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Ultimate automation guide to deploying VCSA 6.0 Part 2: Platform Services Controller Node

02.26.2015 by William Lam // 14 Comments

In this article, I will share alternative methods of deploying the first Platform Services Controller Node (PSCs) using the VCSA 6.0 appliance. If you are interested in deploying additional PSC instances joined to an existing SSO Domain, stay tune for Part 3 where this will be covered. Take a look at the various deployment methods below and their respective instructions for more details. If you are deploying using one of the scripts below, you will need to extract the contents of the VCSA ISO. If you are deploying to Workstation/Fusion, you will need to extract the VCSA ISO and add the .ova extension to the following file VMware-VCSA-all-6.0.0-2562643->vcsa->vmware-vcsa before deploying.
psc
Disclaimer: Though these alternative deployment options work, they are however not officially supported by VMware. Please use at your own risk.

Deploying to an existing vCenter Server using ovftool (shell script)

I have created a shell script called deploy_vcsa6_first_psc_to_vc.sh which requires using ovftool 4.1 (included in the VCSA ISO) to specify the appropriate OVF "guestinfo" properties for a PSC deployment. You will need to edit the script and modify several variables based on your environment.

Here is an example of executing the script:

vcsa-6.0-platform-service-controller-node-deployment

Deploying to an ESXi host using ovftool (shell script)

I have created a shell script called deploy_vcsa6_first_psc_to_esxi.sh which requires using ovftool 4.0 or greater to specify the appropriate OVF "guestinfo" properties for a PSC deployment. You will need to edit the script and modify several variables based on your environment. The behavior of this script is similar to the one above, except you are deploying directly to an ESXi host.

Deploying to an existing vCenter Server using ovftool (PowerCLI)

I have created a PowerCLI script called Deployment-PSC.ps1 which uses ovftool and specifies the appropriate OVF "guestinfo" properties for a PSC deployment. You will need to edit the script and modify several variables based on your environment.

Deploying to VMware Fusion & Workstation

To properly deploy the new VCSA 6.0, the proper OVF properties MUST be set prior to the booting of the VM. Since VMware Fusion and Workstation do not support OVF properties, you will need to manually deploy the VCSA, but not power it on. Once the deployment has finished, you will need to add the following entries to the VCSA's VMX file and replace it with your environment settings. Once you have saved your changes, you can then power on the VM and the configurations will then be read into the VM for initial setup.

guestinfo.cis.deployment.node.type = "infrastructure"
guestinfo.cis.vmdir.domain-name = "vghetto.local"
guestinfo.cis.vmdir.site-name = "vghetto"
guestinfo.cis.vmdir.password = "VMware1!"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.addr.family = "ipv4"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.addr = "192.168.1.60"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.pnid = "192.168.1.60"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.prefix = "24"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.mode = "static"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.dns.servers = "192.168.1.1"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.net.gateway = "192.168.1.1"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.root.passwd = "VMware1!"
guestinfo.cis.appliance.ssh.enabled = "true"

For more information, you can take a look at this article here.

Deploying using new scripted install (bonus)

As mentioned earlier, there is also a new scripted installer included inside of the VMware-VCSA ISO under /vcsa-cli-installer which supports Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, but must be connected directly to an ESXi host. There are several templates that are also included within the /vcsa-cli-installer/templates. I thought as a bonus I would also share the template I have been using to deploy the first PSC using a static IP Address which some of you may find useful.

{
    "__comments":
    [
        "William Lam - www.virtuallyghetto.com",
        "Example VCSA 6.0 1st Platform Service Controller Node Deployment w/Static IP Address"
    ],

    "deployment":
    {
        "esx.hostname":"192.168.1.200",
        "esx.datastore":"mini-local-datastore-1",
        "esx.username":"root",
        "esx.password":"vmware123",
        "deployment.network":"VM Network",
        "deployment.option":"infrastructure",
        "appliance.name":"psc-01",
        "appliance.thin.disk.mode":true
    },

    "vcsa":
    {
        "system":
        {
            "root.password":"VMware1!",
            "ssh.enable":true,
            "ntp.servers":"0.pool.ntp.org"
        },

        "sso":
        {
            "password":"VMware1!",
            "domain-name":"vghetto.local",
            "site-name":"virtuallyGhetto",
            "first-instance":true
        },

        "networking":
        {
            "ip.family":"ipv4",
            "mode":"static",
            "ip":"192.168.1.50",
            "prefix":"24",
            "gateway":"192.168.1.1",
            "dns.servers":"192.168.1.1",
            "system.name":"192.168.1.50"
        }
    }
}

The use the scripted installer, you just need to change into the appropriate OS platform directory (win32,mac or lin64) and there should be a binary called vcsa-deploy. To use this template, you just need to save the JSON to a file and then specify that as the first argument to vcsa-deploy utility.

