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    VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook
    VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook
    VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook
    Ebook1,086 pages7 hours

    VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook

    By Langenhan Daniel

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    About This Book
    • Program with Orchestrator to automate and synchronize your infrastructure
    • Integrate the base plug-ins into your workflows
    • Packed with over 100 example workflows, packaged for download and reuse
    Who This Book Is For

    If you are a VMware administrator who is interested in automating your infrastructure, this book is for you. An understanding of basic programming concepts is advised. No previous knowledge of Orchestrator is required, although some previous knowledge of it will allow you to get started more easily.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPackt Publishing
    Release dateFeb 27, 2015
    ISBN9781784393700
    VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook

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      VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook - Langenhan Daniel

      Table of Contents

      VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook

      Credits

      Foreword

      About the Author

      About the Reviewers

      www.PacktPub.com

      Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

      Why subscribe?

      Free access for Packt account holders

      Instant updates on new Packt books

      Preface

      Best approaches to reading this book

      What this book covers

      What you need for this book

      Who this book is for

      Example workflows

      Conventions

      Reader feedback

      Customer support

      Downloading the example code

      Errata

      Piracy

      Questions

      1. Installing and Configuring Orchestrator

      Introduction

      Orchestrator and vRealize Automation (vRA)

      Appliance or Windows install?

      Orchestrator and vCenter/vRA on the same server?

      Getting Orchestrator running in 5 minutes (or less)

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      vCenter-integrated Orchestrator

      vRealize Automation-integrated Orchestrator

      How it works...

      There's more...

      See also

      Deploying the Orchestrator appliance

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Download

      Deploy

      Let's go…

      How it works...

      There's more...

      See also

      Installing Orchestrator on Windows

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Install

      Starting and configuring the Orchestrator service

      Accessing the vCenter Orchestrator home page

      How it works...

      Two ways to configure Orchestrator

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Using the Orchestrator Configuration tool

      Windows or vCenter-integrated Orchestrator

      vRA-integrated Orchestrator

      Accessing the Orchestrator Configuration tool

      Using the workflow method

      Base-configuring Orchestrator

      How it works...

      The future of the Configuration tool

      Working with errors in the workflow method

      There's more...

      Important Orchestrator base configurations

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Configuring the network

      Using the Orchestrator Configuration tool

      Using the workflow

      Importing SSL certificates

      Using the Orchestrator Configuration tool

      Using the workflow

      Licensing

      Using the Orchestrator Configuration tool

      Using the workflow

      Creating a Server Package Signing certificate

      Using the Orchestrator Configuration tool

      Using the workflow

      How it works...

      See also

      Configuring Orchestrator with an external LDAP or Active Directory

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Creating an Orchestrator Admin group and user

      Using the Orchestrator Configuration tool

      Using the workflow

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Test login

      Common LDAP errors

      See also

      Integrating Orchestrator into SSO and vSphere Web Client

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Registering Orchestrator with SSO

      Using the Orchestrator Configuration tool

      Using the workflow

      Configuring the vCenter Server plugin

      Using the Orchestrator Configuration tool

      Using the workflow

      Configuring the connection between vCenter Server and Orchestrator

      How it works...

      See also

      Configuring an external database

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Database information

      Using the Orchestrator Configuration tool

      Using the workflow

      How it works...

      Sizing

      Database roles

      There's more...

      Microsoft SQL

      Oracle

      2. Optimizing Orchestrator Configuration

      Introduction

      Service accounts

      Ports and firewalls

      Plugin basics

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Obtaining plugins

      General plugin authentication

      Installing plugins

      Configuring plugins

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Shared session versus session per user

      Resetting the plugins

      See also

      Tuning the appliance

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Open the Orchestrator appliance admin area

      Change the IP and hostname

      Setting the time (NTP)

      Turning SSH access to Orchestrator on and off

      Using SSH to connect to the Orchestrator appliance operation system

      Switching off unneeded services

      Root account expires

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Accessing the local LDAP

      Accessing the local database

      See also

      Tuning Java

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Windows

      Linux

      How it works...

      Backup and recovery

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Backup

      Restore

      How it works...

      Database

      See also

      Creating an Orchestrator cluster

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Configuring the database

      SQL Server

      Oracle server

      Configuring the first Orchestrator server

      Configuring the second Orchestrator server

      Starting the cluster

      How it works...

      Making changes to the cluster

      There's more...

      See also

      Configuring the Orchestrator Service SSL certificate

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Back up and remove the default certificates

      Create a self-signed certificate

      Using a CA-signed certificate

      How it works...

      Default, self-signed, or CA-signed?

