VMworld 2013: Automating the Software Defined Data Center: How Do I Get Started

Automating the Software Defined Data Center:

How Do I Get Started

Thomas Corfmat, VMware

Alan Renouf, VMware

VCM5048

#VCM5048

2

Tying the Software-Defined Datacenter (SDDC) & Automation

Software-defined Datacenter:

All infrastructure is virtualized and

delivered as a service, and the

control of this datacenter is

entirely driven by software.

Abstract Pool “Automate”

“I want some of that!”

3

Where Do I Get It?

“Where is VMware

vCloud Software

Defined Data Center

Automator

(vCSDDCA)?”

4

Answer: Follow These Guidelines

Step 1. Get the most expensive

SKU: vCloud Suite Enterprise

Plus SDDC Platinum Edition

Step 2. Enter the cheat code

license key:

DEFY_CONVENTION

(no spaces or lowercase)

5

Voila !!!!

People-powered energy source

Talk to Legal

6

Agenda

1. The Key Challenge: Where Do I Start?

2. Major Automation Technologies

3. VMware Automation Cheat Sheet

4. Drive-by Demos

5. Top 10 Automation Tips

6. The Future of Automation

• Understand datacenter automation and its benefits

• Identify the right automation product for your project

• Identify what can make or break your automation project

SESSION

GOALS

7

Automation Definitions

Automation:

Scripts-based: Need to type text (correctly)

Workflow-based: IT Process Automation, Orchestration,

Run Book Automation

Built-in: Purpose-built application or feature (e.g. HA)

Policy-based: Define rules without code in UI (e.g. vMotion)

Related concepts: APIs, Integration

8

VMware Automation Cheat Sheet

9

Provisioning Operations Maintenance

Datacenter Infrastructure

Virtual Datacenter

VMs

Applications

Workloads

Desktops

Detection of failures

Availability

Health

Scaling/Rightsizing

Capacity

Remediation

Resource Allocation

Failover

Administrative tasks

Updates / Upgrades

Reporting

Ongoing

Configuration

Areas of Automation

10

Provisioning Operations Maintenance Datacenter Infrastructure

vCAC/VCO/PowerCLI

Virtual Datacenter

vCD/VCNS

VMs

AppD/vCAC/vCO/PowerCLI/vCenter

Applications

AppD/vCAC/vCO/PowerCLI

Workloads

vCAC/vCO/PowerCLI

Desktops

vCAC/View


vCOps Mgr/PowerCLI

Availability

vCOps

Health

vCOps Mgr/PowerCLI

Scaling/Rightsizing

vCOps/vCO/PowerCLI/vCAC/AppD

Capacity

vCOps Mgr/PowerCLI

Remediation

vCO/PowerCLI

Resource Allocation

vSphere DRS/SDRS

Failover

vSphere HA/SRM


vCO/PowerCLI

Updates / Upgrades

VUM/VCM/VCO/PowerCLI

Reporting

PowerCLI/vCOps Mgr

Ongoing Configuration

VCM/AppD/vCAC

What VMware Products COULD you Use?

11

Provisioning Operations Maintenance Datacenter Infrastructure

vCAC/vCO/PowerCLI

Virtual Datacenter

vCD/VCNS

VMs

AppD/vCAC/VCO/PowerCLI/vCenter

Applications

AppD/vCAC/vCO/PowerCLI

Workloads

vCAC/vCO/PowerCLI

Desktops

vCAC/View


vCOps Mgr/PowerCLI

Availability

vCOps Mgr

Health

vCOps Mgr/PowerCLI

Scaling/Rightsizing

vCOps/vCO/PowerCLI/vCAC/AppD

Capacity

vCOps Mgr/PowerCLI

Remediation

vCO/PowerCLI

Resource Allocation

vSphere DRS/SDRS

Failover

vSphere HA/SRM


vCO/PowerCLI

Updates / Upgrades

VUM/VCM/vCO/PowerCLI

Reporting

PowerCLI/vCOpsMgr

Ongoing Configuration

VCM/AppD/vCAC

What VMware Products ARE Recommended? (check with a licensed

professional first)

12

Drive-by Demos

13

Product Demos

PowerCLI (Scripting)

• Provisioning Datacenter Infrastructure

• Maintenance

vCAC (Policy) & vCO (Workflow)

• Provisioning/Decommissioning Workloads

• 3rd Party Integration

14

Top 10 Automation Tips

15


Identify current problem AND benchmark

associated metric (e.g. time to provision, MTTR,

machine/admin ratio, etc.)

