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Administration

The VMware vSphere template enables streamlined, self-service deployment of virtual machines on existing vSphere environments. In this guide, we will be using Rafay's curated template available from the Template Catalog. The Org Admin for the user's Rafay Org has the privileges to share the system templates from Rafay's Catalog to specific/all projects.

  • Compute profiles are based on environment templates powered by Rafay's Environment Manager.
  • Users can also create and configure Custom environment templates for use cases outside the list supported out of the box in Rafay's Template Catalog.

Info

Please check Rafay's Public Roadmap or contact support for details on additional templates for the Template Catalog.

Please ensure you have access to an existing VMware vSphere server with credentials to provision VMs. Ensure the vSphere environment contains VM templates that will be used to provision VMs.

Prerequisites

Step 1: New Project

We will create a new logically isolated environment i.e. a project in our Rafay Org for this guide.

As an administrator, we will want to make sure that all resources we be created in this project. All users we will add will have their access limited to resources in this project.

We will configure and deploy ALL resources in the steps below into this project.

Info

Projects are a unique feature in the Rafay Platform allowing organizations to multi-tenancy i.e. multiple teams, business units and operating environments can be modeled as projects which are completely separate and isolated.

  • Login into your Rafay Org and navigate to Home
  • Click on "New Project", enter a unique name (e.g. vmaas) and click on Create

New Project

Step 2: Deploy Rafay Agent

Infrastructure orchestrated by the Rafay Platform for end users will operate in your private network. The Rafay Platform will never require direct inbound access to any resources in your network. The Rafay Platform uses the Rafay Agent that administrators deploy in their network as a minion to orchestrate the tasks you configure in the Rafay Platform.

In the steps described below, you will deploy an agent.

  • Navigate to GitOps -> GitOps Agents
  • Click New Agent
  • Enter a name for the agent
  • Select "Docker" for type
  • Click Create

Create New Agent

  • Follow the on screen instructions to deploy the docker agent. Once deployed the agent will appear healthy in the console.

Configure Template

When the template is executed by the Rafay agent operating behind the firewall, it will receive the configured template, the associated Infra as Code (IaC), credentials and policies from the Rafay Platform. It will then execute this code on the behalf of the user.

Step 1: Specify Agent

Let's configure the template to be received and executed by the Rafay Agent we created in a prior step.

  • Under the "Agents" tab, click on "Add Agent"
  • Select the name of the agent you configured in the prior step
  • Ensure that the override configuration is specified to "Not Allowed" because we do not want the downstream users to be able to change this
  • Save your changes

Select Agent

Step 2: Configure Input Variables

We will update some input variables by adding default values to their configuration.

  • Under the "Input Variables" tab in the resource template, edit the below variables and enter default values specific to your environment

  • vsphere_password

  • vsphere_compute_cluster
  • vsphere_datacenter
  • vsphere_datastore
  • vsphere_network
  • vsphere_resource_pool
  • vsphere_server
  • vsphere_storage_policy
  • vsphere_user

  • vsphere_vm_template

  • Save your changes

Input Variables

Design Self Service SKU

Next, we will configure a self service SKU (i.e. custom PaaS profile) to allow end users to consume this via self service.

  • Navigate to PaaS Studio
  • Select "Compute Profiles"
  • Select the project where the template was previously created
  • Click "New Compute Profile"
  • Enter a name for the profile
  • Select the previously created template and version
  • Click Save & Continue

Create Profile

On the following screen, navigate to "Input Settings" - Deselect "Override" for the variable "em_username". This will prevent the user from changing this value. - Edit each variable and provide an "Alias" to show user friendly text - Navigate to "Output Settings" - Click "Add Output" - Enter the name "ssh_details" - Enter the label "SSH Details" - Click Save Changes

Create Profile

At this point, you have created the SKU for end user self service of "Virtual Machines" on VMware vSphere. Follow the steps as the end user to provision a VM.