Deploying Infoblox IPAM Plug-In for VMware

To deploy Infoblox IPAM Plug-In and configure it to work with vRealize Automation and NIOS, do the following:

1. Prepare your environment, as described in Preparing Your Environment for vRealize Automation Management on page 6. xxx

2. Import an SSL certificate for Infoblox NIOS, as described in Importing NIOS SSL Certificate on page 8. xxx

3. Install Infoblox IPAM Plug-In for VMware, as described in Installing Infoblox IPAM Plug-In for VMware on page 8. xxx

4. Perform the basic setup of the Plug-In, as described in Performing Basic Plug-In Setup on page 9. xxx

5. Configure your vRealize Automation, as described in Configuring vRealize Automation on page 16. xxx

6. Optionally, enable the custom host naming functionality for VMs, as described in Enabling Custom Hostnaming Functionality on page 40. xxx

Preparing Your Environment for vRealize Automation Management

You need to prepare some elements outside of vRealize Automation to support VM provisioning. To prepare your environment, do the following:

• Configure VMware vCenter Server with a customization specification, as described in Creating a Customization Specification in vCenter Server on page 6. xxx

• Ensure that required services are up and running in vRealize Automation, as described in Ensuring Required Services are Up and Running on page 7. xxx

• If you use external vRO, configure the vRealize Orchestrator authentication provider, as described in Configuring Authentication Provider on page 8. xxx

Creating a Customization Specification in vCenter Server

You need to have a VM template and a customization specification in VMware vCenter Server to be able to create VMs in vSphere using vRealize Automation. Customization specifications are XML files containing guest operating system settings for virtual machines. Specifications are handy for defining global features in guest operating systems such as the guest OS host’s name, domain name and other settings.

To create a customization specification:

1. In vCenter, choose vCenter –> Inventory –> Management –> Customization Specifications Manager.
   
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2. Click New.

3. Select the Target Virtual Machine OS type.
   The New Customization Specification wizard opens.

4. In the Name field, enter the name for the new specification.

5. Click Next.

6. Select Use the virtual machine name and fill in the Domain Name field for the VM specification at the bottom of the pane. The Use the virtual machine name setting allows the VM to use the same name as for the guest operating system, which makes locating VMs easier for administrative purposes.

7. Click Next.

8. Select Area, Location and Hardware Clock Set, and then click Next.

9. Keep Typical settings selected by default.

10. Click Next.
11. Enter the value for DNS Search Path (such as testrollout.infobloxIPAMdemo.com), click Add, and then click Next.
12. Click Finish. The vSphere Client appears, showing your new customization specification in the table.

Ensuring Required Services are Up and Running

You can use vRealize Orchestrator embedded to your vRealize Automation or a standalone vRealize Orchestrator. The following instructions apply to the embedded vRealize Orchestrator.

1. Log in to the vRealize Automation Appliance console as root.
   
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2. Execute the following command using the command line:
   service vco-configurator start
3. Enable the vRealize Orchestrator configurator to start on boot up of the vRealize Automation Appliance:
   chkconfig vco-configurator on
4. In the vRealize Automation Appliance window, click VMware vRealize Appliance management.
5. Click the Services tab.
   <<screen shot required>>
6. Make sure that all services are registered. If some services are not registered, wait for some time and clickRefresh to see if the services are registered.

Configuring Authentication Provider

To work properly and manage user permissions, external vRealize Orchestrator requires a method of authentication. If you log in to Orchestrator Control Center for the first time, you have to specify the authentication provider.

To configure the authentication provider:

1. Log in to Orchestrator Control Center.
2. On the Configure Authentication Provider page, select an authentication mode:
   • vRealize Automation: Orchestrator is authenticated through the vRealize Automation component registry.
   • vSphere: Orchestrator is authenticated through Platform Services Controller.
3. In Host address, enter your vRealize Automation or Platform Services Controller host address and click Connect.
4. Click Accept Certificate.
5. In User name and Password, enter the credentials of the vRealize Automation or vCenter Single Sign-On administrator account.
6. In Default tenant, enter the default domain to authenticate a user who logs in without a domain name. The default value is “vsphere.local”.
7. Click Register.
8. In Admin group, enter an administrators group and click Search.
9. Select an administrators group.
10. Click Save Changes.

