VMworld 2013 Thomas Corfmat, VMware Alan Renouf, VMware Learn more about VMworld and register at http://www.vmworld.com/index.jspa?src=socmed-vmworld-slideshare

1. Automating the Software Defined Data Center:
How Do I Get Started
Thomas Corfmat, VMware
Alan Renouf, VMware
VCM5048
#VCM5048

2. 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. 3
Where Do I Get It?
“Where is VMware
vCloud Software
Defined Data Center
Automator
(vCSDDCA)?”

4. 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. 5
Voila !!!!
 People-powered energy source
 Talk to Legal

6. 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. 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. 8
VMware Automation Cheat Sheet

9. 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. 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
Detection of failures
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
Administrative tasks
vCO/PowerCLI
Updates / Upgrades
VUM/VCM/VCO/PowerCLI
Reporting
PowerCLI/vCOps Mgr
Ongoing Configuration
VCM/AppD/vCAC
What VMware Products COULD you Use?

11. 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
Detection of failures
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
Administrative tasks
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. 12
Drive-by Demos

13. 13
Product Demos
 PowerCLI (Scripting)
• Provisioning Datacenter Infrastructure
• Maintenance
 vCAC (Policy) & vCO (Workflow)
• Provisioning/Decommissioning Workloads
• 3rd Party Integration

14. 14
Top 10 Automation Tips

15. 15
Top 10 Automation Tips
 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. 16
Top 10 Automation Tips
 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. 17
Top 10 Automation Tips
 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. 18
Top 10 Automation Tips
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. 19
Top 10 Automation Tips
 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. 20
Top 10 Automation Tips
 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 incrementallyTIP No. 6

21. 21
Top 10 Automation Tips
Automation mistakes create
large-scale problems
Need functional AND scale testing
Consider throttling mechanisms,
queuing, recovery actions, etc.
Avoid mass-producing defective results
TestingTIP No. 7

22. 22
Top 10 Automation Tips
 Don’t fall hostage to undocumented
automation
 Take advantage of built-in
documentation
 PowerCLI standardization
 vCO graphical process and documentation
auto-generation
 Blueprints
DocumentationTIP No. 8

23. 23
Top 10 Automation Tips
 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. 24
Top 10 Automation Tips
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. 25
The Future of Automation

26. 26

27. 27
The Future of Automation Is Policy-Based (…and Also Bright)
Data Protection LocalAvailability SiteAvailability
Entitlements
Web
Data
App
XaaS
XaaS SLA
Availability 99.99%
DR RTO 1 hour
Back up daily
Availability Approvals
Quotas/Budget
Reservations

28. 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. 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

30. 30
Other VMware Activities Related to This Session
 HOL:
HOL-SDC-1307
vCloud Automation Solutions
 Group Discussions:
VCM1003-GD
Cloud Automation with Naomi Sullivan

31. THANK YOU

33. Automating the Software Defined Data Center:
How Do I Get Started
Thomas Corfmat, VMware
Alan Renouf, VMware
VCM5048
#VCM5048