I’m currently working on a project which enables cloud consumers to request a full VMware Horizon environment straight from the vRealize Automation catalog. This will provision Connection Servers, a Composer server, UAGs – all load-balanced using VMware NSX. Exciting, but not without its challenges. The first being… Horizon wouldn’t install. Continue reading
VMware
Documenting vRealize Orchestrator Code with JSDoc and Confluence
Recently I’ve been working on improving HobbitCloud’s DevOps practices, specifically around committing code to version control and documenting it. Once a developer checks code in, this should compile, and if successful be deployed to the test environment. Once here it will undergo automated testing before progressing to staging for unit and integration tests. Continue reading
Securing VMware Horizon UAGs with Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates
Securing your Horizon Universal Access Gateway (UAG) with a genuine SSL certificate from a recognised vendor is an important process. It enables your users to be sure they’re connecting to the correct VDI infrastructure, and that the communications between their endpoint and remote desktop are secure. Continue reading
How not to lock yourself out of your Ubuntu 18.04 VDI desktop
Those that follow my adventures with EUC will probably be aware that I’m a huge fan of Linux on the VDI desktop. The cost benefits are self-evident for task and knowledge-based workers; and for power users like developers, the platform can provide an easier route to a lot of their applications. Continue reading
Automating VDI Template Creation with VMware Code Stream and HashiCorp Packer – Part 3: Automating the Solution
In part 2 we automated the installation of our VMware Horizon agents, including AppVolumes and Dynamic Environment Manager. We also patched our template and applied optimization settings using the VMware OSOT fling. In this final part, we automate the entire solution from end-to-end using VMware CI/CD tool, Code Stream. In the end, with one-click, we will generate our template ready for use. Continue reading
Automating VDI Template Creation with VMware Code Stream and HashiCorp Packer – Part 2: Installing the VDI Agents
In part 1 of this series, we built a Windows 10 desktop using HashiCorp Packer. Now we will script the installation of the VDI agents needed for our VMware Horizon environment. After this, we will patch the box with the latest updates, before applying the VMware OS Optimization Tool to produce a lean and clean image. In the last part, we will automate the solution using VMware Code Stream.
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Automating VDI Template Creation with VMware Code Stream and HashiCorp Packer – Part 1: Building Windows
In previous consultancies I’ve worked, it was common practice to frequently patch corporate VDI templates. Whilst continuous patching is a good thing, it is quite often laborious. Any attempt to automate this is seen as difficult and organizations often give up and continue with manual processes. Here I will show how it can be done using Code Stream and HashiCorp Packer. Continue reading
Deploying GitLab Runner to VMware Enterprise PKS
Recently I have been deepening my learning of DevOps methodolgies, specifically around the vRealize Automation and Orchestrator platforms. I have been producing code for both in my development environment for a while and promoting it manually to test, staging and production. However, this is a very error-prone and laborious process that fails to take advantage of Continue reading
Configuring a lower lease time for a vRealize Automation deployment
Recently a customer I was working with had the need to ensure that deployments of a certain service category had a lower lease time than others. So all blueprints would have no maximum lease time configured, but if a customer chose a “DevTest” catalog item, then the lease time is set to seven days. Continue reading
Enabling dynamic site selection in the Private Cloud with vRealize Automation
In HobbitCloud we have the ability to deploy vRealize Automation workloads to multiple sites. This enables us to leverage different technologies like NSX for vSphere and NSX-T, without having to mix both in the same site. It also means that if we have to scale up workloads for certain projects, we can utilise different clusters. Continue reading
