VMware vRealize Suite is a purpose-built management solution for the heterogeneous data center and the hybrid cloud. It delivers and manages infrastructure and applications to increase the business agility while maintaining IT control. It provides the most comprehensive management stack for private and public clouds, multiple hypervisors, and physical infrastructure.

It consists of the following solutions:

  • vRealize Automation (and vRealize Orchestrator)
  • vRealize Operations
  • vRealize Log Insight

To automate installation, configuration, upgrade, patch, configuration management, drift remediation and health from within a single pane of glass, we will use vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager.

The below diagram shows technological capabilities and organizational constructs.

In the lab environment we’ll install all solutions as single node instances with the following sizings:

NamePurposeSizevCPUMemory (GB)Disk (GB)
vrslcm1Lifecycle Manager–2678
wsa1avIDMMedium81660
vra1avRealize AutomationMedium1242236
vrops1avRealize OperationsExtra small28274
vrli1avRealize Log InsightSmall48530

After the deployment of these solutions, we’re going to initially integrate them.

Installation of Lifecycle Manager, vIDM, and vRealize Automation

In this part we’ll install vRSLCM, vIDM and vRA using the Easy installer on the Management Cluster (in vc1.lab.local).

The Easy installation procedure has the following tasks:

  • Install vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
  • Configure vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager, inlcuding:
  • Adding a Managed vCenter
  • Adding a vRealize Automation Environment
  • Deploy VMware Identity Manager via vRSLCM
  • Deploy vRealize Automation via vRSLCM
  1. Mount the vRLCM installer ISO and execute the installer.exe file in X:\vrlcm-ui-installer\win32.
  2. Click Install
  3. Accept the End User License Agreement, click Next
  4. On the Appliance Deployment Target page, specify the vCenter server details and click Next
    1. vCenter Server FQDN: vc1.lab.local
    2. HTTPs Port: 443
    3. Username/Password
  5. Accept the certificate
  6. On the Select a Location page, select the Datacenter: Datacenter
  7. On the Select a Compute Resource page, select the cluster: Mgmt-Cluster
    1. Select a Storage Location: datastore1
  8. On the Network Configuration page, enter the following details
    1. Network: Nested Management Network
    2. IP Assignment: static
    3. Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
    4. Default Gateway: 172.16.11.253
    5. DNS Servers: 172.16.11.4
    6. Domain Name: lab.local
    7. NTP Server: 172.16.11.4
  1. On the Password Configuration page, set the password for all products:
    1. vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager root password and admin password
    2. vRealize Automation root password.
    3. VMware Identity Manager admin password, sshuser password, root password and password for the default configuration user that will be used while integrating products.
  2. On the Lifecycle Manager Configuration page, enter the following details
    1. Virtual Machine Name: vrslcm1
    2. IP Address: 172.16.11.230
    3. Hostname: vrslcm1.lab.local
    4. Leave the optional configuration and click Next
  1. On the Identity Manager Confguration page, enter the following details
    1. Virtual Machine Name: wsa1a
    2. IP Address: 172.16.11.232
    3. Hostname: wsa1a.lab.local
    4. Default Configuration Admin: configadmin
    5. Default Configuration Email: configadmin@lab.local
    6. Node Size: Medium
  1. On the vRealize Automation Configuration page, enter the following details
    1. Standard Deployment: yes
    2. vRA Environment Name: Default-Environment
    3. License Key
    4. FIPS Compliance Mode: Off
    5. Node size: Medium
    6. Virtual Machine Name: vra1a
    7. IP Address: 172.16.11.234
    8. Hostname: vra1a.lab.local
    9. Internal Pods and Services Configuration: Use Default

The Installation will then start and will take a quite long time to complete.

Once it is finished, we can log into the solutions using the following URLs:

  • vRLCM: https://vrslcm1.lab.local/
  • vIDM: https://wsa1a.lab.local/
  • vRA: https://vra1a.lab.local/

Installation of vRealize Operations using vRealize Lifecycle Manager

Now, we configure the deployment for vRealize Operations Manager in vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager. Before we start with the actual deployment, we must import the vROps product binary into vRLCM and must create a certificate for the vROps instance.

Add product binary

Before we can deploy vROps, we have to add the product binary to vRLCM. As a first step we have to upload the vROps installer OVA to the vRLCM appliance.

