Create and Deploy vApps Knowledge

Create and Deploy vApps

 

Objective 4.2 – Create and Deploy vApps

For this objective I used only one document

• vSphere Virtual Machine Administration guide

Knowledge

Identify vApp settings

– Options Tab

• Resources – Just like with Resource Pools, with vApps you can allocate CPU and memory resources and control Shares, Reservations and Limits
• Properties – Allows for configuration of custom properties in the OVF environment of the vApp. Defined under the Advanced -> Properties section
• IP Allocation Policy – Allow for the configuration of how IP addresses are allocated. Three options available; Fixed, Transient, and DHCP. Configured under Advanced -> IP Allocation
• Advanced – Allows for the setting of the Product Name, Version, Vendor URL, etc. Also as stated above the advanced configuration of Properties and IP Allocation

– Start Order Tab

• The start order tab allows you to set the Startup and Shutdown actions of groups of VM’s. This allows you to control the startup order of VM’s in a vApp. For example, you have a DB server that needs to be started prior to the application server coming up.

Create/Clone/Export a vApp

– Create a vApp

1. Within the vSphere Client right click a cluster resource and select New vApp
2. Name the vApp and select an inventory location, click Next
3. Set the cpu and memory resource allocation, click Next
4. Select Finish to complete the New vApp wizard

– Clone a vApp

1. Within the vSphere Client select the vApp you wish to clone
2. In the top menu bar select Inventory -> Clone (be sure that all VM’s have been powered down)
3. Select the destination for the cloned vApp. Click Next
4. Give the cloned vApp a name and select an inventory location. Click Next
5. Select a destination datastore and click Next
6. Select a disk format and click Next
7. Map the networks if necessary and click Next
8. Review your settings and click Finish

– Export a vApp

1. Within the vSphere Client select the vApp you wish to export
2. In the top menu bar select File -> Export -> Export OVF Template
3. The Export OVF Template dialog box is displayed
4. Provide a Name, Directory to export to, Format, and a Description if needed.
5. Click OK to begin the export

Configure IP pools

– Specify an IP Address Range

1. In the inventory, select the datacenter that contains the vApp
2. In the IP Pools tab, right-click the IP pool that you want to edit and select Properties
• Note – If no IP Pools appear, click Add to add a new IP pool
3. In the Properties dialog box, select the IPv4 or the IPv6 tab, depending on your IP protocol
4. Enter the IP Subnet and Gateway in their respective fields
5. (Optional) Select the Enable IP Pool check box
6. (Optional) Enter a comma-separated list of hosts address ranges in the Ranges field
7. Click OK

– Select DHCP

1. In the inventory, select the datacenter that contains the vApp you are configuring
2. In the IP Pools tab, right-click the IP pool that you want to edit and select Properties
• Note – If no IP Pools appear, click Add to add a new IP pool
3. In the Properties dialog box, select the DHCP tab
4. Select either the IPv4 DHCP Present or IPv6 DHCP Present check box to indicate that one of the DHCP servers is available on this network
5. Click OK

– Specify DNS Settings

1. In the inventory, select the datacenter that contains the vApp
2. In the IP Pools tab, right-click the IP pool that you want to edit and select Properties
• Note – If no IP Pools appear, click Add to add a new IP Pool
3. In the Properties dialog box, select the DNS tab
4. Enter the DNS server information
5. Click OK

– Specify a Proxy Server

1. In the inventory, select the datacenter that contains the vApp
2. In the IP Pools tab, right-click the IP pool that you want to edit and select Properties
• Note – If no IP Pools appear, click Add to add a new IP Pool
3. In the Properties dialog box, select the Proxy tab
4. Enter the server name and port number for the proxy server
5. Click OK

– Select Network Associations

1. In the inventory, select the datacenter that contains the vApp
2. In the IP Pools tab, right-click the IP pool that you wantt to edit and select Properties
• Note – If no IP Pools appear, click Add to add a new IP Pool
3. In the Properties dialog box, select the Associations tab
4. Select the networks that use this IP Pool
5. Click OK

For further information read pages 191 thru 193 of the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration documentation

Suspend/Resume a vApp

– Suspend a vApp

1. From the vSphere Client select the vApp you want to place in suspended state
2. Right-click the vApp and select Suspend

– Resume a vApp

1. From the vSphere Client select the vApp you want to resume
2. Right-click the vApp and select Power On

Determine when a tiered application should be deployed as a vApp

• If you environment has tiered applications running in virtual machines and have a dependency on specific start order (think first DB server, then application server, and finally web server) they are the ideal candidates for use in a vApp.

Tools

• vSphere Virtual Machine Administation guide