Knowledge Base  /  Cloud Application Manager  /  Deploying Anywhere
Knowledge Base  /  Cloud Application Manager  /  Deploying Anywhere

Using the VMware vCenter Private Datacenter

Updated by Dénes Pál on May 06, 2019
Article Code: kb/431

In this article:

Overview

This article is meant to assist users of Cloud Application Manager to configure a VMware vCenter provider and deploy virtual machines with it.

Audience

All users of Cloud Application Manager using VMware vCenter providers.

Prerequisites

  • An active Cloud Application Manager account
  • Access and credentials to a VMware vCenter version 5.5 or later.
  • A virtual machine template (Linux or Windows) on the vCenter server. Virtual machine templates has to be bootstrapped with the Cloud Application Manager Agent.
  • If the vCenter is behind a firewall, has to be open on the firewall:
    • 443/TCP incoming to vCenter server: for Cloud Application Manager to make API calls on vCenter.
    • 443/TCP outgoing: to allow Cloud Application Manager Agents running on the deployed virtual machines to connect back to Cloud Application Manager.

Required Permissions

A vCenter user needs at least the following permissions be able to authenticate, deploy and manage instances through Cloud Application Manager. Although this list was compiled for vCenter 5.5, similar permissions apply for later versions.

Assign access for With privileges
Datastore
  • Allocate space
  • Browse datastore
  • Global Cancel task
    Manage custom attributes Set custom attribute
    Network Assign network
    Resource Assign virtual machine to resource pool
    Scheduled task
  • Create tasks
  • Run task
  • Tasks
  • Create tasks
  • Virtual machine (Configuration)
  • Add new disk
  • Add or remove device
  • Advanced
  • Change CPU count
  • Change resource
  • Memory
  • Modify device settings
  • Remove disk
  • Rename
  • Reset guest information
  • Set annotation
  • Settings
  • Virtual machine (Interaction)
  • Answer question
  • Configure CD media
  • Power Off
  • Power On
  • Virtual machine (Inventory)
  • Create from existing
  • Create new
  • Remove
  • Virtual machine (Provisioning)
  • Customize
  • Deploy template
  • Modify customization specification
  • Read customization specifications
  • Bootstrapping virtual machine templates with the Cloud Application Manager Agent

    vCenter templates need elasticbox-init to allow the Cloud Application Manager agent to execute box scripts at deploy time.

    Linux

    Follow these steps to install elasticbox-init on a Linux template.

    1. Log in to the vSphere client and open the Linux virtual machine.

    2. SSH into the virtual machine.

    3. Install the VMware tools.

    4. Run this command with root privileges to install elasticbox-init:

      curl -L https://cam.ctl.io/agent/linux/vsphere/template_customization_script.sh | sudo bash
      
      • Note: If running Cloud Application Manager as an appliance, replace cam.ctl.io with the appliance hostname or IP address.

    Windows

    Follow these steps to run a script that creates a scheduled task on a Windows Server 2012 template. When you deploy, Cloud Application Manager clones this template and installs the agent using the scheduled task.

    1. Log in to the Windows Server 2012 virtual machine template using remote desktop protocol (RDP).

    2. Install the VMware tools.

    3. Download the scheduled task script.

      • Note: If running Cloud Application Manager as an appliance, replace cam.ctl.io with the appliance hostname or IP address.
    4. Right-click the script and click Run PowerShell.

    Registering a vCenter provider in Cloud Application Manager

    In order to deploy to a vCenter private datacenter, you must first provide information to connect. Currently, Cloud Application Manager only supports the vCenter API for vSphere.

    Steps

    1. In Cloud Application Manager, click Providers > New Provider.

    2. Select VMware vSphere.

    3. Enter the endpoint URL for the vCenter server and a username, password to the vCenter API.

      • Note: The endpoint URL can be a hostname or an IP address, and has to be prefixed with https://. Be sure to use https and not http.