      What is this Dunes business in Orchestrator?

      See also

      Configuring e-mail

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Redirecting Orchestrator Syslog to an external Syslog server

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Install VMware vSphere Syslog Collector

      Working with VMware vSphere Syslog Collector

      Redirecting Orchestrator for Syslog

      How it works...

      Log roll

      There's more...

      See also

      Configuring the Kerberos authentication

      Getting ready

      How to do it…

      How it works…

      See also

      Configuring access to the local filesystem

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Fast and easy

      Configuring access

      How it works...

      There's more…

      Orchestrator appliance (Linux)

      Windows

      See also

      Updating Orchestrator

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Windows update

      Appliance update

      How it works...

      3. Visual Programming

      Introduction

      How this chapter works

      The example package

      JavaScript (the very basics)

      Working with the Orchestrator Client

      The icons for this chapter

      Working with the schema

      Gotcha

      Working with variables

      Variables in the general section

      Variables in the input section

      Variables in the output section

      Variable types

      Building arrays

      Workflow basics

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Creating a new workflow

      Adding an attribute

      Adding an input parameter

      Add an output parameter

      Adding a scripting element

      How it works...

      Exiting a workflow

      Validation

      Assigning a workflow variable

      Re-run a workflow

      See also

      Version control

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Showing differences between versions

      Reverting to an older version

      How it works...

      See also

      Working with logs

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Error handling in workflows

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Ignore errors

      New in vRO 6.0 – default error handler

      See also

      Resuming failed workflows

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      See also

      Using the workflow debugging function

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      See also

      Working with decisions

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Basic decision

      Custom decisions

      Decision activity

      How it works...

      JavaScript – if and else

      There's more...

      Switch case in the schema

      New in vRO 6.0 – Switch element

      JavaScript – switch

      See also

      Working with loops

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      The decision loop

      The For each loop

      How it works...

      Types of decision loops

      Foreach and arrays

      JavaScript

      There's more...

      See also

      Working with presentations

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Preparation

      Description

      In-parameter properties

      Steps and groups

      Hide input values

      Basic linking

      How it works...

      Plugin-specific properties

      select value as

      Show in inventory

      Specify a root object to be shown in the chooser

      Authorized only

      There's more...

      See also

      Working with configurations

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Creating a configuration

      Using a configuration in a workflow

      How it works...

      There's more...

      See also

      Working with actions

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Creating a new action

      Implementing an action into a workflow

      How it works...

      See also

      Linking actions in presentations

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Waiting tasks

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Creating help task

      Using the Sleep task

      Waiting for a date

      How it works...

      There's more...

      JavaScript – wait

      JavaScript – working with dates

      See also

      Sending and waiting for custom events

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Receiving a custom event

      Sending a custom event

      Trying it out

      How it works...

      There's more...

      See also

      Using asynchronous workflows

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      The first example

      The second example

      How it works...

      There's more...

      See also

      Working with user interactions

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Creating the workflow

      Answering the user interaction

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Answering using vRealize Automation

      See also

      Changing credentials

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      4. Working with Plugins

      Introduction

      How this chapter works

      Advanced JavaScript

      The try, catch, and finally functions

      The function command

      Variable type – Properties

      Working with the API

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Searching for items in the API

      Programming help from the API

      How it works...

      See also

      Working with mails

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Configuring the mail connection

      Sending e-mails

      Receiving e-mails

      How it works...

      Working with attachments

      There's more...

      See also

      File operations

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Writing a file

      Reading a file

      Getting information on files

      Creating, renaming, and deleting a file or directory

      How it works...

      Executing scripts

      There's more...

      See also

      Working with SSH

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Using SSH

      Using SSL key authentication

      Using SCP

      How it works...

      Key pairing

      See also

      Working with XML

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Creating an XML document

      Parsing XML structures

      How it works...

      There's more...

      See also

      Working with SQL

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Creating a JDBC connection URL

      Connecting to and disconnecting from a database using JDBC

      Executing a SQL statement using JDBC

      SQL queries using JDBC

      How it works...

      The difference between the prepare and create statements

      There's more...

      The SQL object

      Creating a new database in the appliance's PostgreSQL

      See also

      Working with PowerShell

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Preparing the Windows host with WinRM

      Adding a PowerShell host

      Using Kerberos authentication

      Executing a script

      Calling a script that is stored on the PowerShell host

      Sending a script to be executed to the PowerShell host

      Generating an action and workflow from a script

      How it works...

      Workflow TLC

      Basic versus Kerberos authentication

      PowerShell output to XML

      See also

      Working with SOAP

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Adding a new SOAP client

      Generating a new SOAP workflow

      How it works...

