1.1.0

Table Of Contents
LCM Administrator
The LCM Administrator sets up the LCM environment, and can perform all tasks that other user roles can
perform.
The LCM Administrator is responsible for the following tasks.
n
Configuring LCM
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Determining the infrastructure, such as the server environment
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Setting up email notifications, the look and feel of the user interface, and style sheets
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Specifying who can access elements such as resource pools or datastores
Lifecycle Manager Architecture
LCM is powered by VMware vCenter Orchestrator 4.0.1. Orchestrator is a development and process-
automation platform that provides a library of extensible workflows for creating and running automated,
configurable processes to manage the VMware vCenter infrastructure. You can use Orchestrator to create
custom workflows that you can run from LCM.
Orchestrator exposes every operation in the vCenter Server API, allowing users to integrate all these operations
into their automated processes. Orchestrator also allows integration with other management and
administration solutions through its open plug-in architecture.
LCM Compatibility with vCenter
LCM works with vCenter 4.0 and vCenter 4.0 Update 1 through an automatic compatibility mode. Only
VirtualCenter 2.5 features are available in this mode. LCM is also compatible with VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 4
and VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 5.
Before you install LCM, make sure that you have vCenter 4.0 or a compatible version of VirtualCenter 2.5
installed.
Lifecycle Manager Components
You must configure the required components for LCM to function properly.
Service directory
Defines which users can connect to LCM, and also defines their permission
levels. Only users who are members of a directory group can log in.
Database
Stores all information that is related to LCM, such as virtual machine names,
control groups, view groups, commission and decommission dates,
infrastructure elements linked with the virtual machine request (such as
template profile, datastore, resource pool, and so on). The information
necessary to map criteria and the infrastructure is also stored in the database.
VMware Infrastructure
Responsible for all communication with VMware vCenter. A Web Service API
is used to connect to VMware Infrastructure 3.5 or vCenter 4.
The components shown in Figure 1-2 must be configured in the Orchestrator configuration interface.
Lifecycle Manager Installation and Configuration Guide
12 VMware, Inc.