To do so, we’ll perform these steps:

  1. On the lab jump server, open WinSCP and log into vrslcm1 using the root account
  2. Change into the /data directory
  3. Upload the required OVA file into /data

After the file has been uploaded, we’ll add it as a product binary:

  1. From the My services, navigate to Lifecycle Operations
  2. Click Settings and navigate to Binary Mapping > Product Binaries
  3. Click Add Binaries
  4. Select the Location type: Local
  5. In the Base location text box, enter /data and click Discover. ou can see a list of the supported products and versions for which you uploaded the binary files to the /data folder
  6. Select the previously uploaded vrops OVA file and click Add

This submitted a product source mapping request for the product binary. We can monitor the status of the product mapping request under Requests. When the status of the request has transitioned from Inprogress to Completed, we’re done.

Add a certificate

An appropriate SSL certificate must be created for each instance that is deployed:

  1. To add a certificate, navigate to Lifecycle Manager > Locker
  2. Click Generate
  3. Fill out the necessary details, i.e. Name, CN, O, OU, C, Server Domain/Hostname, and IP Address.

Deploy vRealize Operations

During the above installation, the following two environments have been created:

  • Global environment: vIDM is deployed and managed here
  • Default-Environment: vRA is installed here (as specified during the installation)

We will install vROps into the our default environment:

  1. We click the horizontal ellipsis for the Default-Environment, then we select Add Products to perform an organic growth.
  1. Then select the product vRealize Operations and click Next.
  1. Accept the EULA, click Next
  2. Select the license, click Validate Association, and click Next
  3. Select the certificate for the vROps instance which we’ve created earlier, then click Next
  4. On the Infrastructure page, enter the following data and click Next
    1. vCenter Server: vc1.lab.local
    2. Cluster: Datacenter#Mgmt-Cluster
    3. Network: Nested Management Network
    4. Datastore: datastore1
    5. Disk Mode: Thin
    6. Integrate with Identity Manager: yes
    7. Use Content Library: no
  5. On the Network page, enter the following data and click Next
    1. Default Gateway: 172.16.11.253
    2. Netmask: 255.255.255.0
    3. Domain Name: lab.local
    4. Domain Search Path: lab.local
    5. DNS Servers: 172.16.11.4
    6. Time Sync Mode: Use NTP Server
    7. NTP Servers: 172.16.11.4
  6. On the Products page, enter the data for the master node, then click Next
    1. VM Name: vrops1a
    2. FQDN: vrops1a.lab.local
    3. IP Address: 172.16.11.239
  7. On the Precheck page, click Run Precheck, then click Next
  8. On the Summary page, review the settings and click Submit

The installation begins and can be monitored under Requests:

Once it is finished, we can log into vROps at https://vrops1a.lab.local/ui/.

Installation of vRealize Log Insight using vRealize Lifecycle Manager

Now, we configure the deployment for vRealize Log Insight in vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager. Before we start with the actual deployment, we must import the vRLI product binary into vRLCM and must create a certificate for the vRLI instance. These steps are similar to those highlighted in the vROps chapter, so I won’t discuss this here again.

Deploy vRealize Log Insight

We will install vRLI into the our default environment:

  1. We click the horizontal ellipsis for the Default-Environment, then we select Add Products to perform an organic growth.
  2. Then select the product vRealize Operations and click Next.
  1. Accept the EULA, click Next
  2. Select the license, click Validate Association, and click Next
  3. Select the certificate for the vRLI instance which we’ve created earlier, then click Next
  4. On the Infrastructure page, enter the following data and click Next
    1. vCenter Server: vc1.lab.local
    2. Cluster: Datacenter#Mgmt-Cluster
    3. Network: Nested Management Network
    4. Datastore: datastore1
    5. Disk Mode: Thin
    6. Integrate with Identity Manager: yes
    7. Use Content Library: no
  5. On the Network page, enter the following data and click Next
    1. Default Gateway: 172.16.11.253
    2. Netmask: 255.255.255.0
    3. Domain Name: lab.local
    4. Domain Search Path: lab.local
    5. DNS Servers: 172.16.11.4
    6. Time Sync Mode: Use NTP Server
    7. NTP Servers: 172.16.11.4
  6. On the Products page, perform the following steps
    1. Select the Node size: Small
    2. Admin Email: administrator@lab.local
    1. Enter the data for the master node, then click Next
      1. VM Name: vrli1a
      2. FQDN: vrli1a.lab.local
      3. IP Address: 172.16.11.241
  7. On the Precheck page, click Run Precheck, then click Next
  8. On the Summary page, review the settings and click Submit

The installation begins and can be monitored under Requests.

Once it is finished, we can log into vRLI at https://vrli1a.lab.local/login.

Integration of the solutions in Operations Management

Now, that the various vRealize solutions have been deployed, we’re going to setup the integrations in vROps and vRLI.