      See also

      Working with REST

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Connecting to a REST host

      Using GET

      Using POST

      Creating a workflow from a REST operation

      How it works...

      Authentications

      Working with the results of a REST request

      There's more…

      See also

      Working with Active Directory

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Preparing AD for SSL

      Registering AD with Orchestrator

      Working with AD

      How it works...

      See also

      Working with SNMP

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Configuring SNMP devices

      Sending a GET query to an ESXi host

      Configuring a vCenter alarm to send an SNMP message

      Receiving an SNMP message from vCenter

      Using policies to trap SNMP messages

      How it works...

      OID and MIB

      Working with SNMP return data

      SNMP – port 162 versus port 4000

      There's more...

      Configuring SNMP for vCenter

      Configuring ESXi servers for SNMP

      See also

      Working with AMQP

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Adding an AMQP host

      Defining exchanges, queues, and binds

      Sending messages

      Receiving messages

      Subscribing to a queue

      Using a policy as trigger

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Installing RabbitMQ

      See also

      5. Basic Orchestrator Operations

      Introduction

      The Orchestrator icons

      More about workflows

      The workflow ID

      Server restart behavior

      The workflow icon

      User permissions

      Basic Orchestrator operations for Orchestrator elements

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Duplicate

      Move

      Delete

      How it works...

      Changing elements in a workflow

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Changing the parameters of workflows and actions

      Renaming and moving actions

      How it works...

      Undelete workflows and actions

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      Importing and exporting Orchestrator elements

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Export an object

      Import an element

      How it works...

      See also

      Synchronize Orchestrator elements between Orchestrator servers

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Working with packages

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Create a new package

      Export a package

      Import a package

      Deleting a package

      How it works...

      Export and import options

      There's more...

      See also

      User management

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Adding users to the Orchestrator Administrator group

      Giving nonadministrative users access to Orchestrator

      Configuring access to Orchestrator elements

      How it works...

      Right inheritance

      The login format

      Access right

      There's more...

      Changing the Orchestrator Administrator group

      Typical error messages

      Disabling nonadministrative access to Orchestrator

      User preferences

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      General

      Workflow

      Inventory

      Script editor

      Scheduling workflows

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      See also

      Workflow auto documentation

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      Orchestrator and vSphere Web Client

      Getting ready

      How to do it…

      Configure workflows for the Web Client

      Writing workflows for web integration

      How it works...

      There's more...

      See also

      6. Advanced Operations

      Introduction

      WebViews

      Authorizations

      Accessing the Orchestrator API via REST

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Establishing a connection

      Getting information

      Running a workflow

      How it works...

      See also

      Working with resources

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Adding resources manually

      Using resources in workflows

      Creating a new resource element

      Updating a resource

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Accessing resources directly

      Saving and loading resources

      See also

      Working with tags

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Tagging a workflow

      Viewing all tags in a workflow

      Finding workflows by tags

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Working with locks

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Locking workflows

      Unlocking workflows

      How it works...

      There's more...

      See also

      Language packs (localization)

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      Working with policies

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      Policy Templates

      Triggers

      The event variable

      See also

      Managing remote Orchestrator

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Adding an Orchestrator server

      Creating proxy workflows

      Deploying packages to remote Orchestrator

      How it works...

      See also

      7. Working with VMware Infrastructure

      Introduction

      vSphere automation

      The vCenter MoRef

      The vim3WaitTaskEnd action

      Other vCenter wait actions

      vRealize Automation (vRA)

      Installation

      The vRA Orchestrator plugin

      vRA-integrated Orchestrator

      Dynamic Types or XaaS

      Read more…

      Unmounting all the CD-ROMs of all VMs in a cluster

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Provisioning a VM from a template

      Getting ready

      How to do it…

      Creating a configuration

      Creating the base workflow

      How it works…

      There's more...

      See also

      An approval process for VM provisioning

      Getting ready

      How to do it…

      Creating a configuration element

      Creating a workflow

      Improving with the presentation

      How it works…

      See also

      Working with the vCenter API (to change a VM's HA settings)

