Add vCenter Services to the Catalog

You can add new or edit existing vCenter services through the Service Catalog wizard.

vCenter services listed in the Service Catalog can provide the following components:

  • VM and/or virtual services

    or

  • Open Virtual Format (OVF) or Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) templates.

    OVF and OVA templates are open-standard file formats for packaging and distributing VMs or vApps. When a user requests a service that uses an OVA/OVF template, at deploy time, Commander will transfer the virtual machine image specified by the URL for the component to vCenter.

You can add multiple components of the same type (that is, VM and/or virtual service components OR OVA/OVF components) to a service.

vCenter services can also provide custom components that cover non-virtual assets (such as a phone) and tasks that modify existing assets (such as the installation of a database instance on an existing server). You can add custom components to a vCenter service that offers no other components, VM or virtual service components, or OVA/OVF components.

  • The use of multi-cloud templates is suggested for all services in your catalog, for easier maintainability and greater flexibility. For more information, see Add Multi-Cloud Services to the Catalog.
  • You can edit a service at any time by selecting it in the list and clicking Edit. Note that when editing a service, it's not possible to add components to or remove components from a shared VM service.

See Create Services Using Fenced Networks to learn how to create a service for a fenced network.

Access:

Configuration > Self-Service

Available to:

Commander Roles of Superuser and Enterprise Admin

To add a vCenter service to the Service Catalog:

  1. Click the Catalog tab.
  2. On the Catalog tab, do one of the following:
    • To add a new service, click Add Service.
    • To copy an existing service, select a listed service, and click the Copy link.

      This option can save time because it copies much of the service's existing configuration.

    • To add a template to an existing service, select a listed service, and click Edit Service.

    When editing a service, it's not possible to add components to or remove components from a shared VM service. For more information, see VM Sharing

    After a service is added to the Service Catalog, you can click Show Details to quickly view information about it. From the service details, you can click the View Source link to go to the source VM, template or virtual service components in the Infrastructure view or the Applications view.

  3. On the Service Description page, set the following display options for the vCenter service, then click Next:
    • Name — The service name to display in the Service Catalog.

      This name is used as the label for the Service section of the Request New Service form. Choose a distinctive service name to help requesters fill out the form.

    • Description — An optional description of the service to display in the Service Catalog.

      Along with the service name, the description is used in Service Catalog searches, so a good description can help users find service catalog entries.

    • Icon — An icon to identify the service.

      To add a custom icon, click Manage Icons. See Manage icons for the service catalog for more details.

    • Categories — An identifying category that may help users find this service in a long list.

      To add a category, click Manage Categories. See Manage Service Catalog categories for more details.

    • If the service-level form elements such as Quantity and Expiry Date don't make sense for this service, you can hide the service portion of the service request form by clearing the Display service form when this service is requested checkbox.
  4. On the Component Blueprints page, you can add VM or virtual service components, OVA/OVF components, or custom components.
    • To add VM or virtual service components:
      1. Click Add and select VM Template, Image or AMI or Virtual Service.
      2. In the dialog that appears, select an available component.

        Use the tree or enter text in the search field to narrow the component list. The search field searches the Name and Guest OS properties for VMs, and the Name property for virtual services.

        All components in a Service Catalog entry must belong to the same cloud account.

      3. To display VMs in the component list as well as templates, enable Allow VMs in Catalog.
      4. Use the Name field to customize the display name for this component in the Service Catalog. This is the component name that a user sees when completing a service request form.
      5. In the Available Templates and VMs or Available Services dialog, select a VM or virtual service and click Add to Service.
      6. If you want to add multiple VM or virtual service components to the service, repeat the immediate steps above for each additional component you want to add to the service.
      7. When you have finished adding components, click Close to return to the wizard.

        The added components are listed under the Component Blueprints.

    • To add OVA/OVF components:
      1. Click Add > OVA/OVF Template.
      2. In the Add OVA/OVF Template dialog, enter one of the following in the URL field, then click OK:
        • A URL to a valid, publicly accessible OVA/OVF template. The URL can begin with "http://" or "https://".
        • A URL to an OVA/OVF template was downloaded to a locally-accessible directory. The URL must begin with "file:///" and provide the full network path. The URL can use drive letters, but it can't use a mapped drive.