  • vROps
    • Compute vCenter Server
    • NSX-T
    • vRLI
    • vIDM
    • vRA
  • Log Insight
    • vSphere
    • NSX-T
    • vIDM
    • vRSLCM
    • vRA

Integrating vROps and Compute vCenter Server

To manage the vCenter Server instance in vRealize Operations, we must configure a cloud account for the vCenter Server instance.

  1. We log into the vROPs web UI https://vrops1a.lab.local/ using the admin credentials
  2. From the left menu, click Data Sources > Integrations > Accounts tab
  3. Click Add Accounts
  4. On the Accounts Type page, click vCenter
  5. Fill in the following details:
    1. Name: vc2.lab.local
    2. vCenter Server: vc2.lab.local
    3. Credential: create a new for a service account with sufficient permissions in vCenter Server (“Performance > Modify interval”; collect “VM guest metric”)
    4. Collector group: Default collector group
  6. Click Add to save the configuration and Accept the SSL certificate of the vCenter Server

The cloud account is added to the list. vRealize Operations begins collecting metrics, properties, and events from the vCenter Server instance.

Integrating vROps and NSX-T

The NSX-T adapter allows us to retrieve alerts and findings from NSX-T to vRealize Operations.

To integrate vROps with NSX-T, we perform the following steps.

  1. We log into the vROps web UI https://vrops1a.lab.local/ using the admin credentials
  2. From the left menu, click Data Sources > Integrations > Accounts tab
  3. Click Add Accounts
  4. On the Accounts Type page, click NSX-T
  5. Fill in the following details:
    1. Name: nsx1.lab.local
    2. Virtual IP/NSX-T Manager: nsx1lab.local
    3. Credential: create credentials for NSX-T admin user
    4. Collector group: Default collector group
  6. Click Add to save the configuration and Accept the SSL certificate of the NSX-T Manager

Integrating vROps and vRLI

When vRealize Operations is integrated with vRealize Log Insight, you can view the Log Insight page, the Troubleshoot with Logs dashboard, and the Logs tab.

To integrate vROps with vRLI, we perform the following steps.

  1. We log into the vROPs web UI https://vrops1a.lab.local/ using the admin credentials
  2. From the left menu, click Data Sources > Integrations > Accounts tab
  3. Click Add Accounts
  4. On the Accounts Type page, click vRealize Log Insight Adapter
  5. Click Yes to install the Management Pack (this takes a few moments)
  6. Fill in the following details:
    1. Name: vrli1a.lab.local
    2. Log Insight Server: vrli1a.lab.local
    3. Collector group: Default collector group
  7. Click Add to save the configuration and Accept the SSL certificate of the vRealize Log Insight instance

Integrating vROps and vIDM

This integration provides OOTB dashboards to view the environment summary. It enables you to monitor metrics from key VIDM resources such as cluster nodes, certificates, disk space, databases, and directory systems.

We can download the vIDM management pack from VMware Marketplace, e.g. https://marketplace.cloud.vmware.com/services/details/vrealize-operations-management-pack-for-vmware-identity-manager-1-3-1-11?slug=true.

As a first step we have to install the vROps Management Pack for vIDM.

  1. We log into the vROPs web UI https://vrops1a.lab.local/ using the admin credentials
  2. From the left menu, click Data Sources > Integrations > Repository tab and click Add
  3. Click on Browse and select the downloaded pak file, then click Upload
  4. Once the pak file has been upload, click Next
  5. Accept the EULA and click Next.

The installation of the management pack starts. This will take a few minutes. Once it is completed, click Finish.
The VMware Identity Mnager Management Pack is listed under installed Integrations.

Next, we create a service user for vROps in vIDM:

We log into the vIDM Admin Console https://wsa1a.lab.local/SAAS/admin/:

  1. Under Users & Groups click Add User
  2. Fill in the following user details:
    1. Directory List: System Directory
    2. Domain List: System Domain
    3. Username: svc-vrops
    4. Email: administrator@lab.local
    5. First Name: vROps SVC User
    6. Last Name: vROps SVC User
    7. Role: ReadOnly Admin

The activation email will be sent to the provided email. We must activate the account using the URL provided in the email and set a password for this user.

To integrate vROps with vIDM, perform the following steps:

  1. We log into the vROPs web UI https://vrops1a.lab.local/ using the admin credentials
  2. From the left menu, click Data Sources > Integrations > Accounts tab
  3. Click Add Accounts
  4. On the Accounts Type page, click VMware Identity Manager Adapater
  5. Fill in the following details:
    1. Name: wsa1a.lab.local
    2. vIDM Host: wsa1a.lab.local
    3. Credential: create credentials for the vIDM service user we’ve created above
    4. Click Add to save the configuration and Accept the SSL certificate of the vIDM instance

Integrating vROps and vRA

vRealize Automation can work with vRealize Operations to perform advanced workload placement, provide deployment health and virtual machine metrics, and display pricing.