      Getting ready

      How to do it…

      How it works…

      There's more…

      See also

      Standard vSwitch and Distributed Switch ports

      Getting ready

      How to do it…

      Create an action

      Creating the workflow

      Make it work with presentation

      How it works…

      See also

      Executing a program inside a VM

      Getting ready

      How to do it…

      Create a wait workflow

      Create an installation workflow

      An example run

      How it works…

      There's more…

      See also

      Configuring a vRA instance in Orchestrator

      Getting ready

      How to do it…

      How it works…

      Configuring an external Orchestrator in vRA

      Getting ready

      How to do it…

      Building and configuring an external Orchestrator

      Configuring vRA

      Tuning vRA

      How it works…

      There's more…

      Adding an Orchestrator endpoint

      Getting ready

      How to do it…

      How it works…

      Integrating Orchestrator workflows in vRA

      Getting ready

      How to do it…

      Activate the advanced services tab

      Adding a service blueprint

      Publishing and adding the workflow to the catalog

      How it works…

      There's more…

      Managing AD users with vRA

      Getting ready

      How to do it…

      Creating a custom resource

      Creating the service blueprint

      Creating a resource action

      Conducting a test run

      How it works…

      Index

      VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook

      VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook

      Copyright © 2015 Packt Publishing

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

      Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

      Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

      First published: February 2015

      Production reference: 1240215

      Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

      Livery Place

      35 Livery Street

      Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

      ISBN 978-1-78439-224-6

      www.packtpub.com

      Credits

      Author

      Daniel Langenhan

      Reviewers

      Burke Azbill

      Christophe Decanini

      Steffen Oezcan

      Brian Ragazzi

      Earl Waud

      Commissioning Editor

      Dipika Gaonkar

      Acquisition Editors

      Rebecca Pedley

      Greg Wild

      Content Development Editor

      Pooja Nair

      Technical Editors

      Tanvi Bhatt

      Pramod Kumavat

      Mitali Somaiya

      Copy Editors

      Deepa Nambiar

      Stuti Srivastava

      Neha Vyas

      Project Coordinator

      Suzanne Coutinho

      Proofreaders

      Simran Bhogal

      Stephen Copestake

      Safis Editing

      Ameesha Green

      Paul Hindle

      Indexer

      Tejal Soni

      Production Coordinator

      Conidon Miranda

      Cover Work

      Conidon Miranda

      Foreword

      If there is something I did right from the beginning of my IT career, it was automation and integration. Coming from a development background, it was natural for me to script or develop small tools to automate most of the manual tasks our team had to accomplish. This was in the mid 90s and required using a combination of scripting and programming languages, tools such as network boot and floppy disks, and performing low-level operations such as dumping PC BIOS to extract the information required by an installation process.

      Since then, IT has evolved and now provides application programming interfaces to get information and perform remote operations. Simpler scripting languages were released to make these easily consumable, and virtualization provided the agility that was missing to automate a lot of data center operations.

      Streamlining these operations as modular, reusable, highly available workflows is what VMware vRealize Orchestrator brought to the equation.

      After being used prominently by service providers to build their public cloud offerings and the enterprises for their private cloud, Orchestrator is now fast becoming a core component of several VMware Software-defined Data Center capabilities such as self-service provisioning, custom service authoring, DevOps, and automatic remediation. The Orchestrator workflows powering these can be leveraged to design your own custom automation and integrations.

      VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook guides system engineers in understanding how to best design workflows to orchestrate data centers. It walks them through all the important Orchestrator features using real-world use cases presented as recipes, explaining how these work, and providing directions to aid further development.

      My colleague Burke Azbill and I have been working with Orchestrator for the last 8 years, enabling our customers in their journey to the software-defined data center. We can definitely say that if we had had a copy of this book back then, it would have saved us hundreds of hours; even today, with all the experience we have, it is still a much-needed reference.

      We have worked with Daniel Langenhan for the last 6 years, and we are delighted that he has managed to share so much of his knowledge and experience acquired by delivering Orchestration solutions to our customers; the result is that you can now unleash the power of Orchestrator.

      We wish you the best in your workflow designs and deployments.

      Christophe Decanini and Burke Azbill

      Consulting Architects

      VMware Global Center of Excellence

      @vCOTeam / vCOTeam.info

      About the Author

      Daniel Langenhan is a virtualization expert with formidable skills in architecture, design, and implementation for large multitier systems. His experience and knowledge of process management, enterprise-level storage, and Linux and Windows operating systems have made him and his business a highly sought international consultancy in the Asia Pacific and European regions for multinational clientele in the areas of finance, communication, education, and government. Daniel has been working with VMware products since 2002 and has been directly associated with VMware since 2008. He has a proven track record of successful integrations of virtualization into different business areas while minimizing cost and maximizing reliability and effectiveness for his clients.

      Daniel's expertise and practical approach to VMware have resulted in the publication of the following books:

      Instant VMware vCloud Starter, Packt Publishing

      VMware View Security Essentials, Packt Publishing

      VMware vCloud Director Cookbook, Packt Publishing

      He has also lent his expertise to many other publishing projects as a technical editor.

