In this article, I will discuss about all those tools that will help any automation engineer out there to make a complete automation solution for a VMware environment for all kinds of needs, recommended by VMware itself.

I have recently read somewhere that VMware automation includes use of three tools – Ansible, Terraform and vRO. I would like to add PowerCLI to this boy’s band. I think VMware implicitly means it.

So, according to me, the 4 pillars of VMware Automation are:

• vRealize Orchestrator
• PowerCLI
• Ansible
• Terraform

If you want to be an ideal Automation Engineer who can automate almost anything when it comes to VMware, must know these 4 skills. Let’s know a little about them.

PowerCLI

PowerCLI is a powerful command-line tool that lets you automate all aspects of vSphere management, including network, storage, VM, guest OS and more. PowerCLI is distributed as PowerShell modules, and includes over 500 PowerShell cmdlets for managing and automating vSphere and Cloud Director and many other VMware tools, along with documentation and samples.

Below is a PowerCLI script to create new VM from a template in vCenter Server.

# PowerCLI script to create Virtual Machines
# ===========================================
# It can create new VM or deploy VM from template if template name is specified.
#
#————————————————
# Start of script parameters section
#
# vCenter Server configuration
$vcenter = “vc01.home.uw.cz“
$vcenteruser = “readwrite“
$vcenterpw = “readwrite“
#
# Specify number of VMs you want to create
$vm_count = “5“
#
# Specify vCenter Server datastore
$Datastore = “TEST“
#
# Specify vCenter Server Virtual Machine & Templates folder
$Folder = “TEST”
#
# Specify the vSphere Cluster
$Cluster = “TEST“
#
# Specify the VM name to the left of the – sign
$VM_prefix = “XTEST-“
#
# Specify the VM provisioning type (sync/async) - true = async (parallel), false = sync (sequentional)
$VM_create_async = $false
#
# Specify if VM should be created from template
$VM_from_template="TEST_template"
#
# Specify if VM should be Power On 
$VM_power_on = $false
#
# Parameters below are used only for new VM. 
# VM created from template has these parameters included in the template.
#
# Specify number of VM CPUs
$numcpu = “1“
#
# Specify number of VM MB RAM
$MBram = “512“
#
# Specify VM disk size (in MB)
$MBguestdisk = “1000“
#
# Specify VM disk type, available options are Thin, Thick, EagerZeroedThick
$Typeguestdisk =”Thick“
#
# Specify VM guest OS
$guestOS = “winNetStandardGuest“
#
# End of script parameter section
#—————————————— #
clear-host
$o = Add-PSSnapin VMware.VimAutomation.Core
$o = Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -InvalidCertificateAction Ignore -Confirm:$false
#
# Connect to vCenter Server
write-host “Connecting to vCenter Server $vcenter” -foreground green
$vc = connect-viserver $vcenter -User $vcenteruser -Password $vcenterpw
#
#$O_cluster=Get-Cluster $Cluster
1..$vm_count | foreach {
  $VM_postfix=”{0:D2}” -f $_
  $VM_name= $VM_prefix + $VM_postfix
  #$O_ESXi=Get-Cluster $Cluster_name | Get-VMHost -state connected | Get-Random
  if ($VM_from_template -eq "") {
    write-host “Creation of VM $VM_name initiated”  -foreground green
    New-VM -RunAsync:$VM_create_async -Name $VM_Name -ResourcePool $Cluster -numcpu $numcpu -MemoryMB $MBram -DiskMB $MBguestdisk -DiskStorageFormat $Typeguestdisk -Datastore $Datastore -GuestId $guestOS -Location $Folder
  } else {
    write-host “Deployment of VM $VM_name from template $VM_from_template initiated”  -foreground green
    New-VM -RunAsync:$VM_create_async -Name $VM_Name -Template $VM_from_template -ResourcePool $Cluster -Datastore $Datastore -Location $Folder
  }
  if ($VM_power_on) {
    write-host “Power On of the  VM $VM_name initiated" -foreground green
    Start-VM -VM $VM_name -confirm:$false -RunAsync
  }
}

Terraform

Terraform is an open-source infrastructure as code software tool created by HashiCorp. Users define and provide data center infrastructure using a declarative configuration language known as HashiCorp Configuration Language, or optionally JSON. Terraform can work with vSphere, Cloud Director (vcd), NSX-T, vRA, Wavefront, Carvel and many other tools.

