Prepare Windows for vRA software deployment

With vRealize Automation you can install and configure software during deployment. For this to happen a Bootstrap agent has to be in place. This agent can be installed manual or in case of Linux with the help of a template script. In this article I will describe how to prepare a Windows host for vRA software deployment.

With the latest version of vRealize Automation, version 7.2, VMware now also offers a Bootstrap agent installation script for Windows based on PowerShell. This Windows script can easily be accessed from the main page by entering your vRealize Automation appliance URL in a browser.

Click on Guest and software agents page.

Scroll down to Windows Software Installers.

Right click on prepare_vra_template.ps1 and Save As.

Go to your download folder and right-click prepare_vra_template and select Properties.

Unblock the file.

Before proceeding with the bootstrap agent installation first check if .NET Framework 3.5 is available on your system.

Start a PowerShell console and run the prepare_vra_template.ps1 script.

Dependent on your existing policy the script will ask you to change the policy so you can run the script and proceed with the Bootstrap agent installation.

After this, the script will ask you to fill in your vRealize Automation Appliance- and vRealize Automation IAAS host address.

Than with which Cloud Provider the Bootstrap agent must communicate. The 7.2 agent supports vSphere, vCloud Air, vCloud Director and AWS EC2.

And finally, the script will ask under which User Type the agent must run. Local user is default which creates a Darwin user to run the agent. In my case I use the Local System account.

After filling in all the required input, the script downloads the necessary software from the vRealize Automation Appliance and installs it on the host.

Validate your installation by checking the newly created directories for the vRealize Automation Guest- and Bootstrap agent plus installed Services for both agents.

Shut down your Windows machine and create a template from it to be used by vRealize Automation.

If you, for any reason, want to uninstall the bootstrap agent start a Command line, go to the C:\opt\vmware-appdirector\agent-bootstrap\ directory and run the appd_bootstrap_removal batch file.

That’s all. Happy software deployment!