      I would like to thank my wife, Renata, for her endless efforts and patience. I also like to express my gratitude to my reviewers for improving this book. A special thank you goes out to Christophe Decanini and Burke Azbill who have been committed to make Orchestrator a successful product since they started working on Orchestrator.

      About the Reviewers

      Burke Azbill has been a technology professional since 1996 and holds certifications from Cisco, Citrix, ITIL, Linux Professional Institute, Microsoft, Novell, and VMware. He joined VMware in 2007 as part of the acquisition of Dunes Technologies from Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had begun his work with Orchestrator. Burke is the founder and contributor of http://www.vcoteam.info as well as a leading contributor to the VMTN communities for Orchestrator. During his tenure at VMware, Burke has trained hundreds of employees on Orchestrator, built many integrations for customers and partners, and worked in various roles in the VMworld Hands-on Labs. He has coauthored vCloud Architecture Toolkit, VMware Press, and he has reviewed Automating vSphere with VMware vCenter Orchestrator, VMware Press and VMware vSphere for Dummies, For Dummies.

      Christophe Decanini is a consulting architect at VMware, Inc. He joined VMware in 2007 as part of the acquisition of Dunes Technologies. Based in Gland, Switzerland, Christophe is an Orchestrator expert, supporting VMware customers, partners, and field resources globally.

      Christophe has worked on several important contributions to Orchestrator, including product features that participated in making Orchestrator a successful product. He has presented orchestration solutions at conferences such as VMworld and is a main contributor to the www.vcoteam.info blog and the official VMware Orchestrator community.

      Christophe has reviewed and contributed to books that cover Orchestrator, including VMware vCloud Architecture Toolkit, VMware Press. He was awarded the vExpert designation for several years and is now a VMware CTO ambassador.

      He has 20 years of experience in IT automation and holds a VMware Certified Professional 5 - Data Center Virtualization (VCP5-DCV) certification and a Bachelor's degree in computer science. You can follow Christophe on Twitter at @vCOTeam.

      Steffen Oezcan is a data center technologist based in Germany with more than 10 years of experience within the IT industry. What started as a career in data center administration moved swiftly into IT consulting and training with the focus on Microsoft and VMware-based virtualization technologies. He combines his deep technical and excellent educational skills to deliver the best solutions to his clients, who span across many industries in EMEA.

      Steffen holds several advanced certifications, including VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5-Data Center Administration (VCAP5-DCA) and VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5-Data Center Design (VCAP5-DCD). In the last 5 years, he has become a well-known VMware Certified Instructor (VCI) Level 2, teaching classes across EMEA for vSphere, vRealize Operations Manager, Horizon View, and vCloud Networking and Security. In this role, he received the VCI Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution and the best instructor evaluations in EMEA, presented on VCI Day at VMworld Europe 2013.

      Since 2010, he has been working as a freelance IT consultant and technical instructor, currently focusing on virtualization technologies, cloud enablement, and data center automation.

      Brian Ragazzi is an advisory solution architect at EMC with more than 15 years of experience in the IT industry. He is a lead architect at EMC Enterprise Hybrid Cloud and specializes in Software-defined Data Center and IT automation. Brian can be found online at http://brianragazzi.com.

      Earl Waud is a virtualization development professional with more than 9 years of focused industry experience, creating innovative solutions for hypervisor provisioning, management, and automation. He is an expert in aligning engineering strategy with organizational vision and goals and delivering highly scalable and user-friendly virtualization environments.

      With more than 20 years of experience in developing customer-facing and corporate IT software solutions, he has a proven track record in delivering high-caliber and on-time technology solutions that significantly impact business results.

      Earl lives in San Diego, California. He is blessed with a beautiful wife, Patti, and three amazing daughters, Madison, Daniella, and Alexis.

      Currently, Earl is a senior systems engineer with Intuit Inc., which is a company that creates business and financial management solutions that simplify the business of life for small businesses, consumers, and accounting professionals.

      Earl can be reached online at http://sandiegoearl.com.

      Thank you to my wonderful family for allowing me to spend some of our precious family time reviewing this book. I love and appreciate you, and I know I am truly blessed that you are my family.

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      Preface

      Orchestrator started its life as Virtual Service Orchestrator (VS-O) with a small company named Dunes in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 2007, VMware bought Dunes, renaming the product as VMware Orchestrator (VMO), and then introduced Orchestrator into vSphere 4.0 as vCenter Orchestrator (vCO). Orchestrator's first stage debut was with VMware Lifecycle Manager, which used Orchestrator to automate the virtual infrastructure life cycle. Orchestrator itself never really received the spotlight until the recent launch of VMware vCloud

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