          For example:

          file:///droberts3d.companya.com/OVA-OVF/TinyCore.ova

          file:///resources/ovas/TinyCore.ova

          Not:

          file:///Z:/ovas/TinyCore.ova

           

          • The Commander account that you use must be a directory service user with sufficient permission to read files from the given directory.
          • Only OVF/OVA templates that describe a single VM are supported.

        The added component is listed under the Component Blueprints.

      3. If you want to add multiple OVA/OVF components to the service, repeat the step above for each additional component you want to add.
    • To add custom components:

      Do one of the following:

      • To add a new custom component type to the service, click Add > New Component Type. In the Create New Component Type dialog, provide a name, a description, annual cost, and currency, then click Add to Service.
      • To add an existing custom component type to the service, click Add and select the component type from the drop-down menu.

        If more than five custom component types already exist, you must select Custom Type from the drop-down menu, and in the Select Custom Component Type dialog, select a component from the list.

        • The added components are listed under the Component Blueprints.

  5. Click Next, then customize the component configuration parameters on each of the following tabs that are available for your component type. You should review the configuration parameters for each component that you add.

    Sets default infrastructure information.  

    Field

    Description

    Name

    The name that will be displayed for the component in the Service Catalog and as the label for the Component section of the Request New Service form. A user sees the component name when viewing service details and when completing a service request form.

    Choose a distinctive component name to help requesters fill out the form.

    Description

    Optional: Customize the description for this component that will appear in the Service Catalog. A user sees the component description when viewing service details and when completing a service request form.

    Deployed Name

    Specify the name for deployed instances of this component.

    Select Use default naming format to use the default naming convention. This means it uses the VM naming convention to deploy a VM, and the virtual service naming convention to deploy a vApp.

    You can also specify a customized deployed name.

    Completion Workflow

    Completion workflows allow you to specify actions to be carried out after deployment. If you have set up one or more component-level completion workflows, you can select one from this menu.

    • Click Add Workflow to create a new workflow.
    • Click Edit Workflow to edit the currently selected workflow. Note that when you edit the workflow using this link, you're editing the workflow for all of the components or services it's assigned to.

    Customization Spec
    (VM or virtual service components —Windows and Linux templates only.)

    Customization specs allow Commander to modify source images during deployment, greatly reducing the number of templates you must maintain to deliver a variety of services based on the same OS.

    If the component is a Windows or Linux template with a customization specification, you can select a different specification for the template by selecting one from the drop-down menu. This specification becomes available during deployment of a VM.

    You can also assign a customization spec through a completion workflow with a Customize VM step. To avoid collisions, only choose one of these methods.

    If the Dynamic Resource Scheduling (DRS) automation level for a cluster is set to Fully automated and VM-level DRS control is allowed, Commander temporarily disables DRS during guest OS customization for new VMs deployed into the cluster. Disabling DRS means that vSphere won't migrate a newly provisioned VM before customization is complete. A Commander event is generated when DRS is disabled, and again when it's re-enabled.

    Deployed VMs will be

    (VM or virtual service components only)

    Choose Linked Clones to deploy the VM component as a linked clone. Otherwise, select Standalone VMs.

    A linked clone is created from a snapshot of the parent. Because the linked clone relies heavily on the parent snapshot, the parent or snapshot location should be on a very fast SAN (SSD), especially if multiple linked clones are created from the same parent.

    The linked clone consists of the snapshot plus the metadata and the delta between the snapshot and the deployed image. Commander always uses the most recent snapshot to create the linked clone.

    If the component is a template without a snapshot, you can't select Linked Clones. You must first convert the template to a VM, create a snapshot, and then convert the VM back to a template. If the component is a VM without a snapshot, Commander creates a snapshot during deployment.

    Annual Cost

    (OVA/OVF components only)

    The preconfigured annual cost is displayed. You can change it in the Manage component types for the service catalog.

    Sets the default storage tier and network mapping.

    Field

    Description

    CPU Count

    (VM or virtual service components only)

    Set the default number of CPUs for this specific component.

    Memory

    (VM or virtual service components only)

    Set the default memory requirements for this specific component.

    Disks

    (VM or virtual service components only)

    Set the default storage requirements for this specific component. For existing disks, or disks that you add, you can change the disk size and storage tier. Enable the Locked option to stop Service Portal users from modifying a hard disk in a service request.

