VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide ® ™ TEC H N I C A L W H ITE PA P E R
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Table of Contents 1. Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.1 About This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.2 Intended Audience. . . . . . . . . .
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Step 1: Create Organization VDC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Step 2: Verify. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 5.6 Create Organization Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 1. Getting Started 1.1 About This Guide The purpose of this evaluator’s guide is to support a self-guided, hands-on evaluation of VMware® vCloud Director 1.0. This evaluator’s guide is intended to provide IT professionals with the necessary information to deploy a VMware vCloud Director–based cloud in a VMware vSphere™ (“vSphere”) environment.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Installation and Configuration Guide: http://www.vmware.com/support/pdf/vcd_10_install.pdf Administrator’s Guide: http://www.vmware.com/support/pdf/vcd_10_admin_guide.pdf User’s Guide: http://www.vmware.com/support/pdf/vcd_10_users_guide.pdf VMware vCloud Director community: http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/vcd Support Knowledge Base: http://kb.vmware.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 2. What is the VMware Private Cloud? VMware’s private cloud is a solution that yields improved IT efficiency and agility while enhancing security and choice. Private clouds built on VMware provide the benefits of cloud computing while leveraging a customer’s existing investments.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 3. System Requirements 3.1 Hardware Requirements This guide makes the following assumptions about your existing physical infrastructure: Servers: You have at least two dedicated ESXi™/ESX® servers running vSphere 4.0 U2 or vSphere 4.1 to provide resources for the private cloud—in other words, for running workloads deployed with VMware vCloud Director. 1 Storage: You have at least two dedicated datastores available.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 3.2 Software and Licensing Requirements This guide assumes that you have the obtained and installed the following software: vCenter Server: You have at least one evaluation or licensed vCenter Server 4 Standard. You have at least two vSphere Enterprise Plus evaluation or licensed ESXi/ESX servers. You have one or more virtual machines in your vSphere environment with Guest Operating System (GOS) installed.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 4. Lab Environment When you are done with Section 3, your environment will look similar to our lab environment shown below. Our lab environment has: • One vCenter Server 4.1 Standard • Management cluster5 with 3 ESXi Enterprise Plus hosts ––3 x Dell PE 2950 (2 CPU, 32GB RAM per server) • Private cloud compute cluster with 4 ESXi 4.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 5. VMware vCloud Director Evaluation Tasks In the remainder of this evaluator’s guide, we will detail the suggested evaluation tasks to demonstrate the value of VMware vCloud Director in a private cloud. The tasks are: 1. Set up Provider VDCs 2. Set up External Networks 3. Set up Network Pools 4. Set up Organizations and users 5. Set up Organization VDCs 6. Set up Catalogs 7.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 2. Each organization has an organization administrator. Organization administrators manage their own organizations in the cloud. They set up users and permissions and manage catalogs. They are root users for an organization. They cannot access or modify cloud infrastructure. They do not access underlying vSphere infrastructure. Organization administrators perform the following functions: a. Organization user and roles management b. Creating Catalogs c.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Table 5-1 presents an overview of the tasks, a description of these tasks with their benefits, and the operator for these tasks. The time estimates provide an approximation of the expected time that you will spend in each use case. They do not necessarily reflect the exact time needed.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 5.1 Attach vCenter Server vSphere is the foundation layer for VMware vCloud Director. vCenter servers provide the compute, storage and networking resources required for the cloud. In a very large-scale cloud VCD supports up to 25 vCenter servers being controlled simultaneously. For this exercise we will limit ourselves to only one vCenter server. Figure 5-1-1. The first step is to attach your vCenter server to your VMware vCloud Director system.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Step 2: Attach vCenter Server 1. Click “Manage and Monitor.” 