VMworld 2013: Automating the Software Defined Data Center: How Do I Get Started
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The document outlines steps to start automating the software-defined data center (SDDC) using VMware tools, emphasizing the necessity of acquiring the correct product licenses and understanding various automation technologies. It includes a cheat sheet for VMware automation tools, highlights best practices, and offers a collection of tips for effectively implementing automation in data center management. The discussion also covers the future of automation, focusing on policy-based solutions and integration for enhanced efficiency.
VMworld 2013: Automating the Software Defined Data Center: How Do I Get Started
- 1. Automating the Software Defined Data Center: How Do I Get Started Thomas Corfmat, VMware Alan Renouf, VMware VCM5048 #VCM5048
- 2. 2 Tying the Software-Defined Datacenter (SDDC) & Automation Software-defined Datacenter: All infrastructure is virtualized and delivered as a service, and the control of this datacenter is entirely driven by software. Abstract Pool “Automate” “I want some of that!”
- 3. 3 Where Do I Get It? “Where is VMware vCloud Software Defined Data Center Automator (vCSDDCA)?”
- 4. 4 Answer: Follow These Guidelines Step 1. Get the most expensive SKU: vCloud Suite Enterprise Plus SDDC Platinum Edition Step 2. Enter the cheat code license key: DEFY_CONVENTION (no spaces or lowercase)
- 5. 5 Voila !!!! People-powered energy source Talk to Legal
- 6. 6 Agenda 1. The Key Challenge: Where Do I Start? 2. Major Automation Technologies 3. VMware Automation Cheat Sheet 4. Drive-by Demos 5. Top 10 Automation Tips 6. The Future of Automation • Understand datacenter automation and its benefits • Identify the right automation product for your project • Identify what can make or break your automation project SESSION GOALS
- 7. 7 Automation Definitions Automation: Scripts-based: Need to type text (correctly) Workflow-based: IT Process Automation, Orchestration, Run Book Automation Built-in: Purpose-built application or feature (e.g. HA) Policy-based: Define rules without code in UI (e.g. vMotion) Related concepts: APIs, Integration
- 8. 8 VMware Automation Cheat Sheet
- 9. 9 Provisioning Operations Maintenance Datacenter Infrastructure Virtual Datacenter VMs Applications Workloads Desktops Detection of failures Availability Health Scaling/Rightsizing Capacity Remediation Resource Allocation Failover Administrative tasks Updates / Upgrades Reporting Ongoing Configuration Areas of Automation
- 10. 10 Provisioning Operations Maintenance Datacenter Infrastructure vCAC/VCO/PowerCLI Virtual Datacenter vCD/VCNS VMs AppD/vCAC/vCO/PowerCLI/vCenter Applications AppD/vCAC/vCO/PowerCLI Workloads vCAC/vCO/PowerCLI Desktops vCAC/View Detection of failures vCOps Mgr/PowerCLI Availability vCOps Health vCOps Mgr/PowerCLI Scaling/Rightsizing vCOps/vCO/PowerCLI/vCAC/AppD Capacity vCOps Mgr/PowerCLI Remediation vCO/PowerCLI Resource Allocation vSphere DRS/SDRS Failover vSphere HA/SRM Administrative tasks vCO/PowerCLI Updates / Upgrades VUM/VCM/VCO/PowerCLI Reporting PowerCLI/vCOps Mgr Ongoing Configuration VCM/AppD/vCAC What VMware Products COULD you Use?