Here is an example of deploying a PSC using the vcsa-deploy scripted installer.

vcsa-6.0-first-platform-service-controller-scripted-install

  • Part 0: Introduction
  • Part 1: Embedded Node
  • Part 2: Platform Services Controller Node
  • Part 3: Replicated Platform Services Controller Node
  • Part 4: vCenter Server Management Node

Categories // Automation, Fusion, OVFTool, VCSA, vSphere 6.0, Workstation Tags // fusion, ovftool, platform service controller, psc, sso, VCSA, vcva, vSphere 6.0, workstation

Quick Tip - vSphere MOB is disabled by default in ESXi 6.0

02.24.2015 by William Lam // 9 Comments

Yesterday, I noticed an interesting error when trying to connect directly to the vSphere MOB on an ESXi 6.0 host. The following error message was displayed on the browser:

503 Service Unavailable (Failed to connect to endpoint: [N7Vmacore4Http20NamedPipeServiceSpecE:0x4bf02038] _serverNamespace = /mob _isRedirect = false _pipeName =/var/run/vmware/proxy-mob)

vsphere-6.0-mob-disable-0
This was the first time I had noticed this as I normally use the vSphere MOB for debugging purposes or exploring the vSphere API. The vSphere MOB is also a quick an handy way to unregister vSphere Plugins when connecting to vCenter Server.

I did some further investigation and it turns out that in vSphere 6.0, the vSphere MOB will be disabled by default on an ESXi 6.0 host. The reason for this is to provide security hardening out of the box for ESXi versus having an administrator harden after the fact. If you are familiar with the vSphere Security Hardening Guides, you will recall one of the guidelines is to disable the vSphere MOB on an ESXi host and with vSphere 6.0, this is now done automatically for you. This information will also be documented as part of the vSphere 6.0 documentation when it GAs.

If you still need to access the vSphere MOB on an ESXi how, this of course can be re-enabled from the default. There is also a new ESXi Advanced Setting called Config.HostAgent.plugins.solo.enableMob which easily controls whether the vSphere MOB is enabled or disabled as seen in the screenshot below.

vsphere-6.0-mob-disable-1
You have the option of using either the vSphere C# Client as shown in the screenshot above or the vSphere Web Client to configure the ESXi Advanced Setting:

vsphere-6.0-mob-disable-3
You can also configure this property using the vim-cmd in the ESXi Shell.

Listing the ESXi Advanced Setting using vim-cmd:

vim-cmd hostsvc/advopt/view Config.HostAgent.plugins.solo.enableMob

vsphere-6.0-mob-disable-2
Configuring the ESXi Advanced Setting to true:

vim-cmd hostsvc/advopt/update Config.HostAgent.plugins.solo.enableMob bool true

If you prefer to automate this using PowerCLI or vSphere API, this can also be done. Below are two examples using the Get-VmHostAdvancedConfiguration and Set-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration PowerCLI cmdlets.

Listing the ESXi Advanced Setting using PowerCLI:

Get-VMHost 192.168.1.200 | Get-VmHostAdvancedConfiguration -Name Config.HostAgent.plugins.solo.enableMob | Format-List

vsphere-6.0-mob-disable-4.png
Configuring the ESXi Advanced Setting to true:

Get-VMHost 192.168.1.200 | Set-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration -Name Config.HostAgent.plugins.solo.enableMob  -Value True

If you rely on using the vSphere MOB on ESXi and would like this to be your default, I would recommend you update either your ESXi Kickstart or Host Profile to include this additional configuration so that you do not get like I did 🙂 If you only need to use the vSphere MOB on occasion or do not have a use for it at all, then leaving the default is sufficient.

Categories // Automation, ESXi, vSphere 6.0 Tags // ESXi, mob, vim-cmd, vSphere 6.0, vSphere API

Did you know of an additional cool vMotion capability in vSphere 6.0?

02.19.2015 by William Lam // 59 Comments

There was an excellent blog post from Duncan a couple of weeks back going over the new vMotion capabilities in vSphere 6.0 which includes: Cross vSwitch vMotion, Cross vCenter vMotion (xVC-vMotion) and Long Distance vMotion (LD-vMotion). If you have not checked out his article, I highly recommend you give it a read before proceeding further. After reading through Duncan's article, I noticed he had missed out on one additional vMotion capability which might not be obvious as the option is no where to be found in the vSphere Web Client UI. In fact, I was only aware of this additional capability after hearing about it from Engineering during the development of vSphere 6.

The additional vMotion capability actually extends the Cross vCenter Server vMotion (xVC-vMotion) workflow which allows an administrator to live migrate a running virtual machine between two vCenter Servers that are part of the same SSO Domain. By virtue of being in the same SSO Domain using the new Enhanced Linked Mode feature, both vCenter Servers will be visible in the vSphere Web Client and will be available to be selected either as a source or destination for a vMotion operation.