2. Click on “vCenters” in the left pane under “vSphere Resources.” 3. Click the button to launch the wizard. 4. Enter the vCenter server information. a. Enter the hostname or IP address of your vCenter server. b. Enter an administrator username and password. c. Enter a vCenter name. d. Enter an optional description. Click “Next.” Figure 5-1-3. Enter vCenter Server Details. 5.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-1-4. Enter vShield Manager Details. 6. Review the summary in the Ready to Complete screen and click “Finish.” Step 3: Verify When you are finished, click “Manage and Monitor” and click on “vCenters” in the left pane to verify that the vCenter server has been added. Ensure that the status is green. Figure 5-1-5. Verify vCenter Status. You can scale the resources available to your cloud by adding multiple vCenter servers to VMware vCloud Director.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 5.2 Compute and Storage Infrastructure in the Cloud Once you have added vCenter servers, you can now take the resources that the vCenter exposes and create cloud constructs using them. VMware vCloud Director treats vCenter and vSphere resources as a giant pool of resources. The first cloud infrastructure object we will create is called a Provider Virtual Datacenter or Provider VDC. A Provider VDC is a combination of compute and storage resources.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide The compute resource for a Provider VDC comes from a vSphere cluster or resource pool. You can scale up a Provider VDC by adding more ESXi/ESX servers to the vSphere clusters and adding more datastores to the clusters. The maximum size of a Provider VDC is 32 hosts. Scaling up a Provider VDC is outside the scope of this document. Step 1: Create Provider VDC 1. Click on “Manager and Monitor” tab. 2. Click on “Provider VDCs.” 3.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-2-3. Select Datastores. 7. Enter the root username and password for the ESXi/ESX Server hosts. 8. Click “Finish.” In our lab environment, we have three resource pools and three types of datastores— NFS, iSCSI and FC — attached to our cluster.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-2-4. vSphere Environment After Creating Provider VDCs in VMware vCloud Director. Step 2: Verify When you are finished, click “Manage and Monitor” and click “Provider VDCs” to ensure that the Provider VDC has been created, that their status is green and that they are enabled. Figure 5-2-5. List of Provider VDCs. VMware vCloud Director prepares the hosts associated with the resource pools you have used to create Provider VDCs.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 5.3 Network Infrastructure in the Cloud 5.3.1 Create External Networks Now that we have created compute and storage units in the cloud, we need to provide network access to the cloud. External networks are used in VMware vCloud Director to give external connectivity to vApps. vApps live in Organizations (which will be introduced later), so in a sense these networks are “external” to the Organization in which the vApps live.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 5. Enter the following details to configure the External Network. a. Network mask b. Default gateway c. Primary and Secondary DNS d. DNS suffix e. Static IP Pool Contact your network administrator to obtain the above details. Click “Next.” Figure 5-3-1-3. Configure Settings for the External Network. 6. Enter a name for the External Network and an optional Description. Click “Next.” 7. Review the summary in the Ready to Complete page and click “Finish.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Cloud administrators can create External Networks that have quality of service (QoS), rich networking policies, control and security, and integrate them easily into the cloud infrastructure. 5.3.2 Create Network Pools Network pools are collections of isolated Layer 2 networks. Network pools provide the building blocks necessary to create Organization and vApp networks. They are the key enabler for self-provisioning of networks in the cloud.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Step 1: Create Network Pool 1. Click “Manage and Monitor.” 2. Click “Network Pools.” 3. Click button to create a new Network Pool. 4. Select the “VCD Network Isolation-backed” Network Pool. VCD Network Isolation (VCDNI) is technology that allows you to create Layer 2–isolated networks without using VLANs. Click “Next.” Figure 5-3-2-2. Select VCD Network Isolation-Backed Network Pool Type. 5. Enter the details of the VCDNI Network Pool. a.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 6. Enter a name for the Network Pool and an optional description. 