    The disk format is taken either from the source template or from the provisioning destination. The settings in the provisioning destination override the template settings, so if you want to use the template settings, make sure to select Same format as source on the Disk Format page of the Automated Deployment Placement wizard. You must ensure that datastores are available to back all storage tiers in use.

    It's not possible to: resize IDE disks, delete the base disk, or decrease the base disk size.

    Network

    • VM or virtual service components — Set the default networking information for this specific component. Select a network zone for each adapter.

      Add adapters by clicking the Add Adapter link, and then set the required network zone.

    • OVA/OVF components — For each adapter defined in the OVF descriptor, select a network zone.

     

    • The network zone and storage tier set for a requested service are used to determine the provisioning destination, which in turn affects costs displayed for the published service.
    • If you're using network zones, to prevent automated deployment failure, you must either configure a default network zone on the Resources tab, add the Network element to the Form tab, or both.
    • If a network zone assigned to a service catalog component is deleted, the service is marked as corrupt and can't be requested.
    • If you don't add the Storage element and/or the Network element to the Form tab (see Service Request Form Elements), the default values configured on the Resources tab are used to determine placement, which defines what destinations appear on the Service form.

    Storage Tier

    Set the storage tier for all VMs in the virtual service. You must ensure that datastores are available to back all storage tiers in use.

    The admin can only choose one storage tier because all hard disks must be deployed to the same datastore.

    Set the configuration parameters required for an OVA/OVF component. The configuration parameters that are displayed depend upon the descriptor file of the OVA/OVF template that's used. This tab is only displayed if the descriptor file contains at least one property.

    You can enter a literal value for a parameter or use a variable.

     

    • When you use variables for a parameter, you can set an available custom attribute for the parameter. This can allow users requesting the service to configure some or all parameters. To add a custom attribute for a parameter here, you must first add the custom attribute on the Attributes tab.

      For more information of how you can use custom attributes to allow users to configure parameters, see Commander support for OVA/OVF parameters: Example.

    • The default values for the template are displayed on the right side of the page. If you make changes to the configuration parameters, but then want to restore the default values, click Reset to template defaults.

    The OVA/OVF template used for the component may include an end-user license agreement (EULA) that you must accept to use the template.

    If you accept the agreement here, you also implicitly accept it for all user auto-deployments.

    You can assign metadata to the service component with custom attributes and groups.

    Custom Attributes

    Set custom attributes and their default values for this specific component. On the Form tab, you can allow requesters to set values for custom attributes. If you don't specify a default value, no default is set for the component. If you add an attribute on the Form tab, the default value you set on the Attributes tab is presented to the requester as the default value.

    To be able to add a custom attribute for this component on the request form, you must add the custom attribute on the Attributes tab first.

    If custom attributes were defined for the source VM template, they are prepopulated here. Click Delete Attribute if you don't want this attribute to apply to this service component.

    Custom attributes defined for source VM templates aren't displayed for multi-cloud services.

    Click Add Attributes to select from the list of existing custom attributes. In the Add Attributes dialog, Form attributes and custom attributes applicable to the current component type are displayed.

    To edit existing custom attributes, click Manage Attributes. On the Custom Attributes page, you can add and edit custom attributes. Click the browser's Back button to return to the Attributes tab.

    If you add list-type custom attributes that are interrelated, the attributes are displayed in the order of parent to child to grandchild (if applicable). Your selection of a default value for the parent affects the selectable values for the sublist attribute. For more information, see Create Relationships Between Attributes Used on Forms.

    Groups

    Set the default groups for this specific component. You can assign the following group types:

    If you don't specify a value, the default group is assumed; each component must belong to a group of each type. It's possible to assign groups in other ways, such as through policy; see Order of precedence for assigning groups to requested services for information on which group assignment takes precedence. For more information on groups, see Managing Service Groups.

    Groups assigned to the source template or VM are not prepopulated on the Attributes tab.

    • Click Add Groups to select one or more group types and click OK. Next, on the Attributes tab, select a group from the relevant drop-down menu.
    • If you need to add or edit groups, click Manage Groups; when finished, just click your browser's Back button to return to the Attributes tab.