Below is an example of a Terraform .tf file which will deploy a windows machine in a vSphere environment with available features. Read more about this file here.

module "example-server-windowsvm-advanced" {
  source            = "Terraform-VMWare-Modules/vm/vsphere"
  version           = "X.X.X"
  dc                = "Datacenter"
  vmrp              = "cluster/Resources" #Works with ESXi/Resources
  vmfolder          = "Cattle"
  datastore_cluster = "Datastore Cluster" #You can use datastore variable instead
  vmtemp            = "TemplateName"
  instances         = 2
  vmname            = "AdvancedVM"
  vmnameformat      = "%03d" #To use three decimal with leading zero vmnames will be AdvancedVM001,AdvancedVM002
  domain            = "somedomain.com"
  network = {
    "Name of the Port Group in vSphere" = ["10.13.113.2", "10.13.113.3"] # To use DHCP create Empty list ["",""]; You can also use a CIDR annotation;
    "Second Network Card"               = ["", ""]
  }
  ipv4submask  = ["24", "8"]
  network_type = ["vmxnet3", "vmxnet3"]
  tags = {
    "terraform-test-category" = "terraform-test-tag"
  }
  data_disk = {
    disk1 = {
      size_gb                   = 30,
      thin_provisioned          = false,
      data_disk_scsi_controller = 0,
    },
    disk2 = {
      size_gb                   = 70,
      thin_provisioned          = true,
      data_disk_scsi_controller = 1,
      datastore_id              = "datastore-90679"
    }
  }
  scsi_bus_sharing = "physicalSharing" // The modes are physicalSharing, virtualSharing, and noSharing
  scsi_type        = "lsilogic"        // Other acceptable value "pvscsi"
  scsi_controller  = 0                 // This will assign OS disk to controller 0
  dns_server_list  = ["192.168.0.2", "192.168.0.1"]
  enable_disk_uuid = true
  vmgateway        = "192.168.0.1"
  auto_logon       = true
  run_once         = ["command01", "command02"] // You can also run Powershell commands
  orgname          = "Terraform-Module"
  workgroup        = "Module-Test"
  is_windows_image = true
  firmware         = "efi"
  local_adminpass  = "Password@Strong"
}
output "vmnames" {
  value = module.example-server-windowsvm-advanced.VM
}
output "vmnameswip" {
  value = module.example-server-windowsvm-advanced.ip
}

Ansible

Ansible is an agent-less IT automation engine that works over secure shell (SSH). Once installed, there are no databases to configure and there are no daemons to start or keep running.

Ansible performs automation and orchestration via Playbooks. Playbooks are a YAML definition of automation tasks that describe how a particular piece of work needs to be done. A playbook consists of a series of ‘plays’ that define automation across a set of hosts, known as ‘inventory’. Each ‘play’ consists of multiple ‘tasks’ that can target one or many hosts in the inventory. Each task is a call to an Ansible module.

Below is example of an Ansible playbook (YAML) which will create a new vSphere VM from a template using a module. Read more about this file here.

---
  # vim: set ft=ansible et ts=2 sw=2:
  #
  # Create a new VM from a template using the new vmware_guest module
  - name: VM from template
    hosts: vmcreate
    gather_facts: false
    connection: local
    vars:
      vcenter_hostname: vcsa.box
      esxhost: esx1.box
      datastore: datastore1
      network: "VMnetwork"
      vmtemplate: CentOS7-Base
      vmcluster: LAN
      notes: Created by Ansible
      dumpfacts: False
    tasks:
      - name: Check for required variables
        fail: msg="Must pass name and group to -e"
        when: name is not defined or group is not defined
      - name: Check for vSphere access parameters
        fail: msg="Must set vcenter_user and vcenter_pass in a Vault"
        when: (vcenter_user is not defined) or (vcenter_pass is not defined)
        
      - name: Create VM from template
        vmware_guest:
          validate_certs: False
          hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
          username: "{{ vcenter_user }}"
          password: "{{ vcenter_pass }}"
          esxi_hostname: "{{ esxhost }}"
          datacenter: BOX
          name: "{{ name }}"
          template: "{{ vmtemplate }}"
          disk:
            - size_gb: 10
              type: thin
              datastore: "{{ datastore }}"
          nic:
            - type: vmxnet3
              network: "{{ network }}"
          hardware:
            memory_mb: "{{ vm_memory | default(1024) }}"
          wait_for_ip_address: True
          state: present
        register: newvm
        
      - name: IP address info
        debug:
          msg: "{{ newvm.instance.ipv4 }} {{ name }}"


vRealize Orchestrator

vRealize Orchestrator is an automation platform that comes in the form of a virtual appliance. You can automate various infrastructure tasks using workflows that can be combined in a number of ways. While it is perfectly integrated with VMware vSphere and offers extensive content for it, you can automate almost any IT process through partner provided workflows for tasks outside of the VMware world such as Active Directory, SQL Server, REST and lot more. It also offers hybrid cloud capabilities with newer plugins from GCP and AWS.

Below is an example of vRO workflow to remove old snapshots for a VM in vSphere.

Other Tools

I know there are many other tools like SaltStack, Chef, Puppet, Packer etc. which can help us to attain even more precise levels of automation. It’s great if you use them. Also, vRA is not part of 4 pillars because of obvious reasons. Reason being a Cloud Management Portal before being an standalone automation tool. It can ultimately make uses of all these tools that we have just discussed to give 1 complete solution to the customer As-a-service.

References

• VMware Ansible Guide
• Deeper look at the vRealize Automation and Ansible Open Source Integration
• Terraform vSphere Guide
• Sample PowerCLI scripts to manage vSphere
• PowerCLI Official Page
• vRO Official Page