7. Review the summary in the Ready to Complete page and click “Finish.” Step 2: Verify Click “Manage and Monitor” and click “Network Pools” to ensure that the Network Pool has been created. Ensure that the status is green. Figure 5-3-2-4. Verify Network Pool Status.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 4. Type in the Organization name; note the unique URL in the VMware vCloud Director system where this Organization’s users can log in. 5. Type in the Organization’s full name. Figure 5-4-1. Create Organization. 6. Click “Next.” 7. Select “Do Not Use LDAP.” In this evaluation, we will define local users and authenticate against the VMware vCloud Director database. 8. Create two local users for this Organization.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-4-2. Add Local Users. d. Click “OK.” 9. To create a regular user: a. Click the “Add” button to launch the New User Wizard. b. Type in the username and password and select the vApp User role. c. Type in the contact information (optional). d. Click “OK.” 10. Click “Next” to bring up the Catalog Publishing screen. 11. Select “Allow publishing catalogs to all organizations.” 12. Click “Next” to bring up the Email Preferences screen. 13.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-4-3. Select Leases, Quotas and Limits. 15. Review the summary in the Ready to Complete screen. 16. Click “Finish” to create your Organization in VMware vCloud Director. Step 2: Verify Once you create your Organization, click “Manage and Monitor” and click “Organizations” to ensure that the Organization you created is enabled. Figure 5-4-4. Verify Organizations are Enabled. Next, pull up your vSphere client and switch to the VMs and Templates view.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-4-5. vSphere VMs and Templates View Showing Organizations Created. Organizations are the unit of tenancy in VMware vCloud Director. Organizations allow you to isolate groups or users or lines of business from each other, set policies on a per-Organization level and manage consumption of the cloud infrastructure. 5.5 Create Organization VDC Organization VDCs are created so Organizations can use resources from Provider VDCs.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide There are three ways of consuming resources from a Provider VDC. 1. Pay per virtual machine a. There is no upfront resource allocation. b. Organization VDC resources are allocated only as users create vApps. c. You can set limits to cap usage. d. You can guarantee a percentage of the resources being used to provide overcommitment of compute and memory across your cloud. 2. Reservation Pool a. Organization VDC is allocated a “container” set of resources. b.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 5. Click “Next.” 6. Select the Provider VDC that you created in Step 5-1. Figure 5-5-3: Select Provider VDC. 7. Click “Next.” 8. Select the “Pay-As-You-Go” allocation model. 9. Click “Next.” 10. Leave the defaults for the Configure Pay-As-You-Go model and click “Next.” 11. Select “Enable thin provision” and click “Next.” 12. Leave the Network Pool section blank; we will configure this at a later step. 13.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Step 2: Verify When you are done creating the Organization VDC, click “Manage and Monitor” and select “Organization VDCs.” Check to ensure that the Organization VDCs you created are available. Figure 5-5-4. Verify Organization VDC Status and Ensure They Are Enabled. Pull up vSphere client and open the VMs and Templates view. You will see your Organization VDC folders created under the Provider VDC folders.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 5.6 Create Organization Networks Organization networks are used by vApps inside the Organization to communicate with each other inside the Organization or communicate with shared services located outside the Organization. Organization networks can be of three different types: N E T WOR K F E AT U R E S Internal Connectivity to vApps within the Organization. No external connectivity.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-6-1. Select Internal Organization Network. 6. Select the VCDNI Network Pool created in Step 5.3. Click “Next.” Figure 5-6-2. Selecting the VCDNI Network Pool. 7. Configure the Internal IP settings for this Organization Network. This network is a completely isolated Layer 2 network. a. Enter the network mask. b. Enter the default gateway. c. Enter the primary and secondary DNS.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide d. Enter the DNS suffix. e. Enter a static IP pool. f. Click “Next.” 8. Enter a name and optional description for this internal network. Click “Next.” 9. Review the summary in the Ready to Complete screen and click “Finish.” Step 2: Create an External Direct Connect Network 1. Click “Manage and Monitor” tab. 2. Click “Organization Networks.” 3. Click button to create new Organization Network. 4. Select the Organization. 