    If you have integrated a Puppet server with Commander, Puppet environments, classes and groups are displayed on the Puppet tab for service components. Select an environment for the VM component. Once you select an environment, only those classes and groups found in that environment are available for selection.

    You can select one or more default classes and groups. Ctrl-click to select multiple classes and groups.

    Assign classes to nodes indirectly by assigning groups to nodes, rather than directly assigning classes to nodes. If you use the Configure Puppet workflow step to assign classes and variables to a node, Commander creates a group with the same name as the node and pins the node to the group. A parent group named "vCommander" is also created to contain these groups.

    You can also allow users to select classes and/or groups on the Form tab. You can then use variables to return the requested values through a completion workflow. For more information, see Integrate Puppet with Commander.

    If you have integrated one or more Chef servers or organizations with Commander, Chef information is displayed on the Chef tab for service components.

    If you have added multiple Chef servers or organizations, select a server or organization from the Chef Organization menu. Otherwise, the Chef organization is displayed as a read-only value.

    Select an environment from the Chef Environment menu. The roles and recipes for the selected environment are displayed.

    Select one or more default roles and recipes from the Available Roles and Recipes pick-list. Ctrl-click to select multiple roles and recipes. Use the arrow buttons between the lists to move your selections into the Current Run-List. Then order the roles and recipes properly.

    If you don't select default roles and recipes, no defaults are applied.

    You can then use variables to return your selections through a completion workflow. For more information, see Integrate Chef with Commander.

    Customize the form users see when they request this specific component. The parameters that are displayed depend on the component type. If the component is a VM or virtual service, additional options may be displayed if the component offers Chef or Puppet integrations.

    Adding elements to the Form tab allows requesters to change the default settings you configured on the other tabs. If you leave the Form tab blank for all components added to the service, users won't see a component form when they request a service; they will see only the service-level form page provided by the new service request definition. For more information, see Create New Service Requests.

    If a user requests changes from the default settings configured in the service catalog, these changes are displayed in approval emails, on the approval landing page, and in the Request Details dialog.

    Form Element

    Description

    Header

    Adds heading text to the form.

    Text

    Adds explanatory text to the form.

    Input Text Field

    Allows the requester to enter a value, such as a note or a password.

    Important: If users will enter a password on the request form, enable Hide User Input. When this option is enabled:

    • Asterisks (*) are displayed for this field value in the Request Details dialog, emails, and landing pages.
    • The password is stored, encrypted, in the Commander database.
    • The plain-text password can be accessed through the approval workflow variable #{request.services[x].components[x].settings.inputField['field name']}. For example, if you set the Display Label for the Input Text Field to "Password", you would access the password in an approval workflow script with the variable #{request.services[1].components[1].settings.inputField['Password']}.
    • If a request containing a password is copied, the password is blanked out.

    Dynamic List

    Allows the requester to select options from lists that are updated in real time from an external source. If the lists can depend on other form elements, the selection of one form element can dictate the available choices for another list. For more information, see Add Dynamic Lists to Forms.

    File Upload (only for components with Chef or Puppet integrations)

    Allows the requester to upload files during the service request process. Uploaded files are added to the VM's local directory as configured in the completion workflow using the Copy Uploaded File workflow step. This allows for more flexibility when scripting unattended installations and additional VM configurations. The file upload functionality can be used with Chef or Puppet for enhanced VM deployment and orchestration. For more information about integrating with Chef or Puppet, see Integrate Chef with Commander or Integrate Puppet with Commander.

    CPU Count (only for VM or virtual service components)

    Allows the requester to specify or change CPU count requirements for a VM component. You can limit the number of CPUs that users can request by entering a comma-separated list of values (for example, 1,2,4).

    Memory

    Allows the requester to specify or change memory requirements for a VM component. You can limit the amount of memory that users can request.

    Storage

    Allows the requester to specify or change storage requirements for the VM. The selectable storage tier labels can be customized.

    You must ensure that datastores are available to back all storage tiers in use.