Helps prioritize first automation area(s)

Critical to measure progress vs. goal and ongoing

management support

Don’t automate something you can’t measure

or doesn’t return enough value

Measure it! TIP No. 1

16


Identify offerings that satisfy 90% of needs

Model those as templates, blueprints, with

right options

Cost of not doing: template sprawl,

complexity of management,

troubleshooting, etc.

All about finding sweet spot between choice

and ease of management

Automation is good.

Automation with

standardization is great. TIP No. 2

17


Find corporate sponsor/champion

Educate, engage and get commitments

Get Access to systems/APIs

Silo-ed mentality is biggest challenge to

overcome!

It’s all about people… TIP No. 3

18


Mixed skillset is key:

Domain experts (e.g. storage, networking, etc.)

Script/development expertise

Business process

Project manager

Select the right

(mix of) people TIP No. 4

19


Opportunity for process

re-engineering

Current manual process may not

be ideal automation candidate

Do you really need 17 approvals?

Identify steps that cannot be

automated

Simplify. Don’t automate

broken processes. TIP No. 5

20


Identify category (Provisioning, Operations,

Maintenance) with most pain

Prioritize pain points within category:

1. Automate top outstanding pain point

2. Document results

3. Move to next pain point

4. Repeat until done or automation cost > value

Automate incrementally TIP No. 6

21


Automation mistakes create

large-scale problems

Need functional AND scale testing

Consider throttling mechanisms,

queuing, recovery actions, etc.

Avoid mass-producing defective results

Testing TIP No. 7

22


Don’t fall hostage to undocumented

automation

Take advantage of built-in

documentation

PowerCLI standardization

vCO graphical process and documentation

auto-generation

Blueprints

Documentation TIP No. 8

23


Phone call + back-end automation

OR

Service Portal + manual fulfillment…

… are incomplete solutions

Lots of time lost in manual hands-off

(calls/emails between users and IT)

Need end-to-end automation: one solution or

tightly integrated front-end + back-end solutions

End-to-end automation =

Self-service

+ back-end automation.

TIP No. 9

+

24


Built-in with policies 1st choice

Orchestration/workflows integration

Scripts quick solutions

Andy Troup blog article:

http://blogs.vmware.com/cloudops/2013/07/aut

omation-the-scripting-orchestration-and-

technology-love-triangle.html

Follow the

“Automation Triangle” TIP No. 10

25

The Future of Automation

26

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The Future of Automation Is Policy-Based (…and Also Bright)

Data Protection Local Availability Site Availability

Entitlements

Web

Data

App

XaaS

XaaS SLA

Availability 99.99%

DR RTO 1 hour

Back up daily Availability Approvals

Quotas/Budget

Reservations

28

Learn More About Cloud Automation

Breakout Sessions:

• Provisioning and Managing a Heterogeneous Cloud, Wed 11:30-12:30 Moscone

West, Room 3004 (VCM5148) repeat on Thursday 10:30-11:30

Booth: vCloud Automation Center and vCenter Orchestrator

Lounge: Solution Exchange 2020

Hands on Labs:

• HOL-SDC-1313 vCloud Suite Use Cases - Infrastructure Provisioning (IaaS)

• HOL-SDC-1314 vCloud Suite Use Cases - Application Provisioning (PaaS)

• HOL-SDC-1307 Integrate vCAC with Orchestrator

• HOL-PRT-1304 Infoblox - Automate with vCAC and the vCO IPAM plug-in

• HOL-SDC-1307 Enable Hybrid Cloud Automation & Governance with vCloud

Automation Center (vCAC)

Group Discussion:

• Cloud Automation Wed, 2-3, Moscone West Alcove 2

29

Learn More About PowerCLI

Breakout Sessions:

• VAPP5473 – Automated Management of Tier-1 Applications on VMware

• Wednesday, 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM

• VSVC4944 – PowerCLI Best Practices – A Deep Dive

• Monday, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM & Tuesday, 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

• VSVC5931 – PowerCLI What’s New? Administrating with the CLI Was Never

Easier

• Wednesday, Aug 28, 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM

• Thursday, Aug 29, 12:30 – 1:30 PM

Hands on Labs:

• HOL-SDC-1307 – vCloud Automation Solutions

Group Discussion:

• VSVC1005-GD - PowerCLI and Automation with Alan Renouf

• Wednesday, Aug 28, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

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Other VMware Activities Related to This Session

HOL:

HOL-SDC-1307

vCloud Automation Solutions

Group Discussions:

VCM1003-GD

Cloud Automation with Naomi Sullivan

THANK YOU

Automating the Software Defined Data Center:

How Do I Get Started

Thomas Corfmat, VMware

Alan Renouf, VMware

VCM5048

#VCM5048

Technology

VMworld 2013: Automating the Software Defined Data Center: How Do I Get Started