6.2
Table Of Contents
- IaaS Configuration for Virtual Platforms
- Contents
- IaaS Configuration for Virtual Platforms
- Configuring IaaS
- Configuring IaaS Checklist
- Custom Properties in Machine Provisioning, Blueprints, and Build Profiles
- Bringing Resources Under vRealize Automation Management
- Choosing an Endpoint Scenario
- Store User Credentials for Endpoints
- Create a vSphere Endpoint
- Create a vSphere Endpoint with Networking Integration
- Create a NetApp ONTAP Endpoint
- Create a KVM (RHEV) Endpoint
- Create a Standalone Hyper-V Endpoint
- Create an SCVMM Endpoint
- Create a Xen Pool Endpoint
- Create a XenServer Endpoint
- Preparing an Endpoint CSV File for Import
- Import a List of Endpoints
- Create a Fabric Group
- Configure Machine Prefixes
- Create a Business Group
- Virtual Reservations
- Optional Configurations
- Build Profiles and Property Sets
- Reservation Policies
- Storage Reservation Policies
- Static IP Address Assignment
- Cost Profiles
- Enabling Users to Select Datacenter Locations
- Active Directory Cleanup Plugin
- Enabling Remote Desktop Connections
- Enabling Connections to Machines Using SSH
- Preparing for Provisioning
- Space-Efficient Storage for Virtual Provisioning
- Preparing Your SCVMM Environment
- Enabling Visual Basic Scripts in Provisioning
- Choosing a Provisioning Scenario
- Checklist for Virtual Provisioning by Cloning Preparation
- Choosing Your Linux Kickstart Provisioning Preparation Method
- Preparing for SCCM Provisioning
- Preparing for WIM Provisioning
- Creating Blueprints
- Space-Efficient Storage for Virtual Provisioning
- Choosing a Blueprint Scenario
- Create a Blueprint for the Basic Workflow
- Create a Blueprint for Cloning
- Create a Linked Clone Blueprint
- Create a Blueprint for Net App FlexClone Provisioning
- Create a Blueprint for WIM Provisioning
- Create a Blueprint for Linux Kickstart Provisioning
- Create a Blueprint for SCCM Provisioning
- Troubleshooting Blueprints for Clone and Linked Clone
- Publish a Blueprint
- Configuring Advanced Blueprint Settings
- Assigning Datastores to Machine Volumes
- Choosing a Storage Scenario
- Add a Datastore to a Create, Clone, or FlexClone Blueprint
- Add a Datastore to a Linked Clone Blueprint
- Add a Storage Reservation Policy to a Create, Clone, or FlexClone Blueprint
- Add a Storage Reservation Policy to a Linked Clone Blueprint
- Allow Alternative Datastores at Provisioning Time
- Reservation Policies
- Configuring Network Settings
- Enable Users to Select Datacenter Locations
- Allow Requesters to Specify Machine Host Name
- Enabling Visual Basic Scripts in Provisioning
- Add Active Directory Cleanup to a Blueprint
- Enable Machine Users to Create Snapshots
- RDP Connections
- Enable Connections Using SSH
- Assigning Datastores to Machine Volumes
- Infrastructure Organizer
- Managing Infrastructure
- Monitoring Workflows and Viewing Logs
- Appendix A: Machine Life Cycle and Workflow States
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Preparing for WIM Provisioning
Provision a machine by booting into a WinPE environment and then install an operating system
using a Windows Imaging File Format (WIM) image of an existing Windows reference machine.
Space-Ecient Storage for Virtual Provisioning
Space-efficient storage technology eliminates the inefficiencies of traditional storage methods by using
only the storage actually required for a machine's operations. Typically, this is only a fraction of the
storage actually allocated to machines. vRealize Automation supports two methods of provisioning with
space-efficient technology, thin provisioning and FlexClone provisioning.
When standard storage is used, the storage allocated to a provisioned machine is fully committed to that
machine, even when it is powered off. This can be a significant waste of storage resources because few
virtual machines actually use all of the storage allocated to them, just as few physical machines operate
with a 100% full disk. When a space-efficient storage technology is used, the storage allocated and the
storage used are tracked separately and only the storage used is fully committed to the provisioned
machine.
Thin Provisioning
Thin provisioning is supported for all virtual provisioning methods. Depending on your virtualization
platform, storage type, and default storage configuration, thin provisioning might always be used during
machine provisioning. For example, for vSphere ESX Server integrations using NFS storage, thin
provisioning is always employed. However, for vSphere ESX Server integrations that use local or iSCSI
storage, thin provisioning is only used to provision machines if the custom property
VirtualMachine.Admin.ThinProvision is specified in the blueprint. For more information about thin
provisioning, please see the documentation provided by your virtualization platform.
Net App FlexClone Provisioning
You can create a blueprint for Net App FlexClone provisioning if you are working in a vSphere
environment that uses Network File System (NFS) storage and FlexClone technology.
You can only use NFS storage, or machine provisioning fails. You can specify a FlexClone storage path
for other types of machine provisioning, but the FlexClone storage path behaves like standard storage.
The following is a high-level overview of the sequence of steps required to provision machines that use
FlexClone technology:
1 An IaaS administrator creates a NetApp ONTAP endpoint. See Create a NetApp ONTAP Endpoint.
2 An IaaS administrator runs data collection on the endpoint to enable the endpoint to be visible on the
compute resource and reservation pages.
The FlexClone option is visible on a reservation page in the endpoint column if a NetApp ONTAP
endpoint exists and if the host is virtual. If there is a NetApp ONTAP endpoint, the reservation page
displays the endpoint assigned to the storage path.
IaaS Configuration for Virtual Platforms
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