You can test the defined authentication provider on the Test Login tab. After you finish configuring the authentication provider, you can proceed to the next steps using the vRO Control Center.

Importing NIOS SSL Certificates

To ensure interoperability of vRealize Orchestrator with the Infoblox IPAM Plug-In for VMware, you must import valid SSL certificates from the NIOS appliance into vRealize Orchestrator.

To import an SSL certificate:

1. Log in to Orchestrator Control Center page.
2. Click Certificates.
3. In the Trusted Certificates tab, click Import.
4. Under Import from URL, enter the IP address or, under Import from file, select the certificate file for the NIOS appliance.
5. Click Import, and then click Import again to confirm.
   The new SSL certificate appears in the Trusted SSL Certificates list.

Installing Infoblox IPAM Plug-In for VMware

The Infoblox IPAM Plug-In for VMware is delivered as a zip archive file containing all versions of the Plug-in with a separate installation file for each version (o11nplugin-ipam.dar) in the corresponding folder.

To install the Infoblox IPAM Plug-In for VMware:

1. Unzip the Plug-In archive file into a folder on your system.
2. Log in to vRealize Orchestrator Control Center.
   <<screen shot>>

3. Click Manage Plug-Ins.

4. In the Manage Plug-Ins page, click Browse.

5. In the file upload dialog, select the .dar file (o11nplugin-ipam.dar) for the Plug-in version 4.3.0, and click Open.

6. Click Install.

   Note

   If you see a warning message “Plug-In is incompatible” at this point, disregard the message and follow the steps described below. The message is due to a vRA issue and does not impact normal Plug-In installation.

7. Click Install again to confirm.
   The InfobloxIPAM Plug-In appears in the list of installed plug-ins.

8. If the Infoblox IPAM check box is not selected in the Enable plug-in column, select it and click Save Changes.

9. On the Startup Options page, click Restart and wait until the current status becomes “RUNNING”.

Performing Basic Plug-In Setup

Using the Setup Wizard workflow of the Infoblox IPAM Plug-In for VMware, you can perform basic setup of the Plug-In, including:

• Creating vRA and IaaS host instances in the vRealize Orchestrator inventory.

• Registering the “Infoblox IPAM” type of endpoint in vRealize Automation.

• Performing vRO customization in vRealize Automation. This customization consists in creating a vRO subscription to the events of the VM provisioning workflows in vRA.

• Creating the default property group with default Infoblox IPAM settings in the vRealize Automation dictionary. The Infoblox property group is used in the VM request blueprint.

If you use an embedded vRealize Orchestrator in to vRealize Automation, you select a predefined vRO instance as the vRA host. If you use an external vRealize Orchestrator, you must specify the host and connection parameters.

To perform basic Plug-In setup:

1. Log in to vRealize Orchestrator Client.
2. On the Workflows tab, expand Library –> Infoblox –> vRA –> Installation.
3. Right-click Setup Wizard and choose Start workflow.

4. In step 1 vRA Host, do one of the following for Create vRA host:

   • Select Yes if you use a standalone vRO and specify the host properties and connection parameters.
     <<screen shot required>>

     Note

     Infoblox recommends that you always install SSL certificates when creating a vRA host. To do so, select Yes for Automatically install SSL certificates.

   • Select No if you use a built-in vRO and do not need to create the vRA host. Click Not set and select the predefined host.
     <<screen shot required>>

5. Click Next.
6. If you are creating a new vRA host, specify the user credentials information.
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7. Click Next.

8. In step 2 IaaS host, do one of the following for Create IaaS host: