As a PowerShell fan I find using the vCO PowerShell plugin makes my life a whole lot easier. What isn’t easy however, is the configuration of vCO and a PowerShell jump host. Having done it a few times, this is my method for ensuring a secure working connection using HTTPS and Kerberos. Configure the Orchestrator Appliance Since we’re planning on using Kerberos authentication, we’d better ensure that the time is correct AND syncs to the same source as the domain.

This was a fun little error, whilst installing the distributed IaaS roles I couldn’t seem to get the IaaS components to install – when I got the Website and Model Manager Data install it would fail with the following message: ##InitializeRepo Registering solution user in the VA, initializing Repository MetaModel and Authorization "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\vCAC\Server\Model Manager Data\Cafe\Vcac-Config.exe" RegisterSolutionUser -url https://vcloud.definit.local --Tenant "vsphere.local" -cu "[email protected]" -cp ****** --FileName "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\vCAC\Server\Model Manager Data\Cafe\Vcac-Config.

Recently I encountered this problem in a customer site whereby the logon to VCSA 5.5 would either time out, or take 3-5 minutes to actually log on. Running a netstat on the VCSA during the attempt to logon showed there was a SYN packet sent to the vCOps appliance on port 443 that never established a connection. Another check was attempting to connect using curl <https://> –k - this would time out.

This is the fourth article in a series about how to build-out a simple vCAC 6 installation to a distributed model. By the end of this post we will have deployed a second vCAC Appliance, clustered it with the first appliance and registered the load balanced URL with the Identity Appliance. This will mean logging on to https://vcloud.definit.local/shell-ui-app will be successful. vCAC deployment with clustered and load balanced vCAC Appliances An overview of the steps required are below:

This is the second part of the 3rd article in a series about how to build-out a simple vCAC 6 installation to a distributed model. By the end of this part, we will not have modified the vCAC deployment in any way, we’ll just have 3 configured load balanced URLs vCAC Simple Install with vPostgres deployed and load balancers prepared An overview of the steps required are below: Issue and install certificates Deploy an external vPostgres appliance and migrate the vCAC database Configure load balancing Deploy a second vCAC appliance and configure clustering Install and configure additional IaaS server Deploy vCenter Orchestrator Appliance cluster I’ve previously configured 3 DNS records for the load balanced services (see part 3.

This is the first part of the 3rd article in a series about how to build-out a simple vCAC 6 installation to a distributed model. By the end of this part, we will not have modified the vCAC deployment in any way, we’ll just have 3 configured load balanced URLs vCAC simple configuration with vPostgres and Load Balancers prepared An overview of the steps required are below: Issue and install certificates Deploy an external vPostgres appliance and migrate the vCAC database Configure load balancing Deploy a second vCAC appliance and configure clustering Install and configure additional IaaS server Deploy vCenter Orchestrator Appliance cluster Deploy a vShield Edge appliance Log in to your vShield Manager and select your Datacenter, then the Network Virtualisation tab

This is the second article in a series about how to build-out a simple vCAC 6 installation to a distributed model. The diagram below shows the deployment at the end of this part, with vPostgres deployed and the vCAC Appliance running from the remote database. vCAC deploymnent with vPostgres deployed An overview of the steps required are below: Issue and install certificates Deploy an external vPostgres appliance and migrate the vCAC database Configure load balancing Deploy a second vCAC appliance and configure clustering Install and configure additional IaaS server Deploy vCenter Orchestrator Appliance cluster Create the required DNS records First of all, create DNS records for your vPostgres database server – you need both an A and PTR record.

Fairly recently i attended the annual VMware vForum London 2014 at Wembley stadium! If you have never been to a vForum i would certainly recommend it as it offers the chance to not only attend excellent and pertinent sessions but there is also the opportunity to network and visit the large vendor hall which as ever was a busy place! Keynote and sessions The opening keynote by @joebaguley (Joe Baguley) was excellent and as challenging as ever one aspect that stood out to me personally was the question “where are you on your journey?

This is the first article in a series about how to build-out a simple vCAC 6 installation to a distributed model. Simple vCAC deployment In a simple installation you have the Identity Appliance, the vCAC appliance (which includes a vPostgres DB and vCenter Orchestrator instance) and an IaaS server. The distributed model still has a single Identity Appliance but clusters 2 or more vCAC appliances behind a load balancer, backed by a separate vPostgres database appliance.

Derek Seaman’s excellent SSL toolkit. I know that there are hours and hours of work put into this script by Derek and I want to thank him for that – it’s a massive time saver. This modification is to fit a different set of circumstances – “standing on the shoulders of giants” – and should in no way be seen as me criticising or stealing Derek’s work. This week, while using the SSL Certificate Automation Tool and Derek’s script, I encountered a couple of things I felt could be improved for a more complex environment.