      Creating a new vSphere provider

    By default, newly created providers use the recent implementation of vSphere client, while existing providers stick to a legacy implementation. A toggle labeled Legacy Mode is introduced to migrate away from legacy mode, or to turn back to it, in case an unforseen regression would appear with the upgrade. We recommend all our customers to use the recent implementation, and to migrate away from the legacy implementation as possible.

    Deploying in Your vCenter

    Select deployment metadata from a deployment profile to launch VMs to your vCenter Server.

    Deployment

    Deployment Option Description
    Provider Select a vCenter account registered in Cloud Application Manager.

    Resource

    Resource section of deployment policy

    Deployment Option Description
    Datacenter Select the datacenter whose objects are available for your vCenter deployment like hosts, clusters, resource pools, folders.
    Template Select the OS template based on which you deploy the instance. Only Linux templates show for Linux boxes as do Windows templates for Windows boxes.
    Flavor Select a template size for CPU and memory. Tiny, Small, Medium are sizes Cloud Application Manager provides. Or choose from ones you added. For example, if you choose Tiny, the instance is provisioned with 1 CPU and 1GB of RAM. By default, Cloud Application Manager provides template sizes as flavors based on compute and memory capacity. In addition to these flavors, you can add custom ones to the vCenter account in Cloud Application Manager in the Configuration tab. Under Flavors, click New and specify the CPU and memory.
    Customization This is optional. Apply a custom specification to the instance. It usually has settings to configure the OS and network.
    Instances Select the number of machines to provision.

    Placement

    Placement section of deployment policy

    Deployment Option Description
    Compute Resource Place the VM in a host, cluster, vApp, or resource pool in the datacenter. Select Any host to place in a host Cloud Application Manager picks randomly.
    Network Select the network for the instance.
    Folder From the folders shown, select one to place the VM.

    Proxy

    Proxy section of deployment policy

    Option Description
    Host The hostname or domain of the proxy that the agent will use to connect back to Cloud Application Manager, once it has been installed in the deployed instance.
    Port The port of the proxy that the agent will use to connect back to Cloud Application Manager, once it has been installed in the deployed instance.

    Disks

    Disks section of deployment policy

    Deployment Option Description
    Disks By default, an instance gets the template disk. For more storage, increase the template disk size and add up to seven more disks.
  • You can’t remove the template disk, but you can adjust its size. Type in the new size and press enter to save changes.
  • To add a disk, select a datastore from available ones in the datacenter. Specify the size in gigabytes, and click Add. Each disk can be up to 62 TB, disk can be up to 62 TB, but if the datastore doesn’t have such capacity, the instance won’t deploy.
  • Note that additional disks communicate through the same controller as the template disk.
  • Registering Instances to Your vCenter Provider

    You can also register you exsiting instances to CAM portal. First click on Unregistered Instances Tab, here you can see all the exsting instances in you vCenter that you can import into your CAM portal.

    Simply select one server and click on the down arrow button on the right side.
    Register a vCenter instance

    Choose a name for this instance and click on Register
    Name instance to be registered

    Connect to server and execute the script below with admin privileges.
    Script to register the instance

    After running the script you should be able to see the instance has been registered successfully.

    Getting General Support

    Customers can contact the Lumen Global Operations Support center (support desk) directly for getting help with Cloud Application Manager as well as any other supported product that they’ve subscribed to. Below are three ways to get help.

    Contact:

    1. Phone: 888-638-6771

    2. Email: incident@centurylink.com

    3. Create Ticket in Cloud Application Manager: Directly within the platform, users can “Create Ticket” by clicking on the “?” symbol in upper right corner near the users log-in profile icon. This takes users directly to the Managed Servicers Portal where they can open, track and review status of issues that have been raised with the support desk. Additionally, this is how a TAM can be engaged as well.

    Instructions:

    1. Provide your name
    2. Cloud Application Manager account name
    3. A brief description of your request or issue for case recording purposes

    The support desk will escalate the information to the Primary TAM and transfer the call if desired.