This chapter is dedicated to some of the more commonly used plugins for Orchestrator. All these plugins require that you download them. We will be looking at the following plugins:
NSX integration
Horizon Integration
vSphere Replication
SRM (Site Recovery Manager) integration
vROps (vRealize Operations Manager) integration
In the last two chapters, we took quite an intense look at all the plugins that come with Orchestrator. Now we will look at plugins you can add to it. The selection is based on using them with clients and discussions with other consultants.
There are many different plugins, such as VMware-based plugins for a lot of VMware products, as well as plugins from EMC, NetApp, Cisco UCS, Infoblox, F5, and more.
Installing plugins is pretty simple; please see recipe Installing Plugins in Chapter 1, Installing and Configuring Orchestrator.
Please note that when you download a plugin, your download should contain either a .vmoapp or .dar file. If the download is a ZIP file, it needs to be unzipped first.
There are three main ways (in my opinion) to get plugins: from the VMware site, from the vCO/vRO team website, and from VMware Solution Exchange.
The VMware page ( https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vco_plugins_pubs.html ) contains download...
In this recipe, we take a look at automating NSX with Orchestrator.
You need NSX installed and connected to your vCenter. There are some good YouTube videos that show the essential setup. For more information, refer to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CATcY254pP8 .
You will need the latest version of the NSX plugin (as of writing, version 1.0.4) and to install it in your Orchestrator. You can find it here by logging into www.vmware.com and then selecting NSX and then under Drivers & Tools.
To understand NSX, there is a wonderful Hands-on Labs from VMware that you may like to work through: http://www.vmware.com/products/nsx/nsx-hol.html .
This recipe is broken up into two sections: configuring and an example.
In this recipe, we will look into integrating VMware Horizon View into Orchestrator.
You need the Horizon 7 plugin and you need to load it into Orchestrator. The plugin can be found at https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?productId=577&downloadGroup=HVRO-130-GA .
There is a known issue (plugin version 1.3 at the time of writing). Follow kb.vmware.com/kb/2144316 in order to switch on TLSv1.1 and 1.2 for Orchestrator.
Always fully read the release notes of any plugin or update. There are five known issues that you need to be aware of: https://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/hvro-plugin/horizon-vro-plugin-13-release-notes.html.
You also need the Horizon infrastructure. The minimum would be a Connection Server with one pool and one VM.
In this recipe, we explore the vSphere Replication plugin.
You need the vSphere Replication deployed. You also need a second vCenter (not really required but it makes things more interesting) or a Cloud service such as VMware vCloud Air. If you want to use vCloud Air, check kb.vmware.com/kb/2083867 .
If you are new to vSphere Replication, check out the video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWRs36nS5F0
You need to have at least one replication site configured.
Last but not least, you need the vSphere Replication plugin (see the introduction to this chapter).
This recipe is split into several sections.
The first thing we need to do is register the sites for Orchestrator to use. This requires that you have already registered a site with vSphere Replication in the vSphere Web Client.
Check out the Orchestrator inventory for the sites that the Replication can see. In my example, Replication can see my two vCenters.
Run the workflow...
In this recipe, we will look into how to automate SRM (Site Recovery Manager).
You will need SRM installed and base configured. Meaning that SRM should be configured either with vSphere Replication or an SRA (Storage Replication Adapter) that connects to your storage. If you are new to SRM, have a look at the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drOdnRaDZ4Q .
Last but not least, you need the vSphere Replication plugin (see the introduction to this chapter).
This recipe is broken up into several sections.
You need to make sure that the following things are set:
Orchestrator is authenticating to the PSC (vSphere authentications)
Orchestrator is configured to use both the protected and the recovery vCenter
The protected and the recovery vCenter must be in the same SSO domain
The user that is used in the vCenter connection should have SRM rights on both the protected and the recovery vCenter
In this recipe, we explore how to use Orchestrator to expand the capabilities of vRealize Operations Manager (vROps).
You will need a vROps installation collecting data from vCenter. You also need to have Orchestrator connected to the same vCenter.
You need to download the vROps plugin from Solution Exchange (see the introduction to this chapter). You may need to create a free account to access the download.
If you are new to vROps, check out the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN85uCtPtJ4 .
This recipe is split into multiple sections. To reduce confusion about what plugin is which, I will talk about the vROps plugin, meaning the plugin that goes into vROps and the vROps package that went into Orchestrator.
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