Screen Shot 2015-02-07 at 10.34.53 AM
This extended Cross vCenter Server vMotion capability (unofficially I am calling it ExVC-vMotion) allows an administrator to live migrate a running virtual machine between two vCenter Servers which are NOT part of the same SSO Domain. How cool is that!? In my opinion, this is actually a pretty big deal because I think it truly removes any boundaries for a vSphere virtual machine and will open up an entire new class of mobility use cases that were never thought possible before. This will definitely make it interesting for customers who wish to migrate workloads from their on-premises datacenter into a completely different vSphere environment or even one that is hosted by a service provider or maybe even vCloud Air?

The ExVC-vMotion operation is currently only available today using the vSphere API, not because it is a private API but because there is no UI wizard for this operation. The reason the current xVC-vMotion is so seamless today is that both your source and destination vCenter Server is visible by being part of the same SSO Domain. If you have two completely different vCenter Servers which are not joined to the same SSO Domain or have completely different SSO Domains, then you will need to use the vSphere API to perform this operation.

All vMotion operations including vMotion without shared storage uses the vSphere API RelocateVM_Task() method. In vSphere 6.0, the method has been enhanced to accept a new property called ServiceLocator which provides a service endpoint to a vCenter Server where a VM can be migrated to. One important thing to note is that if you wish to migrate a VM between two vCenter Servers located in the same SSO Domain, there is an sslThumbprint property that is not required to be set. However, if the two vCenter Servers are NOT part of the same SSO Domain, then you need to set that property. In addition, if the VM is migrated to a different vCenter Server, additional properties such as the ESXi host, vSphere Cluster/Resource Pool and Datastore must be specified as part of the migration spec.

UPDATE (05/25/16) - I have re-factored and simplified my xVC-vMotion script which supports additional capabilities. Please have a look at the blog post here for more details.

To demonstrate this awesome ExVC-vMotion operation, I have created a simple PowerCLI script called run-cool-ExVC-vMotion.ps1 which accepts 12 command-line parameters which are described in more detail below:

Variable Description
sourceVC The hostname or IP Address of the source vCenter Server
sourceVCUsername The username to connect to source vCenter Server
sourceVCPassword The password to connect to source vCenter Server
destVC The hostname or IP Address of the destination vCenter Server
destVCUsername The username to connect to the destination vCenter Server
destVCPassword The password to connect to the destination vCenter Server
destVCThumbprint The SSL Thumbprint (SHA1) of the destination vCenter Server (can be retrieved using either this or this)
datastorename The destination vSphere Datastore where the VM will be migrated to
clustername The destination vSphere Cluster where the VM will be migrated to
vmhostname The destination vSphere ESXi host where the VM will be migrated to
vmnetworkname The destination vSphere VM Portgroup where the VM will be migrated to
vmname The name of the source VM to be migrated

In my lab environment, I have configured two vCenter Server's which are part of two different SSO Domains as seen in the screenshot below:

Screen Shot 2015-02-10 at 5.53.47 AM
I have tiny Linux VM (vMA) that I am using which I will be migrating from vcenter60-4 to vcenter60-5 which has a completely different datastore and VM portgroup (if you have stretched/extended L2, then the VM would stay online during this migration). I then execute the script using the following parameters based on my own environment and we can see the migration is kicking off:

.\run-cool-ExVC-vMotion.ps1 vcenter60-4.primp-industries.com *protected email* VMware1! vcenter60-5.primp-industries.com *protected email* VMware1! 82:D0:CF:B5:CC:EA:FE:AE:03:BE:E9:4B:AC:A2:B0:AB:2F:E3:87:49 vesxi60-8-local-storage NY-Cluster vesxi60-8.primp-industries.com NY-VM-Network vMA

Screen Shot 2015-02-10 at 6.05.46 AM
One the migration has completed, if we now take a look at our vSphere Web Client, we can see the VM has now been migrated to the other vCenter Server.

Screen Shot 2015-02-10 at 5.57.01 AM
I really hope to see the vSphere Web Client get enhanced to support this cool vMotion capability, but in the mean time you can easily perform this operation using the above PowerCLI script or any other scripting/programming language calling into the vSphere API. Set your VM free and let it migrate where your heart desires 🙂

Categories // Automation, vSphere 6.0 Tags // Cross vMotion, Long Distance vMotion, RelocateVM_Task, ServiceLocator, vmotion, vSphere 6.0, xVC-vMotion

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William is Distinguished Platform Engineering Architect in the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Division at Broadcom. His primary focus is helping customers and partners build, run and operate a modern Private Cloud using the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform.

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