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Getting started with the Hybrid Cloud Extension (HCX) APIs

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VMware Hybrid Cloud Extension (HCX) is the de facto VMware solution when it comes to Enterprise scale workload migration whether that is from onPrem to onPrem or from onPrem to Cloud, including our VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC) offering. In fact, one of the most popular use cases for HCX right now is datacenter evacuation/consolidation and customers are migrating their workloads to VMC because they want to get out of the business of running datacenters and get back to running their core business. This is especially attractive for customers wanting to expand to new markets without requiring the need of new datacenters. This makes a ton of sense, especially when you go beyond the initial CapEx, its the on-going OpEx costs that folks may not always be thinking about immediately and being able to easily scale up or down is not always possible for most onPrem environments.

HCX already provides a rich UI interface within the vSphere Client for scheduling migrations including the new Cloud Motion with vSphere Replication feature which was announced at VMworld US 2018.


However, it should come as no surprise that our customers are also interested in Automation, especially as it can help expedite migrations and remove potential user error, especially around mapping the destination networks which can be quite daunting for a large number of migrations. The good news is that HCX provides a Restful API that allows customers to automate all aspects of HCX including the HCX VAMI UI for initial configuration as well as consuming the HCX services which are exposed in the vSphere UI.

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How to unregister Hybrid Cloud Extension (HCX) from your onPrem vCenter Server?

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I recently had to redeploy my Hybrid Cloud Extension (HCX) setup on my onPrem vCenter Server as a newer version had been released since the last time I had looked at this which was some time last year. I had already deleted my HCX Manager and cleaned up the other HCX VMs but one thing that is not handled for you currently are the extension plugins that HCX uses to register with vCenter Server, which is no different than any other solution that integrates with vCenter Server.

Today, the only easy way to unregister an extension is to use the vSphere MOB, which I have blogged about in the past here. As you can see from the screenshot below, HCX has a number of plugins and because this is done by hand, its entirely possible that you may accidentally unregister the wrong extension which could severely impact your vCenter Server.


To help reduce that risk, an alternative and recommended method is to simply use the vSphere API (which is exactly what the vSphere MOB is talking to) and specifying the specific extensions to unregister. Below is a quick PowerCLI snippet which talks to the vSphere API and unregisters the 8 extensions related to HCX. After this, if you are still logged into the vSphere Client, you simply need to logout and log back in for the UI components to go away. If you are still seeing the UI plugins, you may need to restart the vSphere Client service.

$extensionManager = Get-View $global:DefaultVIServer.ExtensionData.Content.ExtensionManager

$hcxExtensions = @(
"com.vmware.hybridity"
"com.vmware.hybridity.dr"
"com.vmware.hybridity.hcsp-dashboard"
"com.vmware.hybridity.publisher"
"com.vmware.hybridity.troubleshooting"
"com.vmware.hybridity.hybrid-interconnect-ui"
"com.vmware.hybridity.auditlog-ui"
"com.vmware.vca.marketing.ngc.ui"
"com.vmware.hybridity.mobility-app"
"com.vmware.hcsp.alarm"
)

foreach ($hcxExtension in $hcxExtensions) {
    $extensionManager.UnregisterExtension($hcxExtension)
}

Once the HCX extensions have been removed, you can now download the new HCX Manager appliance from the VMC portal and redeploy.

If you are still seeing the HCX Plugin in the vSphere UI after unregistering the extension, I have found that you also needed to clear the H5 Plugins on the vCenter Server itself. Here is what I needed to do to fully clean it up. Login to the VCSA and then run the following commands:

cd /etc/vmware/vsphere-ui/vc-packages/vsphere-client-serenity/
rm -rf com.vmware.hybridity*
rm com.vmware.vca.marketing.*
cd /usr/lib/vmware-vsphere-ui/server/pickup/
rm -rf com.vmware.hybridity*
rm com.vmware.vca.marketing.*

History of Cross vCenter Workload Migration Utility and its productization in vSphere 7.0 Update 1c (p02)

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I am super excited to share that the popular Cross vCenter Workload Migration Utility Fling has been officially productized and is now available with the release of vSphere 7.0 Update 1c (Patch 02)! The official name for this capability is now referred to as Advanced Cross vCenter vMotion, would that mean the short hand is Ax-vMotion? 🤔 In any case, this has literally been 5 years in the making from an idea that I had shared back in 2015 to now having it fully integrated as a native vSphere feature in 2020 is pretty wild!

While reflecting back and writing this blog post, I came across this tweet from our CEO, Pat Gelsinger, which I thought was quite fitting

I have learned over the years, that simply having a good idea is not enough. It takes hard work, time and perseverance.

It has been very humbling to work with so many of customers of all sizes and shapes and enabling them to take advantage of vMotion in a new way that would allow them to solve some of their unique business needs. vMotion is still as magical in 2020 as it was when VMware transformed the IT industry when it was first introduced.

Of course this would not have been possible without the support of so many amazing VMware Engineers who contributed to the Fling including the original developer, Vishal Gupta who I had worked with as part of the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) team. After Vishal left VMware, I recruited a few more folks to help with the project including Vladimir Velikov, Vikas Shitole, Rajmani Patel, Plamen Semerdzhiev and Denis Chorbadjiyski. Lastly, I also want to thank Vishwa Srikaanth and Abhijith Prabhudev from the vSphere Product Management team who have been supportive of the Fling since day 1 and has been advocating with me on behalf of our customers.

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