    VM or virtual service components

    The following options are only available for VM or virtual service components:

    • Limit Selections: The Storage form element works together with the Destination form element on the Service form (see Service Request Form Elements). The Limit Selections option controls the interaction of these two elements. For example, let's say you have two destinations — the datastores on the first are assigned to storage tier 1, and the datastores on the second are all assigned to storage tier 2. Your request form contains both the Destination and Storage elements.
      • If you disable Limit Selections, the selected storage tier controls what destination is used. When a requester picks Storage Tier 1 from the Storage element, Destination 1 is auto-selected. When a requester picks Storage Tier 2, the destination changes to Destination 2.
      • If you enable Limit Selections, the destination drives the available tiers. When a requester picks destination 1, only Storage Tier 1 can be selected for the Storage element. When a requester picks destination 2, only Storage Tier 2 can be selected. Commander chooses the correct destination in this case.
    • Virtual services: You should enable Display Storage Tier on virtual service component forms, so that the requester can choose a storage tier for each virtual service component. (The same storage tier will be used for all VMs in a virtual service.) Requesters won't be able to add extra disks. If Storage Tier isn't included on the service request form, virtual service automated deployment will choose the cheapest available configured storage that can satisfy the request.
    • Allowed Actions: Specify whether the requester can Add disks, Change disks, and Remove disks.

      If you specify that the user can change existing disks, specify the Maximum Disk Size.

      If you specify that the user can both add and change disks, specify the Maximum Disk Size and Maximum Extra Disks.

    Network

    Allows the requester to change or add network adapters for a VM component by choosing a network zone. The initial number of network adapters shown on the form matches the number of NICs on the source template.

    When this element is on the form:

    • Automatically deployed VMs can only be assigned to networks in the listed network zones, so you must assign network zones
    • And if multiple destinations are available to a user, with different networks configured for each destination, you must also add the Destination form element to the Service form (see Service Request Form Elements). If a requester wants to select a network zone that's not available on the default destination, they need to be able to select another destination.

    Selectable Zones: Select one or more selectable network zones for users.

    VM or virtual service components

    The following options are only available for VM or virtual service components. (Templates and VMs only; not shown for fenced services.)

    • Allowed Actions: Select the actions that requesters can perform with respect to network selection:
      • Add adapter: Network zones are not shown on the form if you select this option; adapters are labeled Adapter 1, Adapter 2, and so on, and Commander assigns the network of the first NIC of the deployed VM to all added adapters.
      • Change network zone
      • Add adapter and change network zone

    Component Name

    (Templates and VMs only) Allows the requester to specify the name of the deployed VM. The Maximum Length field allows you to change the maximum number of characters (default: 50). See also Order of precedence for deployed service names.

    Attributes

    Allows the requester to specify custom attribute values for a component.

    If you added custom attributes on the Attributes tab, or if custom attributes were assigned to the source template or VM, these attributes appear under Attributes.

    Click a custom attribute to add it to the form.

    If the attribute is a list-type attribute and configured to apply only to forms, you can enable Select Multiple to allow users to select multiple values for this attribute. For more information, see Form custom attributes.

    If you add a custom attribute to a component through the Form tab and add the same attribute to the service form (see Create New Service Requests), the value specified on the service form takes precedence.

    Puppet Classes(only for VM components)

    Allows the requester to specify Puppet classes for a VM component. This form element appears only if a Puppet server is integrated with Commander. If a Puppet environment was selected on the Puppet tab, only classes found in the specified environment can be selected on the form. See Integrate Puppet with Commander for details.

    Assign classes to nodes indirectly by assigning groups to nodes, rather than directly assigning classes to nodes. If you use the Configure Puppet workflow step to assign classes and variables to a node, Commander creates a group with the same name as the node and pins the node to the group. A parent group named "Commander" is also created to contain these groups.

    Puppet Groups(only for VM components)

    Allows the requester to specify Puppet groups for a VM component. This form element appears only if a Puppet server is integrated with Commander. If a Puppet environment was selected on the Puppet tab, only groups found in the specified environment can be selected on the form. See Integrate Puppet with Commander for details.

    Chef Run-List

    (only for VM components)

    Allows the requester to configure a Chef run-list for a VM component. This form element appears only if a Chef server is integrated with Commander. See Integrate Chef with Commander for details.

    The Chef Run-List form element can't co-exist with either the Chef Recipes or the Chef Roles form element.

    Chef Recipes (only for VM components)

    Allows the requester to specify Chef recipes for a VM component. This form element appears only if a Chef server is integrated with Commander. See Integrate Chef with Commander for details.