5.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-6-4. Selecting the External Network. 7. Enter a name and optional description for this internal network. Click “Next.” 8. Review the summary in the Ready to Complete screen and click “Finish.” Step 3: Verify When you are done creating the Organization Networks, select “Manage and Monitor” and click “Organization Networks.” Verify that the new internal network created is listed.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-6-6. vSphere Networking View. Right-click on the portgroup and click “Edit Settings” to view the properties of the portgroup created by VMware vCloud Director. Thus VMware vCloud Director allows cloud administrators to create very rich networking models in the cloud. With VCD, the following networking can be offered to Organizations: 1. Internal vApp networks in which virtual machines in a vApp can communicate with each other 2.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide 3. Create vApps from scratch in the private cloud, in other words, create virtual machines, install the Guest Operating System (GOS) and application. This can be done by an Organization administrator, catalog author, or vApp author. Only Organization administrators and Catalog authors can add items to the Catalog. In this evaluation we will go through the first option—importing virtual machines and templates from vSphere.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-7-2. Sharing the Catalog with Everyone in the Organization. 8. Select “Published to Organizations” in the Publish this Catalog screen. An Organization needs to be enabled to publish Catalogs and the enablement is done by the vCloud administrator. Click “Next.” 9. Review the summary in the Ready to Complete screen and click “Finish.” Click “Catalogs” and ensure that the new Catalog you created is available. Step 2: Creating vApp Templates 1.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-7-3. Importing vApp Template from vSphere. Create a few vApp templates in the vApp Catalog; for example you can create: 1. Small, medium and large Windows and Linux single virtual machine vApps; small virtual machines can be 1 vCPU and 2GB RAM, medium virtual machines 2 vCPU and 4GB RAM and large vApps can be 4 vCPU 8GB RAM and so on 2. Simple packaged applications like a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) stack as a vApp 3.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Step 3: Verify When you are done creating the Catalogs and adding vApp templates, click the “Catalogs” tab and ensure that the Catalogs you created are available. If you shared the Catalog or had it published, ensure that the Shared column or the Published column shows the correct status. Click on vApp Templates and Media tabs to verify that the templates and media you imported are available. Figure 5-7-4. Verify That the Catalogs Are Created.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-8-1. User Home Screen. Step 2: Browse the Catalog 1. Click button to add a new Cloud Computer System; this pulls up the Add vApp from Catalog wizard. 2. Select a vApp from the Organization’s Catalog. Click “Next.” Figure 5-8-2. Select vApp from Catalog. 3. Enter a name for this vApp and an optional description. Select the runtime lease and storage lease for this vApp. 4. Configure the virtual machines in this vApp. a.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-8-3. Select Organization VDC and Organization Networks. 5. Click “Next” in the Configure Networking screen. Leave “Fence vApp” unchecked. 6. Review the summary in the Ready to Complete screen and click “Finish.” This initiates a full copy of the vApp from the Catalog to the Organization VDC that the user selected. You can deploy one vApp with Network Fencing and one without Network Fencing to see the difference. 7. Click “My Cloud” and click “vApps.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide Figure 5-8-5. vApp Remote Console. Open vSphere client and switch to the Hosts and Clusters view. 1. The users vApp will be deployed in the appropriate Organization VDC resource pool 2. It will also be deployed in the storage allocated to the Organization VDC. 3. It will be connected to the portgroup on the vDS that maps to the external or internal Organization Network that to which the user selected the vApp to connect. Figure 5-8-6. vApp Deployed in vSphere.
VMware vCloud Director Evaluator’s Guide VMware vCloud Director’s various features transform your vSphere environment into a cloud environment by allowing you to pool your resources together and create standardized offerings, infrastructure and vApps for your end users. This allows you to increase utilization of infrastructure and reduce cost. VMware vCloud Director allows IT to define policies via Roles and Rights, Quotas and Leases, which define how users can use services in the cloud.
