HobbitCloud has been enjoying somewhat of an infrastructure refresh recently, with the entire estate being renamed and Windows Servers migrating to 2016 and 2019. Part of this project was to increase resilience in my on-premise data warehouse by implementing a Microsoft SQL Server 2016 AlwaysOn Availability Group (AAG) running on Windows Server Core. Continue reading
vRealize Automation
Moving vRealize Automation blueprints between environments with vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager 1.2
When large enterprises deploy a cloud management platform like VMware vRealize Automation, they often have a number of different environments. To ensure best practices, blueprints and orchestration scripts are created in development before being tested in another environment, before finally being transported into Continue reading
Deploying Kubernetes with vRealize Automation
A number of customers are very excited about the upcoming release of PKS. However, some are itching to get started with Kubernetes today, and are wondering how they can leverage VMware’s Cloud Management Platform, vRealize Automation, to do so. In this post I will show how you can design a blueprint which with two clicks can deploy a Kubernetes cluster for your users. Continue reading
Building containerized apps through vRealize Automation
As a cloud admin, you need a certain toolset to get the job done. Occasionally these tools are not readily available, or updated ones are released and you need to be able to consume them without too much fuss. Running these apps as containers are often a great way to achieve this, and by far the best way of provisioning them is though vRealize Automation. Continue reading
“Invalid IP Address input” error when requesting a vRA blueprint via Code Stream
The other day I successfully demonstrated the power of Code Stream at the UK North-West VMUG. The Management Pack for IT DevOps (codenamed “Houdini”) migrated blueprints between Development and Production, and at the end of the session I built a pipeline for deploying a WordPress application in development. Even though the audience wouldn’t have Continue reading
Deploying MySQL on CentOS 7 for vRealize Automation blueprints
Over the weekend I began preparing a multi-tier application blueprint in vRealize Automation for an upcoming talk at the UK North-West VMUG. Rather than re-invent the wheel (and more importantly because I’m lazy), I decided to re-use a blueprint from the VMware {code} site. The one I’d chosen used MySQL, which for a quick and dirty live demo is ideal. Continue reading
Securing VMware applications with Google Authenticator
Earlier this week I created a tenant in HobbitCloud for a friend with his own development company. He needs to leverage the power of Infrastructure-as-a-Service, but is unwilling to move to the public cloud for all his workloads just yet. However, now that HobbitCloud is accessible externally, it was clear I had to increase security. Continue reading
Deploying containers with vRealize Automation 7.2 – Part 1: Containers
This week I have been designing a vRealize Automation 7.2 solution for a customer. One of the things that came out of the solution requirements workshop was the ability for vRA to deploy and potentially manage containers. Whilst I knew it was possible, it encouraged me to look deeper at the technology. Thankfully it wasn’t long before a use case emerged. Continue reading
Ensure your load-balancing is right for a vRealize Automation 7.x HA install
Last week I had cause to build a fully distributed/HA installation of vRealize Automation as a proof-of-concept. After encountering an issue with DTC communication, it led to a question of load-balancer configuration. Not how to do it (VMware have documented this very well), but the order of things. Continue reading
Configuring DTC access between vRealize Automation IaaS and Microsoft SQL Server
Recently I had an issue with vRealize Automation communicating with my SQL Server. Unfortunately, the IaaS database plays a fundamental part in any vRA installation, so any problem with it will severely limit your deployment. Continue reading
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