Feature request: import existing VMs to CIAC

[tonimaatta12]

Hi,

It would be great to add somekind of import to CIAC so we could import existing VMs to under CIAC.

Most customers has environment already up'n'running so it's pretty boring job to create VMs and change images after that.

Thanks.

[meisenst]

This is a top priority (and I believe "committed") for the next release.

[tonimaatta12]

Thanks for info. Would be great.

[Lee Calcote]

VM Discovery (or VM Brownfield or VM Import) will be a feature of IAC 4.0. CloudSync will be enhanced to perform discovery of existing VMs within the managed Cloud infrastructure.

The following information is provided as tentative details of the forthcoming feature.

CloudSync will tentatively include:

1. Discover the existence of the VMs (under data centers or resource pools registered for use with IAC)
2. Discover attributes of those VMs (the same as when a VM is provisioned)
   1. CPU configuration
   2. Memory configuration
   3. Storage reservation as well as actual usage (new)
   4. Network configuration
3. Discover snapshots
   1. only under data centers registered for use in IAC (new)
4. Discover snapshot attributes
   1. Storage usage
   2. Parent object (data center or resource pool)
   3. Snapshot hierarchy

VM Discovery is a special case of vCenter object discovery

1. there are many more VMs than other vCenter objects
2. collecting all fields of a VM is time and CPU intensive

Several use cases are defined to limit the amount of time and effort needed to keep records updated. The most intensive use case will be the Day 0 brownfield collection as Data Centers are registered.

The engine process, Enumerate VMs, will be used to collect the VMs for all use cases.  This ensures consistent collections, and any changes are applied to all use cases.

It'll perform two tiers of data collection:

1. Tier 1 collects a small amount of data very quickly
2. Tier 2 collects the full fingerprint per VM, but is relatively slow

• Discovery happens:

1. on a schedule - like other CloudSync activities
2. on an event - registration of a parent object (data center or resource pool)
3. on manual invocation by a cloud administrator

• Discovered State (Holding Area)
  • VMs are discovered, attributes collected, ready for manipulation (tagging/assignment/placement) by Cloud Provider Technical Administrator.

• Transition to Registered State (VM Registration)
  1. VMs are registered into service using the Manage Cloud Infrastructure portlet.
  2. This portlet needs to contain a new object type for vCenter.

1. The CPTA needs to assign:
   1. ownership
      1. By identifying the Server Owner, other aspects of ownership become known (tenant, org)
   2. placement - a VDC or Shared Zone
   3. ensure the assigned IP address is reflected in IPAddress SI tables.

[Luca Relandini]

Hi Lee,

has this feature been included in IAC 4.0?

I can't find it in the documentation, can you eventually point me at any docs?

I assume that on IAC 3.1 the user still needs to import VMs by working in the Service Item MAnager in PSC and assigning the Virtual Server to its owner.

Thanks,

Luca

[derevan]

The feature is now part of IAC 4.0 and discovered VMs are managed through the Manage Infrastructure portlet. Discovery of existing VMs occurs on a scheduled basis.