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Automation with the VMware Cloud Services Platform (CSP)

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I was recently doing some work where I needed to access the APIs for the VMware Cloud Services Platform (CSP). As the name suggests, CSP is where customers can manage access, billing and consumption of the various VMware SaaS offerings including VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC) and VMware Hybrid Cloud Extension to just name a couple.

CSP also provides a RESTful API (Swagger documentation here) which enables customers and partners to automate all aspects of the CSP UI. Although my use of the CSP API is quite small, I figure it  would useful to share the overall workflow in case others were interested in consuming the full CSP API.

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VMworld US 2018 sessions on VMware Cloud on AWS

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VMworld US 2018 is just around the corner and hopefully most of you have started. I was just browsing the session catalog this morning see what sessions were available for VMware Cloud on AWS and I have always found the VMworld search results less than ideal as I prefer to be able to see all results on a single page without having to continue to load. I decided to write some automation to extract all VMware Cloud on AWS sessions and make them available on a single page.

In total, there are 93 sessions (spread across Sunday - Thursday) and there is literally something for everyone including intro type sessions, partner/3rd party solutions, different solution verticals, technical deep dives, customer panels and even some upcoming slick Tech Previews that we are working on! If you still have some open slots on your schedule, have a look at the list below and sign up.

I have also created a short URL, in case you want to share this list with others: http://vmwa.re/vmcvmworld2018

Sunday

Dear IT, You Gotta Modernize Your Data Center. Let vSphere Help. [VIN1622QU] (1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.) (13:00 - 13:30)
Understanding the TCO Benefits of VMware Cloud on AWS [HYP2817QU] (1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.) (13:00 - 13:30)
How to Deliver the VMware Cloud Story and Vision [PAR7002BU] (2:00 p.m. - 2:50 p.m.) (14:00 - 14:50)
New Architectures for Big Data/Machine Learning on VMware Cloud on AWS [VAP1593QU] (2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.) (14:00 - 14:30)
New Tools and Information for Partners Selling VMware Cloud on AWS [PAR7004BU] (3:00 p.m. - 3:50 p.m.) (15:00 - 15:50)
Software-Defined, Hybrid, and Distributed: Welcome to the VMware Cloud [HYP3024QU] (3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.) (15:00 - 15:30)
SAP in the Clouds [VAP2294QU] (4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.) (16:00 - 16:30)
Site Recovery Manager and Multiple Sites: The What, How, and Why [HCI2827QU] (4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.) (16:00 - 16:30)

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Automatically retrieve CVE CVSS score for all ESXi security bulletins 

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I always enjoying learning new things, especially when it is outside of my immediate domain expertise and if I can thrown in some Automation to help solve a solution, it is a win for everyone. I bring this up because, yesterday I had noticed an interesting question from one of our field folks where their customer is looking to implement a process for applying ESXi security patches to help determine compliance timeline (e.g. when a specific security update will be applied to infrastructure).

To do this, the customer would like to use the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score which ranges from 0-10, 0 being low and 10 being high. The CVSS score is part of the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) which is also referenced for every ESXi security patch (bulletin) that is published by VMware. The question that came up was how easily it would be to determine the CVSS score for a given ESXi security patch. First, I will outline the "manual" process and once that is understood, I will demonstrate an automated solution which customers can take advantage of to easily retrieve this information for all ESXi security patches.

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