    The Chef Run-List form element can't co-exist with either the Chef Recipes or the Chef Roles form element.

    Chef Roles (only for VM components)

    Allows the requester to specify Chef roles for a VM component. This form element appears only if a Chef server is integrated with Commander. See Integrate Chef with Commander for details.

    The Chef Run-List form element can't co-exist with either the Chef Recipes or the Chef Roles form element.

    When you have completed configuring the added components, click Next to continue editing the service catalog entry.

  6. On the Deployment page, specify deployment options for the entire service, then click Next.

    If your service only includes one or more custom components, many of these options won't be present.

    • Deploy Service As — Choose one of the following options:
      • Virtual Service — The service will be deployed as a vApp; you can manage the service as a whole after the service request has been completed, but Service Portal users will still be able to see and manage individual VMs within the vApp.
      • Individual Components — The service will be deployed as individual VMs.

        When creating a service that contains a single virtual service component, choose Individual Components. Otherwise, the service will be deployed as a virtual service within a virtual service.

    • Deployed Name — If you deploy the service as a virtual service, you can specify a customized name for deployed instances of the service. Select Use default naming format to use the default virtual service naming convention, or specify a customized deployed name.

      Click Configure global text replacement rules to shorten your service names. See also Set up text replacement rules for service names.

    • Deployment/Startup Order or Deployment Order — Applies only to VM and virtual service components. Some components in a multi-tier service may require other components to be started and running before they can start.
      • If you deploy the service as a virtual service, you specify both the order in which the components are deployed and the order in which the components are started.
      • If you deploy the service as individual components, you specify the order in which the components are deployed. The reverse order is used for shutdown.

      There is a 120 second delay between startup and shutdown of each component. There is no delay for deployment, but components are deployed serially, not in parallel.

      An administrator can override the deployment order by manually deploying components in a different order. It's also possible for Commander and Service Portal users with permissions can edit the start order for a deployed vApp.

    • Completion Workflow — If you have set up one or more service-level completion workflows, you can select one from the drop-down. Completion workflows allow you to specify actions to be carried out after deployment.
      • Click Add Workflow to create a new workflow.
      • Click Edit Workflow to edit the workflow that's currently selected in the drop-down list. Note that when you edit the workflow using this link, you're editing the workflow for all of the components or services it's assigned to.
    • Start Deployed Components — By default, VMs are powered on during deployment. If you want to deploy VMs in this service in a powered-off state, clear this option.

      When this option isn't enabled and a customization spec is assigned to a component in the service, if the VM is migrated to a different datastore before its first power on, the customization spec won't run.

  7. On the Placement page, you can configure placement attributes to define the Intelligent Placement requirements for the service.

    When you assign a placement attribute value to a published service, you're identifying the requirements of that published service to help ensure that services are deployed to the best destination. For more information, seeConfigure Placement Attributes.

    To configure placement attributes:

    1. Click Edit Placement Attributes.
    2. In the Edit Placement Attributes dialog, in the Not Required section, select an attribute value that's provided by this destination and click Add to move it to the Required section.

      3. You can click Create Placement Attributes to create a new placement attribute. See Create placement attributes for more information.

    3. Click OK to close the Edit Placement Attributes dialog.

      The placement attribute values you've assigned to this service are displayed on the Placement page.

    4. For a placement attribute with selectable values, use the Up and Down arrow buttons to order the attribute values by preference if necessary. For example, if a service can be deployed on either private or public cloud, but private cloud is preferable, make sure the Private Cloud attribute value is first in the list.
  8. On the Visibility page, select one of the following options to set which users and groups can request this service, then click Next:
    • Do not publish — The service is in the catalog but isn't available for selection (temporarily disabled). See also Permanently remove services from the Service Catalog.
    • Publish - Global — The service is available to all organizations, users and groups.
    • Publish - Specific organizations, users and groups — The service is available to the specified organizations, users and groups. If you select this option, you can assign a single service to both organizations and users/groups.
      • On the Organizations tab, select an organization from the drop-down menu. On the Users/Groups tab, enter the username or email address for one or more users or groups.

        When an organization member requests this service, the deployed service will automatically be assigned to the organization, with the requester as primary owner.

  9. On the Summary page, review the service's configuration details, and click Finish when you're done.

    If necessary, go back to the appropriate pages and make changes.