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Using vRO REST API to execute a workflow with SDK objects

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I was working on something last week which involved vRealize Orchestrator and I wanted to execute a vRO worklfow but rather than using the UI, I wanted to use the vRO REST API. Although there are a couple of blog posts such as this one which demonstrates how to use the vRO REST API, they all use a very simple workflow that only contains string inputs. In my opinion, this does not actually reflect practical workflows which usually contains a mix of strings but also SDK-based objects like vSphere VMs, ESXi hosts, Networks, etc.

It actually took me awhile to wrap my head around how to call these more complex workflows using the vRO REST API and after a ton of trial/error and some help from Kasey Linden and one of the vRO Engineers, I now have a method in which users can follow to identify the required payload for a given vRO workflow when using the vRO REST API. The instructions below is using the latest vRO 8.0.1 release which has a new HMTL5 UI, it has been awhile and I am not sure when this new UI was introduced but the instructions may work for older clients but I would recommend standing up the latest version for developing your automation.

Step 1 - Retrieve the vRO workflow ID by selecting the workflow in the vRO UI. In the example below, my Tag a VM workflow ID is 9d95c7f5-a563-413f-af42-fd7e09275216

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ESXi host with network redundancy using NSX-T and only 2 pNICs?

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In todays data centers, it is not uncommon to find servers with only 2 x 10GbE network interfaces, this is especially true with the rise of Hyper-Converged Infrastructure over the last several years. For customers looking to deploy NSX-T with ESXi, there is an important physical network constraint to be aware of which is quickly mentioned in the NSX-T documentation here.

For example, your hypervisor host has two physical links that are up: vmnic0 and vmnic1. Suppose vmnic0 is used for management and storage networks, while vmnic1 is unused. This would mean that vmnic1 can be used as an NSX-T uplink, but vmnic0 cannot. To do link teaming, you must have two unused physical links available, such as vmnic1 and vmnic2.

As shown in the diagram below, an ESXi host with only two physical NICs can not provide complete network redundancy as each pNIC can only be associated with a single switch (VSS/VDS or the new N-VDS) as pNICs can not be shared across switches.


For customers, this means that you need to allocate a minimum of 4 pNICs to provide redundancy for both overlay traffic and non-overlay VMkernel traffic such as Management, vMotion, VSAN, etc. This is much easier said than done as not all hardware platforms can easily be expanded and even if they can, there still is a huge cost in expanding the physical network footprint (switch port, cabling, etc).

UPDATE (06/12/18) - As of NSX-T 2.2, which was recently released, there is now a UI in NSX-T Manager for managing the migration of VMkernel interfaces to the N-VDS. For automation purposes, you may still find this article useful but now you have option of using the UI.

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VMware Fusion Powershell community module

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During the VMware Fusion 2017 Tech Preview, I was experimenting around with the new Fusion REST API and I had built a small prototype PowerShell Module as a way for me to learn how the API works. This allowed me to provide valuable feedback back to the Fusion Engineering team on improving the REST API UX. I was pleasantly happy to see that the majority of the feedback was indeed implemented for Fusion 10 which GA'ed a few weeks back.

Given the PowerShell module was pretty useful for my own use, I figure I would also publish it for others who might also be interested in Automating VM management using the new Fusion REST API, especially those with a PowerShell/PowerCLI background. Another nice thing about the module is that it can run across macOS/Linux via PowerShell Core or Windows using full blown PowerShell. I have been slowly tweaking the module to include the updated REST API changes and I am please to announce that the VMware.Hosted PowerShell Module which supports the new Fusion 10 REST API is now available!

The module includes the following 14 functions:

  • Connect-HostedServer
  • Disconnect-HostedServer
  • Get-HostedNetworks
  • Get-HostedVM
  • Get-HostedVMNic
  • Get-HostedVMSharedFolder
  • New-HostedVM
  • New-HostedVMSharedFolder
  • Remove-HostedVM
  • Remove-HostedVMSharedFolder
  • Resume-HostedVM
  • Start-HostedVM
  • Stop-HostedVM
  • Suspend-HostedVM


If you have ever used PowerCLI before, these functions should feel very familiar. We have basic Connect/Disconnect-HostedServer which will set an environmental variable called $DefaultHostedServer. This variable contains some basic information about the Fusion API endpoint as well as the base64 encoded credentials which are required when connecting to the new Fusion API. Below are a few examples using the new Fusion module, they are pretty basic and I have only implemented a sub-set of the Fusion REST API, so any community contributions are most welcome!

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