- 11. 11 Provisioning Operations Maintenance Datacenter Infrastructure vCAC/vCO/PowerCLI Virtual Datacenter vCD/VCNS VMs AppD/vCAC/VCO/PowerCLI/vCenter Applications AppD/vCAC/vCO/PowerCLI Workloads vCAC/vCO/PowerCLI Desktops vCAC/View Detection of failures vCOps Mgr/PowerCLI Availability vCOps Mgr Health vCOps Mgr/PowerCLI Scaling/Rightsizing vCOps/vCO/PowerCLI/vCAC/AppD Capacity vCOps Mgr/PowerCLI Remediation vCO/PowerCLI Resource Allocation vSphere DRS/SDRS Failover vSphere HA/SRM Administrative tasks vCO/PowerCLI Updates / Upgrades VUM/VCM/vCO/PowerCLI Reporting PowerCLI/vCOpsMgr Ongoing Configuration VCM/AppD/vCAC What VMware Products ARE Recommended? (check with a licensed professional first)
- 13. 13 Product Demos PowerCLI (Scripting) • Provisioning Datacenter Infrastructure • Maintenance vCAC (Policy) & vCO (Workflow) • Provisioning/Decommissioning Workloads • 3rd Party Integration
- 14. 14 Top 10 Automation Tips
- 15. 15 Top 10 Automation Tips Identify current problem AND benchmark associated metric (e.g. time to provision, MTTR, machine/admin ratio, etc.) Helps prioritize first automation area(s) Critical to measure progress vs. goal and ongoing management support Don’t automate something you can’t measure or doesn’t return enough value Measure it!TIP No. 1
- 16. 16 Top 10 Automation Tips Identify offerings that satisfy 90% of needs Model those as templates, blueprints, with right options Cost of not doing: template sprawl, complexity of management, troubleshooting, etc. All about finding sweet spot between choice and ease of management Automation is good. Automation with standardization is great. TIP No. 2
- 17. 17 Top 10 Automation Tips Find corporate sponsor/champion Educate, engage and get commitments Get Access to systems/APIs Silo-ed mentality is biggest challenge to overcome! It’s all about people…TIP No. 3
- 18. 18 Top 10 Automation Tips Mixed skillset is key: Domain experts (e.g. storage, networking, etc.) Script/development expertise Business process Project manager Select the right (mix of) people TIP No. 4
- 19. 19 Top 10 Automation Tips Opportunity for process re-engineering Current manual process may not be ideal automation candidate Do you really need 17 approvals? Identify steps that cannot be automated Simplify. Don’t automate broken processes.TIP No. 5
- 20. 20 Top 10 Automation Tips Identify category (Provisioning, Operations, Maintenance) with most pain Prioritize pain points within category: 1. Automate top outstanding pain point 2. Document results 3. Move to next pain point 4. Repeat until done or automation cost > value Automate incrementallyTIP No. 6
- 21. 21 Top 10 Automation Tips Automation mistakes create large-scale problems Need functional AND scale testing Consider throttling mechanisms, queuing, recovery actions, etc. Avoid mass-producing defective results TestingTIP No. 7
- 22. 22 Top 10 Automation Tips Don’t fall hostage to undocumented automation Take advantage of built-in documentation PowerCLI standardization vCO graphical process and documentation auto-generation Blueprints DocumentationTIP No. 8
- 23. 23 Top 10 Automation Tips Phone call + back-end automation OR Service Portal + manual fulfillment… … are incomplete solutions Lots of time lost in manual hands-off (calls/emails between users and IT) Need end-to-end automation: one solution or tightly integrated front-end + back-end solutions End-to-end automation = Self-service + back-end automation. TIP No. 9 +
- 24. 24 Top 10 Automation Tips Built-in with policies 1st choice Orchestration/workflows integration Scripts quick solutions Andy Troup blog article: http://blogs.vmware.com/cloudops/2013/07/aut omation-the-scripting-orchestration-and- technology-love-triangle.html Follow the “Automation Triangle”TIP No. 10
- 25. 25 The Future of Automation
- 26. 26
- 27. 27 The Future of Automation Is Policy-Based (…and Also Bright) Data Protection LocalAvailability SiteAvailability Entitlements Web Data App XaaS XaaS SLA Availability 99.99% DR RTO 1 hour Back up daily Availability Approvals Quotas/Budget Reservations
- 28. 28 Learn More About Cloud Automation Breakout Sessions: • Provisioning and Managing a Heterogeneous Cloud, Wed 11:30-12:30 Moscone West, Room 3004 (VCM5148) repeat on Thursday 10:30-11:30 Booth: vCloud Automation Center and vCenter Orchestrator Lounge: Solution Exchange 2020 Hands on Labs: • HOL-SDC-1313 vCloud Suite Use Cases - Infrastructure Provisioning (IaaS) • HOL-SDC-1314 vCloud Suite Use Cases - Application Provisioning (PaaS) • HOL-SDC-1307 Integrate vCAC with Orchestrator • HOL-PRT-1304 Infoblox - Automate with vCAC and the vCO IPAM plug-in • HOL-SDC-1307 Enable Hybrid Cloud Automation & Governance with vCloud Automation Center (vCAC) Group Discussion: • Cloud Automation Wed, 2-3, Moscone West Alcove 2
- 29. 29 Learn More About PowerCLI Breakout Sessions: • VAPP5473 – Automated Management of Tier-1 Applications on VMware • Wednesday, 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM • VSVC4944 – PowerCLI Best Practices – A Deep Dive • Monday, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM & Tuesday, 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM • VSVC5931 – PowerCLI What’s New? Administrating with the CLI Was Never Easier • Wednesday, Aug 28, 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM • Thursday, Aug 29, 12:30 – 1:30 PM Hands on Labs: • HOL-SDC-1307 – vCloud Automation Solutions Group Discussion: • VSVC1005-GD - PowerCLI and Automation with Alan Renouf • Wednesday, Aug 28, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
- 30. 30 Other VMware Activities Related to This Session HOL: HOL-SDC-1307 vCloud Automation Solutions Group Discussions: VCM1003-GD Cloud Automation with Naomi Sullivan
- 31. THANK YOU
- 33. Automating the Software Defined Data Center: How Do I Get Started Thomas Corfmat, VMware Alan Renouf, VMware VCM5048 #VCM5048