To integrate vROps with vRA, we first configure vROps.

  1. We log into the vROPs web UI https://vrops1a.lab.local/ using the admin credentials
  2. From the left menu, click Data Sources > Integrations > Accounts tab
  3. Click Add Accounts
  4. On the Accounts Type page, click vRealize Automation 8.x
  5. Click Yes to install the Management Pack (this takes a few moments, afterwards click again on the vRA 8.x card)
  6. Fill in the following details:
    1. Name: vra1a.lab.local
    2. IP Address / FQDN: vra1a.lab.local
    3. Auto-Discovery: true
    4. Credential: create credentials for vRA admin user
    5. Collector group: Default collector group
    6. Click Add to save the configuration and Accept the SSL certificate of the vRealize Automation instance

The second step is to setup the vROps integration in vRA.

  1. We log into the vRA Cloud Assembly web UI https://vra1a.lab.local/automation-ui/ using admin credentials
  2. In the dashboard click on the Cloud Assembly
  3. Then navigate to Infrastructure > Connections > Cloud Accounts
  4. Click on the vCenter Server card
  5. Fill in the following details and click Add
    1. Name:
    2. vCenter Server IP address / FQDN: vc2.lab.local
    3. Username: administrator@vsphere.local
    4. Password
  6. Then navigate to Infrastructure > Connections > Integrations
  7. Click on Add Integration
  8. Select the vRealize Operations card
  9. Fill in the following details:
    1. Name: vrops1a.lab.local
    2. vRealize Operations URL: https://vrops1a.lab.local/suite-api
    3. Username: admin
    4. Password
    5. Once the connection has been validated, click Add
    6. Click on Validate, then click Add

Install the vLRI content packs

We’re going to install the non-default content packs in vRLI, i.e. as of version 8.6 the following content packs:

  • VMware NSX-T
  • VMware vRSLCM-8.0.1+
  • VMware vRA 8.3+
  • VMware Identity Manager

To do so, we perform the following steps:

  1. Open the vRLI web UI https://vrli1a.lab.local and log in as admin user
  2. Navigate to Content Packs > Marketplace, search for “NSX-T” and click on the “VMWare – NSX-T” card
  3. Accept the license agreement and click Install
  4. Repeat the above steps for the other identified content packs

After the successful installation of the content packs, setup instructions for each solution can be found by navigating to a content pack and clicking on the configure gear and clicking on Setup instructions…

We’ll briefly discuss the setup instructions here.

Integrating vRLI and vSphere

  1. Open the vRLI web UI https://vrli1a.lab.local and log in as admin user
  2. Navigate to Administration > Integration > vSphere
  3. Fill in the following details:
    1. Hostname: vc2.lab.local
    2. Username:
    3. Password
  4. Select Collect vCenter Server events, tasks, and alarms
  5. Select Configure ESXi hosts to send logs to Log Insight
  6. Click Test Connection
  7. Click Save

Integrating vRLI and NSX-T

Open an SSH connection to the first NSX-T Manager appliance and log in as admin
Run the following command:

set logging-server 172.16.11.241 proto udp level info

Repeat the procedure for all NSX-T Manager and NSX-T Edge nodes.

Integrating vRLI and vRSLCM

  1. Open the vRSLCM web UI https://vrslcm1.lab.local/dashboard and log in as admin user
  2. Navigate to Lifecycle Operations > Settings > Logs
  3. Under Log Insight Agent Configuration fill in the following details:
    1. Hostname: vrli1a.lab.local
    2. Port: 9543
    3. Server Protocol: vRealize Log Insight (CFAPI)
    4. Secure Communication (SSL): yes
    5. Accept Any: yes
  4. Click Save

Integrating vRLI and vIDM

  1. Open the vIDM admin UI https://wsa1a.lab.local:8443/cfg/ and log in as admin user
  2. Select Configure Syslog in the left pane
  3. Click Enable
  4. Enter the IP address or the FQDN of the syslog server: 172.16.11.241
  5. Click Save

A copy of the vIDM logs is sent to the vRLI.

Integrating vRLI and vRA

Open an SSH connection to the vRA appliance and log in as admin
Run the following command:

vracli vrli set https://vrli1a.lab.local:9543 -e labvra --insecure -id labvra

Verify the status by executing vracli vrli